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Top 10 - Songs of 2013
2013 was a great or changing year for almost every single group. Crayon Pop burst their way to fame, Girls' Generation won a bunch of awards, 2NE1 finally came back, there were Big Bang solo comebacks, Girls' Day rose to fame and well, Wonder Girls and KARA got fucked. Either way, we all have to admit, though the year is done, it was one of the most flamboyant years of K-Pop. But because it finished, I have to go into detail of my favorite songs of 2013 simply because, that's what I do. So without further ado, here's the top songs of 2013.
1. GLAM - In Front of The Mirror
Tiffany: I still can't get rid of how fucktasticly fucktastic this song is. Like, how is that even possible? It placed almost the top of the first 6 months of 2013 and now it's the top of this half. Not only does it have so much meaning but it's also a great listen. This also kind of makes me realize how smaller, less popular groups tend to have the better quality songs than larger groups who just release songs with hopes of raking up the dough. This also makes me realize how much I wish GLAM was more popular than all the other groups who simply act like they could give less fucks about whether or not we're happy and only care about our money (I mean, it's true for every group but don't make it so obvious with your shitty songs!)
2. Bangtan Boys - Born Singer
Tiffany: Did I mention I'm a huge fan of Bangtan Boys? I love about all of their tracks but the track that really got to me was Born Singer. Sure, all of their tracks tend to speak the truth but this one is a song that I could play in the car, look out the window and pretend I'm in a sad movie with... which are the kind of tracks that always gets my thumbs up. Although there is an original and they kind of just redid this song, I could care less. Still good.
3. Taeyang - Ringa Linga
Tiffany: I'm a fan of Taeyang. I'm a fan of Big Bang. I'm a fan of this song. I would have learned the dance if I wasn't so uncoordinated. I can't help but shit my pants when the 'Ringa Linga Ling Ringa Linga Ling' part comes and even though his hair was crazy, I could barely tell. Sorry guys, I just have to be biased on this one. This song was da shet. (what if he fell of that bridge?)
4. Girls' Day - Female President
Tiffany: I'm not usually a fan of females sticking out their asses but when I am, it's Yura's ass. Regardless of the music video, Female President is definitely one of the best songs of the year. Fuck what everyone thinks. My mind is more superior than yours. #narcissismatitsfinest
5. Brown Eyed Girls - Kill Bill
Tiffany: Sure, the whistles was a rip off from the real movie and so was basically everything else. Get your panties out of a bunch. It's weird how people act like K-Pop is so damn original, anyway. Kill Bill was the shiet.
6. f(x) - Rum Pum Pum Pum
7. f(x) - Airplane
8. EXO - Growl (fuck what everyone else says. I have bad taste in music)
9. Miss A - Hush
10. 2NE1 - Do You Love Me?/Hyori - Miss Korea/Everything IU Released
Top 10: Biggest Lies in K-Pop
"We eat 3,000 calories a day!"
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| Equivalent to a whopping 5 and a half McDonald's Big Macs, Girls Generation claimed they ate 3,000 calories of mostly junk food every single day. |
"Padding? What are you talking about? These are natural."
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| From grapes to boulders in simply seconds, it seems likely that these women didn't somehow JUST hit puberty... but maybe, they just hit the jackpot with coupons to Padding R Us. |
Number 8
"We're not ilbe users or iljins"
While SECRET's Hyosung played dumb about the democratization claim, T-ara's Hyomin made perfect sense by saying:
"When I was in high school, there were rumors about me being an iljin. It was only because I was friends with those type of kids in my neighborhood, but I wasn't anything more than that."
So a lot (if not all) of your friends were iljins but you weren't? Okay, Hyomin.
Number 7
"That is NOT me... even though it kind of is."
