#instead of building out a whole new thing like how idol covers of western songs tend to be

[jinseibluetooth]

Keep constantly thinking of that review that says that this sounds as if Dempa listened to the original for the first time just before recording.

Dempagumi.inc - Sabotage

[sanstropfremir]

ok alright alright alright kingdom episode two

kinda disappointed that they only showed half the stages, but that's just an editing thing to draw out the content so you can air for longer, i'm not super surprised about that. i would have liked to evaluate them all at the same time, but at least this gives me time to go more in depth for all of them since they're full stages this time and I wrote 3000 words for last episode when they only had 100 secs. so this format will probably keep me sane for longer, i think. 

solid stages all round for them, none had especially glaring flaws on the whole. i'm not gonna do a full ranking for this episode since we haven't seen them all, but i will say that btob’s was my favourite from this set and both ikon’s and tbz’s stages were about equal; they both had things i liked and disliked in equal measure so i'm tentatively giving them the same ranking. full opinions and analysis on each stage below the cut, plus another section of general notes because hey what the fuck did you do to that stage mnet???

and for anyone that’s wondering yes i do have the qualifications. also seriously grab a drink or something because this is LONG.

some general notes

and here i thought this section wouldn't be as big as it was last time because mnet was going to get their shit together about the stage design, but noooooooooooo they had to go and make it worse! thanks mnet i hate it! remember how i said you shot yourself in the foot last time? well ya fuckin kneecapped yourself AND all your idols with this one ya dumb fuckin idiots. alright folks welcome back to stage design 101, my recurring segment where i explain the different types of stage layouts and their effectiveness for kpop idol survival shows, i guess.

ok so last week i covered the basics on theatre in the round and traverse staging, which i’ll link here if there’s anyone new or just wants a refresher. i mentioned that its likely that mnet will switch to an in the round style staging because it offers a lot more freedom for camera movement and also for directional blocking. well, i was wrong. so i'm gonna give you a quick rundown of prosceniums. a proscenium, proscenium arch, or just prosc, is an architectural feature that sits around the front ‘opening’ of the stage that delineates the stage from the audience. if you've ever been in or seen any pictures of old european style theatres it can be quite ornately decorated with scrolling, but it's almost always there in most western theatres. it basically provides your ‘wings,’ which are where you exit off into to get offstage, they provide cover from the audience sitelines. pretty much any theatre where the audience is directly opposing the stage across the 180 degree line is a proscenium stage, even if it doesn't physically have the arch. hell, movie theatres are prosc stages. now, there's a secondary architectural feature/device called a false proscenium, where you set a second, smaller archway inside the first prosc, usually done for a specific effect. think of it like a literal framing device; it's often used to visually signify that ‘this is a play, we are telling a story, please be aware that this is a play thank you.’ but sometimes, it can be a semi-permanent structure that’s set in place to narrow the prosc opening. we had this at my university, there was a false prosc set just inside the actual prosc because the stage had a hilariously big prosc opening for a university that never had casts larger than 24 people. so they set false prosc in to make the stage slightly narrower and to widen the wings, because it doesn't matter what size theatre you're in, you always need more wingspace. makes sense? ok, now here’s a very quick drawing of what i'm pretty sure the kingdom stage looks like:

before you get lost: stage directions are oriented to a person standing on the stage, hence SL and SR being reversed. a quick tip for remembering which way is upstage and which is downstage: if you go too far downstage you fall down (most stages are raised between 2-4’ from the floor, so if you step off the end you will actually fall.) the arrows on here signify the entrances i observed during the performances, which is not necessary in this explanation but i just thought it was interesting to note. still not entirely sure what the surrounding architecture is but it appears that the stage is a raised platform inside a room, and not actually built as part of the building. the ‘house’ is just a technical term for where the audience is, and in this case it's where it looks like most of the film crew and the producers/staff are. there’s pretty clearly a platform upstage centre, and i think there may be some others but i don't care about those right now. what i want to talk about is this dumbass false prosc they set IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STAGE. now i suspect that they did this to solve some problems that they could have had that i don't know about, since i don't know who the stage designer was and what the actual limitations of the space are. but basically they've built two stages and stacked them on top of each other to create one very deep stage, and then separated it off with a false prosc in order to control the size of the space a little better, and possibly to add some visual interest. this stage is functional for its purpose, absolutely, and i think, if mnet actually gave a shit about point of view and camerawork, it could produce some really interesting performances. however, because this stage is so deep, it kind of has the same properties as the traverse stage from before, but just with some big led screens in the middle for reasons. you extra have to pay attention to the directionality because you have all the staff and cameras concentrated in one specific cardinal point, so you have to get creative if you want to crossover between the two sides frequently. again, this is not necessarily bad; restrictions often produce some of the most creative decisions.  but! we have not seen a lot of consideration for camera and sightlines and audience pov, hence why i think this setup is dumb: it’s not facilitating the best performances it could.

ok now to the actual performances

btob

this is my favourite of the group because it's very clean lined and utilizes a few simple devices to pretty good effect. i realize these reviews are making me sound like i only like simple performances but i promise this is not at all true i'm just very critical and very picky. let’s start with the costumes, because why not. 

costumes

i like these very much, i love modernized traditional clothing in all forms, and these are very well tailored and well coordinated. they do the bulk of the work establishing the theme for the performance, along with the costumes on the backup dancers. personally i would have liked them to be a bit more colourful, à la the teal detailing that was on minhyuk’s final look. i'm getting a bit tired of the whole trend of having groups only wear all dark or all white, or maybe sometimes red if they're feeling spicy. obviously uniform colour is the easiest way to tie a group together visually, but on a show like this i think the groups would actually benefit more from looking distinct from each other internally rather than establishing the group as whole.

i liked that minhyuk had a costume change but i didn't really care for how it was how it was broken down. this is a very personal quibble because i literally have spent years prepping quickchanges but the method it broke down wasn’t the most visually compatible with the garment and felt kinda clunky. please ignore this anecdote it's just me being picky.

set

i loved the forest! a very excellent way to divide the stage area and obscure the weird stage lines/architecture that mnet has made. plus the snow, flowers, and fog? makes a really sharp and immediately indicative atmosphere, a very good use of visual shorthand to establish place.

i didnt love the screens, they reminded me a bit too much of rolling whiteboards from grade school, but they are thematically relevant. also, i feel like we didnt actually get to see about half the choreo for them? fuckin mnet and idiocy again. fun use of rear projection with the dancers’ shadows, and also good use of them to direct traffic, if you will. 

personally i think that the sheet gimmick from tbz’s performance would have been a better fit here instead of the screens, especially since the fabric motif was already established at the very beginning of the performance. plus you can do some really fun shadow work with a stretch fabric screen. 

personally i think there could have been a little bit more integration between the forest area and the screen area, or they could have done the whole thing in the forest space, but that would require a bit more consideration of camera and choreo maneuverability

sound

really liked this arrangement, obviously the song is iconic but they added a more traditional instrument sound. has good structure for the loose narrative that they had and they were well to label this as ‘theatre’ version because this did follow very closely to a traditional musical theatre sound and style

lighting

no complaints. the overall theme for this episode is apparently blue and red? again with them i like their dedication to a limited colour palette and i especially like the blossoms at the climax

staging

there was pretty clear camera choreo and a minimum of nausea inducing moves. i think some of the effectiveness of the staging got chopped by the editing but that’s not really btob’s fault.

i was just saying i wanted them to give minhyuk some time to shine, i was not expecting to get it so soon! this is a very smart choreo that proves you can be interesting without doing a lot of tricking. minhyuk obviously did a lot of practice and work with that sword, his movements are very fluid and he knows how to handle it. and it looks like its either a blunted proper blade or a correctly weighted replica. a lot of the times when sword choreo looks fake it's because the person either hasn't had enough practice or the weapon is not weighted/weighted incorrectly. only complaints are that you would never hold your fingers/palm that close and un-anchored over the edge of the blade, which is just a safety thing. also you would never scrape your blade on the ground like that, nor toss the thing like dead fish but that's a respect thing with a live blade and this is clearly done for dramatic effect so i’ll forgive it. please ignore this anecdote also it’s just my third dan getting uppity.

