SS501 Polygamous Chicken Date
ATTENTION All Girls. Kim Hyun Joong, O Revered Leader of SS501, is looking for girlfriends… who love chicken. Via Pop Seoul:
“So what does chicken have to do with it?
Well, for every Hot Sun Chicken that is ordered, you can enter for a date with Kim Hyun-joong. Seventy lucky girls, who eat the most chicken, will get their chance for a “special” polygamous date with the SS501 leader on July 4th at the Hot Sun Chicken Restaurant in Kangnam. As part of the chicken date, there will be autographs, photo opportunities and the chance to be served chicken by Kim Hyun-joong himself!
Chicken, Kim Hyun-joong and 70 girls sounds romantic.
The contest runs from May 18th to 30th and winners will be announced on July 1st, 2009.”
[CF] Lee Min Ho & Jessica Gomez - Cass Beer commercial
Lee Min Ho is popularly known for his lead role in the recently finished Korean drama Boys Over Flowers, a remake of the Japanese Hana Yori Dango. Personally, I didn’t think he was that hot; his hairstyle bothered me the most. But wow, this commercial music video is a totally different story. About the drama, dear Mother informed me that “ajjumas” (ye olde korean ladies) across the country found Gu Jon Pyo (Min Ho’s lead character) endearing because they looked at him and thought, “That is the son I wish I had” or “That is the boyfriend I wish I had” and so on. He was many people’s ideal guy I suppose. Perhaps… girl too? Watch Lee Min Ho apply make up and put girls to SHAME.
Jessica Gomez is really dyanamic in this video. She looks Korean, but don’t let her looks fool you: she’s a mix of Portugal, Singapore, and China. [Read Pop Seoul’s article “Jessica Gomez is not Korean”] I was immediately intrigued and youtube’d her, and found this LG Bikini Touch cell phone commercial she did. Man, I still have “Bikini! Touch! Bikini! Touch! Biki-” stuck in my head.
Extreme…
2X 2X~
DBSK: Bolero
Tracks
1. Bolero
2. Kiss The Baby Sky
3. 忘れないで (Don’t Forget)
4. Bolero (Less Vocal)
5. Kiss The Baby Sky (Less Vocal)
6. 忘れないで (Don’t Forget) (Less Vocal)
Review
1. Bolero: I’m so torn over what to say of this ballad. On the one hand, it’s forgettable and boring. I checked the lyrics to see if they would make the song more meaningful and nope - just a lot of moons and wings and dreams. You get the picture. However, on the other hand, their voices are freakin’ awesome, and I bet you can get a really cool mix out of this song. There are a lot of interesting background elements. It’s also a plus that they’re looking good in the MV. This is the title track for the Japanese ballet movie Subaru. So it depends on you; see whether you like it or not.
2. Kiss the Baby Sky: I’m beginning to see this album is not exactly my style. I like their Purple Line days better than this “THE WORLD IS BEAUTIFUL!~ Rainbows! sunshine! happiness!” style they have going on here. Still, as the previous track, I have to admit it’s interesting in a way. You want to hate them, but can’t. This might be fun to sing with friends, if you’re in this kind of mood. It makes for some good exaggerations and light poking at DBSK.
3. 忘れないで (Don’t Forget): As soon as the song started, I was like oh crap, it’s a slow song. To make me endure such a song, I’d need it to be background music in an engrossing movie scene. It’s still better than Rain’s flat album (Rianism) at least. But you know what, at 2:06, I just gotta press stop. Not because that’s a crucial WTF moment - it’s not - but I simply can’t endure any more.
1/5 because while it was interesting and worth a first listen to see if this is your thing, they’re not songs that I forsee replaying in the near future.
Notice
Hey guys! Sorry I’ve been inactive on this site of late!
But I’ve definitely been keeping up with my KPop, and what a lot I neglected to write on here.
I’ll start catching up immediately. Look forward to it :)
-seoulmusic
2 AM: Time for Confession
2 AM Brings Sexy Back
Is it just me, or are hot guys in sunglasses the theme of every album cover these days? Not that there’s anything to complain about :P But in terms of looks, we may be going for interchangeable parts here.
