so here it is, the first of my end of year posts

the top10 songs of 2008

sth real quick before i get into it, the basis for these picks are basically all personal opinion. a few were chart toppers, but mostly theyre the songs i can listen to the most, make me happy, give me energy, sing the most, and all sorts of that kinda stuff. the hardest part is picking which ones to list, and keeping them within songs released during 08.

in no particular order


1.
So'Fly
OLD DAYZ
Japanese
imeem

starting us off is a group that very few have heard of or follow, so'fly. this track just flows, its got so many different interesting sounds and instruments, the beat is varied, they sing with so many styles and compliment each other amazingly well. another thing i really like is that its not incredibly repetitive, the lyrics change slightly as the song progresses and some parts are completely different. but the killer for me is at 1:55, its the only time she sings that particular verse in its entirety. that verse just seems to fit and flow so stupidly well for some reason and the piano going crazy in the background just tops off that eccentricity. if you think some of the english lyrics are random, just watch the mv and youll understand =p


2.
Big Bang
Haru Haru
Korean
imeem

one of our chart toppers. i may disagree with some avid big bang fans a lot of the time when they complain about which groups deserve awards or who is the best, but this isnt one of em, it belongs up there. unfortunately for them, i do also think this song is really hard to perform live, which saddens me because i would have really liked to see an amazing performance, but oh well. as ive said before, haru haru along with lies have the types of sounds that fit the group best. it just simply sounds good. superb track overall. oh, girl, i cry cry...


3.
Lena Park ft. Crown J
No Break
Korean
imeem

no break was actually this blogs first entry, which i chose at random and said only a few words about. i guess i just like the way she sings this song, how the lyrics are almost, but not quite the same from verse to verse; like maeiri maeiri maeiri, naeiri naeiri naeiri, waeiri waeiri waeiri. overall its really very simple, but has that happy pop touch. her voice with these playful, light-hearted and silly lyrics is heart.


4.
V.O.S.
Beautiful Life
korean
imeem

a familiar one here, this song really grew on me over the year. its got that really bright and happy feeling, but remains not too heavily ornamented that you feel overwhelmed. i think the songs name, lyrics, and that a group sings it, are all very appropriate because even though not everything is as you have it, things are still ok. the arrangement and way the group sings all very much cooperate with one another, which i find to be unusual. most groups sing with one another, not together.


5.
Utada Hikaru
Prisoner of Love
Japanese
imeem

shes the master for a reason. one of the artists who never fails to deliver, and she put on a strong showing for 08. the lyrics to her songs are always meaningful, interesting, and vary from chorus to chorus or verse to verse but still manage to keep the same rhymes. prisoner of love is no exception. i love how well thought out and put together all her tracks always seem to be, with her trademark blues/pop/rnb style. there really isnt much to comment on a lot of the time, everything is constructed with elegance.


6.
Dynamic Duo ft. Ju Hee of 8eight
Gone (New Ways Always)
Korean
imeem

still is, and always will be... amazing. from the strong opening, through the numerous developments the song goes through, they did a great job utilizing the sounds they chose for the track. if you listen carefully, there really arent that many different instruments or sounds, but the way it was put together by adding, subtracting, or changing octaves, keeps it sounding interesting without being muddy. the six note progression the violin slams out throughout the choruses and ending of the song adds to its epic and uplifting feeling.


7.
RADWIMPS
Order Made
japanese
imeem

reppin january of this year is another song that grew over time. theres creativity abound with this one, the lyrics are profound, the arrangement is simple but interesting, there are many subtle little changes therein to reflect the current mood or topic of the song, and the mv is perfection. artists like this are the ones who strive to create masterpieces, putting personal touches that only they can think of into their pieces. believe me, the extra efforts appreciated.


8.
Spontania ft. JUJU
Kimi no Subete ni
Japanese
imeem

first its just a music box, then add some piano, next violins, all playing the same melody before everything finally comes in. definitely one of the best intros of the year. with its energetic mood and beautiful orchestration the piece is just passionate. to me its no surprise that with how this track turned out, it also ended up being incredibly popular.

9.
Ayaka
Te Wo Tsunagou
Japanese
imeem
imeem live perf recording, amazing.

you probably dont know her that well, but her song okaeri was used for the 08 jdrama zettai kareshi. i really like how this tracks orchestration was done, with a pseudo-rock arrangement it really reminds me of some of utadas. soothing and melodic, the simple guitar sequence and subtle use of piano are both very nice touches. the overall sound of the song is very very clean, no overlap, just the right amount and right volume at the right times. peaceful and chill.


