The Shinhwa comeback happened...

On February 26th, after what felt like an eternity, Shinhwa made their comeback. Why did I wait so long to write about this? Was it to let the fact that my boys are back fully sink into my brain? To see how the album held up after a couple weeks? Because I was too lazy to sit and write down my thoughts? IDK, man, but anyway, let's now talk about the Shincomeback...

At least everyone looks good.

Even in turtlenecks...

When they dropped the MV teaser for "Sniper" a few days before it was actually released, things got serious. The teaser was very promising. And the MV definitely delivered.

The "Sniper" MV is probably Shinhwa's most polished and stylish music video. It looks so fucking good and is much more artsy than usual. As Shinhwa is a group of mature men, they pulled off a very mature music video. I'll even say this- it's, for sure, their best MV yet.

And I'll say it here, just as I did on Twitter and Tumblr, I want Andy to beat me to death with that goddamn cane.

The song, however, was not as immediately catchy as "This Love," but after listening to it for the last couple of weeks, it definitely grew on me. It's a certified jam~ The whistling really gets to you and is super memorable. It will haunt your dreams.

After all this time, however, I'm still unsure about the WE album as a whole. On the first listen, I felt like I liked it more than their last album The Classic, but to be honest, I don't think it's as good. And what I do know for certain is that it isn't even half as good as The Return.

Apart from "Sniper," there were some good tunes on the album. "Never Give Up" is definitely my favorite song out of the 10, and "Ice Moon" follows closely as my second fave. "Cat" is good solely for the line about bringing Eric some Coca Cola and a large pizza. Unfortunately, I feel a good chunk of the album is less than memorable.

Next, let's talk about performances...

Shinhwa came back on M! Countdown with "Alright" (which is just that, an alright song, TBH) and of course "Sniper."

The "Wild Eyes" chair-centric dance is probably one of Shinhwa's most known choreographies, and over a decade later, Shinhwa returned with a new performance that involves chairs~ It's not bad. They looked good doing it, and it matched their mature concept. But it does not reach the level of radness that is "Wild Eyes."

"Sniper" has a very cool dance to go along with it. It's nothing terribly complex or seemingly difficult looking, but it's not dull and Shinhwa does not come off as a bunch of old dudes who can't dance anymore. In every performance, they looked pretty hot. "Sniper" is just a really hot concept. Everything was really hot about this comeback.

Lastly, and most importantly, let's just talk about my ultimate fave Andy.

Hot damn.

Andy looked super fine this comeback... Of course he would, though- he always looks amazing. But as usual, there has not been enough Andy. There is never enough Andy. Shinhwa will never provide me with enough Andy to truly satiate me. However, I will keep coming back hoping for more DyDy.

And to sum up everything, I'm just super happy to have my Andy back in my life.

OMG: ToToGa Super Concert

Well, ToToGa fever still is not showing any signs of dying down any time soon. Last night, I was surprised to find out that at the end of April (April 25th) ToToGa Super Concert is going to happen!

A press conference was held on the 19th over in Korea for it, and now I am pumped.

Several of the artists who preformed on the Infinity Challenge special will be back for the concert. Kim Gunmo, Lee Junghyun, Kim Hyunjung, So Chanwhee, Jo Sungmo, Jinusean, Turbo, and Cool are all returning.

Hyunjung looked really good so I'm leaving this here.

In total 21 acts are scheduled to appear at the event. So who else is going to be there?

It's kind of awkward to mention it now, given what I had to say in my previous post, but guess who's going to perform? Yeah, my fave trio, Koyote~ I'm on a serious Koyote kick this year, so I won't lie, I am mainly paying attention to this for Koyote, lol.

But anyway...

On top of Koyote, we get even more sweet 90s peeps- Clon, DJ DOC, R.ef, and Roo'ra. Literally these are all like the best groups out of the 90s.

You can never have enough Clon in your life.

Also appearing are Goofy, Young Turks Club, Cho PD, Wax, Park Mikyeong, Kim Wonjoon, Chae Jungan, and flipping Chuli and Miae!

Solid 90s line-up.

Why can't I be in Korea for this?

Just some thoughts...

People are still going on about ToToGa.

As a turd nugget 90s fan I guess it's cool, but eh, it's getting old, LBR.

When Shinhwa came back, they got asked about it, like if they wanted to perform on it or whatever. And they were like we are still active and we don't want to live in the past or something like that.

