#her vibe is like.. 90s supermodel. the confidence is off the charts

[monkiinart]

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[kpoptimeout]

Top 10 Most Underrated K-pop Songs of 2019 (Idol Edition)

2019 has come and gone before we knew it.  

Continuing with the K-Pop Timeout Tradition (see 2018 Ver) of listing the Top 10 Most Underrated K-Pop Songs because all the other sites are just bothered with the Top 10 that pretty much everyone will have heard of/have fan wars over, below are our top 10 picks of songs that did not rank high but deserves your attention!

Like last year we have a separate post for Top 10 underrated non-idol tracks. Unlike usual years where there is a separate post made for Top 10 underrated K-Drama OSTs, this year there is instead posts for the Top 20 most underrated K-Pop songs of the decade.

Some of the artists have escaped the list in recent years to stardom (like NU’EST, N.FLYING, and OH MY GIRL), so hopefully, it happens again!

This is in alphabetic order NOT in the order of awesomeness because all of them are awesome. Also, all MVs are linked in the song titles because Tumblr won’t let me share that many videos in one post.

1TEAM “Vibe”

After braving through the shitshows of Mnet’s BOYS24 and YG’s MIXNINE, these talented boys finally debut as 1TEAM under Liveworks Entertainment (the label for the solo promotions of SHINHWA’s Hyesung and Minwoo). This debut song of 1TEAM highlights some of the key strengths of the group - their extremely laid-back retro sound and also addictive hooks. With K-Pop boy bands going for increasingly dramatic and over the top complex sounds due to the popularity of hype bops among overseas fans, it is a breath of fresh air to see 1TEAM deliver such a chill and amazing song and it is unfortunate they have yet to receive more attention both in South Korea and overseas. They continue this sound in their comeback “ROLLING ROLLING” and went more mature and sexy while still simple and retro in “MAKE THIS”, showing that they will continue to develop this unique sound. If you like the relaxing summer sound of WINNER, you would also love 1TEAM’s “Vibe”! 

3YE “OOMM (Out Of My Mind)”

After not getting much attention as Apple.B under GH Entertainment, 3 of the original Apple.B members Yuji, Yurim, and Haeun re-debuted as 3YE. And this was the right re-debut to make as the girls went from generic cutesy to edgy and hard in the most unexpected way. “OOM (Out of My Mind)”, their first comeback track, is definitely a powerful bop but what makes it stand out from other hyped-up party tracks is the structure of the song. The first verses were typical powerful girl group song sounding (a mixture of RnB vocals and rap), but things change up quickly at the bridge. The song suddenly becomes very melodic and sounding like something you would expect from a quirky girl group track. Then the song changes again, creating a dark and breathy build-up reminiscent to Billie Eilish’s “bad guy” and “all the good girls go to hell”. Only then do we get the beat drop you would expect from a lit girl group track and the adventurous path to get there makes the drop all the more enjoyable. Also, all three girls’ have amazing stage presence to carry the powerful choreo. If you love powerful girl groups like BLACKPINK and EVERGLOW, you should really check out 3YE’s latest song!

A.C.E “UNDER COVER”

After stints on KBS’ “The Unit” and YG’s “MIXNINE”, the boys of A.C.E have definitely increased significantly in their international fan base and have the makings of a small but dedicated Korean fan base. However, these boys really deserve a lot more attention, especially with “UNDER COVER” being one of the best and also most underrated tracks of 2019 K-Pop. After attempts with artsy edm music in their debut era and later a cuter sound in “Take Me Higher”, the boys and the label seem to have finally found their sound. It is dramatic, it is powerful, it has a strong rock influence combined with hip-hop and RnB. Honestly, this is what I would expect TVXQ to sound like if they debuted in the late 2010s (cries thinking about OT5 early days and their rock influence tracks). This song also clearly highlights the strength of every member - Byeongkwan’s playful rap and diva-like stage presence, Wow’s more relaxed rap and sexy charms, Chan’s boyish appeal and perfect complementation of other members’ sounds, Jun’s attractive vocal colour and Donghun’s emotive voice and wide vocal range. If you love the dramatic and powerful boy band tracks like the bops of B.A.P, it is time to stream “UNDER COVER”!

fromis_9 “FUN!”