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| With many of the same specific characteristics from T-ara's Jiyeon and the alleged strip-cam Jiyeon (birthmarks, bedroom set-up, etc.), it seems very likely that the 'This is NOT me!' claim is as true as anything KKS blurts from his mouth. |
Number 6
"I'm a natural beauty"
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| The difference between this and "I didn't get plastic surgery" is that it can also somewhat apply to the power of make-up, photoshop and everything else that makes you look better than you actually are! I mean, unless we were all naturally conceived with BB cream and different filters all over our face and body, then you could look good but probably not that good in real life. |
Number 5
"I haven't kissed anyone yet"
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| We've all heard it at least once: an extremely good-looking idol saying "I haven't kissed anyone yet". Although some idols can actually be telling the truth, it's probably more common that when an idol says that, it's false. Whether it was in elementary school, training or even post-debut, I bet a lot of them got some smooching one way or another. |
Number 4
"I'm 1,000 feet tall"
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| Even with insoles, I don't think it's possible for you to be as high as you say on your profile. |
Number 3
"I weigh 45kg"
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| What's weird is that almost all female profiles say that they're 45kg. Is 45 a lucky number? Are all female K-Pop idols on some type of drugs that put them exactly at a non-vacillating 45kg? ...or are they just lying about it? I pick the last one. |
Number 2
"I didn't get plastic surgery"
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| Its estimated that one in five women in South Korea have gotten plastic surgery at least once... the number obviously increasing with female idols. Although maybe some surgeries aren't that obvious, others simple are inarguable. |
Number 1
"I haven't dated before"
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| Like kissing, when an extremely good-looking idol says 'I've never dated before', it's very unbelievable. |
DJ Put It Back On: Past KPOP Collaborations
There have been many past collaborations in the history of KPOP, be it to collaborate to perform a cover of a song, to collaborate to perform one of their songs, or to collaborate to release an original. To name a few, there have been collaborations between Big Bang and 2NE1 for Lollipop (above), f(x) and Super Junior for Oops, Yonghwa and Juniel for Fool and the list is virtually never-ending. Unlike stages by the individual acts themselves, the amount of attention these kind of performances receive is often short-lived, perhaps due to the fact that these kind of performances are usually one-off kind of affairs.
Today, I stand (or more appropriately, type) here with the simple desire of wanting to bring some of the past KPOP collaborations back into the spotlight because they really do deserve to be appreciated once again for the musical and/or entertainment value that they offer. After much research, blood, sweat and tears, I have finally come up with a collated a list of past K-POP collaborations (mostly stages) split into many different categories for your easy reference. I have also provided the Youtube videos for the better ones (of course, these are just my personal picks). Enjoy! (do note that these only involve musical collaborations, not dance ones!)
1. Bromance & Sisterly/Family Love
One of the cutest and most adorable K-POP collaborations ever has got to be this - a special stage on the 2011 SBS Entertainment Awards jointly performed by hyung Kim Jongkook and dongsaeng Haha, a brotherly relationship that they have long established on Running Man. They performed December (orginially by Turbo) and Rosa (originally by Haha). This special stage eventually goes on to include the hilarious dance featurings of Lee Kwangsoo and Yoo Jaesuk, showcasing the rapport and chemistry between the 4 lovely Running Man cast members.
Other performances to check out:
- December + Black Cat + Twist King by Jongkook + Haha - Another collaboration between the brothers performing 3 Turbo hits, but in a much darker setting, comparably more serious, less freestyle, but just as fun!
- Tik Tok (originally by Ke$ha) + California Gurls (originally by Katy Perry) by Jessica Jung + Krystal Jung - 2 collaboration performances between the Jung sisters for SMTown concerts along with choreographed dance moves.
- Definitely not a 'performance', but boasting of such a strong tangible family love between the Running Man members way beyond that of cast members from any typical variety show (tsk and because I am a Running Man fan) that I had to include it. So here's their Turbo Dance Party! It's slightly saddening that Running Man is becoming so scripted in recent times, because it is simply this wild lovable side of Running Man that anybody needs to see to fall in love with them.
2. Sunbae-Hoobae
This is the exact stage that convinced me to write this post! As part of an SMTown Concert, Girls Generation's TaeTiSeo and EXO's members Chanyeol, D.O., Sehun and Luhan's performed a take of DJ Got Us Falling In Love Again (originally by Usher ft. Bull). And this is truly incredible as throughout the performance, TTS and EXO were completely in sync. The energy level was great, and (keke) the interaction between TTS and EXO was unbelievably adorable and loving.
Other Performances to Check Out:
- Rose by Lee Hi ft. CL - CL made a featuring rap in one of Lee Hi's promotional stages for Rose, and it wasn't really a good fit but was a sunbae-hoobae collaboration all the same.
- Way Back Into Love by Super Junior (Kyuhyun, Donghae) and Girls' Generation (Taeyeon, Jessica) - Quite a sweet collaboration with harmonizing, no 'wow' factor anywhere here though!