ikon

costume/set

smart thematically to go with the sort of miscellaneous 30s-40s (western) aesthetic because it's the fastest way to make it look like you built a theme with mnet’s weird pseudo art deco nonsense they've inexplicably got going on in the set dec. however, they should have stuck the theme all the way through, it would have been more visually cohesive and more interesting. we expect more hiphop/electronic sounding songs to come with these kinds of 4th gen costumes, it would have been anachronistic in a fun way to have them do that second half in 40s style suits. here’s a performance from sdc3 that uses that kind of anachronistic play (this was a combo stage with two ballroom dancers and it has a 20s aesthetic but close enough.) also here’s another routine from sdc3 that does a similar effect on a much more abstract scale, and also it’s a fucking incredible performance and it got slept on by the captains. also yes i know these are incredibly experienced career dancers but they way they construct narrative within their routines and their stage presence is SO GOOD. 

do not speak to me about the backup dancers costumes, holy shit i hate them. i hate them so much. how do you manage to hit too shapeless AND too fitted in the same fell swoop? i'm so mad at these. i'm neutral on bodycon dresses on the best of days but these were absolutely the wrong choice for this stage. generally kpop has abysmal costuming for female backup dancers on the whole but this is just like.....especially lazy. the point of the costume are to help give an indication of where and when you set your performance. they started off with a vaguely 40s theme and then jumped abruptly modern. why? also skirts like that are the literal worst choice for dancing in, hello?? the men’s looks are just sloppy, when you have a garment that big you want it to serve a purpose within the choreo, whereas with this it's just hiding the dancers’ movements.

as for ikon themselves, see everything ive said about black on black on black styling in the previous two reviews. 

the actual set is minimal and that's tragic. i mentioned mnet’s weird art deco theme and it was smart of them to try and play off that with a lack of stuff. definitely a mismatch of stuff pulled from yg’s prop storage, but they made it work as well as they could. no other meaningful comments i’m just kinda sad about it.

sound

the arrangement is fine, no complaints from me. they keyed up the old hollywood style musical theatre sound in the beginning which i really liked. i didn't mind the song/tone switch, i think they pulled it off.

staging

same as btob they learned more towards a theatrical style, which is smart for this particular format of show. i think this was the smartest staging of these three, and also i think the only ones to not get the crew in shot.

despite seemingly leaning into a more old hollywood style the narrative was a bit too loose for my taste. i'm not sure what i would have done to make it clearer at this moment since they had so little to work with, but i did get by on my previous knowledge of the songs. that shouldn’t be the only indication of narrative though! all elements need to support it!!

also like btob they had a pretty intentional point of direction and there weren't a crazy amount of spins. they also used the camera cuts the most effectively that i've seen so far. the first half is actually all in one take!!! incredible!!! thank you!!!! this is how you do it!!

the lighter flick gimmick was well pulled off and a good example of how to use a couple of simple tricks to good effect.

ikon as a whole has really great stage chemistry with each other, and they're extremely cohesive performers. this is a really strong physical performance from them, the dance was very solid and clean. good use of levels without verging into acrobatics. this might be the best group choreo i've seen so far, but we’re not very far so that's not a very high bar to clear.

it's a shame they had the budget of 1 banana.

tbz

i liked this stage better than their intro stage, but i still think they have a long way to go and they're still over ambitious. personally i find stages based on specific pop culture properties to be kind of twee and ineffectual, because it requires a specific knowledge of that pop culture property to work. sometimes the specificity can help with a narrative but you're at risk of alienating a larger portion of your audience out of sheer non-knowledge than anything else. 

costumes

again, interesting garments physically, but not much clarity of relation to the theme other than the colour. also the backup dancers???? another case of backup dancers being from an entirely different stage, what is up with those coats/dresses? looked more like they belonged in either sweeney todd or a vampire movie. 

hands in front of the camera again, but these were used much more effectively.  i'm not the biggest fan of mixing metals and i’m partial to silver on the whole so i didn't love the jewelry, but at least it was vague and stereotypical enough to denote ‘fire magic’ even if it does rely on a derivative middle eastern shorthand.

set

the stage set itself is fine, although definitely feels a bit haphazard to me. doric columns and frozen rocks and whatever that cover for the pyrotechnics was at the front, combined with the candles and the chaise lounge? like ikon, it felt a bit like they were pulling out of the props/set storage. not that all these things do not work together, it's just that you need a thread to tie them together, and this didn't have that for me.

sound

it's a crime they have a song called ‘no air’ and its not a jordin sparks cover. just saying.

i didnt really like this arrangement, again like their intro stage it didn't have a strong structure that suited the narrative, because they were pretty clearly trying a narrative on this one. also were most of the adlibs playback? they were singing live but there were so few shots of anyone specific singing. 

lighting

probably the weakest of the three. the projection design was a bit too tacky for me, and although i appreciated the small amount of variety in colour, it felt way too concert-lighting for me.

staging

the editing on this stage is wack and did no one any good. the hands leading/pov was a really smart device and they should have stuck out the one takes like ikon did, it would have made the whole stage feel a bit more cohesive. a lot better directional camerawork from them this time around, well done. again with the hands in front of the camera gimmick which i actually preferred this time, since they were a part of the narrative. the stretch/silhouette fabric i think they pulled off quite well, even if it didn't really fit thematically with the piece. i actually worked on a show a very long time ago that used this exact same effect with dancers and also rear shadow projection, and it requires a lot of rehearsal and trust to pull off well, so props to them. i think it was the wrong choice because there isn't an established motif for the fabric, so it kind of appears out of nowhere for one specific visual moment and then disappears, and i think that time could have been better served for something else narratively relevant.

again, these 4th gen groups are overly focussed on gimmicks as a way to make up for the lack of experience. personally i think this will be detrimental in the long run, and a reliance on gimmicks means that you don't trust your performers. tbz have the manpower to be doing some pretty cool collective dance work and i dont think its being trained or utilized correctly. they are suffering from a lack of cohesive stage presence right now and that can be fixed with training and time.

this might be because the group sizes are so different between these three but this choreo is very directionless. mnet is also providing to be absolute garbage at editing and i feel like i can't see the choreo at all.

this is a thing i've noticed with kpop camerawork in general, there’s very little regard for actually viewing the choreo as a singular work. and for some reason the camera always needs to be moving???? people do actually want to see what’s happening on the stage. the choreographer can only see from one spot, so from that spot is how they are intending it to look. you wouldn't need to upload full cams of every music stage if you just filmed the choreo properly in the first place. if you watch the two sdc3 clips i linked you can see a clear difference in maintaining the integrity of the choreo, even though both shows use several cameras and a lot of cuts.  obviously for kpop you want the money shots of idols’ faces but i definitely think there’s a healthier middle ground than what we have now.

ill wait for full subs but i want to know where in the fuck in sk you can rent a tank thas clearly been custom made for underwater photography, because that’s extremely cool even if it was absolutely unnecessary to the actual stage itself. i can think of several ways off the top of my head that would have achieved that same freezing effect without any of that wasted time and effort.

mnet decided to drop full cams while i was writing this and despite watching those my opinions are the same.

in conclusion, some more general thoughts:

i think ikon and btob got it right by leaning more into the theatrical than the cinematic, if that makes sense. i might be talking up my own ass here but these are theatre performances, and they should be treated as such. trying to do things that you can do on film isn't going to do you any favours in the long run, and it makes it harder to make a cohesive performance. i’m harping a lot about narrative but it is so important to performance. although it is not technically necessary, when doing big theatrical performance stages like this it does help with clarity of intent and general success. humans have brains structured around storytelling, it is literally the way our history has been passed down for tens of thousands of years. the atlantic published an article recently on narrative and memory, and it's a really excellent read for maybe after you've taken a break from this behemoth, oh dear god. 

tldr: the stages were good but disappointing in their own ways. mnet continues to sabotage via weird stage design decisions and bad editing. see you next week! (or in my ask box if you have questions)

[amratsu]

alright these girls have haunted me for about a whole month now time to break it all down for anyone vaguely interested in them

hololive/vtuber 101 below the read more

THE FUCK IS HOLOLIVE?: An idol agency except all of its roughly 20 or so girls are youtube streamers who have their identity protected by a live2d avatar. They recently had a very fun live concert and all of them have or will have 3d models, but the majority of content is just them streaming whatever's their fancy at the time. (As of 2/17/2020 a lot of them play a lot of ARK, thank Coco for that) Therefore, they're part of the new form of niche culture called Vtuber.

