The 109 items pictured include the NieR remix album and the REVENGEANCE OST so it's not all K-Pop
47 Songs.
I have 47 K-Pop songs.
Am I overreacting to this fact? Maybe a little. In truth, it doesn't even really matter, it's just another style of music and we all dig what we dig, and pigeon-holing people for liking a certain style of music is pretty dumb. On the other hand, I'm not even done collecting the K-Pop songs I want, and truthfully need to purchase at least 21 more, plus iTunes doesn't even have all of the songs that I want that are not included in that count. Have you ever outwitted iTunes? It's not as satisfying as you might think.
I spent the entirety of a night going through iTunes and listening to samples of songs to ensure they were the right versions of them (since a lot of Korean groups do Japanese versions of their songs and yes, I know that and yes there was a Japanese version of a song that I didn't want because it was the Japanese version and yes, I knew immediately that it was in Japanese) so that I could purchase them and download them and then upload them to the Amazon Cloud where I could then download them again on my Kindle because all of this makes sense and is in no way overly complicated and dumb. It was not a night I particularly enjoyed, but it was a necessary one for the music that I will now be able to consume on a regular basis as I go out and about or even just play games and don't want to run an Internet Radio thing because, I mean, I pretty much only use those -for- this anyway.
I suppose this -shouldn't- be a surprise given that I use K-Pop as a sort of bridge whenever I had nights where there just was nothing to talk about but I wanted to give it the old try anyway, and I'm pretty sure I never really re-used a song, while I am also pretty sure I had more than a few of those nights and posts. And especially given that my catalog of songs that I listened to just kept growing and growing as I kept it up. It's just really weird to actually put a number to it, especially when you can look at all the other things that run similar. Like, I have more K-Pop songs than were on the NieR soundtrack, for instance. With the NieR Remix Album and the REVENGEANCE OST I bought, it only -slightly- outnumbers the K-Pop songs I have bought and will be eclipsed when I finish buying them.
By the way, I keep saying when I finish buying them. That's because I ran out of money. I bought a $50 iTunes card going "oh that'll be plenty" and I ran out. (Well, I can get one or two more songs, but my point stands) If a lot of the songs weren't $1.29 instead of $0.99 though, for some reason, it would have been less of an issue, but such is life.
Anyway, yes, I spent an entire night doing that, and I just wanted to share that fact with you. Because I dunno, I just sort of find the situation funny in a sense. And I like talking about funny things! They're usually....actually funny, though. Oh well.
I saved Girls' Generation for last and this proved to be a very big mistake since I want the most songs from them out of anyone, and that in itself is kind of worrying
There's a certain something that's come up and it's left me completely unable to sit down and focus on anything, much less write stuff. Sorry, folks, but it happens sometimes and goddamn, do I wish this shit would stop happening to me. Hopefully it'll clear up tomorrow. Of course, that's what I said yesterday. Ugh.
here's hoping that I'm just pissed off when it's over
So, this is the first year where I've managed to secure presents for more than a choice few members of my family (namely the children) which is good! The spirit of giving is strong in me and I love being able to give like I am. The issue that arises, however, is that, while I like wrapping presents, I'm not necessarily a fan of wrapping presents for three days straight (as I still have more to do tomorrow). Such a task has proven to be rather...draining and there's no big news that I can see, so I give you K-Pop. I would like to give myself the opportunity to rest, but alas, there are action figures and kitchen gadgets and clothes to be adorned with festive trappings. Enjoy, all!
the music honestly does help, but still, just so much wrapping
As stated by the title, it has been an absurdly long day. Mostly because it feels like a continuation of yesterday which was also an absurdly long day for the fact that I stayed up for around 24 consecutive hours because it's the weekend, damnit. I'm stuck working the mornings for two more weeks and I'm a night owl, so it's....restrictive, so my weekends are my time to reclaim my nights...even when it's not a good idea. As it clearly was in this case. Don't get me wrong - I went to sleep before work today (a surprise eight and a half hours of very, very boring things) but, well, it was not very good sleep apparently. Even though it was long sleep. I'm sure that I do not have to explain this phenomena to you much more as I am sure that we've all been there at one point or another.