This is my first time actually paying attention to 2 AM, and dude - were they always this hot?! Mind you, this group performs ballads, while their counterpart 2 PM is for dance and rap. Some higher-up made a HUGE mistake here, because the soulful ballad singers are way hotter.
Oh all right, so they couldn’t help that the good looking ones happened to prefer ballads. *sulks*
Anyway! Here is the track listing & review! If instrumentals are your thing, it may be your lucky day, as half of these don’t have words o_O
Tracks
1. 친구의 고백
2. Lost
3. 일단 돌아서지만
4. 친구의 고백 (Instrumental)
5. Lost (Instrumental)
6. 일단 돌아서지만 (Instrumental)
Review
1. 친구의 고백 (“A Friend’s Confession”): I should probably inform you from the start that I’m not really a ballads person, and I usually prefer fast-paced songs. It’s about a guy who loves this girl, but they’re good friends, and he always kept his feelings hidden. Now he’s confessing he loves her. The MV is boring, very boring, so I shall not post it here. I guess this song is for die-hard 2 AM fans; everyone else might wonder what’s special about it.
2. Lost: You have to admit that they do have the voice, though. I also have to admit that it’s not good to review ballads when ballads are not your thing.
3. 일단 돌아서지만: I like the beginning. This song progresses fast enough with a good beat to keep me interested, and I like how you can hear the different voices.
0/5, but don’t take my word for it, I’m biased. There is, however, nothing distinctive about this album. Let us hope for better works later (after all, SS501’s early albums were totally boring! but look at them now)
UR Man: Actor/Singer/CEO/Runaway/EscapeArtist
This entire post is from Rina’s Entertainment Notebook, which I just stumbled across, but check it out! Didn’t have a permalink, so I shall immortalize it here as best I can:
SS501’s Kim Hyun Joong made a shocking confession on the January 26th SBS Yashinmanman Show. He confesses that he almost died, not once, not twice but a SHOCKING three times over a period of six months while he lived as a runaway. He left home during his sophomore year of high school and lived like a bum with friends and local transients. He almost died from starvation, and was almost beaten to death. From what I understand he also was close to death by being almost fatally squished.
Kim Hyun Joong said that he was starving to the point that he and his friends ordered food at a restaurant, ate, and then ran away without paying with fistfuls of fried foods in hand. Wow, what a badass.
On the time he was almost beaten to death, Hyun Joong says that he and his ragtag group of friends ran into the a couple of drunken thugs and and got into a not-so-friendly argument, which resulted in his friend being beaten by the gangsters. Hyun Joong jumped in the middle of the beating, being beaten himself and luckily rendered the assailant unconscious by slipping on some newly fallen snow.
His final encounter with Death was when he was sleeping at an apartment complex construction site and was awaken just in time by the loud construction noises. Later he saw that the entire area was demolished except for the spot where he had been asleep just moments earlier.
And now it’s been revealed that this miracle boy runs a chicken shop with his friends (based on a pact he made with his preschool friends) and he also made 100 million won (around $75,000) by working all kinds of jobs. He says he hasn’t relied on his parents for money since junior high.
My, my… our little pretty boy has had quite the bad boy life. A Runaway, an actor, leader of SS501, CEO of a chicken house and now he can put escape artist on his resume too. Really? Is there anything this guy can’t do? Perhaps, act?
I swear, I think Koreans are so good at being all melodramatic that the PR people make this kinda stuff up. I mean, really how much more publicity do you need, homeboy?! We get it, you’re perfect. This guy was living on the streets and working his way into a pop group, and avoiding death and being best childhood friends with DBSK’s JaeJoong and TOP from Big Bang??!? Really? And now he’s on one of the top tv shows on air, working alongside a mere mortal like Lee MinHo? Yeah, we’re not worthy.
From the popular Korean drama Boys Over Flowers.
