Archive for March 2013
Review: Lee Hi - Rose
After dancing cutely with a live-sized bear in It's Over, Lee Hi (otherwise dubbed as the 'monster rookie') is back with the second part of her album, and the title song Rose. Teasers released prior to the music video have already hinted at a more mature and feminine concept that she will be having for the first time, which is a step away from the cute sassy young girl image she adopted for her previous hits 1234 and It's Over.
The Visuals:
Unlike her previous hits 1,2,3,4 and It's Over, Lee Hi did away with the glitz, the glamour and the dancing in the music video of Rose. I attribute this difference to the nature of the concept of Rose, which revolves around a dreary, bleak, lifeless concept as compared to her previous upbeat songs. The lack of distracting visuals also allowed viewers to be able to focus on listening to the musical aspect of the song. This was indeed a very wise move because in terms of musicality, this song was unbelievably great (I will go into this later on).
However, there is an offside when it comes to these kind of music videos, and that would be the lack of hook to captivate and sustain the interest of the audience throughout the whole music video. This problem is aggravated by the fact that the music video does not have a storyline, because I wouldn't really consider a few symbolic scenes (specifically (wolves, hunters, a tattoo, rose petals in strong hands) to hold enough content to form a plot. That's right, scene after scene, it is Lee Hi's face. Since there wasn't any fixed choreography for Lee Hi to dance to or a storyline for her to act to, it is extremely fortunate that she has greatly improved in her expressiveness, and was able to express emotions through her lip-syncing and facial expressions. As for her actions, YG must be well aware of how awkward Lee Hi is, for in the MV, she was mostly standing still. That is a smart move - the awkward side of Lee Hi would have destroyed the whole mood of the song. It is also extremely fortunate that the boredom and monotony of the music video was greatly reduced by the variety the music video offered us in terms of Lee Hi's stunning outfits, elaborately designed music video sets and skilled filming + video editing. I personally thought that the video editing was slightly over the top and that the scenes were changing too frequently, but that wasn't a huge issue.
What I didn't like:
It took me a while to get used to that rose headband on her head. The rose headband somewhat looks like an awkward bulky structure taken from a nearby museum and modified as a hair accessory. It does not really complement Lee Hi's small frame well. At least the background had many rose structures, which made the rose headband kind of blend in into the whole 'rose' concept.
What I liked:
I really liked her outfit with the red shirt. It was about the same shade as the many roses in the background, and this allowed a strong contrast between the roses and Lee Hi against the deadly white background.
I also really liked the scene in the dark room, which sadly only showed her silhouette 99% of the time and a quick shot of the side profile of her face. Since in terms of personal growth as a star, this music video was supposed to reflect the feminine side of Lee Hi, I had hoped that YG could have elaborated on this scene. She looks 100 times really mature in long straight flowing hair than in the rose headband, no kidding.
Musicality
I was greatly impressed by the musical aspect of Rose. Rose in itself is a very powerful and solid song - powerfully written, composed and arranged. The lyrics seem like a warning about a heartless, cold and indifferent attitude towards love which will eventually result in the ending of relationships, heartbreak and hurt. Throughout the song, the red rose is used as a symbol for love, which I thought was rather creative since a red rose is conventionally a symbol of sincere love.
The composition and the arrangement of the song greatly complemented each other. To talk about the arrangement of the song first, the song was arranged such that there wasn't a distinctive repetitive instrumental melody playing in the background; the arrangement only involved simple drum beats, and subtle guitar strumming or piano chords in the background. As such, the song depended heavily on Lee Hi's vocals for the melody to carry through and to fill the emptiness created by the lack of background music. And I think Lee Hi did a great job there. Her deep, strong, wholesome, husky, soulful voice really shone through for the whole song. I would think that the composition of the song also greatly helped Lee Hi in singing out the emotions and the mood of the song.
What I liked:
I really liked how the first half of the chorus didn't have a drum beat, which was only added in for the second half of the chorus. This enabled the first half of the chorus to have a somewhat melancholic feel, before a pulse is added to the song, which adds drive to the song.
Generally, it seems like YG and our monster rookie didn't disappoint. Unarguably. there has been marked improvement in her vocals and appeal as an idol since KPOP Star times to now. If you're looking for quality music for the soul, I would recommend this song and music video immediately.
Media: G-Dragon 'Michi Go' Teaser Photos... or Michi No.
Earlier this week, it was revealed that G-Dragon's new single name would be called 'Michi Go'. Along with the relevance of the name, he also brought out a few photos to show off his new and "improved" look.
Don't get me wrong... I love G-dragon but these teaser photos? I don't love them at all.