So, in this situation, I will do what I usually do - offer you K-Pop and an apology for not having anything interesting to say. Because I just don't. Have anything interesting to say, that is. Just....absolutely nothing. It's bothersome. Still, tonight's song is a bit approachable since it's only K-Pop by virtue of being sung by a Korean Pop Star - it's in English and has quite the toe-tapping quality to it. I'm sure some of you out there will dig it, at least. So with that, I bid you good night, and hopefully I will have something to write about tomorrow.
I will, because I will at least be able to write -something- tomorrow as opposed to tonight
It's been...quite a while since I've done up a proper Music! post even though I have been listening to quite a bit of new music recently, so with nothing else to really post about tonight, I figured now was as good a time as any. As I am wont to do even when I'm -not- battle severe mood issues, I've been turning back to K-Pop (he says, pretending he ever left it in the first place for a slight bit of his masculinity) and among those K-Pop choices, KARA has come up more than once. In fact, it's come up three times, which is rather convenient, as you know I generally go through three songs at a clip because I feel that's a good amount at one time. That's just me, of course, and it's just kind of how I do things, but it's served me well so far, so I'm gonna stick with that.
The first song is not the first KARA song I've heard (that was actually "Wanna" which I'm linking here because it's not featured) and in fact, I don't know what number it is. I just know that, of the three I'm going to show off tonight, it's my least favorite which isn't to say I dislike it, because I really do like it. It's just, obviously, I like the other ones more. That kind of happens sometimes. What's surprising to me is that I don't listen to this song more often than I do, but that's generally just because I'm listening to the other songs of theirs I enjoy. Still, this is light and fun and all of that good stuff, I just suppose it's perhaps not quite as much as the rest. Still, first up is "Step" which may or may not actually be spelled "STEP", I don't know. It's kind of one of those things.
It might be a surprise, but I don't actually pay a lot of attention to these videos, since I tend to just sort of pull them up on my Vita, plug in my headphones and listen while I do whatever (since they're not on Music Unlimited because why would they be on a service called Music Unlimited). Which I am in no way bringing up because it's going to be relevant in the next video or anything like that. I'm just stating that, having actually watched the video before I embedded it, it's a pretty perfect fit for the song. Light and 'poppy' and such, while also keeping your attention through the actually passable dancing and wardrobe. Of course, the real fun is the song which is...obviously the reason I brought it up.
The next is, I believe, the second KARA song I actually listened to, but I might be misremembering that and it really doesn't matter. Like, even in the slightest, it doesn't matter. What -does- matter is that I have this weird little thing with some K-Pop songs that I call the "Oh, damnit" moment. The "Oh, damnit" moment is the exact moment where I mumble those words to myself and concede the fact that I am going to listen to this song for the rest of the night. Very obviously, this next song has one of those moments and the exact moment is about twenty one seconds in when the synth or whatever that is starts kicking in. Keep that in mind as you watch this video for "Pandora".
Remember that part where I said I don't really watch the videos? Well, surprisingly enough with all of that set-up, it was a lie when it comes to this actual video. I don't even know why beyond, well, the obvious, and it's really quite perplexing. The song is, at least, something I enjoy a little more because it's just a little...heavier? I suppose might be the word. I don't want to say anything about 'depth' because I'll just make myself look silly, but there's some type of quality to the song that I just enjoy a little more than Step, and maybe I'm just not supposed to know what that is. I will say that, again, aside from the obvious, I am a fan of the outfits and the hairstyles the girls sport in this one. That's...probably the point, but I'm just saying that it worked this time. Also babbling. ....Mostly babbling.
The last song is basically the one of the three that I've listened to the most and, as with the other two, I cannot really provide reasons as to the why. If I had to guess, I would say that it's got a goodly bit of variety in the sound itself, even if it is as repetitive as, well, most songs altogether. The girls all show off a little bit of range, I feel, and are given an appropriate amount of time to sing their piece, as it were, so maybe that's what draws me more to this one since, even if it's present in the other songs, I notice it in this one. Though, I should point out that I merely listen to this one, and would be remiss if I didn't point that out as well as a particularly ridiculous 'dance move' towards the end. I won't tell you when, because you'll know and I am apologizing in advance for the silliness. You will be happy to note that the single-word title theme has been maintained however with "Jumping", this last song.