THE FUCK IS A VTUBER?: Virtual youtubers. Like a normal streamer but, again, live2d portrait instead of their actual face. That's basically it. Content is about as varied as any other youtuber.

ALRIGHT, WHO WE GOT?: Hololive's split into OG Tokino Sora, the girls alongside her who are also primarily 3d, and then 'generations'. Just plug in their names and you'll find their channel easy. Again, variety differs between all the girls, but expect a lot of Nintendo games, chat streams, karaoke, and Minecraft across the board.

-Tokino Sora OG mom slash idol, debuted all the way back in 2017. Probably the only proper idol in all of Hololive. Warm, friendly, relaxing. She mostly does 3d variety streams and song debuts so she's hard to follow without advanced japanese.

-Roboco(-san) Pose happy killer robo with a notably smokey voice and calming demeanor. Plays a large amount of minecraft and first-person games in general; recent streams include ARK, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon remaster, Apex, and Fortnite.

-Sakura Miko ELIIIITE MLG miko idol with a tendency to swear a bit. High energy, fully embraced 'press f', gives herself sunglasses during streams, great friends with Pekora. Also notably into eroge. Did a full playthrough of Papers Please lately and is one of the most addicted to ARK (21 streams at around 4-5 hours each.)

1st Generation -Yozora Mel Sleepy vampire with the occasional killer instinct. Soothing, gentle, kind of lewd. Very much into nintendo games with Smash, Ring Fit, SwoSh, and Mario Kart being her latest content, but she's a little slower with the output. Part of the lewd blonde club with Aki, Haato, and Choco, who were demonetized until recently.

-Aki Rosenthal Cyber elf with detachable twin tails. Pretty similar to Mel in disposition, though less sleepy and more...I want to say 'fantastical'. Recently gained popularity due to her buck naked superhuman beefcake character in ARK, with Kerbal, Go Home, and some ASMR rounding out the rest of her content.

-Natsuiro Matsuri Eternal 17 year old cheerleader from the class next door, Matsuri is a high energy raging lesbian who's also a complete sweetie. Her infamous bandaid clip is what got a lot of western fans into Hololive. Plays a wide variety of games but also twitcasts at random times of the day like when she's in bed or in the bath, just to chat with her viewers about what's on her mind. Well loved.

-Akai Haato The ESL transfer student, girl next door, Haato is, well, exactly that. Commonly traveling for studies, Haato is a bubbly girl with a fine sense for aesthetics; you'll catch her making elaborate builds in Minecraft or playing visual novels during streams, along with a smattering of other games. Notable in that she's the only girl that'll do purely English streams, likely to help with her own education. Also kind of a baka.

2nd Generation -Minato Aqua Disaster masochist maid who's actually stupidly good at video games sometimes. She's both mischievous and hard working, massively popular in China, and, again, stupidly good at games. Soulsborne speedruns, PUBG, ARK (also one of the most addicted), Minecraft (seeing a pattern?), League if you catch her bilibili streams...but she's also the one who will spend a stream calling the other girls and asking them to bully her. Wild card gremlin.

-Murasaki Shion Genius mage who doesn't do a lot with her magic. Pretty well known for her 'neeeeeee', with a distinctly smug avatar/voice. Pretty good at games too, with a variety of Pokemon, retro games, Minecraft, Smash, horror, Mario Kart, etc. Excellent singing voice too, would recommend her covers.

-Yuzuki Choco The totally-not-a-succubus demon nurse at your highschool, Choco embodies :sweating:. Obviously she's lewd, but there's also a silly and petulant side to her that's fun to watch too. ASMR is her specialty. She's also, surprisingly, really into Dead By Daylight, so if that combination sounds fun to you hit her up.

-Oozora Subaru If Haato is the girl next door, Subaru's the bro next door. A very down to earth but energetic and sporty tomgirl, she recently spent three streams and sixteen hours on trying to take down Sans. Other recent things include Live A Live, The Witch's House, and GTA. Refreshingly easy to relate to compared to the other girls sometimes.

-Nakiri Ayame Hello, honored humans~ Hololive's millenium old oni. Has a peculiar way of speaking, especially in her pronouns, which lends a certain charm if you can got on board with it; happy go lucky, easy to like, and really cute on top of all that. Recently recovered from sickness (as of 2/26) so was the last to get on the Ark craze, she's actually very fond of multiplayer games as a way of 'getting to know mortals'. Apex Legends, Mario Kart, Splatoon, etc.

GAMERS: A sort of generation on its own, and also a kind of weird designation when all the girls game so frequently. Oh well!

-Shirakami Fubuki Fox. Not a cat. Super cheerful, makes a lot of weird noises that people turn into youtube poops (that she encourages), and also a helluva gamer. Plays plenty of battle royales, ARK, and of course Nintendo/Minecraft stuff. Infamous for her absolute feral hunter instincts in Project Winter, where she commonly massacres the entire map on her lonesome when she's the traitor.

-Ookami Mio Mom wolf who has to play tsukkomi (straightman) to basically all of Hololive sometimes. Which makes it all the more hilarious during her semi-common charisma breaks, like during Haato's recent English Exam stream. Has been into EDF, Pokemon, Ghost Trick, and Splatoon lately.

-Nekomata Okayu The sleepy smug cat with the most chill personality. Notably very, VERY close with Korone, and in general kind of a playboy in general. Never denies it or any of her myriad transgressions though. Her Mother 2 run has been fun recently, but really you could just tune into her frequent chat streams and relax that way.

-Inugami Korone Dog. An oddball who kind of just goes at her own pace, playing all sorts of weird games like Nyanpo (the pokemon prototype) and weird PS1 retro games. Shows a disturbingly violent side sometimes; her ongoing Blasphemous run and recent RE4 runs have shown how much she's into that kind of stuff. But also she's still a dog, so really don't worry.

Inonaka Music: -AZKi AZKi is closely associated with Hololive but is really more of her own thing, being even more idol than Sora is. Doesn't stream much if at all, has her own album out, does music collabs more than anything else, etc. Helluva singer though.

-Hoshimachi Suisei The vtuber idol who's totally not a psychopath, and totally a goddess at tetris. Like Fubuki, made a name for herself with her psychotic rampages in Project Winter, and also very much unfazed by horror games. Really fucking good at tetris too, doing 98v1 streams lately in Tetris 99, and a godly songstress too. Her karaoke streams are to die for.

3rd Generation: Also known as Hololive Fantasy. These girls are particularly close to each other. If you can find translated clips, I definitely recommend their host club streams where they compete in seducing other Vtubers. (Yes. That's serious)

-Usada Pekora AH^HA^HA^. You'd think she was a cute rabbit, but no! It's a Tewi level shitposter combined with some legit video game skills. She likes playing the heel deliberately just for shits and giggles, like when she nearly walked off with Miko's Nether Star. She's in fact very close to Miko, their relationship being both great friends and great rivals. Definitely one of the most addicted to ARK too; she's been making headway in conquering the ocean.