After the amazing comeback with “Love Bomb” last year, I really did not know how fromis_9 can top that but they really did with “FUN!” They continue to go for the really quirky, really weird and playful cute girl group sound they perfected in “Love Bomb” to bring an amazing and refreshing summer track. “FUN!” has a ridiculously catchy hook and like other fromis_9 songs have beautiful bridge parts to also showcase the members’ amazing vocal abilities and harmonies often hidden under their hype and wild choruses. Also, the music video is a delight, with the girls’ parodying various CFs. The album for this song peaked at #2 on Gaon Charts but somehow this amazing title track did not rank at all on Gaon and only peaked at #94 on the K-Pop Hot 100 of Billboard. If you love the addictive, fun and weird side of girl groups like Red Velvet and Oh My Girl, you would really enjoy fromis_9′s “FUN!”

GWSN “Pinky Star (RUN)”

After a unique debut and a string of consistent bops, it is unclear why most K-Pop fans are still sleeping on GWSN. “Pinky Star (RUN)” is an amazing song, showcasing GWSN’s indie video game-like sound which is heavily electronic and 8-bit like yet has all the K-Pop high notes and dance breaks you would also expect. This perfect blend of the girls’ unique sound and a seasoned K-Pop style production makes the song all the more amazing and it all the more infuriating they are still quite a nugu group in South Korea. The MV is also beautifully shot, with amazing sets and smart use of the aspect ratios. If you love to see the artsy pop vibes of BOL4 and IU married with the quirky girl group sounds of Oh My Girl, you would love GWSN’s “Pinky Star (RUN)”!

JBJ95 “Awake”

After PRODUCE 101 Season 2 and the success of JBJ, JBJ members Sanggyun and Kenta continue as duo JBJ95 and continue delivering quality music. One of their best songs and one of the best of K-Pop this year is arguably “Awake”. The song excels in having this bright and dreamy texture to it, which blends perfectly with the concept of the song and the Bauhaus-styled MV set pieces. Those listening to the song which literally feel woken up by the upbeat chorus which incorporates some dancehall beats into this electro-pop song. While JBJ95 are without a doubt doing quite well out of the post-PRODUCE 101 groups with variety show appearances and web drama roles, this song did not win any awards albeit its superb quality. If you are a fan of SHINee’s more fun and dream-like tracks like “Why So Serious?” and “View”, you would love this song!

KNK “Sunset”

Last year was extremely annoying when IN2IT’s “Snapshot” and SF9’s “Now or Never” flew under the radar of most K-Pop fans and the Korean public in general for their sexy supermodel runway sounds. Apparently, people have still not learned their lesson this year with the spectacular release by KNK in the form of “Sunset”. These talented men are back again with one of the best concepts ever - the song is just a 90s house bop that serves expensive runway model realness. The chorus of simply just Seoham saying “Sunset, for-for y'all” again and again in his deep voice is definitely one of the highlights of the song along with the classy and mature choreography. The MV of this absolute bop is also an example of how low-budget MVs can look expensive if there’s good camera work, creative lighting and smart editing choices. So if you liked IN2IT’s “Snapshot” and SF9’s “Now or Never” last year, and love yourself some good mature and sensual choreo like Taemin’s, “Sunset” is the song for you!

ONF “Why”

At this point, ONF is just one of the best-kept secrets in K-Pop. All the members already showcased their immense talent on YG’s “MIXNINE” but somehow South Korea still does not seem to know they exist. And it is infuriating that after a masterpiece like “Why”, they are still swimming in absolute nugu-dom. This song sounds ridiculously dramatic, with beautiful high notes and sentimental harmonica/synth instrumentals in the chorus. One of the highlights of the song is Wyatt’s deep-voiced speed rapping which was layered with multiple effects so that it sounded like it was being received through a device from afar and also serves to make it so much more grungier. Basically, the song sounds like it could be the OST for a high-budget Netflix dystopian sci-fi series and the MV shot in Moscow actually gave us some very expensive looking CGI and effects. It is difficult for me to find a song to compare “Why” to but if you love yourself a dramatic boyband track, you should really check it out!

SAAY “ZGZG”

This song just hits hard in a very unique way. Following her departure from EvoL (a highly underrated girl group), Kwon Sohee/SAAY has mainly worked as a producer and songwriter, penning bops for SM Entertainment and often working with Super Junior M’s Henry Lau. As a solo artist, she shows that she has a lot to show in “ZGZG”, which honestly would not be such a great song if not carried by her off-the-charts amount of charisma. The chorus is just her swag-filled mumbling of the word(s?) “ZGZG” and it works because of her attitude. She also belts high notes and delivers smoking hot bars when she raps in the song too. If you are a fan of confident female solos like Hyuna, Sunmi, and Chungha, I now urge you to check out this amazing song by SAAY!