...Well, I warned you. Still, before that point, it's fairly acceptable and really, that's not bad so much as it's likely to make your eyes roll in a dismissive moment. Surprisingly, I'm not so much a fan of the outfits here as I was in the other video, but, well, that's just a thing about it. Still, as stated this is the song I've listened to the most out of the three for better or worse. It's pretty much hard to think of different ways to present this type of feeling after two others of the same, but I'm sure you understand the sentiment at the very least. Or maybe you're just listening to the song and don't care. Or something along those lines. Either way, I dig it, and that's pretty much what I was putting across here. That goes the same for the other two songs before this one too. Hopefully you dig it too.
really though, what was with that dance move I mean, you're not even being subtle
It's been fairly weird lately, in that I just haven't found myself with a lot of actual free time at night which is generally when I take care of this blog and whatever else I can see fit to do before I head off to bed. I've been spending a longer-than-normal amount of time on my posts lately which has lead to me sort of neglecting everything else since, by the time I'm done writing them, I don't want to write anything else, which is sort of a problem considering I have other things that I want to write. Of course, it's not the fault of the blog or my desire to....stay consistent or anything, so much as it's simply me procrastinating and generally being a lazybutt. I tend to finish a blogpost and then either pick up my 3DSXL or Vita and play a bit, kick back and listen to music or read up on a Let's Play to unwind. Like the very, very excellent Ogre Battle 64 Let's Play over at the LP Archive.
Considering the only thing news-worthy is the fact that both Muramasa Rebirth and Hotline Miami come out this week according to The Drop at the Playstation Blog, alongside Deadpool which I unfortunately won't be picking up, there's not really enough to talk about. I've not played Muramasa for the Wii, mostly because it was on the Wii, and I haven't even allowed myself to delve into anything beyond the bare surface of Hotline Miami. I want my experience Tuesday or Wednesday to be as-new, un-touched by the outside world except for the few things that I do know - the fact that it's ultra-violent and the fact that it's ultra-awesome. Which, to be honest, the latter is what prompted me to be excited about the opportunity to play Hotline Miami on my Vita, and the $9.99 pricetag for a Cross-Buy on the PS3/Vita versions of the game were just the kick in the ass I needed to send me into 'instant purchase' territory.
I could've written another post about Animal Crossing: New Leaf, but it would've mostly been more of "Goddamnit, Animal Crossing, give me stuff to do whenever I play you and cut it out with time-sensitive bullshit like the Stalk Market" and it's not yet time for that. I could've written a post about an absolutely hilarious and wonderful-looking Indie Game that I saw tonight, but I'm still going to put a few things together before I make that post. Since it's probably going to turn into a Three-Indie Spotlight post, which means I need two more. I suppose I could've written another post about Terraria and Minecraft and how much I want to play them on my Vita and yet neither are available for it yet, but, well, even I'm starting to get a little depressed by those posts.
So really, it's just one of those nights. I want to write, I've neglected my story for a bit, and I have nothing else -to- write, so I'm gonna jump on that. I'm sure nobody will blame me, and as always, I've brought tidings of K-Pop to assuage the gaping hole in your night that I've left. "Scream" by BoA is off of her English Album, or one of them, so it sort of straddles that line where it's only K-Pop because of the singer, but it counts in my mind. And it's just a fun song, really, so that just makes it easy to post up, but it does make me worry that I might've used it already. If so, whoops. If not, well, enjoy!
seriously though, friggin' Tuesday's gonna be a thing unless GameStop doesn't get Muramasa until a couple days later
It's been a rough week, but hopefully things should start getting better from here, aside from it being Summer and all. I am eagerly looking forward to June 9th when I finally get a 3DS XL to play around with, and Animal Crossing: New Leaf to do the playing around. I -was- actually going to write something along those lines tonight, but that'll be for tomorrow when I can focus. Because I can't really do that now, what with being sore and achey and hot and tired. Simultaneously. So, yeah, g'night, folks.