-Shiranui Flare Handsome half-elf archer, Flare's the designated tsukkomi of the third generation. She's definitely the most down to earth of them, charismatic to boot, and does as she pleases with a relaxed personality and husky, smokey voice. Very very VERY close to Noel. You'll find some really fun playthroughs of various action games like Dark Souls, Bayonetta, and Sekiro on her channel, and thanks to her picking up game mechanics fast they're fun to watch for anyone.

-Shirogane Noel Knight Captain of the Shirogane Knights, Noel's...kind of an airhead, actually. But she's definitely a pleasant, softspoken sort of person who's incredibly relaxing to listen to. Also a big eater, you'll hear her talk about beef bowls and muscles a lot. Just try not to stare too much at her 'pectorals.' As mentioned, VERY close to Flare (they just had a two day long date to a ryokan). Plays whatever with no focus in particular.

-Uruha Rushia The cute, soft, innocent apprentice necromancer, Rushia occasionally comes out of the gates roaring with rage filled screams before chilling out. An absolute cutie though, who loves her fans very much (though really every Hololive member does), her attempts to be cool and reliable lend to some great comedy. She's got a great singing voice if you can find one of her bilibili streams, and otherwise plays a wide variety of things.

-Houshou Marine A~hoy~. The completely safe for work, modern, not-cosplay eternal 17 pirate...and everything I just said was a lie. Most of it anyways. Marine's a riot of a lady with an incredibly dirty mind and dirtier motor mouth, great voice acting ability, and knack for art that she'll happily show off (among other things). Definitely one of my favorites, you'll find plenty of chat and art content on her channel, along with some of the most Ark addiction and a full array of Touhou game playthroughs.

4th Generation: Hololive's newest five girls, it's been a month and change since they debuted. They're notable for working together on some of the most wild content Hololive's put out so far, all helmed by a certain dragon. But we'll get to that.

-Tokoyami Towa The little devil that does whatever she wants, Towa's known for a couple of other things at this point: refreshingly honest personality, Pokemon playthroughs with an eclectic choice in team comp, and her charmingly atypical tomboy voice (though her mic's not amazing). Great singer, super funny if you can find the rare translated clip of her, and was an absolute menace at the recent Hololive werewolf/mafia game. How she managed to fake being a Seer from day one and nearly win, I'll never know.

-Tsunomaki Watame Hololive's bouncy sheep. Ram? Something like that. A very girly, friendly, lightly ara-ara personality, she's an honest and open with her feelings sort of girl. Earnest laughter at chat and games, real emotional tears while watching the live concert with her generation mates, Watame's a total sweetheart who streams a bit of music everyday as the pre-show to Coco's Morning Shitposts (official name). She's also gotten very close to her senpais in some regards...but above all she likes singing, chilling out in Minecraft, and recently playing through a couple Kirby games.

-Himemori Luna If you want to see a completely innocent cinnamon roll looking character say things like 'ass' and 'don't f*cking take crystal m*th', Luna's your gal. Her high pitched, almost childlike voice takes a bit of getting used to but she's a sweetheart that just has fun no matter what she's doing. But she'll also say a bunch of really funny shit while doing it just from sheer juxtaposition of her voice/appearance and the vocabulary. Surprisingly good at video games too.

-Amane Kanata PP Tenshi. Perfect Pitch, Powerpoint...Kanata's a bit of a sheltered honor student sort of girl who has an incredible vocal range, so much you'd be forgiven for thinking she was a professional voice actor or singer. She loves playing along with jokes even if she doesn't get them some times, and is really close with Coco. If not for said dragon she'd be the biggest memelord in the 4th generation, but alas; her channel has lots of collabs with fellow members and a series of cute 'research' videos on the various generations of Hololive. Unfortunately untranslated though.

-Kiryuu Coco The one, the only, the President of Nishinari herself, Coco has been a force of nature since she debuted. Her vulgar sense of humor, rapid fire jokester nature, fluent English speaking, and complete conversion of Hololive to the wonders of dinosaur taming in Ark has made her one of the most subscribed girls in a matter of weeks. Every day at 6am JST or 1pm PST, she does a quick 20 minute gig called Coco News (officially translated as Coco's Morning Shitpost) where she reports on the various ongoings in Hololive. This ingeniously brings attention to the silly crap everyone's been up to, really fostering a sense of community between the girls you don't see elsewhere, while also being a riot to watch as she roasts everyone for their silliness (with full permission). Other notable memes include her stalwart boycotting of Nintendo Switches, her desire to fund a Hololive house, and her recent Hitman 2 run.

[rkkyungsoo]

‹ daytime. ›

audition: solo 003. the interview.

The last time he had makeup on his face, Kyungsoo was three and a very curious toddler. Taking his mother’s expensive lipstick, he’d let loose with his creativity and drew everywhere, including on himself. Even little Kyungsoo was a fan of making statement and by the time his mother discovered him, he looked like he’d just crawled out of a crime scene. The makeup artists hired for the mgas proved to be a lot better than toddler Kyungsoo was. Instead of sitting down in front of the camera completely covered in red, he just looked like a slightly more glowing version of himself.

The questions were straight forward and Kyungsoo had an idea of what the right answers may be. The right answer in this case being the ones the judges/audience would most likely want to hear from his lips. He could raise his head, slap on a polite smile, and spew pleasant sounding bullsh*t for the next ten minutes, or he could actually search his head for something more genuine. Likely, he’d end up doing 50-50, half truths mixed with half lies. Believable and sincere sounding, even though not completely accurate.

"Hello, my name is Do Kyungsoo. I am twenty-one years old and I am currently a business student at Seoul National University.” He once again, felt the desire to look at the camera, but this time managed to control himself. There was something about those moving lenses that just made him feel so uncomfortable. At least now they were sitting down and chatting and he had a lower chance of embarrassing himself. Thank god.  “I really love English songs. My father is a teacher and to help his students with English, he used to make lessons into song formats and sing it for them. I suppose I grew up listening to him so when I started seeking out songs to listen to myself, his influence made me favour the western music.” All truths here. Papa Do used to be a super shy person, but after he got married, he really opened up. Kyungsoo didn’t mention the fact he didn’t actually listen to kpop much at all and secretly hoped that the interviewer wouldn’t-

Except she did. Of course she had to ask about his Korean song preferences because this was a freaking Korean idol show.

Thankfully, Kyungsoo’s brain was used to working overtime and had no difficulty in supplying an answer. “I like Luxe,” he said. “My bias in that group is...Ella.” And the lies begin here. Kyungsoo actually knew very little about Luxe and the only reason he even had a ‘bias’ was because he went to the new Royal Entertainment building and bought a mug there. The mug happened to have Kim Seolhyun’s picture on there and out of curiosity he searched her up. “She is the leader dancer and I admire people who can dance because I am hopeless when it comes to that.” He tried to move this conversation along with some good old self-deprecation and to his surprise, it worked.

“I want to become an idol because...” Actually, he didn’t. He just signed up on a whim and didn’t think he’d get a call back. Of course, that was the truth, which, for the sake of everyone’s sanity, must not come out.  Time to make up some stuff and lie, good thing he’d always been an excellent liar. “Sorry, before answering that question, please let me ask you one first.” Kyungsoo was stalling for time as he made up his lie, trying his best to weave some truths into it. “Have you ever heard songs that made your heart clench in pain? What about ones that could just cheer you up when you are sad?” He paused, as if struggling to find the words to express himself. “I think it is amazing, when a singer could inspire emotions within those who listen to them. It almost feels like a power. I have a close friend who has that and I deeply admire him for it.” And now for some truth to make this whole speech more realistic sounding. “I guess I just wanted to know if I had this power in me too. I honestly am not sure, but I want to sing and find out. I guess you can say the MGA is a learning opportunity for me, so that I can grow as a person and possibly an idol. I just want to reach hearts.” Disgusting cheese at the end but the older ladies usually ate that up, especially when those words were delivered by a sincere looking face.