Bbaek Ga was on Taxi not that long ago and got asked about Koyote not being on ToToGa. When it heard that I was like "WTF" because as with Shinhwa, Koyote is still an active group. Bbaek Ga explained how they couldn't because Jongmin is on Star King on Saturday nights on a different channel and it would have conflicted with that.

But as I said, Shinhwa and Koyote are active groups. They're still fresh and relevant. It's not like we haven't seen them perform in forever, and it's not like we will not see either group perform within like the new year (Shinhwa literally just came back). ToToGa was more about the 90s and artists you really haven't thought about since the 90s or whose careers were more prominent in the 90s.

It's getting tiring having members from even relevant groups (i.e. H.O.T and Sechskies) field questions about ToToGa and reuniting. Of course no one can give a precise yes or no answer. So everyone needs to stop. When people go on about reunions incessantly, it feels like they get pushed back more and more.

I saw an interview with Suwon in which he said that if there was another ToToGa-esque program he hoped Sechskies could do it. Maybe it could happen. Sunghoon is getting back out there, but who knows if Jaejin would want to do it or if Jiyong will ever be down. Jiyong left entertainment so I think it would be fine if they reunited as five. I mean you can't force him to do something that he doesn't want to do. It would be awkward if he was still a celebrity and just refused to do it, but he's not a celebrity anymore. So I would have no issue with just like Fünfkies (lol, I actually looked up what five is in German).

And another thing, I don't get why g.o.d gets called a 90s group. They really aren't. I don't get why they are lumped in with other 90s boybands, to be honest; they are part of the first generation of idols, but they're more a product of the new millennium. It's just something that irks me that I felt like mentioning, lol.

Perhaps I might finally finish that g.o.d post (that is like three months late) this week...

Vixx covers an old R.ef jam

Vixx is making their first comeback of 2015, and earlier this week, they released their own version of the mid-90s song " 이별공식 (Farewell Formula)," originally by R.ef.

Now, I do consider myself an R.ef fan, and their original has always been one of my jams...

But I am a fan of Vixx as well... However, this effort is snooze-worthy.

Vixx has had a string of really strong songs and concepts, so this was a total disappointment. Literally the first Kpop song I ever heard was Super Junior's cover of "Happiness," and for whatever reason their cover will always be my preferred version. So it's not like I'm saying Vixx's "Love Equation" is crap because I'm some asshole 90s Kpop fan. It's too boring for me to really care. I'll just wait here for another comeback.

The Shin-comeback is near

You can smell it in the air. Almost like something is burning...

Shinhwa is coming back.

It's been nearly two years since Shinhwa released The Classic and killer jam "This Love." I still can't wrap my head around it being so long, to be honest. Thank goodness, the boys are finally coming back.

Earlier this week, the Shin-oppas put out a pre-release song, "Memory," which was more for Shinhwa Changjo than the general public. 

I will be real though. "Memory" did not get me hyped for the comeback. Not that I wasn't already hyped because, uh duh, as a Shin-fan a Shinhwa comeback will always get me hyped. But it really didn't make a difference in my hype levels. I could have just waited until the full album came out to listen to the song.

Basically, in my opinion, it's an okay song. I'm not a ballad person, so it left much to be desired for me. It is definitely not one of Shinhwa's better ballads either. It ain't no "On the Road." I have no clue why people go on about how "Once in a Lifetime" is their best ballad, when it's cheesy AF. Is "Hurts" considered a ballad? "Hurts" is on a whole other level, and it'll always be one of their best songs period. But I digress or whatever.

I'm just gonna chill until my Shin-babies return to me at the end of the month.

Speaking of H.O.T

Last weekend, news broke that Lee Jaewon had been diagnosed with early stage thyroid cancer but had thankfully recovered. I remember reading an interview he gave back in August that he had tumors removed, but I had thought it wasn't anything very serious and that he'd be fine. The news was a shock, especially as Jaewon has kept a very low profile since leaving the military. But over on Twitter this past weekend, my feed was flooded with new photos by fans of Jaewon out and about. It was very assuring to see him looking good and just like his usual Jaewon self. So I hope we don't have to worry about him for a very long time.

Jaewon taped a Chinese variety show very recently.

But another piece of info that followed along with the cancer news was that H.O.T were planning a reunion for the end of 2014 but scrapped it due to Jaewon's health issues. Jaewon then came out and explained that while they had discussed it, the reunion fell apart for a variety of reasons. Now that he's healthy, he plans on continuing his work over in China, appearing on TV programs and being an over-all Hallyu ambassador.

