My favorite songs for the first half of 2015

Of course this is all just my personal preference, and it should be known by now that I have a horrid taste in music, but nonetheless, here are my top 25 26 songs so far this year~!

1. Crayon Pop - "FM" - Crayon Pop returned this year and literally saved Kpop. Every thing about this comeback was so perfect- the song, the stage outfits, the MV... It's as though there is some sort of conspiracy keeping Crayon Pop from becoming the top girl group in Korea. ☆
2. GFriend - "Glass Bead" - I could care less about the whole thing about how they're copying SNSD or whatever group. These girls debuted with one hell of a strong song. ☆
3. Awesome Baby - "내가 왜 (Why Should I)" - Tony's girl group finally debuted with a killer song and it pretty much atoned for the sins of "Get Your Swag On." ☆
4. Crayon Pop - "하파타카 (HaPaTaKa)" - Crayon Pop can do no wrong. If you don't love Crayon Pop, I do not need you in my life. ☆
5. Crayon Pop - "RaRiRuRe" - After saving Kpop, Crayon Pop went on to save Jpop. ☆
6. EXO - "Love Me Right" - How in the in the world did EXO make it onto this list? "Love Me Right" was so crazy good. Though it reminds me of some song possibly from the 80s that I can't quite place... ☆
7. SHINee - "View" (actually the whole album deserves a spot on the list) - SHINee never disappoints. And I will always love me some SHINee. ☆
8. Pocket Girls - "Bbang Bbang" - This should be number one just because I still can't stop listening to it even it's a bunch of nugus who came out of like no where. ☆
9. Eun Jiwon - "What U Are" & "Trauma" - See this post. ☆ / ☆
10. Shinhwa - "Sniper" - See this post. ☆
11. Defconn - "Golden Future" & "프랑켄슈타인 (Dirty Rap City)" - It's a mystery to me as to why I loved Defconn's mini-album so much. These are still my jams. ☆ / ☆
12. Kim Taewoo - "Lonely Funk" - Super fun and catchy~ ☆
13. JJY Band - "OMG" - Despite the fact I'm really into 1 Night 2 Days, I have never considered myself a fan of Jung Joonyoung. This was the first time I actually got into one of his songs, TBH. ☆
14. Jessi, Cheetah, and Kangnam - "My Type" - I had no interest at all in Unpretty Rapstar, so it was pretty surprising that I really got into this song. ☆
15. KARA - "Summergic" - KARA had a tragic Korean comeback, but their Japanese summer single was so good. ☆
16. SNSD - "Catch Me If You Can" - I'm one of the few people who actually thought this was pretty good. These last several months reaffirmed the fact that I like shitty music, I suppose. ☆
17. AOA - "Heart Attack" - I'm still super puzzled as to why this has been panned. ☆
18. Rainbow - "Black Swan" - It's a shame that Rainbow still remains unpopular. "Black Swan" did not help with that. It was weird, but it was right up my alley. ☆
19. Sistar - "Shake It" - Definitely not their best, but I did not think this was as bad as people were making it out to be. ☆
20. 4Minute - "Crazy" - This turned out to be 4Minute's best song since "Volume Up." ☆
21. Gain - "Paradise Lost" - I loved this concept so much. It was so dark and sexy, yet considerably high-brow. I wish we got more Kpop comebacks like this. ☆
22. CLC - "Like" - I didn't care for "Pepe," but I really liked "Like." Ayy. ☆
23. EXO - "El Dorado" - Whoa, EXO makes another appearance. "Call Me Baby" was shit; if this was their title track, then maybe I would have actually cared about EXO earlier this year. ☆
24. Koyote - "Stop Love" - I love Koyote, but I love dance music Koyote best. ☆

Honorable mentions (in no particular order other than alphabetized by artist):

• 9Muses - "Drama" - I love 9Muses. They are so underrated that it's disgusting. But when they came back earlier this year with "Drama" I just really couldn't get into the song. ☆

• Amber - "Shake That Brass" - TBH, I actually found this to be surprisingly catchy and fun. ☆

• Bbaek Ga - "You Know" - I addressed his solo debut in another post... ☆

• Jinusean - "Tell Me One More Time" - Riding the ToToGa wave, Jinusean finally returned but their new song didn't really have much replay value after all :( ☆

• KARA - "Cupid" - As I said before, I love KARA. "Mamma Mia" was such a jam last year, and I was super pumped for a new Korean release, but "Cupid" was such a disappointment. ☆

• Rubber Soul - "Life" - These nugus released a pretty sweet throwback jam. Very nice 90s feel. ☆

• Shannon - "Why Why" - This was just pretty good, but it never made it into my regular rotation of jams. ☆

• Teen Top - "Ah Ah" - It wasn't bad, but I was barely feeling it. Much better than what Teen Top was up to last year, though. ☆

• Vixx - "Love Equation" - I also wrote about this previously... ☆

• Xiah - "Flower" - Junsu always puts out stuff that's hit or miss for me, but this was fairly interesting. ☆

And one last note...

