Tagged: Shinee
[ALBUM REVIEW] SHINee’s ‘ODD’
A/N: First of all, yes this is my first time doing an album review in this blog and I hope I am doing it right. I’m really clueless about this so forgive me if I commit some mistakes along the way. Yes, I think the blog is back with its regular programming and sorry if I the blog just returned after such a long time.
ODD is SHINee’s 4th studio album and unlike their previous albums, SHINee took a break from their usual ‘complextro’ and took on another step towards Pop-Dance this time. ODD is composed of eleven full-length tracks which were composed and written with the likes of Kenzie, The Jam Factory, The Underdogs even SHINee’s very own Kin Jonghyun and many more. So shall we start our track-by-track mini review? 🙂
Hell yea let it be my EXODUS! (EXODUS Album Review)
EXO, now composed of ten members, came back with a stunningly made album “EXODUS”, showcasing each of the members’ improved skills in singing and rapping. It only goes to show that their group is totally moving forward to what happened in their last comeback. We welcome the new and improved faces of the group.
Stronger and Sexier. These are the two things that I saw in this album. More hip thrusts, flirtatious lines that will surely make the fangirls faint. From school boys who transformed into wolves, to sexy men in a cool sports car, let’s see and dig deeper to what has improved on each of the tracks on this album.
Let’s get right to it, shall we? Continue reading
ToBeRS: SHINEE’s Jonghyun To Make a Solo Debut
SM is opening 2015 with a delightful suprise!
Today, SHINee’s Jonghyun has announced his solo debut through a music video teaser and image teaser on SMTown’s website and official YouTube Channel.
Witihin a mysterious tagline: “There are reasons to be attracted to Danger” Jonghyun will be releasing his solo mini album on January 12th entitled “BASE”. So make sure to watch out for more teasers!
credits: www.jonghyun.smtown.com & SMTown’s YouTube channel
NEWS: EXO’s Luhan & Baekhyun Casted!
With all these rumors flying around regarding Luhan & Baekhyun vying for roles, finally, SM has confirmed both!
Luhan is casted for the Chinese remake of the Korean movie “Miss Granny” which has the title “Back to 20” and he is said to portray the role of the grandson of the lead role. Back to 20 is said to start filming on May 20.
On the other hand, Baekhyun has been casted as the lead role, Don Lockwood for the Korean production of the musical “Singing in the Rain”. He has been casted alongside Super Junior’s Kyuhyun & SHINee’s Onew. Singing in the Rain will be playing starting June 5 up until August 4 at Chungmoo Arts Hall.
Congratulations & Good Luck to both Luhan & Baekhyun!
OMO: Is Love Really That Delicious? – [ToHeart’s Delicious MV Review]
I have to confess before anything else, that I am one of those people who got literally happy (Yup! With jumping all around the house and those things) the minute SM announced that they are really indeed making this sub-unit happen. For real.
SM never get to collaborate with other companies, if you haven’t noticed it yet and I guess this is not a collaboration too, you know? I mean, SM C&C acquired Woollim Ent’s distribution rights last year but let’s make this count with that. I mean, SMEnt and Woollim are two separate division in that umbrella thing. So yeah, it won’t hurt right? But I think SM should definitely have to collaborate more.
What makes this whole sub-unit nail-bitingly exciting is they’re putting two best of friends (as they have mentioned in Ryeowook’s Sukira) together then add that to the fact that INFINITE & SHINee are the two groups out there who can actually literally dance so well. Who on Earth would have imagined this to really happen right?! Then here are Woo Hyun & Key blatantly melting your hearts with just their stares. Okay, that’s too much for a little fangirl’s heart, isn’t it? It did not ended there though, they have naughtily decided to entitle their debut single “Delicious” too. Just when you thought you could survive this debut, nope. There’s no escaping. They are not letting you, you could not possibly survive this cutie-pocalypse.
Surprisingly though, they went for dance pop. Particularly, jazz dance pop for their title track Delicious. Although at first, based on their first “Prologue”, I was guessing that they are going for the party-synth-ish genre because that prologue’s background music can actually possibly kill all that’s out there at the moment. But no, they kind of stick to what sounds like what TVXQ’s genre at the moment. I don’t really know what’s in SM’s mind for deciding like that but hey, I think it is working though.