Final question, which company he was interested in.

Time for more lies because Kyungsoo just looked up the companies on google after he got a call back! “I put down TRC and Sphere as my top two choices,” he said. “The reason I chose TRC first is because my mother really loves the company. She insisted that I should try for that one if I am going to audition, even though she doesn’t think I will win. If anything, she has her money on my cousin. Also, TRC is the bestselling company right now in the industry and I...” His smile puffed up his cheeks and made him look babyish but the glint in his eye was that of a man. “...I’ve always been an ambitious man.”

“As for Sphere Entertainment, I chose it because I admire the CEO. I’ve heard about how giving she was at the charity events I’ve performed at. Kindness is very important because a person who’s experienced it from another individual is more likely to pass it forward. Therefore, yeah, I put down Sphere because I support the CEO’s actions.” Right. It totally didn’t have to do with his obsession with Oh Sehun or anything.

[thesinglesjukebox]

RINA SAWAYAMA - CYBER STOCKHOLM SYNDROME [7.30] Lucy (and others) have urged us to cover this new Brit...

William John: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction; for every argument posited for the Internet as a means to self-empowerment there are countless counter-arguments presenting it as a force of entrapment and hostility. Rina Sawayama wrestles with this quandary, and tries a few aesthetic formulae to achieve a solution; first, dimly lit R&B, then aquatic bubblegum, before a finale of dramatic guitars and cascading, layered vocals. The song's patchwork quality mirrors that of many social media feeds, and acts to underline Sawayama's thesis, namely that instead of rebelling against our dependence upon technology, we should revel in it; that the oppressive and hateful aspects of the online world are best countered by optimism, and should be treated not as enslavement, but as opportunity. It's idealistic sentiment, and shouldn't work in practice, but then again neither should a singer mining perceived influences as diverse as the Gran Turismo soundtrack, early Sky Ferreira, and Samantha Mumba, and yet here we are. [9]

Eleanor Graham: On Björk's new album, there's a devastating line about "googling 'love'." For her, the Internet is adjacent to the thing. For Sawayama, it's the whole thing: "never the overrated touch." It's a different approach to a topic crying out for exploration, not better or worse, but less easy for me to connect with. I prefer narratives in which the Internet is -- if this makes sense, and I'm not at all optimistic -- the popcorn, not the movie. Nevertheless, "Cyber Stockholm Syndrome" is sonically and aesthetically incredible. It gives me a specifically feminine nostalgia, something like "There You Go" by P!nk and Vanessa Hudgens in High School Musical and those pink, plastic password-protected journals. All of that stands in compelling contrast with the euphoric warp-speed futurism of the final chorus and the video's Blade Runner neons. Kelela's old-school R&B/electro-pioneer amalgam is sleeker, but Sawayama's is more fun. It makes me want to put on a lot of orange eyeshadow and not leave my house. [7]

Jessica Doyle: The first time I heard it, I kept being surprised every time she went high and warm when I was expecting icy contempt. Sawayama is speaking for, not about, her protagonist, and that willingness to find warmth and bravery and self-assertion in a position that could easily be caricatured (the Internet is The Worst) makes all the difference. [8]

Anjy Ou: For obvious reasons, bodily autonomy is very important to me as a woman. But both creepy and well-intentioned men have a way of invading my personal space that makes me feel unsafe -- they forget or they never were told that a woman has the choice to accept or reject someone's touch, and they shouldn't assume that every woman is okay with even the most innocent touch. I rarely make a fuss because I don't want to make trouble -- I make an excuse, pull away, change my body language, whatever it takes to send the message, "DON'T TOUCH ME." So for me this is a song about a girl who decides to control exactly who has access to her and when and in what circumstances, by limiting that interaction to the cold technological world. Here she is queen, accepting audience when she feels like and disconnecting when she doesn't. The '90s R&B pop vibe is a great match, seeing as nostalgia for times past is just as much a fantasy as a world where women hold all the power. And that soaring middle eight plus last chorus is a great representation of the relief you feel when, even for a brief moment, with someone else or alone, you feel truly safe. [7]

Jonathan Bradley: The bridge blows out real big, which doesn't necessarily work in this song's favor -- Sawayama's voice falters before the bombast  -- but "Cyber Stockholm Syndrome" is poised and pirouetting R&B that's admirable for its sense of control. She nevertheless seems worth watching for her willingness to step aside from the main currents of Western pop today: where her peers are languid and dazed, she is precise. I hope for more. [6]

Nortey Dowuona: Soft, pulsing piano builds up to clattering woodhits and bubble percussion swirling around Sawayama, who confidently strides through the soft, unimposing drum programming, before taking off in the chorus while the bass rises and rises as the drums become heavier, the synths slide in sharply and her background vocals soar above... and then it all crashes without trace, a single bubble emerging from the sea. [10]

Alfred Soto: An odd arrangement, somewhere between the Pipettes and American Idol, which suits the primly authoritative lyrics  [6]

Iain Mew: Showing that the dawn of the Internet age can be represented at least as well by lush '90s R&B as by primitive synths is reason enough to find "Cyber Stockholm Syndrome" refreshing. That she fixes in on the personal and gets across the emotion of just how transporting online interaction can be, complete with ambivalence but without getting into theorising and moralising, is better still. [8]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: As the song begins, the indistinct chatter reminds us that the tendency to retreat into our phones can feel like an embarrassing crutch. But as lonely as the internet can make us feel, it's a source of solace and empowerment for many. Rina Sawayama nails that exact feeling when "Cyber Stockholm Syndrome" hits its final chorus. And as the song concludes, we're left with the sound of glass shattering and a fadeout -- signals that we've been brought back to reality. The only difference is that we've experienced the ecstatic joy of being on the internet, and we're now ready to face our screen-less selves and world with a comforting afterglow. [6]

Ryo Miyauchi: The throwback R&B sound clouds whether this is nostalgic for the turn of the century or actually addressing the ills of the present. Whichever the intent, "Cyber Stockholm Syndrome" makes the case that Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins provided one of the best pop templates to release post-Y2K anxieties, both then and now. [6]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox ]

[shorilicious]

QLAP! interview with Sato Shori on “HaruChika” (this interview took place in December 2016) Today is Shori-kun’s first QLAP solo interview with a front cover! Thank you for being with us.

No, I should be the one to say thank you. I’m indebted to QLAP-san starting from my debut times. A long time ago while being interviewed I used to say “Clap!” while clapping my hands on each side of my face like this (he demonstrated it), and was playing and joking around (laughing).

You were always saying the name of the magazine with such enthusiasm while having fun with the members (laughing).

Yup (laughing). I wish I could do that kind of pose for the cover!?

Of course, please do so in the future!

I’ll do my best!! (laughing)

Thank you (laughing). Your film “HaruChika” will finally be in cinemas in the beginning of March. It’s about a brass band set in school, Shori-kun will play a timid boy named Haruta who plays the horn. What is your impression of this role?

Haruta and me are complete opposites to each other. I think Haruta’s main features are his wimpy and stubborn sides that aren’t similar to me at all. But rather than building up to become more similar to my role, I think... I tried to be him as naturally as I could.

The director’s objective was to make many scenes spontaneously and such.

Yup. That’s why I was asked to play this role very naturally. I cannot do that if I don’t feel his presence. For example, in a scene where the brass band members had different opinions and were discussing things, Haruta who usually doesn’t show much emotion suddenly raises his voice. I was wondering if a quiet person would suddenly burst out something instead of staying quiet during an important conflict. That’s why I suggested that even though it wasn’t the case in the beginning.