But there is an improvement in Heejun-Kangta relations, since Kangta has been on Immortal Song several times, which is a good sign. However, there's still the elephant in the room that is Tony. Netizens are very unforgiving, and while he's been away for over a year, I don't think it's long enough for people to let him off the hook and accept a comeback.

Hm, well actually, maybe an H.O.T reunion is big enough to eclipse the sins of Tony An.

Perhaps this is the year we finally get H.O.T back...

My Top 15 Favorite H.O.T Songs

When people think of H.O.T, the first thing that pops into their heads is probably "Candy." While it is one of the most, if not the most, classic Kpop songs, it's far from what I would consider to be H.O.T's best song or even the best representation of H.O.T. They had five solid album, along with the Age of Peace soundtrack and live albums, so there's a lot of music to consider. However, I do have my favorites, and I figured I would put together a list of songs that I would personally recommend to people who want to listen to H.O.T's lesser known tracks (though I suppose "Hope" is still pretty popular).

So, here we go...

1. "Natural Born Killer" from their 5th album Outside Castle ☆
2. "영혼 (Soul)" from their 4th album Iyah! ☆
3. "Op.T (Operation Takeover)" from the Age of Peace soundtrack ☆
4. "환희 (It's Been Raining Since You Left Me)" from Iyah! ☆
5. "그래 그렇게! (We Can Do It!)" from Outside Castle ☆
6. "투혼 (The Spirit of Fighter)" from Resurrection ☆
7. "열등감 (The End of My Inferiority Complex)" from their 2nd album Wolf and Sheep ☆
8. "개성시대 (The Age of Uniqueness)" from their 1st album We Hate All Kinds of Violence ☆
9. "Techno Love" from their 3rd album Resurrection ☆
10. "노을속에 비친 그대 모습 (Your Image in the Sunset)" from We Hate All Kinds of Violence ☆
11. "H.O.T (House of Trust)" from Resurrection ☆
12. "Monade" from Resurrection ☆
13. "빛 (Hope)" from Resurrection ☆
14. "You're Fast I'm Slow" from We Hate All Kinds of Violence ☆
15. "About 여자 (About Women)" from We Hate All Kinds of Violence ☆

I'm not entirely sure why, but "NBK" has been my favorite H.O.T song for years. Actually I'm not sure why any of them are my faves. Especially "You're Fast I'm Slow," it's a total rip-off of "Push It." What the hell. But they're all jamz. And my love for H.O.T makes no sense.

Why no Shinhwa sub-units?

The sub-unit concept has really taken off in the last couple of years. It's a good idea for groups to turn to. Sub-units allows for new music and promotions, but it also means that other members not involved in the sub-unit have the opportunity to do other things themselves, like go into acting or whatever. Everyone wins.

It has also gotten me to thinking about what groups I would personally like to see venture into sub-unit territory. At the top of my list would have to be Shinhwa, to be honest.

It would be pretty interesting to see what Shinhwa could do with the concept. They experimented with sub-groupings on their Winter Story albums. Plus, other members have featured on other members' solo songs, but they were never fully realized sub-units.

Okay, so my main point is that basically, I'd do anything for a RicSyung sub-unit. That would be legitimately perfect.

It's like, consider how sweet this performance is...

They were meant for each other. Their voices match so well, and I would love for them to do songs together. But this won't happen. Because it's RicSyung.

A Minwoo-Jun Jin pairing would also be pretty cool. Or like Dongwan-Jun Jin-Andy. Or how about just the chicchais?

But maybe they're just too old of a group. Hyesung and Minwoo already have such established solo careers, while Eric (and Dongwan) is more into acting, and Andy is busy with producing. If you think about it, it does kind of seem like an irrelevant idea.

But nonetheless, it could enhance the levels of Shinhwa fans experience. So it's worth a shot.

I also like to think about whether or not groups like JTL or J-Walk should be considered sub-units. Or like what was going on with NRG. Could their third album line-up (Yoomin-Sunghoon-Hwansung) be considered a sub-unit? Though it all started with Hamo Hamo, Sungjin and Myeonghun continued to group themselves as Hamo Hamo until NRG disbanded, so is Hamo Hamo one of the first sub-units?

IDK man...

King of the Idol Actors: A Suwon Post

Last year, Jang Suwon found some recognition in his "robotic" acting. Let's be real, it is kind of sad, but, I guess, it's also pretty awesome- Suwon is trendy now and is getting work just because he's awkward af.

It all started when Suwon appeared in an episode of the KBS drama Marriage Clinic: Love & War 2.