I am not totally digging the “Love is Nutritious” part of the lyrics though. Yep, “nutritious” probably and definitely rhymes with “delicious” but I don’t why would you put it in a jazzy song like this. It kind of made me think of a cereal advertisement for a minute. I mean where would you see “delicious” & “nutritious” in the same line? But considering that they are on to convince you and tease you on love. Let’s just let them go ahead with that sweet, delicious & nutritious combination that they have got going in the song.
Dance-wise though, I am slightly disappointed with what they have come up with. I mean, Woo Hyun came from INFINITE which is the most in-synch dancers in the whole KPop and Key is from SHINee who always pulls off extremely difficult routines every time. So what’s up with the simple routine? They could manage to insert quite a handful of tosses or dramatic heart-stopping moves there but they didn’t. Maybe they all wanted to just keep it clean, simple & cute? I don’t know but I was expecting more to the choreography for this one. Again, it’s SHINee & INFINITE collaborating at the first place.
Yes. I have saved my opinions for the storyline & for the whole MV thing for last. First, let’s express our gratitude to those cute flipbooks that added a lot of points to the overall cuteness points of the entire MV. The childhood friends battling for a girl is kind adorable but that storyline kind of faded towards the end of the music video. Seriously, I think my following confession might put me on your most hated list, sorry. Okay here is my final ultimate confession: for the first time in my entire existence, this time I am really certain that SM is probably secretly spying on fanfics for this one. I have checked my friends’ reaction (INFINITE & SHINee fans alike) after watching this particular MV. One actually flustered about maybe she’s just overdosed herself with a lot of yaoi for the entire week and maybe that’s the reason why she has that opinion in mind for the MV and one is actually jealous over Woo Hyun. Whatever sorcery SM is trying on all of us here, this ship is sailing more than any other! I am not implying anything, it’s just Woo Hyun & Key has this hard-to-explain onscreen chemistry. Maybe it’s because they are genuinely close friends in real life? And that may actually explain why this music video is so much fun as it is (making me forget that I was expecting a party song for this sub-unit).
I can’t really point out how well and how they have managed to mix this two different personalities together, I mean obviously, Key is really outgoing type and Woo Hyun looks like a little reserved but maybe that’s the charm of the duo and their friendship in general. You have to be contrasting to work.
At the end of the day, their charisma and chemistry is all that matters and all that worked for you to be convinced that, yes, this song and MV is working for you. It is actually good. It’s so adorably genuinely cute without that cheesiness that girl groups might rub on cuteness. This is cuteness in its purest form (and yeah, those scenes at towards the end might kill you with it).
Making this to win the charts has a really thin possibility at the moment (or maybe not, I mean we have two fandoms for this) because there are two giant girl bands battling their hearts out at the moment. But I am really glad that this sub-unit happened (and maybe I’m sailing with the ship too, =) )
credits: SMTown YouTube channel
SM THE BALLAD’S “BREATH” ALBUM REVIEW
~Annyeonghaseyo!
I was tasked (I volunteered, actually) to make an album review for SM the Ballad’s “BREATH”. I got very excited and today, I am much honored to be the second ‘guest author’ in this blog (Yes, I am a guest author). So, I will save the introduction for later :)) .
So, last February 13, 2014, SM Entertainment released the most awaited album, entitled “BREATH”. With the gathering of the new line- up of artists to sing for the album, it surely is interesting to see another concept that defies love in an instance. It consists of 10 tracks, including three versions (Korean, Japanese and Chinese) of the songs ‘Breath’ and ‘Blind’.
The day I watched the teaser for the full album, I concluded that it is a compilation of BREAK- UP songs. The album is a story that is being unfolded at each of the tracks, and it created a very successful portrayal of “Heart Break”. Cheers to SM! Anyway, let’s get right through the tracks, shall we?
Note: The following plot is made from the writer’s weird imagination. Some parts of the plot came from the lyrics, others are just for internet humor.
**A melody starts off. The clouds are not in good terms with the reader’s feelings. There goes thunder and rain, a story is about to be seen, DEAR**
1. DEAR…
This one is a good starting point before hearing the full album itself. I consider this one- minute audio as the ‘mood setter’. With the sound of the rainfall, to the slow piano melody and to the mixing of orchestral sadness, this gradually made my very jolly day into a very sad one. A very effective start for the upcoming BREAK- UP songs.