So it was Shori-kun’s idea. Starting the scenes with all the staff members, it seems like there are many fresh youthful elements for this work.

I’ve also seen the completed work and the casual scenes have a really pure vibe to them. Scenes where we’re just walking, just polishing our instruments, they also have their special youthful charm.

Did you have such a youth as well?

I wanted to! But I did not have a casual youth (laughing).

Well then (laughing), what about the admirable but casual mune-kyun scenes?

Like Haruta and Chika (Hashimoto Kanna), I also went together with my childhood friends to school by bus. I think it’s cute how they share earphones too. It would be really nice if I could have small things like that in my everyday life.

How was the atmosphere at film set since almost the whole cast is from the same generation?

It really felt like we were doing a club activity. Everyone got along and after the last scene was finished, everyone was crying. I often had deep conversations with the male cast during shootings as well, for example with (Hiraoka) Takuma and (Shimizu) Hiroya.

Is there anything specific you can say about them?

They are really amazing. They use up their whole energy to think about the shooting and they even think about all the expressions they can make while acting. Working with actors is amazing after all. I also like acting but because I don’t want to play a character half-heartedly, I think I still have to work hard.

That was quite motivating.

For future acting work, I don’t want to just “act out” a character, I want to become an actor who can do it naturally as much as possible. Rather than my acting being called “skilful”, it’s cool if it could be called “natural”.

By the way, your feelings and approaches to that kind of work, is it the same as standing on stage for “Johnny’s All Stars Island”?

I think the essentials are the same. But since it’s a stage play, personally I don’t like having flashy scenes or raising my voice, but no matter the place I think the key is still to be natural. Of course it may be difficult since you’re live on a stage, but I like keeping my movements and my voice as natural as possible.

I see. I’ve seen the costume rehearsal of JAI and I was fascinated by the many performers and also by Shori-kun’s solo song playing the horn, I was overwhelmed by all the content. It’s been three weeks since the opening (the interview took place in December), so what are your feelings now?

It’s enormous! And I’m hungry (laughing). But I’m having fun doing performance after performance.

In the other half of the play there are also emotional scenes based on real stories...

Yes. But there isn’t any strange meaning behind that, I don’t really think about it. Not for the sake of it being a true story but I think I wanted to do that scene because it was fitting the whole play’s story.

Do you see it as a part of the story just like any other scene?

Yes. But since there are going to be many more performances in the future, it’s hard to say that... I didn’t even think about that too much.

However, it’s a long play of two months. It’s important to take care of both your mind and body, so is it relaxing in your dressing room?

I keep hanging out with Prince like usually. I’ve been getting along well with Myuti (Morita Myuto) too and Jesse comes over to play the guitar and sing together with me. We’re all on good terms and everybody is really nice to me.

It seems that the other Sexy Zone members appeared as guests as well.

Yes. I couldn’t meet (Nakajima) Kento-kun backstage but he sent me a rose-scented drink through manager-san... what on earth was that for? (laughing) Ah, but there was also a message that said “it contains citric acid” (laughing).

Ahahahahaha!

Matsushima (Sou) and Marius (Yo) also came to my dressing room. They said things like “We don’t have any makeup tools”, and in the end before the performance these two used mine (laughing). (Kikuchi) Fuma-kun will appear in future performances, too.

“HaruChika” being your first film and showing us your horn skills on stage, it feels like you are challenging new things every year. Do you think that is your motive power?

I guess I just have my goals after all. I already mentioned my goals about acting before and I also want to improve my singing and dancing, but it’s fun aiming for those things. If my physical condition doesn’t turn bad, I don’t think my goals are too hard to achieve.

You seem to really like your job.

Somehow I became addicted to it (laughing). It doesn’t feel like I’m working but more like this is my everyday life? Since it’s normal to me, I wouldn’t say that my life is always idol-ish. Because for example when I go out in public I dress how I want. Some people are attracted by a natural appearance and I wonder if people in my surroundings think “That’s an idol” when seeing me, that would be really cool.

During hard and tiresome times, Shori-kun seems like he never talks about his complaints.

Of course I also go through hard times but I think that I don’t have to share that in public. Basically, I’ll find a solution myself.

Don’t you consult it with your seniors?

I feel sorry for troubling my seniors with my worries. But when I went for a meal with Yamashita (Tomohisa)-kun, he was asking “How’s your group doing?”, so I started talking about various things. One day he asked me “Shori, are you okay?” several times, so I felt that he was really concerned about me.

You surely appreciate that.

I really do. But now that I’m thinking about it, I must lead a great life if Yamashita-kun is caring about me. I’m amazing~ (laughing)

(Laughing) Lastly, for 2017 your play will continue, your film will be released and Sexy Zone will be busy every day with their arena tour, what else do you want to achieve that year?

First of all I want to increase the chances of people becoming interested in “HaruChika”, that’s why I want to work hard on promotions! And I thought about doing a big project as a group. I want to deliver an image like “The Sexy Zone” to everyone. For me personally I want to become better at dancing. Even if I can show one little gesture, I hope you would be charmed by it. I’ll surely become popular then, right? (laughing)

Oh! It’s a little unusual to hear “I want to be popular” coming from Shori-kun (laughing)

Even I want to be well liked (laughing). I mean I want to be seen as a cool person. I think that I’ll feel good if I can dance in a cool way and I’ll continue to aim for greater things, so I think I want to put more effort into various things from now on too!

Shori’s music talk♪ Q1. How often do you listen to music every day?

If I include the music I listen to at work, while traveling and taking a bath it would be about 6-7 hours. If I don’t have to work I think I listen to music for about two hours. Recently I use cool black headphones. Headphones are better for me than earphones because I can enjoy the sound quality that I want.

Q2. What are the latest obsessions on your music player?

I listen to music on my smartphone but I think I have about 1000 songs in there and I listen to them on shuffle. I think 70% of them are Western songs and the rest are Japanese rock bands, pop, my senior’s and our own songs. The song I am recently listening to on loop is Coldplay’s “A head full of dreams”.

Q3. What is your favourite sound and what is the sound you like the least?

My favourite sound is the D chord of a guitar. Somehow it gives me a positive vibe and brings out my courage (laughing). The sound I hate is when my buzzer goes “Brr! Brr!” before I go on stage when I’m not in a good condition. Especially when it’s on the table in my dressing room, it makes a strange loud sound (laughing).

Q4. What’s your speciality at karaoke?

It’s KinKi Kids’ “Ai ni tsuite”. It feels really great to sing that song! Even though it’s a difficult song and it’s hard for me to sing a song of two people by myself (laughing). Basically I go to karaoke alone. But recently I didn’t go that often.

Q5. What was the last concert you went to?

I’ve seen Arashi’s concert at dome arena for the first time. The organisation and direction was amazing~ For example, it was amazing to have one full track song on the main stage while not allowing the audience to get bored, I definitely couldn’t avert my eyes from the stage!

Q6. Who do you think has a beautiful voice?

Michael Jackson! If it’s a person who’s alive, then it’s Paul McCartney. Both of them are a number one for me. I don’t think that anyone has surpassed them. Incidentally I started liking my own voice little by little recently too. I want to extend my vocal range though.

Q7. If anyone could write a solo song for you, who would it be?

TOKIO’s Nagase (Tomoya)-kun. The lyrics and sound Nagase-kun is working with, to me they always have a cool and unique vibe. I also have the wish to do band music, so one day I would be happy to be able to do a session with him~ I think we could write interesting lyrics if we collaborated.

Keep in mind I am not a native speaker therefore there might be mistakes in my translations. Also I’m not exactly translating word for word. Feel free to correct me in my ask box any time you want, I’d appreciate it! I apologize if someone already translated something before me and I didn’t notice, I hope you don’t mind.