He was pretty bad- super stiff and just completely unemotional, much like a robot. It was just very, very awkward to watch. Poor Yura. But TBH, I did not hear a thing about netizens complaining about the dude from ZE:A so I guess he was saved from heavy criticism due to being overshadowed by Suwon.

From there, he took off. Idols are criticized whenever they go into acting, so maybe him being a trend is just buying into that idol-actor hate. He validates everyone's negative opinions. But there is something charming about it, which has allowed him to keep going with this new found fame for over a year. His bad acting is genuine. He actually tried; it wasn't like he just showed up and didn't care. He is just so painfully awkward that he couldn't do any better.

Along with the incessant rumors about a Sechskies reunion, his awkward acting also led to Suwon being invited on to a lot of different variety shows over the past several months. Of course, on these programs, he had opportunities to explain himself and his poor acting.

On Happy Together, his acting was the focus of his appearance. On the show, he explained himself, saying that when he is surrounded by cameras and strangers, he feels anxious and impatient so his acting comes off as hurried and therefore unemotional.

He said that he acted just as he did during rehearsals, but the director never really told him to do anything really differently. The director really couldn't complain since he had memorized his lines and did as he was told. The director of his drama episode suggested that he just tried too hard.

Until people actually started talking about how terrible he was, he thought he had done a fairly okay job. Obviously, he probably feels differently now.

Strangely enough though, Suwon did mention that the director had transferred to a different department since working with him, lol.

There is hope though.

Suwon can possibly find better work in comedy.

Back in October, Suwon was featured on the episode of Korean Saturday Night Live hosted by g.o.d's Joon. The sketches he appeared in, of course, referenced him being a robot, but they worked, and the sketches were actually pretty funny.

Most recently, he got what I feel is his biggest break- he was cast as the main character in the two episode parody (called 미생물) of popular drama Misaeng.

His director told him to only just watch the drama and not analyze it and to not change or improve his acting.

Surprisingly, he was genuinely pretty good and was able to bring the LOLs~

He was also super cute in the parody. Just saying.

Suwon needs to figure out how to translate this notoriety into something meaningful before his bubble pops. I hope he does stick with comedy since I think his robot persona and natural awkwardness could be played off of pretty well as some sort of straight man. But IDK what will happen, so let's wait and see.

ToToGa Concert Part 2

The second part of Infinity Challenge's ToToGa concert aired on Saturday night in Korea.

Cool were up first this episode.

They sang "Sorrow" and "Before Sadness Comes," and they had everyone dancing~ Despite missing Yuri, Cool put on a good little show. Lee Jaehoon was amazing and still looked so handsome; he's the soul of Cool so as long as he was there, it felt like Cool. Yewon blended in well- I love Cool, but I also like Yewon, so it all worked well for me.

Next So Chanwhee came out. She still looks super good, sounds super good.

She performed "A Wise Choice" and "Tears."

Old school powerful lady vocalists like her and Kim Hyunjung need more love; there aren't really any singers like them around nowadays. I'm not one of those Kpop fans who are assholes about voices and singing "talent," but I really love the ladies who could just scream it all out.

Jinusean were up after So Chanwhee. The two did "A-Yo" and "Phone Number."

Lastly, they performed "Tell Me," and that's when living goddess Uhm Junghwa came out for the first time~

Then Jo Sungmo was on. He started slow with ballad "To Heaven," but then the party atmosphere was back with "I Swear."

And then it was Lee Junghyun.

Since she is very serious about set design and costumes, her performances were very different from the others.

She did techno classic "Wa."

And "Give to You."

Uhm Junghwa was back again. And I was so crazy pumped.

Literally me too.

She graced us with performances of "Invitation" and "Poison."

During "Poison," Yoo Jaesuk came out filled in as backup dancer Kim Jongmin.

Amazing.

Finally, it was Kim Gunmo's turn.

He performed "Sleepless Rainy Night," "Love is Gone," and as some sort of encore, "Wrong Meeting."

The other 90s dudes were no longer content to sit in the back, and they rushed to the stage...

And they joined Gunmo for his last song.

But "Wrong Meeting" wasn't the end, Turbo got to do "Twist King" as the final encore~

Overall, it really was so good and so so fun. Hopefully, this isn't the last 90s special we'll see.

This was literally my reaction throughout the whole show.

Let's be real, it probably won't be. Both episodes had really good ratings and songs are charting again. Everyone loves the 90s. I love the 90s so flipping much too, you guys.

Also, I put together a mix of the songs performed over on 8tracks so go enjoy~