** Both people are holding their phones and they are waiting for each other’s calls. Both are reminiscing good memories and keep letting out a sigh while tears fall to their faces. Each of them shows that they regret their parting to each other, and that they still both love each other the same way as before. They both want to achieve one thing, which is to at least hear each other’s BREATH (Award- Winning Plotline Level: SM)**
2. BREATH (sung by Taeyeon (SNSD) and Jonghyun (SHINee) in Korean, f (Krystal) and Changmin/Max (TVXQ!) in Japanese and Chen (EXO) and Zhang Li Yin in Chinese)
This is the best BREAK- UP song I have heard so far. This is the ballad that continues the melody of the first track ‘Dear…’ For what I have seen, it is has a very lonely tune that has a feeling of ‘REGRET’ to it. The lyrics of the song jive to the feeling of the melody itself, making it my frequently played song on this album. Also, even when you watch the music video of this song, it creates the most intense gloom. A complete package for a BREAK- UP song. Since it has three versions, the version which struck me the most? I’ll leave it up to you people. (Those three versions are freaking good I can’t even choose which is better!)
** In the aftermath, a man had a great loss for his love. He blamed himself for being too into her that it made her tired. The crucial time where he realized that ‘love’ is already gone, ‘greed’ came on a rise instead. He was too BLIND to see it at first. The man tries to forget the past but finds it very hard to do for his love still remains for her.**
3. BLIND (sung by Yesung (Super Junior) in Korean and Japanese, and Zhoumi (Super Junior-M) in Chinese)
This song is the best representation of how can love gets to a point that it is too CRAZY to continue. In the lyrics it literally described HEART- BREAK as VERY CRAZY THAT IT LEFT A VERY CRAZY DEEP SCAR (soo crazy). This song created a good feeling that the listeners can relate and follow through until the end of the song. It taught me a great lesson: BEWARE, OVERFLOWING LOVE KILLS. LOVE MODERATELY. I can say it is a hell of a good story. (fan-fic worthy, everyone!)
**The boy thinks it’s too easy for her to forget their love, but it was the same instance for her. She tries to put those good memories on a blur but it gets clearer after. She kept on shedding tears. Therefore she shouted…**
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4. SET ME FREE (sung by Taeyeon of SNSD)
I love this song as well. I think it is the girl version of the song Blind, looking like it is the response of the girl to what the man is feeling right now. For what I have experienced, the lyrics are so remarkable that everyone can follow through unlike other songs that do not repeat the same lines.
Looking at the plot, you can feel the way the woman tries so hard to forget those past memories of them, resembled to the song as her precious stones to him. The heartfelt melody gradually puts you into sadness that the song should give. Nice Job Taeyeon.
**After some time, the man has moved on, and he disregards what his love would be thinking on what he does before. He is now thinking only for himself. But he still remembers those good days, feeling like he already had no reason for his doings to be hated nor loved. (The writer stops his too heartfelt plot and goes on shopping. He sees Chen of EXO, got excited for some time. Being an EXO-stan, he gets back to typing his album review and tries not to be too biased about his review for “A DAY WITHOUT YOU”)**
5. A DAY WITHOUT YOU (sung by Jonghyun of SHINee Chen of EXO)
(I LOVE IT I LOVE IT I SO. LOVE. IT!! CHEAN IS SINGING THEN.. oops, sorry XD) *coughs. Let’s get straight to the point.
The slow beat in this song slightly gets rid of all the sadness in the earlier songs, since it changes from very sad to moderately-sad-to-happy state. It’s simply exceptional to see how the flow of the tracks in this album gradually changes your mood. (When I hear this song I feel like shopping, which is my unique compliment.) In the song, it was described that he feels free after his break- up with his love, but he is still longing for her.
It’s a good duet by Jonghyun and Chen. I also like the part where they said, “I can’t believe, yes it’s true…” in English. Their extraordinary vocal ranges always give me goosebumps, a good blend of singers in a nice song.