His new hair-do, even though G-Dragon is known to have crazy ass hairstyles, is possibly one of his worst. He obviously made a mistake by going to Taeyang for hairstyling advice. His teaser pictures, it's partially like he's trying to hard to be a mixture of "gangster" and "original" but he fails at both of them and just ends up as "weird".
Though I'm not going to judge the track just over simple photos, I'm not going to let this one slide.
f(x) on American Comedy "Funny or Die"
It seems like nowadays, everyone wants a "piece of the world star pie" after PSY's success with Gangnam Style and are taking any opportunity at advancing in America regardless of the consequences (I'm looking at you, JYP). And if you're well updated with K-Pop's recent foreign advancements, you would be well aware that f(x) has recently filmed on a shocking American comedy called 'Funny or Die' with Pitch Perfect's star 'Anna Kendrick' available to be watched here.
After watching this skit probably twice, I'm cut through the middle at my opinion of it.
This skit wasn't that bad... I actually chuckled a bit here and there. I liked Amber's f(x) dominating role in the skit as well as Luna and Victoria's Engrish.
But Krystal's acting was unbelievably obvious and unnatural and Sulli seemed like she was the just a shadow and didn't even get a single line (probably because her Engrish was too bad to understand, but even so...). Not only that, I actually like Anna Kendrick however, there were some times in it where she was just... awkward? out of place? trying too hard? maybe even all three?
Also, in this, it talked about K-Pop and even had that Anna girl sing in her bad Korean and learn the Electric Shock dance, it really didn't capture the elements of K-Pop nor really showed what it really was about. It sort of just teased it a bit rather than made it sound appealing to a non-K-Pop listeners view. Lastly, I noticed that whenever the 'Electric Shock' music video , they only played the English chorus part rather than the Korean words... again, not really showing K-Pop's elements.
Though there's more negatives listed here than positives, I really did enjoy this clip. It was a good laugh in less than five minutes and it made me somewhat interested in more f(x) comedies. Nevertheless, Anna Kendrick is a great person to work with however, I really did which this show showed more of K-Pop rather than the short clip of Anna Kendrick, Amber, bad acting Krystal, the Engrishing 2 and their shadow.
Choi Hee Jin: To expose 10 Male Celebrities
2 years ago, Choi Hee Jin was sentenced to prison after defamation of Eru and Tae Jin Ah's character. Before her sentencing, she has also stirred up numerous controversies around the K-Pop industry and has been labeled as a compulsive liar and had got into/started shit with netizens, Tablo and even herself...
and this bitch is back in business.
One would think after 2 years of prison, someone that idiotic would change in fear of getting another sentencing, this time, less lenient. However, someone this mental "smart" couldn't refuse another opportunity of defaming someone's character.
This time, she's aiming at 10 male celebrities with her new game "Exclusive X-Files"
In the video that you can watch below, she stated how she's going to reveal her bad relationships with men as well as state how she had tried to get back on the right track and lead a normal life which is impossible to have for someone that crazy.
Sooyoung wants to be called an artist on MBS Documentary
The talk of the week, taking the SM-hating spot light off of SHINee's Onew's recent controversies, Girls' Generation Sooyoung gets put into the light and states her opinion:
Honestly, I want to be called an artist.
At first, I laughed.
[Insert an entertainer from SM Entertainment] and artist other than BoA in one sentence?
No.
SM Entertainment is most probably the worst company in the Big 3 in letting people actually express themselves and show their true artistry. In my honest opinion, the entertainers under SM Entertainment are more or less just dolls to SM's overall cash crop and when the dolls get less and less popular and start raking in less and less money, they're thrown to the side to fend for themselves.
And SNSD are not any different.
Yes, now it's their time to shine.
Yes, now their the most popular girl group in Korea.
But the same thing will happen to them when the time comes and people want Girls' Generation rather than Ahjumma Generation.
Furthermore, being that they are just products of SM Entertainment "Star Museum", I really can't say that with the lack of control over their career and them just really being the visual elements to the whole creation and production of their art, that they even deserve the title of artist.
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| Yes, Sooyoung. You can be an artist. |
Now now, I'm not shaming Girls Generation. After... what? Five years of hard work not to mention the years of training to lead up to that hard work is impressive and it's not something to completely just forget about. But even with those five years of hard work, they have done almost nothing to really show their true artistic abilities and individuality and really are the basic image of what an idol is. Not an artist.
Likewise, I actually do understand where Sooyoung is coming from. I think after the numerous years of being on stage and just giving out music that doesn't truly mean anything other than money in CEO oppars pocket that one would actually want to start...
expressing themselves.
And Sooyoung really hasn't been able to do that though she really does want to.
And with the time being, I'm not even sure that Sooyoung has much time to do that.