It's one of those awkward nights where I totally want to talk about something, yet there is nothing at all to talk about. In the wake of the "Always-Online" thing (I refuse to call it "Orthgate"), there just isn't a whole bunch of other news (who would've thought, right?), so that's something I can't really fall-back on. And while I'm sure you would all be riveted with yet another Disgaea 3 post where I talk about how disgustingly powerful I'm making Dinah (spoilers: she has reincarnated two more times to the fifth Female Monk iteration and is already level 200-something in that), I'm not really feeling like doing that. Mostly because I sorely doubt you would all actually be riveted with such a post. Also because there's not a whole lot -else- to add to it except that playing with "Strongest Enemies" bill passed makes getting XP and Mana easy mode so long as you don't die. And the not dying part is only hard for a little bit.
Anyways! Since I have this whole writing project on the side, when I have left-over writing capability, I do stuff with that. And since I have a lot of that tonight and nothing to use it on -but- the writing project, I'm going to do that. Though, I suppose I can shed a little light on it instead of just being all cryptic about it whenever I talk about it. It's not like it's a big thing, just a personal project that evolved from something that should have been relatively simple. Over-complicating things is kind of something that I do, you see. Though you probably know that by now!
It was over a year ago when a buddy of mine said "Hey, I'm probably going to be running this Persona-based game" (as in a table-top RPG with mechanics based on the Persona series) "at some distant point in the future and I was wondering if you'd be interested? It's still way far off, since I've got like two games before it, but still." And I said, "Yeah, I'd be for that." and proceeded to start dreaming up a character. Being that I was, back then, attempting to keep my creativity and writing from stagnating, I was prepared to do something that I hadn't done previously (nor have really done a lot since this whole thing started): I was going to make a girl character. Taking out all the conversation on -that- particular topic (though you know you played FemShep, don't even get all up on me about RPing as a woman) I thought it would be a good exercise to just try and consider things differently and such.
Those conversations with my buddy who presented the idea and thus the means for this character and world to exist in restarted around this New Year's and, presumably in a little bit of annoyance with how much I insisted on talking about Dinah, he prompted me to just 'write a book or something, geez'. The idea wasn't abhorrent and, as a character, she needs a backstory anyway. So I intended to write a backstory. A backstory turned into a short story that describes her pretty well. And....a short story turned into something that is going to be like twenty chapters long when all is said and done after the way I've plotted it out and actually started to write it. So I mean, it turns out I kind of am writing a book, but I'm not quite sure what sort of end product it's going to be. I'm enjoying writing it, I think it's coming out very nicely and it's going to be friggin' long by the time I'm done with it, but it's not something I'm writing with the express purpose of making money.
When it's done? We'll just have to see. It's a pretty easy story to hook into - despite the Persona backdrop that she was invented in, Dinah's tale doesn't involve any magic, demons or long-nosed folks in a strange blue room. It's just a story about a collection of her return trips home from the school overseas that she attends (that will eventually host the Persona-like events) and how they all intertwine because of the people that she's constantly leaving behind when she goes off. As I said, it will hopefully be a good story, and I'll use some reactions of folks to get a good bead on whether or not it actually is. Then I'll decide what's going on with it. For now, though, it's just something that I'm doing, and tonight, it's something I'm going to write in. Hopefully manage to get another chapter done to feel like I have made progress.
As usual, when I don't have something to write about (Except I kind of did tonight, whoops), I left you some K-Pop at the top to enjoy. So, enjoy!
is it still K-Pop if it's sung in Japanese, I don't even
Yesterday was shit. Today was pretty shit as well. Tomorrow might not be shit, but let's face it - it probably will be.
I've tried to stay positive and such and I lasted a long damn time, comparatively speaking, but I've just hit a wall and it's sucked the life out of me. Hopefully, I'll be able to scrap together a little creativity and drive tomorrow to do a proper post, but I make no guarantees.
In the meantime, this is one of the handful of songs I've been using to try and get myself back in a good mood. The jaunty bits of piano are really nice, while the song overall just feels fun and happy. It helps. It can't work miracles, but it can help.
I don't think I've ever featured f(x), or if I have, then clearly I don't remember. Or care. This has been my song of the evening, forcing me to eschew Music Unlimited for the much less optimal "listen off of youtube which takes a lot longer initially" option. Since Music Unlimited's selection for K-Pop blows chunks and got worse just recently as T-ara's album (as in the only one it had) got pulled. Which, of course, I had ten songs off that album in my playlist, so I am not a very happy man about that. I've enjoyed Music Unlimited while I've had it - it's a neat service, definitely, but there's absolutely no way I'm going to resubscribe for the full price when it comes time do to that. Not unless there's, like, a meeting of the minds and Sony works out a deal with SMENT or SM Town or who the hell ever and Universal (I think those are the primary two publishers) and makes K-Pop -happen- on the service.