10.
Epik High ft. Younha
Umbrella
Korean
imeem

no surprise here! this track was just perfectly put together, everything about it is enjoyable. its one of the few that i never skip over when it comes up on a cd or playlist, no matter what mood im in, no matter how i feel, it can always seem to somehow fit. younha has one of the best sounding voices out there (dont ask me why, i dont know) and the way she sounds in this recording is nothing short of enchanting. its peaceful, exciting, meaningful, motivating, passionate, all in one. the world really is only half without you by my side.


ill be following this up with posts to include songs that i feel were the best of their class, or ones that definitely deserved mentioning. this is basically my excuse for wanting to pick more, till then..

merry christmas

Labels: best 10 songs of 2008 korean japanese

sorry for the lack of posts, ive been busy/lazy/and working on my end of year super long posts; but heres something till those come

Crown J ft. 서인영
Crown J ft. Seo In Young
Too Much
2008
Korean

imeem
fun performance but bad quality

some of you might know them from the korean reality/comedy show "we got married" where the two got paired as a celebrity couple pretending to be married. although it was nothing serious, crown jewel and jewelry(the group's) seo in young turned out to be a really fun pair to watch. dubbed the "ant" (for atlanta) couple, crown sang this song to his partner during one of the wgm episodes, after which it became their theme song.

the live is fun because they seem to be having so much fun just messing around, not to mention the crowd loves them. even though it wasnt refined or spectacular, those simple, down to earth, just go out there and do your thing performances are fun to watch.

too much itself reminds me a little of dilemma (nelly and kelly) at times, but this ones lyrics are honestly much much better. the song is really chill and not overbearing, making it pretty easy to listen to with its mellow mood. seo ins voice also fits the track very nicely.

cinderella!

Labels: crown j seo in young too much we got married korean

V.O.S.
Beautiful Life
2008
Korean

imeem
mv with subs

im gonna go ahead and call this the happier, more upbeat, korean, three guys version of s.h.es wo ai ni; since i like them for many similar reasons.

while the arrangement isnt really anything special, i find it to be pleasantly simple which keeps the song sounding clean. along with the orchestration, the melody also fits this criteria preserving the balance and allowing the final element to shine, the vocals.

there are many qualities at work within this songs vocals; solos, harmony, chorus, even choral aspects, call and response, and sounds that feel a bit akin to gospel music at times. the reason i liken beautiful life to wo ai ni is that starting around 2:10 it becomes increasingly powerful and choral as it progresses to the end of the track. from that point on they throw all sorts of new sounds, arrangements and lyrics in, trading off the same line with each other and so forth. it honestly sounds very very good.

well thats nice and all, but everything is nothing without passion, and thats what this is all about. the song is really happy, energetic and bright, to the point that it almost inspires you to feel the same. it begins from the start of the song and never lets up, from start to finish the guys give it more and more. so just start clapping to the beat, it sounds like it was meant for that anyway.

i realize that i didnt mention much about the lyrics. suffice to say they are quite good (thats why i provided an mv with subs), and were composed by shinhwas lee min woo; i dont expect much less.

i personally think this track has a lot of soul to it, which fits their name =p

Labels: v.o.s. beautiful life korean

so go to college

에픽하이
Epik High ft. Yoong Jin of Casker
Love Love Love
2007
Korean

imeem
mv with subs
perf ft younha she can rap!
lyrics translation is about halfway down

epik high is one of the few groups that consistently pulls off having multiple genres of music on the same album. their baseline is rap/hiphop, but by picking good features to match the creative tracks they produce, they end up with more pop/dance songs like this one, or slower/ballad songs like umbrella. all while ensuring that there remains a strong element of hiphop or rapped verses in keeping with their style.

one subtle difference i really like about the mv that isnt in the album version are the little phone dialing noises they added to the second line of the song. it fits since that line mentions a phone call, and is just another one of the ways this group demonstrates their creativity.

a quick note about the performance is that i think this was the first collab between epik high and younha (not too long after her return to korea from japan). their success with this more than likely lead to their continuing partnership in songs like umbrella, memory and so on. love love love was also performed featuring the leaders of the wondergirls(min sun ye) and snsd(tae yeon) independently of each other, on two separate occassions.