Sorry for bad-quality scans, I don’t have a scanner at home orz

[vskpop]

August 2017 ⋅ Enerzetic

Gashina - Sunmi

It’s true across most big companies that we will never get to see what their artists actually want to do until they either have enough power to make their own decisions, or they leave the company entirely. While Yeeun has always been the clear breakout act within Wonder Girls, and the only one with some space to do her thing, I have been waiting for Sunmi to have a decent solo career ever since 24 Hours.

Sunmi had a bunch of writing and composing credits in the last two Wonder Girls album, so it’s not a surprise that she knew exactly what she wanted to do and how to do it as soon as she moved away from JYP. If Gashina is anything to go by, full creative control for Sunmi is everything I didn’t know I wanted. It’s catchy and sexy, which we knew she could pull off, but also incredibly weird and out of the box. I can’t wait to see what she does next.

Following - Hyuna

Last year, Hyuna’s comeback was an exaggeration of all her defining elements, and not in a good way. It came out in the first moments of a very very bad phase for Cube Entertainment, a phase they haven’t left behind yet. After the excellent Triple H project, it’s nice to see Hyuna build on her past work rather than staying exactly where she was thematically and musically.

While the central idea of title song Babe is kind of weird - she feels younger and younger because of her love interest, to the point that she feels like a baby - I like that for once Hyuna didn’t have to put  all her effort into being sexy, and looks happy and carefree in the music video and in the live performances.

Babe has catchy parts, but doesn’t shy away from its weirder, more meandering parts. It’s definitely a dance song, but there is more to it: even if the song is about feeling younger, Hyuna is growing up as an artist and can do more than straightforward party tracks.

While A’wesome sounded like a collection of random leftovers from other projects, Following sounds like a cohesive piece of work that shows all different aspects of Hyuna, now a grown-up with control over her releases; after years of collaborating on her songs’ lyrics, she has composition credits as well this time.

Party and Purple mix the party atmosphere of older Hyuna classics with the voices of Cube’s newest acquisitions, Pentagon’s Wooseok and E’Dawn. Dart and Mirror might be trendier, but they are the real gem of this album: both songs are performed by Hyuna in her actual singing voice rather than her high-pitched tough lady voice.

It’s really special that Hyuna and Sunmi are promoting at the same time: the two Wonder Girls alumnae (even though Hyuna’s experience as a WG was quite short) show that there is a life on the other side of a girl group, and that women idols can find their own voice in an industry that doesn’t particularly want them to.

  White Night - Taeyang

There is a fringe of k-pop fans that is absolutely obsessed with establishing scientifically that their favourite is the best singer in terms of technique. I have never seen this kind of morbid obsession in Western pop music, but it does make me laugh to see people spending so much energy on letting everyone know that Taeyang is a bad singer.

Bad technique or not, I think Taeyang is one of the most charismatic, emotional singers in k-pop. This comeback is quintessential Taeyang for me: both Darling and Wake Me Up are sweeping, emotional songs that sucker punch the listener with the insane expressiveness of Taeyang’s voice.

I think this is the first time that instead of pairing a dance song and a ballad, Taeyang chose to go with two slower songs. I’m not huge on very samey comebacks, but the pairing of Wake Me Up and Darling really allowed him to show all of his strengths, and probably to save all his choreo energy for the huge tour he’s embarking on.

It’s also interesting to consider that both Taeyang and G-Dragon, who are celebrated for their danceable or more hard-hitting songs, went with ballads for their comeback. It’s obvious that G-Dragon’s circumstances were forced (and that his original plan was different), but I like seeing that they have reached a point in their career where they can do something that feels close to their heart rather than something that is easier to sell.

I think it will be hard for Taeyang (or anyone) to ever put out an album that’s better than Rise, but White Night is as good as I expected to be. The only song that’s an obvious dance single is Naked, which would have never ever been picked because it would have never been aired on Korean TV with the lyric “I want you naked”. As usual, his intros should be whole songs and he knows it - so much that this time he made a music video for the intro to White Night this time around.  

Since this might be Taeyang’s last comeback before his enlistment (although I secretly think and hope we will get one more GD x Taeyang), I was terrified of how it would turn  out, and I was honestly just relieved that he managed to go through an entire album without any gross cultural appropriation. Even though I still don’t want him to go on a two-year hiatus, I think I can be happy (and by happy I mean rolling in my own tears listening to White Night) with how he closed this chapter in his career.

Our Twenty For - Winner

It will take me some time to get used to Winner having regular comebacks instead of disappearing for 18 months at a time. I’m glad to see that their new four-member incarnation is finding success shedding their mid-tempo image and throwing themselves into the latest trends.

Winner used the obvious title song (the one that sounded like Really Really) as the b-side of their comeback. Island has the staples of every other tropical track, but is made a bit less predictable by avoiding the drop and going with a chorus that’s a bit less formulaic than Really Really’s. I have to admit that it’s my favourite song between the two; the video is so gorgeous and romantic, and the song is the perfect halfway point between hype and chill.

The actual song that was promoted, Love Me Love Me continues the tradition of Winner singles with a repeated title (after Really Really and Baby Baby) but switches things up again in terms of sound. When everyone else is stuck in a labyrinth of EDM trends, they looked in a different direction and put out a disco-inspired song. It’s similar enough to Really Really in structure, but it’s a signal that new Winner is ready to experiment and maybe is not so set on a new identity yet.

If there’s something that I appreciate about Winner, it’s that their lyrics aren’t made up of the same three sentences of the average love song; they actually express feelings that people in their twenties would have, like the apparently very controversial line “I want to mix it up with you on the sofa”. They are corny enough to sell, but not so much that thinking about what they’re actually saying makes me cringe.

Winner have always focused on ballads; it’s interesting to see how they still clung onto a slower song in their first new-formation comeback, but they’ve entirely let go of it this time.

In a way, we are still looking what ‘color’ suits us best. ... I’d say right now, we are in round four (of 12 rounds in boxing).”  - 04/08/2017

For me, none of their songs has reached the levels of EXIT: E, but I appreciate seeing that they aren’t afraid to branch out and that YG is letting them.

Bonus: Island and Love Me Love Me acoustic version

1X1=1 (To Be One) - Wanna One

I am positive that the eleven weeks I spent sweating and crying over Produce 101 will be the last time I follow a Korean survival show (until the YG ones come around, that is). I was bound to be attached to Wanna One even after my favourite Samuel didn’t make it through just for the sheer amount of time I spent watching the show and following the drama and controversies around it.

The rumours that Produce 101 was rigged are unsurprising and, to be fair to Mnet, I do think that the final 11 members really create a fantastic team . After countless hours of performances and variety shows (you might sense that I’m a bit obsessed) I think they are one of the most well-balanced groups I’ve ever seen in terms of actual talent and personas/personalities.

While at this point I have my doubts that debut track Energetic was actually picked by the public and not by the managers of Wanna One, I think it’s the perfect debut song for them.

There is nothing crazily original in this song, but it capitalizes on all the best parts of Wanna One: charismatic dancers, top-notch vocalists, expressive rappers. It was clearly written knowing that capable people would perform it (if not exactly who would perform it), and that their parts didn’t need to be easy or muddled to cover their lack of skills. Mnet also managed to pull through and get a track written by Hui of Pentagon, who was behind the most successful Produce 101 original track, Never, pretty much guaranteeing the success of Energetic.

I am very impressed that Mnet managed to put together a video balancing a more cheerful, colourful vision of Wanna One with the edgier, blue-and-pink neon trend that has swept up “aggressive” k-pop groups. It really shows each member in their best light, and how the group will be able to switch genres and styles without looking out of place.

Seeing the music video for their second possible debut song Burn It Up makes it clear that there wasn’t a chance in hell that it would be the title track. Terrible editing and post-production aside, Burn It Up is a perfectly good song, albeit on the more banger-y side of k-pop trends, a style that Produce 101 never seemed to be particularly inclined towards.