UP10TION “Your Gravity”

UP10TION is an extremely talented group but have failed to make a mark in the K-Pop industry due to years of TOP Media’s mismanagement. One of the biggest mismanagement moves, in my opinion, was giving UP10TION good but extremely generic K-Pop title tracks. There was never a song that screamed: “this is an UP10TION-only track.” I can go on forever about TOP Media’s poor management of all its groups but now is the time to focus on what a brilliant song “Your Gravity” is - UP10TION has finally found a unique sound and they really owned this song, making it arguably one of the best and most underrated songs of the year. The song plays on an addictive synth hook and good use of diverse beats. The whole song just sounded super fresh yet not cutesy but high energy at the same time - a rare example of balancing freshness and coolness. The MV is also filmed very well, with shots from very interesting angles and great use of a few set pieces in a variety of ways. The closest comparisons I can make would probably be WANNA ONE’s “Energetic” era. If you love a powerful and feel-good track, UP10TION’s “Your Gravity” is the song for you!

Special Mentions of Underrated Debuts:

There were many strong debuts this year and I would like to mention 2 underrated rookie groups to look out for in 2020!

Male - 1TEAM “Make This”

I have already discussed 1TEAM’s greatness and music style above, but the reason I also chose them as the most underrated male group debut is because out of all the underrated male idol debuts this year, 1TEAM is the only one that have already showed us their consistency and duality. “MAKE THIS” continues 1TEAM’s retro sound and aesthetic - the song sounds like how people in the 80s think future sexy music would be like and also how people right now thought 80s sexy music remade might sound like. So even though 1TEAM went from soft and cute in their first two title tracks to mature in this latest comeback, they still stayed true to their retro sound. The MV is also delight due to the very “2001: A Space Odyssey” inspired looking set pieces.

Female - BVNDIT “Dumb”

MND Entertainment’s newest girl group and basically Chungha’s younger sisters, BVNDIT may have been overlooked as they debuted in the same year as JYP’s ITZY, HINAPIA which features PRISTIN members, and a string of post-PRODUCE 48 girl groups like EVERGLOW, CHERRY BULLET and ROCKET PUNCH. However, BVNDIT has a lot to offer and has likely one of the most standout sounds and looks. The girls all have confidence and stage presence unlike any rookie girl group and this really shined in their songs following the safer pop song debut with “Hocus Pocus.” The south-east Asian and Latin American influences in the drums used in their songs like “Dramatic” and “Dumb” also gives them an opportunity to attempt more powerful and mature choreography than some of the rookies, giving them an additional edge. With the company now starting to use a “Chungha-like budget” in their production as seen in the “Dumb” MV, I believe we can expect a lot from BVNDIT in 2019.

Which idol songs do you think were underrated this year? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below and let the song sharing begin!!!

[jessicakehoe]

In the Midst of a ’90s Revival, a Veteran Fashion Journalist Looks Back on the Era

The perennially sooty Milanese air was alive with electricity on the spring night that Tom Ford exploded a sex bomb on the runway. It was the show—low-key in a black room at a men’s club (unlike the blowout spectacles to follow years later)—for his Fall 1995 collection, when he put Gucci back on the map. It wasn’t just the bedhead (a new idea at the time) or the smoky eye (also fresh) or the satin blouses worn open to the navel. It was the swagger: Amber, Shalom, Kate and then Helena in perilously low-cut jewel-tone velvet bell bottoms, horsebit pumps, nonchalant chubby furs and sassy mohair coats. Channelling the howling youth of Jagger and Morrison, Ford cranked the volume up to 11. 

We like to poke fun at the ’90s, reducing the decade to Rachel hair and plaid shirts, but I cut my fashion teeth then (and that show still blows my socks off). I was a kid from Pickering, Ont., learning on my feet how to be the fashion reporter for a national newspaper. Runway news was brought back from the front lines then, with a six-month time lag, by just a handful of photographers and reporters. We still wore Levi’s and combat boots to fashion shows—because we were working and it was kind of a war. There were no celebs in the front row. Cellphones were not yet commonplace, so we filed copy from Europe by sticking suction cups to the receivers of land lines at hotels in a complicated prototype of dial-up. 

Yes, things were slower, but that meant big ideas cut through, and in the thick of a ’90s revival, there’s something to be learned from going back briefly to what happened then. Just one season later, for Prada’s Spring 1996 show, Miuccia Prada—who began back in the ’80s as a strict adherent of minimalism—laid down her fresh, intellectually charged vision of jolie laide, or “ugly-pretty.” The stiff clothes with clashing patterns, like awkward schoolgirl uniforms wrought in sallow shades of mud and snot, were a revelation—and I loved them. In their perversity and confidence, they spoke to me (then in my mid-20s) much more than the slick Versace vixens or stern Sander and Lang clones. Earlier this year, Prada presented a Resort collection that recalled those defining ugly prints of the past and was styled with scholarly turtlenecks under wide-collar polo shirts that one might expect to find in a Wes Anderson film. 