Because as I said before, "Star Museum" Entertainment will soon see a downfall in their largest moneymaker and will have to move to the next one... and with the thought in mind of how quick music transitions and moves... I can only guess how long it will take for that to happen.
Korean Celebs who might've received plastic surgery Pt. 1
There's numerous people in the industry who have went under the knife whether it was for minor cosmetic treatment or a totally new face. These are just some of the people who I believe have gotten surgery. If you'd like to see part 2, click here.
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| Han Chae Young |
EXO Dating Sim Game... this can't be good
I was confused at first, not knowing if this was actually legit or not but I took the liberty to download it and was flabbergasted. I spent probably 2 seconds on that thing before closing it down.
It was the epitome of madness.
A creation of a crazy EXOtic.
Check it out and see what you think about it.
Even Hitler wants a 2NE1 comeback
Site News: Looking for Staff
As time passes, K-Pop Ranter becomes more and more popular... and with more popularity, comes the need for more staff... because with this site, we need not only more frequent posts, but also posts from different and even opposing opinions when dealing with certain topics.
So, we're looking for more writers, ranters, reviewers and even people who are experienced in geeky difficult things pertaining to technical maintenance like designing websites.
If you're interested, it would be great if you were experienced in the area of writing blogs, yourself, however, not everyone is so it would just be as good if you speak English, are up-to-date with K-Pop and are very opinionated. If you don't plan on being a permanent author and would just be interested in the occasional post or two when the time fits, guest author-ing is acceptable and still able to be applied for.
Interested?
Email me at kpoppertiffany@gmail.com asking for more details.
P.S. we're always hiring staff, just right now, I wanted to post about it for more awareness. It's unpaid, too.
I just realized all these gifs are of male idols.
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| Here's some HyunA ass. |
What I think will happen to K-Pop in 2013
PSY won't be a global superstar. He'll come back with a song at the set debut date (something new for YG) but his song won't match up to Gangnam Style.
Park Si Hoo case; Trainees 'A', 'B' and 'Mr.Kim'
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| Alleged Trainee A. Lee Ye Ji of Core Contents Media |
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Alleged 'Trainee B'. Ulzzang Jun Da Hye
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As shown through a recent Allkpop article, the scandal of the great actor, Park Si Hoo, was recently unraveled by not only legal representatives of Park Si Hoo but also netizens who claimed to have found the trainees involved in this whole ordeal, trainee 'A', 'B' and 'K'.
At first, I was just letting this case play out, and waited until it was finally solved 100% before taking sides, however, after seeing the Kakaotalk conversation, I have to state my views on this topic.
I'm torn between the negatives of the two sides. On trainee A's side, I'm almost positive now of who to believe--Park Si Hoo. This sex wasn't a complete mistake. As stated here,
"well of course we were both naked ㅠㅠ Don’t act like you don’t know ㅜ sigh I still can’t sober up [4:49 AM]" cr. allkpop
Trainee 'A', though drunk, had to have known that she was going to be participating in some kind of sexual activity within the night of February 14th. Not only that, from the context of that conversation, it seems like through this conversation, trainee 'A' had some sort of relationship with Mr. Kim and with my analysis I could only break it down to two possible options to what was going through her mind during that time period.
One, she was mad because there was sex from Park Si Hoo on that night but not with Mr. Kim. And after that, she realized what she had done and tried to use whole happening against the actor, Park Si Hoo. Or two, She did it when Park Si Hoo and again, she began to realize what she had done but, to me, it's almost like she wants something from Park Si Hoo being that he's a well-established man in the industry and she had sex with him... my guesses for what she wanted are:
Fame
Money
Revenge for not being able to "protect" Mr.Kim and their relationship because of course, she slipped up.
Either way, in my eyes I don't see that this sexual encounter had been something completely unintended by trainee 'A'. In honesty, it seems more like what I said IU did in her recent scandal.
Now, I'm not siding with Park Si Hoo.
It seemed like Park Si Hoo was in the least somewhat aware that this female was intoxicated, even though he was apparently intoxicated at the same time, however, still took advantage of her drunkenness. And whether or not Mr. Kim was his 'hoobae', he should've known better than to give in so quickly to that sexual offer especially being the fact that he's a very well-known star who when this scandal first arose, even persons who weren't his die-hard fans were astonished and began denying that he could even do such a thing. He should have known that things like these would bite him back in the butt eventually but he still let himself take the risk and I really cannot feel at the least bit sorry for him.
To conclude, my views are that both sides are guilty of something. Trainee A was at fault for even starting this ordeal and Park Si Hoo is at fault for using his penis as a brain for not thinking before acting. To be optimistic, I would hope that at least one person would walk off from this scandal unscathed however, realistically, I'm pretty sure no one will.