**Both stated: “WHEN I WAS with you, WHEN YOU WERE with me, we used to have those good times. I keep on recalling them. But today, I think it’s time to really let go of that feeling. Like what they say, there will come a time where we will change. I hope you will be happy. Goodbye.” And thus ended their wonderful love to each other… *END**
6. WHEN I WAS… WHEN U WERE…(sung by f (Krystal) and Chen of EXO)
This song is so meaningful it made my mind appreciate love and acceptance. Each line of the lyrics is closely related to each other, signifying love and its deep connection to the seasons. It’s also fun to read in the lines of the song in which it recalls the good things that happened with his/her love, and they look at it positively than before. As what the song says, ‘seasons endlessly change’, and therefore the same as through with love: it endlessly changes until we find the right kind of meaning to it, with the right one at your side.
A scene from ‘Flower Boy Next Door’
The melody of the guitar and more feels like it came from Flower Boy Next Door OST. It fits in the part where they look afar from each other through their glass walls and windows. It’s a good HEART BREAK song that keeps its melody moderately up. The part where the long ‘ooohs’ occur gives me a relaxing feeling. It’s a nice song, my favorite song in the album as well.
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All in all I liked all the songs in the Album ‘BREATH’ . A nice way to see SM Entertainment do some artist collaborations to keep making and developing wonderful voices, as to what is present, showcasing their balladeers. Even though I used the word ‘HEART BREAK’ six times and made a plot for this album, I hope to see another volume of SM the Ballad that did a great job this year. Congratulations SME!
By the way, thank you very much to Try A Little Kpop for this opportunity.
SM the Ballad’s Breath? We got this Pen Sealed! (My blog: http://pensealed.wordpress.com/ )
-The Key
Sources:
– http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/37/SMtheBalladBreathe.jpg
– http://colorcodedlyrics.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/S.M.-The-Ballad-Set-Me-Free-Taeyeon-Solo.jpg
– http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_n0tavmRYWh1qhmxnlo1_1392089171_cover.jpg
– http://us.cdn3.123rf.com/168nwm/amirian/amirian1308/amirian130800239/21678185-boy-sigh.jpg
28th Golden Disk Awards + List of Winners
Golden Disk Awards 2014 happened on January 16 at Grand Peace Palace, Kyunghee University in Seoul. Among the artists that graced the occassion were EXO, PSY, 2NE1, INFINITE and many others. The event was hosted by Choi Minho, Jung Yonghwa, Yoon Doo-joon, Oh Sang-jin and SNSD’s Tiffany and Taeyeon.
The list of awards and winners are as follows:
SPECIAL AWARDS
Ceci Asia Icon Award – SHINee & SISTAR
Goodwill Star Awards – CNBlue
Popularity Award
Girl’s Generation
Roy Kim
SHINee
BEAST
Newcomer Award
BTS
Roy Kim
Lim Kim
Crayon Pop
Disk Bonsang
EXO
B1A4
SHINee
Infinite
Cho Yong Pil
Girl’s Generation
f(x)
Digital Bonsang
A Pink
Davichi
Ailee
CNBlue
SISTAR
2NE1
Lee Seung Chul
4Minute
Digital Daesang – Grand Prize
PSY – Gentleman
Disk Daesang – Grand Prize
EXO – XOXO
Congratulations to this year’s winners!
NEWS: MAMA 2013 LIST OF WINNERS
Held at Hong Kong’s Asia World Arena – Mnet Asia Music Awards 2013 did not only recognize who made it big in the music scene this year but also showcase great collaborations between KPop and the world.
The collaborations in this year’s MAMA include Stevie Wonder with SISTAR’s Hyorin, Ylvis & Crayon Pop and Icona Pop with 2NE1’s CL. Other highlights of 2013 MAMA were Rain’s performance and comeback announcement, the performance of Trouble Maker with Infinite and Big Bang’s solo and group performances among many others.