Very similar competing tensions are at play in fashion right now: edge and irony, soft and hard, slick versus authentic. The ’90s are indeed back with a vengeance. The first volleys came via social media, of course, captured off duty with the current crop of supermodels—specifically the Hadid sisters, who became the foremost proponents of this ’90s revival: Bella of spaghetti-strap tops and army boots with miniskirts, Gigi in her crop tops and embellished jean jackets. It is also worth noting that the breathtakingly young and fresh Kaia Gerber looks so much like her mom, Cindy Crawford, in the ’90s that the trappings of the decade seem preternaturally suited to her. 

Photography via Imaxtree

Photography via Imaxtree

Photography via Imaxtree

Photography via Imaxtree

Photography via Imaxtree

1/5

’90s Nostalgia on the Runway

Kaia Gerber in Versace

2/5

’90s Nostalgia on the Runway

Tom Ford F/W 2018

3/5

’90s Nostalgia on the Runway

Prada Resort 2019

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’90s Nostalgia on the Runway

Saint Laurent F/W 2018

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’90s Nostalgia on the Runway

Kaia Gerber in Off-White

Like then, our current mood is a scattered, emotional hangover born of perpetual crises, and fashion is a reactive medium: The spectacle of Anita Hill’s brave testimony being ignored in the Senate Caucus room has been echoed by Christine Blasey Ford’s painful experience; No Means No has been updated with the #MeToo movement; Dubya has been superseded by Trump; and Y2K paranoia has been replaced by surveillance paranoia. Thus, it is no surprise that there is a riot of ’90s vibes out there, mashed up with wit and irony because, well, there is comfort to be found in revisiting familiar shapes and ideas. The ’90s was when thrifting really took hold as a cultural force, and that was the phenomenon that Prada was tapping into for that seminal ’96 show (except she was creating from scratch; she is a genius, after all). Meanwhile, on the higher end, designers were exploring minimalism and silhouette deconstruction carried over from the Japanese and Belgian avant-garde movements of the decade before it. Complicating matters, subcultural moments were emerging from the darkness of the club and into the daylight. The biggest were goth and grunge, both of which were co-opted on the runways by Olivier Theyskens and Marc Jacobs at Perry Ellis respectively. Streetwear, hip-hop, oversized and logo love competed loudly for our attention. These were the nascent signs of athleisure in the guise of matching track suits, which we see coming back so hard right now. It was a time to break rules and mix up sequins for day and to don jeans for evening or wear your slip out as a dress.

Those after-dark influences vibe today with Ben Taverniti’s Unravel Project’s gorgeous lace-up pants and silk hoodies that showcase the label’s Los Angeles origins, with hits of Paris via Milan along the way. It feels like the gang from Kids all grown up—and with money. The label takes the layering and edge of the ’90s and pumps it up with volume and luxe texture play and is perhaps a shining example of how streetwear can actually work for evening. Nineties decadence is key to the Saint Laurent aesthetic under Anthony Vaccarello; the Belgian designer deftly melded sparkly, super-short, big-shouldered evening dresses with LBDs made fresh with scalloped necklines. And he rammed home the message of legs-legs-legs with shorts suits in a palette of familiar yet meaningful black. 

As for the designer who grabbed fashion by the throat back in the ’90s, Tom Ford is also refining his own territory as he revisits the decade of his rise. However, he’s not repeating his work from back then; he perhaps realizes he was too self-serious back in the day and has embraced irony as a vehicle that stands the test of time. For his re-energized eponymous label, Ford offered liquefied metallic leggings, black iridescent leggings and even more leggings—stamped with skin prints from zebra to snake. The old rules, Ford suggests, are boring. He offers modern sexy clothes with a playful element because he understands that wit is what is really in fashion right now. 

Designers pluck moods from the ether. They stare down sensory overload and carve a sense of calm out of it. But it is really the cool kids who are still charting the course of fashion. The same nerdy fashion diehards digging through by-the-pound bins today inspired Prada all those years ago. They are fashion’s foot soldiers, gathering up the leopard print and the leggings, the bike shorts and the hoop earrings and plugging them back into the larger fashion engine. There is a machine hard at work that we don’t see. But the upshot is this: We can turn to either the ’90s role models of yesteryear for inspiration or, if not them, maybe their children.

The post In the Midst of a ’90s Revival, a Veteran Fashion Journalist Looks Back on the Era appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

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