Which it won't. So I mean, there is that.
Anyway, I have had problems sleeping lately, which is rather unfortunate. To elucidate, I had to take a nap last night to supplement the couple hours I'd managed that morning. I awoke at 6 PM. Because of many things including a general inability to sleep and work, I didn't get to sleep again until 2 PM today. Where I then woke up, again, at 6 PM. I'm sure it's not the worst situation in the world and blah blah, but it sucks nonetheless and it's thrown me all off-kilter. It also has completely prevented me from playing just about anything for an extended period of time, which means I have nothing to really talk about. But mostly the whole 'dear god, body why won't you let me sleep' thing.
This post.....has been a long time coming, I suspect. I've dabbled here and there in K-Pop posts, talked about people in particular like BoA, but I'm pretty sure that a lot of people out there are conditioned, at this point, to equate K-Pop with Girls' Generation. Mostly because of the staggering success(?) of "Gee", which you'll find that people who don't even really know much about the genre at all, have heard the song. They have presence in the genre, is basically what I'm getting at, and to say that they will come up in a conversation -about- K-Pop is something of an understatement I think. Aside from that, being that I've listened to a lot of Girls' Generation in the past week, so it seemed like a pretty good fit, being that I'm still trying to sort of pin things down with regards to how I feel about Retro City Rampage and how I can put those feelings into words. The hard part, as it seems to be with all of my 'Music!' posts is just condensing things down into just three different songs since I generally have twice that at base, but I like the three-song format, so I'll stick with it.
The first song introduces a sort of trend that follows in the rest of the songs I'll feature, or at least the videos for them, in that I'm just going with the 'dance only' versions of the videos. I've found that sometimes, not all of the time, but sometimes the 'normal' version of a video for a song ends up loaded with....let's say unnecessary elements and when you just want the song and the framing of the song itself, and not the minute and a half of 'build' that 'sets a scene' and such, these dance only versions are very handy. In the case of the first song here, I watched the original video and it's....just awful. The parts they splice in that aren't just the basic dance parts (generally there's two costumes for each half of the song with a little mixing in between) with separate costumes are gaudy-looking and badly implemented and just make it kind of hard to watch. But with this version of the song, it's really quite pleasant to watch and the song itself is pretty enjoyable as well. So, with that introduction, here's the first song of the Girls' Generation post - "Hoot".
I think, moreso than any other video, I really like the overall aesthetic and theme of this one the best, really. I'm not sure why I really like the whole '80s spy movie feel that the video has (which is expanded on in a...not so great way in the actual video), but it just works, and I think that's why this is a song that I keep coming back to. Gonna be honest and say that the outfits make that easy to do as well. Like with the feel of the video itself, I don't know why I like the outfits in particular, perhaps because they, well, fit the whole thing well, or perhaps because they're simple, yet well accessorized, but they're just really outstanding. Well worth the loss of basically all my masculinity in saying that, clearly, which is saying....well, something I suppose. Really, as a general rule, whoever picks out the outfits for the Girls' Generation videos does a pretty bang-up job 90% of the time, but they knocked it out of the park with this one.
Next up is another video where they did a pretty stellar job with the wardrobe despite the outfits being more or less pretty simple in concept. The oddity about this song, however, is that it's actually a Japanese version of the song, as it was the first one I heard of it and by the time I heard the original Korean version, I was too attached to the Japanese one to move along. After consulting several music experts (Read: Not experts at all), we have deduced that, despite the song -being- Japanese, it's still a K-Pop song by virtue of the group being identified as a Korean group. Despite....at least two of the girls being American-born, actually. That brings us into a whole other discussion, however, so I'm going to just move along. Because if I start wasting time trying to dissect the semantics surrounding a Japanese version of a Korean song whose band members aren't actually all Korean, it's going to get really weird and really confusing really quickly. So, to move on, here's "Mr. Taxi".