3. KPOP Star Special Stages
There have been many collaboration stages on KPOP Star between contestants (within the same season as well as across seasons 1 and 2) as well as between a contestant and an idol from the Big 3. The most impressive stage to me would be the joint performance by Lee Hi (Season 1) and 2000 Won (Season 2) of Love The Way You Lie (originally by Rihanna). The song choice was great (the song style suited both very well), and the arrangement of the song was brilliant, where all 3 of them could stand out comfortably yet equally. Very emotional, beautiful.
- Good Girl Bad Girl by Lee Hi & Miss A (Season 1) - Miss A really helped to tone down a lot for this performance so that Lee Ha Yi can be comfortably included, and it was evident that Lee Ha Yi really enjoyed this stage with Miss A.
- Ma Boy 2 by (originally by Electroboyz feat. Hyorin) Baek Ah Yeon & Lee Seunghoon (Season 1) - These 2 really look adorable together and it was an overall really entertaining performance.
4. Couple Duet Style
Other performances to check out:
- Banmal Song by Seohyun and Yonghwa (the Goguma Couple on WGM) - another WGM singing their digital single live, but felt much more like a forced live collaboration and was slightly awkward/uncomfortable to watch. Still, pretty nice harmonizing here so it goes on the list!
- One Year Later by Onew and Jessica - as with above, this live collaboration of their song felt forced, but One Year Later is a really really moving song, that I just had to include it.
5. Instrumental-Vocal Collaboration
Other Performances to Check Out:
- I Love You by 2NE1 featuring Jung Sungha - Another acoustic collaboration between them, and just as brilliant.
- That XX by G-Dragon featuring Jung Sungha - Fellow YG labelmate with the aforementioned guitarist, but a vastly different performance style from the 2 videos above. More toned down on vocals accompanied with the sweet guitar strumming, a performance worth listening.
- Can You Hear Me by Taeyeon featuring Seohyun - A performance of the Beethoven Virus OST originally by Taeyeon at the 36th Korea Broadcasting Prizes, except with Seohyun on the piano. It was more of Taeyeon taking centre stage with her beautiful vocals and Seohyun at the side, but a collaboration all the same.
6. Instrumental+Vocal-Vocal Collaboration
This type of collaboration is an extension of the previous one, when the one on the instrumentals also has his/her share of vocals in the performance. The grandest performance I know from this category would definitely be Love Rain performed by Kim Tae Woo featuring Seohyun.
Other performances to check out:
- None of these performances are really fabulous, but they're worth listening to. And they both do away with all the glitz and glamour so this is really music for the soul. (Tsk and IU fans can get their treat here) So here's presenting IU and Taemin performing a song medley of Gee, Juliette and Hello and IU and Yonghwa performing Lucky (originally by Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat).
7. Background Vocals - Lead Vocal Collaboration
8. Across an Entertainment Company
Artistes from many entertainment companies have released a song as a whole before, namely SMTown, YG Family, JYP Nation and United Cube, or have performed a song live together before (most commonly being at their company concerts). I for one have kept my attention on songs by SMTown for a long while, and the most memorable songs of all would have to be Only Love. It is a song that truely captures all heartfelt emotions in its lyrics well. And it actually doesn't sound disjointed even when it is really one line per person. Other performances to check out:
- Here are 2 more of SMTown songs that I like, Let's Go On A Vacation and Dear My Family. The former song is an upbeat, catchy and really fun song released in 2007 during Summer, while the latter is a more emotional song featuring only the vocal powerhouses from all of the idol groups.
9. Between the vocally strong
Other performances to check out:
- The KPOP finalists of the first season have collaborated on several occasions after the season has ended for vocal performances, namely Mercy (originally by Duffy, starting at 4:30) and We Found Love (originally by Rihanna). The former is performed by Park Ji Min, Lee Hi and Baek Ah Yeon, while the latter is only performed by the Park Ji Min and Lee Hi. Both of these performances are vocally strong, though not really impressive.
10. For a Cause
Other Performances to Check Out:
- You Raise Me Up by Jo Kwon, Jongkook, Taeyeon, Yonghwa, Jessica & Various Artistes - sung in support for the victims of the Haiti Earthquake
- Not a live stage, but will definitely tug at your heartstrings all the same. I Dream by 15& with Hanbit Bitsori Ensemble from Hanbit School for the Blind.
Do you agree with my favourite KPOP collaborations? Or do you have some of your own favourite KPOP collaboration stage picks which did not appear on this list? Do type your comments in the section below!
Photo Credits: bestkpopwallpaper.com
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