Even though I figured it'd be considerably disappointing, I was surprised at how much I was not feeling the Big Bang return. Big Bang was one of my favorite groups back when I first got into Kpop, but I literally could not give a shit about them anymore, I guess.

Hang in there for another six months for my end of the year wrap-up~

2014: The year of g.o.d

[I wanted to have this published before the end of 2015, but it never happened, and then I kept forget forgetting about it. But it's been like a year since they actually came back, so I finished this for the occasion. Let's just pretend it's still like back in January...]

Back in 2013, it seemed rumors of a g.o.d reunion really started to swirl about, but the year came and went with no concrete confirmation that the first generation group had plans to get back together. Early on in 2014, I remember being asked if I thought that a reunion was actually going to happen, but to be honest, I did not have high hopes and would just brush off the rumors with a "I'll believe it when I see it." To my amazed surprise, g.o.d did come back, and that comeback was the defining moment in Kpop of 2014. As well as, let's be real, the defining moment of my life in 2014.

In early May of 2014, it finally happened- g.o.d finally returned with the single "The Lone Duckling."

Everyone was super pumped. After a decade of waiting, they finally were back. It was amazing.

But we had to wait until July for the full album, Chapter 8.

Chapter 8 was a very solid album and was worth the wait. While they did not actively promote it on music shows (however, they did get their own episode of Yoo Heeyeol's Sketchbook, which was fantastic), they did give us three pretty sweet music videos- "Sky Blue Promise," "Saturday Night," and "The Story of Our Lives."

g.o.d held their reunion concerts on July 12th and 13th, and it was clearly obvious to everyone that they were finally back for real.

Then they hit the road on their national tour, putting on eight concerts throughout August before coming back to Seoul for an encore concert in October.

Something ridiculously awesome then happened in November- g.o.d came to the United States for two shows, one in Los Angeles and one in Newark, NJ. For once, something had worked out in my life. As I live in northeastern PA, I was able to make it the Newark show. I wrote about the concert after it happened here on tumblr (more terribad photos can be found here too). Even now, months later, I still can't listen to g.o.d without getting emotional and remembering the concert. Every time I listen to "Stand Up," I am immediately transported back, and it's like I can feel the oppas around me again.

The concert was beyond amazing; they put on such a great show. It was beyond fun, and the boys were so precious and lovable. I couldn't have asked for a better time. It still feels like it was all a dream.

If you ever have a chance to see g.o.d, SEE THEM!

We'll meet again Danny.

g.o.d has a timeless feel to them. Their songs are such classics, and their hits actually do stand the test of time. Stuff like "Lies" remains fresh. With how they have accessible music and an image that appeals to a wide audience, it's no wonder that they are a "national group." I have seen them in real life, and they really do seem like actual brothers, so I'm confident in my belief that g.o.d is back for good.

I can't wait for what they have in store for us at the end of this year~

Variety shows

I watch a lot of variety shows. Usually it's just because one or more of my faves is appearing on whatever it is that I'm watching. I have a lot of faves though so I sit through many different programs.

Variety can be hit or miss, and for the most part, if it's not just some random show that I'm watching for the faves, the cast is what usually makes a show work. If I don't like the cast, then I have a very hard time getting into it.

And too often shows start with a good idea but then either show runners run out of ideas or just get lazy. Then the show fizzles out into a mess, and they lose their audience.

I'm going to use the KBS program Human Condition 2 to try to flesh some of this all out.

I originally started watching this show because Eun Jiwon was a cast member. The show at first was about a group of men staying in the countryside with next to nothing to get through several days. They stayed in an empty, run down house and had no phones or internet. They were given barely any money for food and necessities, and they had to be careful with how much garbage they accumulated over the course of their time there. It was a good idea for a show.

And on top of that, the cast was fantastic. I grew to love all six members, so much so that Jiwon wasn't even my favorite on the show. They all got along so well and were so funny together. Even though I barely knew any of the other cast members before I started watching this show, I have become a fan of the other five (Yoon Sanghyun, Bong Taegyu, Heo Taehee, Hyun Woo, and Kim Jaeyoung). This can be contrasted with another show I was watching at the same time, Shin Dongyup's Bachelor Party. Again I was only watching the show because a fave (Kim Jongmin) was a cast member, and the show had other issues besides the cast, but still, they fairly awkward together. I mean, there was even that whole incident between Kangin and N. The show really didn't give me a new-found appreciation for anyone except for like N.