I should say that, despite my warning, that's not labeled as the dance only version of the song, but after watching the dance only version, it's...pretty much identical. This one has better quality, being directly from the source and all, so I'm running with that for the sake of having decent videos all throughout this. Provided you're cool with Japanese versions of Kor-I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I'm not going to get into that here. It's just going to be something I think about for....uh....the rest of the night, likely. And it's going to bug me a whole lot, but that's really not the point of contention here. I'm not sure if it's something that I need, or necessarily want, to say, but for the first few times I watched the video, I couldn't help but start giggling at the intro of the chorus where they do the little 'turning the wheel' move. I don't know what's worse - that I have watched the video a -lot- of times by this point, or that I -still- laugh at that, since I'm not quite sure what it says about me. Or....what any of this says about me. Probably not good things.
The last video, since I inadvertently became a fashion critic because who am I even kidding anymore, is a rare miss in the outfit category. Rather, the outfits themselves are pretty fine, it's just, uh....one accessory in particular that is a little strange to say the least. However, this is one of the videos where I actually have to pick between two different dance versions, and to hammer in the fashion point, I'm going with the latter. Or, if you go by numbering or whatever, the former, but semantics. Again. Don't need that right now. I do want to offer the other version, however, so I will do that by linking it here, and if you like the song, I'd recommend checking that out to differentiate to the other outfits which are much nicer more or less. Not a whole lot else to do with this one besides get it out there. So the last song featured in this grouping of Girls' Generation songs is "Paparazzi".
So, yes. Those gloves are.....well, they are something, I suppose. What that something is, I'm kind of at a loss for, but it is certainly -something-. Delving into the comments (which is always a bad idea, never do it, I do it because I hate myself or something) suggests that they wore the gloves to draw attention to their hands to show off all the hand movements the dance bits actually entail which...makes sense, but there are ways that could've done it a little better. If that's the real reason of course, as another theory just says it's a shout out to actresses of the past who wore gloves like that, though not expressly as pink and unfitting. Whatever the reason, it really does just seem a little excessive, for a lack of a better way to explain it. Without being exceptionally rude, at least and I don't want to be rude. Still, of the three songs I featured tonight, this one -might- be my favorite - it's a hard call between this and Hoot, and I think it more depends on my mood, but it is a pretty good song regardless. I'm a sucker for the bit at the end when one of the girls says something and rolls her "R" with it and I'm not entirely sure why, but I suspect it might have something to do with the fact that it's a little different to hear and I cannot roll Rs. So it's nice to hear every now and then, I guess.
I really didn't anticipate this write-up to actually make me feel this, uh...not embarrassed, not shamed.....self-conscious? about my music choices and such, which I suppose is saying something since I went into this going "Hey, Girls' Generation, gonna talk about that". Still, at the end of the day, it's just music and you either like it or you don't - the reason behind whichever doesn't matter so much to anything. Still, I feel like I have to work up a little masculinity again after this one, so if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go ahead and binge on some Burn Notice and such. Possibly look for, uh....sports to watch. Maybe. I'm not sure if that counts as helping anymore after all the jokes about them and such. Maybe I'll just default to throwing Sleeping Dogs in again and kicking the shit out of dudes. Yeah. Yeah, that sounds like a plan.
So, it's been a while since I've done up a Music! post lately, and considering I've delved quite a bit more into some new songs and such lately, I believe it's about time. I briefly considered doing a second K-Pop Edition since my library has exponentially expanded since the first K-Pop Edition, but that's....kind of where I ran into an obstacle. You see, I believe I have started to listen to and enjoy too much K-Pop (such a thing is impossible in some circles, of course) but I say this for the express purpose of the fact that thinking on just three songs to feature from the grander library I've come across is quite a task. I needed some way to narrow it down, so I decided on being a bit more specific and simply focusing on an artist at a time. So, in that vein, I instinctively went to BoA first, as I've certainly been listening to more of her stuff than anything else lately. Even still, picking three just from her catalog is a bit rough, but I can certainly make it more manageable than the alternative.