But we’re not just there to watch the performances right? So here is the list of awards together with the winners in the 2013 Mnet Asia Music Awards:
Artist of the Year – G-Dragon
Song of the Year – Cho Yong Pil [Bounce]
Album of The Year – EXO
Best New Male Artist – Roy Kim
Best New Female Atist – Crayon Pop
Best Female Artist – Lee Hyori
Best Male Artist – G-Dragon
Best Female Group – SNSD
Best Male Group – INFINITE
Best Dance Performance (FEMALE GROUP) – SISTAR [Give It To Me]
Best Dance Performance (MALE GROUP) – SHINee [Dream Girl]
Best Dance Performace (FEMALE SOLO) – CL [Baddest Female]
Best Dance Performance (MALE SOLO) – G-Dragon [Crooked]
Best Vocal Performance (FEMALE) – Ailee [U&I]
Best Vocal Performance (MALE) – Lee Sung Gi [Return]
Best Band Performace – Busker Busker [First Love]
Best Rap Performance – Dynamic Duo [BAAAM]
Best OST -Yoon Mi Rae [Touch Love]
Best Music Video – G-Dragon [Coup D’etat]
Best Concert Performer Award – Lee Seung Chul
Best Asian Artist
Thu Min (Vietnam)
Tor Saksit (Singapore)
Derrick Hoh (Singapore)
SM + SH (Indonesia)
Kyary Pamyu Pamyu (Japan)
Aron Kwok (China)
Discovery of the year – Baechigi
Style In Music – SISTAR
Next Generation Global Star – A Pink
Worldwide Performance – INFINITE
International Favorite Artist – Ylvis
Music Makes One Global Ambassador Award- Stevie Wonder
News: Melon Music Awards 2013 Winners
The KPop Music Awards Season has officially started and first on cue in the BIG FOUR is Melon Music Awards 2013, held at Olympic Gymnastic Stadium on the 14th and which was live-streamed through YouTube.
Melon Music Awards recognizes artists who have garnered the highest digital sales and the highest online votes. Included in this year’s top ten (Bonsang) are: B2ST, Busker Busker, Dynamic Duo, SISTAR, EXO, SHINee, Davichi, G-Dragon, Ailee and IU.
The following are the list of Awards and the Artists who have received them:
Main Awards
Artist of the Year (Daesang) – SHINee
Album of the Year (Album Daesang) – Busker Busker (Busker Busker 2nd Album)
Song of the Year (Digital Daesang) – EXO (Growl)
Newcomer Award – Bangtan Boys (BTS) & Lim Kim (Kim Hye Rim)
Global Star Award – Psy
Music Style Awards
Best Rap & Hip-Hop – Baechigi (Shower of Tears ft. Ailee)
Best R&B Ballad – Huh Gak (Monodrama) & K.Will (You Don’t Know Love)
Best OST – Yoonmirae (Touch Love)
Best Pop – Bruno Mars (Young Love0
Popularity Awards
Netizen’s Choice – EXO
Hot Trend Award – Rose Motel (Call Me Oppa) & Crayon Pop (Bar Bar Bar)
Special Awards
Best Music Video – B2ST (Shadow)
Best Songwriter – Shinsadong Tiger (for Ailee’s “U&I”, A Pink’s “NoNoNo” & Trouble Maker’s “Now”)
MBC Music Star – f(x)
Cultural Achievement Award – Shin Seung Hun
The awards ceremony was hosted by EXO’s Suho, Kai, Baekhyun & Chanyeol & actress Lee Yoo Bi and graced by performances of Rose Motel, BTS, B2ST, SHINee and special stages from Huh Gak and Ailee among many others.
KPop Releases: AOA, T-ara, Kahi, Jung Joon Young & SHINee MVs
I’ve been thinking all day how to cope up with this number of MV releases and I’ve just decided to just let them be in one post. So, this is actually arranged by the time they are released today. So let’s go!
First off, AOA unleashed their sexy side for their MV “Confused” (Korean Title direct translation: Shaking)
This music video of AOA actually came out at the same time with…
T-ara’s “Number 9”!
And when you thought that T-ara has only one comeback MV, well, you’re wrong! A few hours after releasing Number 9 they came out with a much subtle MV “Because I Know”
After waiting for her to comeback for quite a while, After School’s former leader, Kahi came back with “It’s Me”.
I know that you have been watching them in WGM but first let’s take a look at Jung Joon Young’s “The Sense of An Ending” Debut MV
Yes, you know it! The last one to release their comeback MV today is…. SHINee with their much anticipated MV, “Everybody”.
They might be the last one but I think the reception is not lacking for them.
I hope that you have enjoyed all the comebacks today. I know I did!
credits: CJENMMUSIC YouTube channel, Core Content’s Media YouTube channel, Pledis Media’s YouTube channel, SMTown’s YouTube channel
Try A Little KPop 