Hahaha, this is so priceless! Guy 1: eyebrows raised, “I don’t think I like that.” Girl: sigh of defeat as the guy I like is going away for another girl. Guy 2: oblivious
2 PM: Hottest Time of the Day
Listening to 2 PM for the first time. Interesting how Nickhun is from Thailand :]
Track
1. 10 Points Out Of 10
2. Only You
3. Angel
4. 10 Points Out of 10 [Old School Version]
5. 10 Points Out of 10 [Instrumental]
6. Only You [Instrumental]
Review
1. 10 Points Out Of 10: Catchy, danceable, a song for audiences to follow along. Hmm, it is distinct too, because I can’t say it sounds like SS501, nor Rain, nor Super Junior, to name a few. But it’s not great. A good song for them to introduce themselves with. On the dancing side, they can b-boy and perform acrobatics, so it’ll be interesting to see their later works. If you want to see a different version of their MV where they stare at cleavage and nearly kiss each other, it’s up to you to find it!
2. Only You: As ballads go, they have a hard time to capture my attention, unless they’re Baek Ji Young or Ivy. This one doesn’t really make the cut. It’s okay, but I kind of spaced out for the latter half.
3. Angel: I was brought out of my stupor by this fresh dance beat… and then promptly spaced again. Hmm, I don’t really associate loud voices and this style with angels. OOH, NICE VOCALS going on around 3:00!
The rest are instrumentals or a remix, so I’ll leave that up to you.
Rated at 1 out of 5, contrary to the lead title. It’s really more of a 0.5, because 10 Points Out Of 10 isn’t as stellar as BoA’s Eat You Up. But they just debuted, whereas that was BoA’s 19th album, so hwaiting 2 PM!
BoA's American Debut
Beat Of Angel - “BoA”
BoA’s United States debut album has been released on March 17th.
The lead song Eat Me Up has been out since October already. The album already reached #11! on Amazon’s best seller list, moving rapidly from as far down as #42. It’s her break into the American market, and it’s said that Britney Spears collaborated with her on one of the songs. In the small commerical before the MV, they play on BoA’s name as “Best Of America,” which is somewhat doubtful, but good luck! d.____.b
Track
1. I Did It For Love feat. Sean Garrett
2. Energetic
3. Did Ya
4. Look Who’s Talking
5. Eat You Up
6. Obsessed
7. Touched
8. Screamed
9. Girls On Top
10. Dress Off
11. Hypnotic Dancefloor
Review
I found a really detailed review with plenty of pictures over at Vitamin Drop, so I recommend you go read that :) but here’s mine anyway.
1. I Did It For Love: boring. I didn’t quite catch what she did for love, either. Like many of the songs to follow, I feel they created some effects to blur BoA’s accent, but it’s still there.
2. Energetic: boring. BoA repeating “Put me on, put me on” doesn’t help matters. Feels brainwash-y, like robots or drones move stiffly to this song. May all almighty powers forbid the use of this song on a dance floor.
3. Did Ya: ooh, not going to sit around waiting for you? I like it. xD This song is upbeat and finally sounds a little more fun. “You should’ve loved me right, but you didn’t, did ya~” And there are these cool instrumental solos going on. I think this song will make it onto my playlist. You’ll go around humming but you didn’t did yaaa.
4. Look Who’s Talking: “They wanna give it to me”? I definitely see the Britney Spears influence here. But back we are to the drone singing of the so-called “Energetic.” It keeps saying the song is about her, and I’m like ok, good for you, but you should lay claim to a better song.
5. Eat You Up: Now here’s the song I’ve been waiting for! This totally makes up for the boredom I’ve just gone through. I don’t know how her thought process goes though. She’s saying if the dude moves any closer, she’ll go tigress and jump him, so much so that she feels in love 0_o
6. Obsessed: Does love usually sound this slutty? Oh well, at least it has a tad more life to it. Starts off with male panting, which continues in the background, not really what I want to hear on my iPod, thank you. Wow, I paused it and came back to hear “I’M OBSESSED WITH YOU TONIGHT!!” And then something about shame and crime…
7. Touched: I’m bored and want to go pursue other stuff, but I’ll persist- wait.. a bored reviewer is boring, so I’m going to stop here. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t! After all, there are people out there who like this album better than I do, as the other review shows.
1 out of 5. All I want from it is the single, “Eat You Up.” Edit: OK, and ‘did ya.’