The first song to put down is probably the easiest of the three, since I simply want to throw down the first BoA song I was exposed to. It really is just as simple as that, as in my persistent nagging of friends for their reserves of K-Pop references, as if it were something far more valuable than it was, I was eventually tossed this video for my efforts. It was, to put it shortly, exactly what I wanted in that it was entertaining and upbeat while also exposing me to another (fantastic, as I later learned) artist to look into to cut my dependence on others more and more. Since I could only listen to the same Miss A, Girls Generation and 2NE1 songs so many times, and looking into the rest of their songs wasn't turning up any winners. (Of course, it didn't help that I wasn't looking at the right songs, as I have since found songs from all three of them, but that's for another time.) BoA, as you could guess, ended up opening quite a few new songs for my listening pleasure, of which I'm sharing now. But like I said, it started with this song, and this song is "Copy & Paste". Hope you like silver things.
I think what first drew me to the video itself (speaking of just beyond the song since I am providing the actual videos for these, being as they've been my exposure) is the fact that the dance routine featured in it is quite a bit more elaborate than most other K-Pop videos I've seen. This is because BoA is a pretty fantastic dancer, which will only shine through more and more as I get through each video. Copy&Paste doesn't really show it off as well as I remember, but that may just be because I've seen more than it, which lets me evaluate her abilities overall. I guess we'll see, since again, this is the first of three that I'll be sharing and I assume at least...one....or so of you good folks who read this on a semi-regular basis will play along. Maybe. Hopefully without judging me.
Now, whereas Copy&Paste is the first song I got into of BoA's, the second here is one of the more recent ones I've discovered and it's quickly rising up in my own personal popularity. Not because I think the song is a lot better (I pretty much can't judge the songs themselves since it's more a mood thing), but simply because the video for it is so much fun. I personally can't watch the video without getting sucked into the enjoyment it sort of permeates. I just can't imagine that it was not a fun video to make in any fashion, so that part of it is certainly enjoyable on its own merits. Aside from that, the video has like everything one could want from a song without realizing it. Seriously. To prove this to you, I humbly suggest that you do give a listen/watch to "Lose Your Mind", if just to get in on the fun.
Seriously. Catwalk, Weapon Demos (that staff-twirling could totally be part of combat and you all know it), Chair Dancing and a Guitar Solo out of friggin' nowhere. In the same video. What more could you possibly want? I submit to you that there is very little that I could think of beyond what was offered. Although, to be honest, I chuckle to myself a little everytime I mention all four of those elements in a row because it seems....kind of nonsensical. And I believe that's kind of the point as to why I point them out to begin with, but it's enjoyable nonetheless. Like I said, pretty much everything about the video just oozes -fun-, which is why I really really enjoy it and wanted to show it off at least. It also does help illustrate my earlier point about the dancing being more elaborate than your usual video. Which also, of course, speaks to BoA's dancing chops which are, as shown, quite good.
The last pick is kind of the hardest here, because I want this video to be the one to show off the most, to really drive in the point that I've been making about the dancing which is honestly one of the main selling points when it comes to BoA. The first song was easy, as I just wanted to throw down the first song I heard. The second was a little harder, but I decided on Lose Your Mind because it's the most fun of them. And now, as I said, I just want the last one to just hit it out of the park in terms of my whole point here. Which...that's a hard thing to narrow down. I could honestly put at least two other songs in this spot and it'd show off just as much in that sense. But, as this is a Music! post, the song itself counts just as much, and I went with this one because of the song, since I've probably listened to it about four hundred times. I wish I was kidding. The song is "Hurricane Venus" and, of the three videos here, this one offers some weirdness, so don't let that distract too much.
I don't really know what's up with the feathers, masks and flying or anything and it doesn't really matter, I say. Despite the video being decidedly what you might expect from the genre in terms of outfits worn and such, the song and dancing is fairly consistent with the rest in that they are both quite enjoyable. The song at least is pretty different from the other two as well, which might be why I've listened to it as much, but I don't know. That also probably does not matter so much. Regardless, I think that was a pretty good one to end it on since it probably makes my point pretty emphatically. I think the real reason BoA's pretty great at the dancing thing is because she has an absurd amount of body control which is accentuated quite well in this video. Maybe a little moreso than the previous two (though Lose Your Mind was pretty good for that as well) If K-Pop isn't your thing, I doubt anything here will change your mind, but if you enjoy it generally, then hopefully I've given you a few more songs to enjoy. Without judging me, I remind.