Now back to Human Condition 2. Eventually, however, the episodes went further away from the original format. It would have been nice if the show was about living a simpler life-style and maybe focused more on reusing and recycling, but then they took the guys out of the red clay house and made them do weirder missions. The episodes that were about collecting old clothes were great since they exposed a somewhat serious issue, but then the episodes about books and the opposite sex didn't fit in with the rest of the season. Of course people stopped watching and KBS decided to end the season.

It was very unfortunate, but even though it ended, if you haven't watched the Human Condition 2, go watch it over on Youtube.

Moon Heejun concert

So after a couple years Heejun is going to hold a solo concert~

The concert is called 19: NINETEEN, which is in reference to it being nearly 19 years since his debut.

Heejun was involved in all aspects of planning this concert, so it's sure to be very Heejun-y.

A Jang Woohyuk interview from last month

I finally got around to reading this interview Woohyuk did back in June.

In the interview, he talked about working in China, running his own company, and, of course, H.O.T.

The piece was also accompanied by a few very nice photos...

Suwon made a cameo on a drama

For once, Suwon got to act as something other than a robot.

He made a surprise cameo this past Sunday on the SBS drama The Time I Loved You.

The scene he was in was like a flashback to the 90s, so he was definitely dressed for it...

It wasn't like he was bad or anything negative like that, but the scene was so short that he didn't really have the opportunity to flex those acting chops. I guess he also didn't get the opportunity to be awkward. He's still trendy and is associated with the 90s so even though it was nothing to write home about, the cameo made sense at least.

Hey, why not check out the cameo...

I actually thought about watching this drama since I like Ha Jiwon, but I cannot get into dramas at all these days. 

ATTENTION!

My girl Kim Hyunjung is back with a rockin' new tune~

She sounds so good (looks hella good too). The song kind of feels like her old stuff, but the "attention" parts throughout sound awkward. Nevertheless, it's a jam and will go into my current playlist.

What's up with the white people in Kpop MVs these days, though?

A post about Eun Jiwon's recent comeback

Well, this (this post as well as this comeback) was like way over due... 

Eun Jiwon finally made a solo comeback after a couple years, and what he gave us was pretty good.

At the start of the month he released a taste of what was to come with "What U Are," which really does give off a throwback vibe. Since it should be established by now that I love old shit, this was more than okay with me.

"What U Are" is a good song to chill out to, and the lyrics are pretty nice. Gilme's feature is pretty sweet too.

Like a week later, he dropped "Trauma," which features the girl he was crushing on on those gender episodes of Human Condition 2. 

The other songs on the album, "Excuse" and "Soulmate," are nice tracks  too. Out of the four songs on the mini-album, though, I'd have to say that "Trauma" is definitely my favorite of the bunch.

I was really happy he did a lot more singing than I expected. Personally, I love his voice; it's so sweet~

Jiwon also made the decision to forgo promoting on music shows. While this is sad, since I wish we could see him perform his new tunes live, I can understand why, especially since he came back at a time when there's a lot of idol comebacks going on (Big Bang, Exo...). 

But he did sit down to do a interview with 1theK, which gave us insight into the mind of Jiwon...

There were, as expected, some funny bits...

Tru.

Jiwon revealing his secrets.

He also mentioned how he wanted to discover a hip hop duo like Deux, which I thought was pretty neat.

But more interestingly he talked about how he didn't necessarily want to go with what's trendy and instead wanted to make the music he wanted to make.

And he reiterated himself in this interview (side note- I would recommend reading this article, it's short and pretty interesting if you like Jiwon).

Putting music out shouldn't be about getting first place on music programs or even charting. Jiwon is old enough and well established with a large following of fans that winning shouldn't be a priority. He's at the age where he should be able to do the music he wants to do.

Overall, I'm very content with the new music, but it was a disappointment that we didn't get to see performances of the new stuff.

Heejun strikes a pose

When around models do as models do.

I didn't mention it before but Heejun cohosts a KBS Cool FM radio show (정재형 문희준의 즐거운 생활) with Jung Jaehyung now.

Check out their Twitter and Instagram~

Let Suwon live

The other day they dressed up Suwon as an actual robot to throw the first pitch at a baseball game...

When will he escape his robot image...

Will he ever escape it?

Is it remarkable that he has been able to ride on this robot acting wave for so long? Like I feel like he should stop buying into it so maybe he has a chance after the trend dies down. Like he's on and is scheduled to be on a bunch variety shows, but what about serious acting gigs... What's Suwon going to do when people get tired of the robot actor thing?

On another note, at the Her Secret Weapon (or however you want to translate the title) press conference, and from the best I could gather, he addressed questions about a Sechskies reunion by saying that conditions were favorable. But Sunghoon just got more fraud accusations thrown at him so ??????