I still really like the rapped pre-pre-chorus, and the distortion in the chorus felt like an interesting way to switch up the k-pop chorus formula that has been everywhere in the past couple of years (screamed title of the song + dance break).

Apart from the fact that it’s a bit conventional, Burn It Up would have really penalized the vocalists in Wanna One since it’s almost entirely rap or rap-singing, so I’m even happier that they went with Energetic.

The more I listened to it, the more I realised that there was another group that disappointed me lately and would have suited this song: it’s perfect for iKON, and I do hope that after their recent debacle they take a page from the Wanna One book and go for something similar to Burn It Up.

Wanna One have a sea of advantages over IOI, starting from the fact that they are men, so they aren’t expected to adhere to a cute, innocent concept. They are also benefitting from all the experience that Mnet and YMC gained from IOI’s failures and successes. Their debut is a million times better than the terrible Dream Girls, so I want to believe that all the other problems IOI had will be avoided this time around. I am really looking forward to the next 18 months with Wanna One.

Holiday Night - SNSD (Girls’ Generation)

In a year of underwhelming comebacks for SM artists, SNSD just reached a whole new level of disappointment for me: I’m furious that this half-assed comeback was their tenth anniversary. They have been working incessantly for ten years and this is what they got.

Considering their team must have been preparing this comeback at least since the end of the You Think/Lion Heart promotions in 2015, it’s quite shocking to see how uninventive and cheaply made their new round of “promotions” (more on that later) was.

I think most people agree that Party was a terrible song, so I can’t imagine why SNSD would double down on it with Holiday. The song is a decent b-side at best, and the styling is atrociously childish for a group of adult women; if Taeyeon hated Gee, I can’t imagine how she felt about this. I can hardly get past Hyoyeon’s rap, which is literally “You know I’m hot, hot, hot, hot”; SM could have at least gotten someone to write her decent lyrics.

All Night is a fun song, and with a much more current sound than Holiday. It does a good job mixing the bouncy atmosphere you’d want for a celebration and a sound that matches a group of women in their late twenties.

The video feels a bit strange - as if they had had to cut out some elements that were key to the narration and we were only seeing the leftovers. If I had to put my money on something, it would be that they had to cut out 90% of the footage with drag queens.

There is everything to hate about this comeback, still - the videos have clearly been shot on the cheap, and some of the costumes are just horrendous. Seeing this comeback in the context of the larger situation with SNSD, however, makes the subpar quality of Holiday Night one of the least important problems that the group and fans should have.

I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that SM is using organized-crime-level intimidation tactics to make the members renew their contracts: cutting their promotions short, refusing to reprint the album, sending them to schedules with no security, throwing out random contradicting news for media play…

I’ve read as much as possible about the situation (as much as a non-Sone can) and I honestly can’t imagine how being treated like this would make anyone reconsider the choice of leaving SM. I really wish the best to each of them, especially after they’ve worked so hard for ten years for a company that showed yet again that doesn’t give a shit about them.

Free’sm - CLC

The first thing I thought of when the Seonho teaser for CLC’s comeback was dropped was Reality from La Boum (the French film, not the Korean girl group).

Where Are You? is yet another sharp turn for CLC, coming from a “fierce” concept in their previous comeback with Hobgoblin. I wasn’t persuaded by the song straight away, but I ended up falling in love with the 80’s inspired sound and the strange, dreamlike, artsy music video.

I wasn’t so in love with the styling of the performance, which saw the still pretty young members wear outfits I wouldn’t wish to the last surviving second-generation girl group.

Free’sm sounds like a strange mix of bits that they had leftover from previous comebacks and from what they had in mind for them. There’s one tropical song, one hard hitting song, one cute song (that they ended up promoting), et cetera.

Lack of success has pretty much made CLC a directionless group since day one, but this comeback, especially with the promoted song switch in the middle of the promotion - from Where Are You? to cutesy Summer Kiss - really highlights how Cube Entertainment have literally no idea of what they should do with them.

I understand why they would want to try different things and see what sticks, but I don’t think that the constant flip-flopping between concepts will help them cement a fan base. Free’sm has sold about 1500 copies as I write, a pretty severe dip from the 4000-5000 of their previous albums - still an unsatisfactory number for Cube, but not as abysmal as what they did now.

After listening to the album over and over, I still wish that Cube had pushed through with the “tough” concept and had picked Call My Name or I Like It as the title track. Call My Name is trendy enough to be popular, and fierce enough to escape the cuteness. I would have picked I Like It as one of my favourite songs of the year if it wasn’t for the obnoxious chorus; Seunghee’s pre-chorus is just about perfect and I hope to see it live at some point.

With Pentagon hitting it big and Hui becoming a household name as a producer, as well as trainees Guanlin and Seonho making a splash on Produce 101, I can’t imagine that things will look up for CLC if they don’t turn their career around by mid-2018.

Sixteen - Samuel

It’s shocking to think that Samuel is at his nth debut and he’s only fifteen. He was supposed to debut in Seventeen (which is how I ended up following him), he was in the terrible 1Punch, he was on Produce 101 and narrowly missed being in the final group, and now he’s debuting again as a solo artist.

Despite how much I love him, I don’t think this was a very good idea. While it’s obvious that he’s talented and has been working hard for years, he’s still not the most well-rounded performer - which makes sense, since he has literally just turned 15.

The album is sort of neither here nor there for me; a lot of it felt really dated and I’m not sure if the autotune was meant to be a feature or just be covering up for Samuel’s vocal shortcomings. I didn’t mind the song with Chungha, but it’s still not something I would listen to again.

Being onstage by himself underlines Samuel’s limitations and I think he would give his best in a group, even just to share the pressure he seemed to be putting on himself during Produce 101. I hope that Brave manages to build a group around him in the coming months/years, because I can’t imagine this being sustainable for him.

Ever - Jeong Sewoon

I felt bad giving space to Samuel and not dedicating a single word to another of my very favourite Produce 101 contestants, Sewoon. Differently from Samuel, he always looked out of place in Produce 101, and like he didn’t really want to be there or be a idol.

I highly doubted Starship would be able to put together a group for him, but I was glad to see that at least for now he is getting a solo debut. The single Just U and the rest of the album exquisitely blend pop/trendy sounds and the more singer-songwriter identity that is Sewoon’s signature.

Ice Chu - Gugudan Ogu Ogu

While I was bound to watch everything this sub-unit would put out because of my eternal loyalty to Kang Mina, I wasn’t so sure I was going to like their debut concept. I don’t know if I would say I was “pleasantly” surprised, but the horrifying tortures they inflict on the ice-cream people in the video for Ice Chu really gave an edge to what I would struggle to define as a cute concept, at this point.

The hammering rhythm, the tiny voices, the cute-but-freaky concept really reminded me of the later songs of Orange Caramel (it’s more Catallena than Magic Girl). It was watered down just enough to be appropriate for Mina and Hyeyeon, who have just turned 18, but it’s all there. I love it.

MORE SONGS OF NOTE

Don’t Speak - Ali ft. Cheetah 

I’m OK - Cosmic Girl 

What Can I Do - DAY6 

Kiss Me - DIA 

Dumb Dumb (originally by Red Velvet) - Jang Jane, Giantpink, PERC%NT 

The Real - N.Flying

To Do List - Pentagon Kino and Hongseok

~42 - Primary ft. SAM KIM, eSNa

Love City - 9muses

STRAYS

Some more VCRs from Seventeen, always being totally perfect:

AKMU can make everything good/better:

WJSN covering BTS I Need You is EVERYTHING:

Queen Lee Hi sang 2ne1’s Come Back Home on JYP Party People:

Winner cover Wonder Girls’ Nobody on JYP Party People, what a time to be alive.