Kpop and Beast

We kick-start 2011's year of kpop with MBLAQ's comeback, a slow/mid-tempo R&B offering called Cry, which I am beginning to just about love. I think it definitely beats anything they've come up with so far, and I thought this one was just ok at first, but until now I find myself replaying it over and over, it seems I can't stop. I think I would have preferred the video and the boys to have been less stylized, for some reason I could totally picture them in my head rocking this song(and garnering dozens of rabid noona fans like me in the process) with a more normal, clean, crisp look and setting. Irregardless, yay! For someone whose kpop spirit is at an all-time high, this is a good start.

I like kpop. I really do. What started off as tentative amusement over youtube videos of korean boybands singing and dancing simultaneously has morphed into bona fide fascination, I now have preferences and opinions regarding specific groups and singers, I regularly watch the weekend slew of music shows, and keep-up with allkpop.com quite religiously.

If this all sounds like a confession, it probably is, because I still tend to want to deny it from time to time. Sometimes I try to delude myself into thinking I take a more mature approach towards my kpop fancy, that I am actually interested in the intricate workings behind the manufacture of a kpop artist and that I pay attention to the details in songs, choreography, the concept adopted, etc. But then I catch myself grinning stupidly in the middle of the night watching fancams of boy groups doing something goofy, and realize I'm just another fangirl.Fan-noona. Oh well.

Current favored kpop tunes:

1.Cry by MBLAQ, obviously.
2. Lights Go On Again by Beast.
3. Niga Jiel Joha by Beast (I swear, 2010 was a really good year for Beast, they could do no wrong).
4. My Mistake by SNSD (I like it as much as I dislike Hoot, and that's a lot).
5. Lightless by Beast. There's a lot of Beast in here, but for good reason, I think. I could write a whole paragraph about them.

In fact, I think I will. Beast has a major portion of my devotion at the moment. They sort of exploded this past year, and the level of popularity they've achieved, considering it's only been slightly more than a year since they debuted, is pretty much something. What's more, I am of the opinion that they deserve it. With the exception of Junhyung who raps, each of them has legit singing chops, each one! Plus, they have dancing confidence. It's one thing to be able pick-up choreography and another to perform it with swag, and while HyunSeung or KiKwang tend to pop out to me more when dancing, it's safe to say they are a pretty evenly-skilled group. And when you pair these abilities with how Cube Entertainment's been handling them, it was pretty much inevitable they'd be big. The recent songs they've been given have been consistently good (I liked every song on the Lights Go On Again mini-album), and they're usually provided with very good choreography. Another plus has been the fact that for their latest release, a digital EP called My Story, they divided up into pairs from which each composed a song that went on the EP. Being directly involved in music production is still somewhat a rarity for kpop artists, more so for the 'idol' groups, so it's a pretty big deal. And yet another plus is the fact that JunHyung, the rapper, has a fundamental place in the group, I don't get the feeling that he's just someone Cube thought could fill in the role of 'rapper' and given only minimal parts in a song to cukup syarat (I'm thinking of Shinee's Minho here, is it obvious?). On top of that, he's been involved as a co-lyricist for the group's songs since the second EP.

Geez. I sure can gush about them, can't I? That was a long paragraph.

I get sick of kpop sometimes. When it seems like every new single sounds like the same manipulated, forgettable electro-pop crap, or when I dislike the image promoted,for example, it's too sickly-sweet, too sexy in unoriginal fashion, or too amusingly out of place(2pm's shuffling dance, anyone?). But despite the lapses, I find myself gravitating back towards it, and when something from the kpop scene appeals to me, I am happy, and all previous misgivings are forgotten.

I guess this infatuation's here to stay.