I'm gonna be honest with you guys, as I always am - It's been pretty hard to write posts the last few nights. Not only because of all the normal Spring stuff (which doesn't help, I assure), but because I have fallen into the trap that is K-Pop and I can't pull myself out. And when I say trap, it's fairly misleading, because it's not so much that I sit and watch the videos for the songs over and over again, unable to do anything else, but more that, while I'm listening to them, I can't bring myself to do anything else. Even now, sat here at 11:29 after I started the post an hour ago, all I do is try and struggle for the words while the lyrics to the last song I'll show off play in the background, almost mocking me for my inability to form sentences reliably. So instead of letting it wrack at me, I figure the best idea is simply to share and hope that, in doing so, you'll all just understand what I mean.
First up is a song that I don't even remember -when- I got into it, but I'm pretty sure it was a while ago, and I know exactly who linked me to it. And she will pay for it at an undetermined point in the future. I find that it's pretty hard to really think of a lot of concise things to say before and after these videos because, well, there is not a lot to say. Most of them, I don't know -why- I keep watching/listening to them other than apparently liking them, but even then, I can't really place the -why-. But I guess that we simply like what we like, and I shouldn't worry about it too much, since it clearly isn't doing anything but making me think more on things that I clearly cannot control. Anyways, this is "I AM THE BEST" by 2NE1. (Spoiler alert: They are not the best.)
Next up is from a group that I've actually 'featured' before, in a sense, back in October of last year, which is....way earlier than I figured. Have I really been listening to K-Pop for that long? It doesn't seem like that long, but "Good-bye Baby" is one of the songs that really made me -start- listening to K-Pop semi-reliably. Regardless, it was fairly recently that I started to stray away from the mainstays that I'd been listening to and the next song I'm showing off is the result of one of those ventures off into the unknown. It is, as I said before, from Miss A and it's called "Breathe" for reasons that become more or less obvious during the song. (Spoiler alert: No it doesn't.)
"Breathe" is the second of three songs by Miss A that I have listened to (the third one being "Bad Girl, Good Girl" on the recommended list if you watch "Breathe" on youtube itself, which I'm only a partial fan of) and it's sort of like how I find all the other stuff I really start listening to. I find one song by a group or a band or whatever, listen to it -constantly-, and then finally branch out a little, picking a few other songs of theirs and listening to them in succession to see what the next one will be that I play the hell out of. As you can tell, I went from Good-Bye, Baby to this and may yet go from this to "Bad Girl, Good Girl", depending on how it grows on me. If not, well, there is assuredly plenty of other songs by them that I simply haven't looked into whatsoever that have the potential to make me wonder why I can't stop listening to them.
The last song is from a group that I honestly don't even have to name because if you have perused the internet and have ever listened to a K-Pop song, it is likely that that song was "Gee" by Girls' Generation. In fact, the post I linked to earlier, Chance linked me to "Gee" and, having listened to it before, I figured it wouldn't trap me as it is wont to do. I was completely wrong and paid for it by listening to Gee for approximately three hours straight that night and semi-reliably ever since. Since I may or may not have put it on my PSP which replaced my iPod as a music device once the battery in my iPod started getting really crappy. Like "won't work for an hour straight, really need to get the battery replaced but god am I lazy and it's expensive" crappy. Unfortunately, my PSP is heading down that road as well, but with any luck I won't be quite so lazy with that, or I'll find a firesale Go that I can use for that purpose, among others. Regardless, enough of that, here's "The Boys" by Girls' Generation which is quite possibly the most embarrassing of the three to admit to listening/watching.
Be advised, the actual song doesn't really start until about 1:07 into the video because there's all sorts of artsy filler beforehand or something. Doves and snow or stuff like that, I didn't really pay attention, nor do I even pretend to care, clearly. I....really, really don't have to say anything to this one. I'm sure you get just why I can't not watch/listen to this after you yourself have watched/listened to it. Just like Gee, you simply cannot look away, no matter how much you want to. Because believe me, I would love to be able to not listen to this for hours on end, because I would be so much more productive if I did not. But alas, this is what I'm stuck with for now, so I guess I'll enjoy it for as long as it lasts.
