Monday 30 December 2013

David's Top 5 Kpop Songs for 2013

2013 has seen a large shift in terms of my musical tastes. Besides BoA, Se7en, Rain/Bi and FTTS, I never really listened to Korean music. I was mostly Japanese, with the likes of BoA, Ayumi Hamasaki, Namie Amuro, Moumoon (a big find in the latter parts of 2012), Yuna Ito, etc.

I was always for the solo singers, for I always felt that groups weren't as talented. Ever since playing Ahri on League of Legends and realizing that her dance was based on SNSD's Run Devil Run... I became hooked onto Kpop music. 

Of course, I can go on and on, but I won't bored you with my foray into Korean music. Let's start get started with my top 5 Korean songs for 2013! Once again, this is my opinion. Yes, there are probably many other songs out there that are better than the songs I listed, but I didn't put them down on my list because

1) I never heard of them (I'm still a Kpop newbie)
2) I'm not interested in the group/artist (To this day, I still prefer a woman's voice to a man's in pop music)
3) Being biased to certain groups may have play a significant factor in my list. (=P)

Now I got that out of the way, let's really start now!

#5: SNSD/Girl's Generation - I Got a Boy
I admit... I'm a huge SNSD fan. I'm not quite a SONE (their fan group), but I really like Girl's Generation. I was immensely pleased when they won theVideo of the Year award at the YouTube awards (or whatever it's called). I can't say I heard a song as unique as this song. It has a variety of different tempos, and the music video was very colourful/eccentric. It took a while for me to get used to the song, and to this day I still don't have it on my iPhone, but I'm considering the possibility for it making a showing on my phone. 

It's a good song, and despite SNSD being my favourite group, it's not my number one song for the year! As stated previously, it took a while for me to get used to the concept of the song. 



#4: Sistar - Give it to Me
 Personally, I always thought that Sistar should be renamed "Hyorin featuring Sistar" since the leader of the group just overpowers everyone with her vocals. However, with this song, I felt that each member had a bigger part to sing in the song. Sistar's Give it to Me starts off strong with a G minor chord to Soyu's interlude/beginning/whatever-its-called. The chorus is great and the choreography is even better. And Dasom even has a pretty decent part in the song!

And I can see why Bora is considered to be the visual of the group. I have to say that she looked stunning in the video. 

To my ears, it's better than I Got a Boy. I was initially hooked to the song, but I have to admit that I don't listen to it as much as I used to.


#3: Ladies Code - Bad Girl
This group is a relatively new find for me. I only became aware of their awareness a week ago when I heard this song being played on my brother's computer. From what I know, Ladies Code debuted in March of this year. Ladies Code's Bad Girl is, I would classify, a upbeat Jazzy-like tune. A very catchy beat ensures after a strong piano open. 

At first, it sounded like a good, but typical song. When the main vocalist, Sojung, started singing... she just blew my mind. Her voice is one of a kind! The rest of the members sounded strong themselves, but Sojung is one of a kind. You'll have to give this a song a try if you haven't done so already! Sojung is the one with the blonde hair by the way.

#2: Kara - Damaged Lady
I posted a detailed review of the song and MV on September 6th for those who are interested in reading something more in-depth! As of today, this still happens to be my favorite Kara song. True, it's a song about being bitter after a break up, but the melody and music video were simply amazing. The drastic difference between their Queen costumes and White-shirt-and-tie created a nice visual contrast. 

Go girls go! It's going to be sad to see the group of 5 be reduced to potentially a group of 3 (I'm not sure what Jiyoung is planning to do since I'm not really up to date with the news). Best of luck to Nicole on whatever she's planning to do!

#1: Song Ji Eun - False Hope 
Song Ji Eun, the main vocalist of Secret, has done an incredible job with her 3rd single: False Hope. (To be honest, I'm still not quite sure what it's called, so let's just keep it to False Hope). I also wrote a detailed review of the song and music video on September 30th. 

The music and the video topped my list for best Kpop song for the year. It's really a shame that Song Ji Eun is underrated. Her voice is simply amazing. She may not be as powerful as Ailee or Hyorin, but her voice reminds me of crystal. I never heard such a clear tone before. 

Besides her tone, the MV, I found, happened to be very symbolic and well made. One of the best pieces for sure in 2013. If you haven't had the chance to listen to it, you should really take some time to do so! I think this is the most played song on my Korean list in iTunes.

Honourable Mentions for 2013
IU - Red Shoes (Quite the change from her cutesy work!)

Secret - I do I do (Interesting one-shot music video. Definitely better than their Yoo Hoo single they released in the Spring)

Kara - Runaway (A balladish song with a nice flowing melody)

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