like i mentioned in one of my previous posts, the imagery utilized by epik high in many of their songs is truly amazing. love is a very common theme for music, understandably, therefore you hear a lot about being in love, how it drives you crazy, conflicts, and the overall trials and tribulations of relationships. what you hear about less are the more specific descriptions and examples of how these things happen, or what happens afterwards; and thats where epik high comes in.

in one word, the lyrics to this song are real. there arent any particularly fancy metaphors, stupidly generalized feelings, or fantasies that are difficult to relate to. the song is plain and simple, down to earth. they talk about things that everyone does, everyone thinks, everyone hides. youre always embarrassed to admit it but these are the crazy things that you do when youre in love. thats just the way it is.

with that i really urge you to read the lyrics. they get better and better as the song progresses from describing falling in love, to breaking up, and what happens along the way. personally i find it a lot more enjoyable and meaningful if i read the translation line by line while listening to the song at the same time, so watch the mv!

Labels: epik high love love love korean

tonight its time for some rock

中島美嘉
Nakashima Mika
Japanese

Eyes for the Moon
imeem
Hitoiro (alternative version)
imeem

this pair were the two that first got me into her, cuz sometimes you just wanna listen to little rock. i especially like the way that she sings some of the verses extremely quickly but still enunciate the words perfectly clearly, it sounds cool for some reason. if youre interested in something a bit newer, her latest album voice was released last month. either way, enjoy.

although she was already famous before nana, just thought id mention that she did star in and sing for the nana/nana2 live action movies.

Labels: nakashima mika eyes for the moon hitoiro jrock

so at the beginning of this year i hear about utada making a remix of eternally for some drama called innocent love; im like awesome, lookin forward to it. then im watching dramas and keep thinking, hey i want maki to be in another series soon, and i read that shes starring in one this fall, cool. finally her show starts airing, and guess what the theme song is. coincidence? guess im just pretty damn lucky.

here it is, the first shoutout in honor of my two girls utada hikaru and horikita maki

宇多田 光
Utada Hikaru
Eternally
2001/2008
Japanese

imeem original
imeem drama remix
mv
karaoke!

this track is from her 01 album distance (my personal favorite if you couldnt tell, or didnt know) so its definitely getting pretty old. i dont think it was one of her most famous songs, but it was good enough to be chosen seven years later to be a theme song. incidentally, the screenwriter and several directors of innocent love were also responsible for the drama last friends; which also used a very popular utada song as its theme, prisoner of love.

while eternally probably isnt even one of my top 10 utada songs, i will say that it does hold a place as one of my all-time favorite intros. as far as piano intros are concerned, its perfectly balanced between simplicity and being over-done, with some light violins, progressing into a bass line that isnt overbearing. the lyrics were well written and sung to fit every bit of the song (one of the wonders when you take the care to write and compose your own stuff) and everything flows perfectly through the first two minutes solid.

i can never get enough of the first two verses, that part of the track just feels so, right. (up to 50 seconds)

basically what it all comes down to is utada hikaru is bomb. her arrangements, lyrics, style, feeling, creativity, diversity, everything are always perfect. she really never fails to deliver. i cant say shes the best vocalist, but if she were who else would this planet need?

comparing the two versions, id say the originals bass and parts of its arrangement were a little too hard on the ears and slightly repetitive toward the end. while the drama mix is more light and keeps the song feeling clean. however, it really depends on your sound system and mood. for example i know the og sounds really nice in the car.

anyway this just came to mind after i remembered the drama again, there is definitely much much much more to come about utada and why shes so amazing.

Labels: utada hikaru horikita maki eternally drama innocent love japanese

uhmm okay!

Lee Hyori
U-Go-Girl ft. Natsun
it's Hyorish
2008
Korean

imeem
mv

everyone knows her, everyone loves her, and this is just another reason to. while hyori has always been in the public eye, this was basically her 08 return to the music scene and yielded pretty much the highest korean chart rankings of the year.

u-go-girl just fits hyoris image, and the mv is something that not too many can pull off, that multiple personalities and looking good as anything (while still being approachable) are two of her gifts. the track is one of many friendly sounding dance pop songs, except everything here is basically done right. the tempo, the lyrics, the mood, everything, it was well put together. in short, pop at its best.

my only gripe with this track is natsun (especially in the mvs and perfs) since hes kinda wack. his look and style are... a little more out there, but if thats this thing, its all good. although hes not what youd expect, i do think that his presence adds flavor to the track, giving it a positive dynamic.

thanks hyori for one of the happier songs this year