myblogentries

Friday, July 10, 2009

a new hero

{ still stuck listening to music at 11:33 PM | 0 comments }

and the next star to watch out for


아이유 미아

IU

Mia (Missing Child)

2009

korean


imeem

mv

perf

extra live (gee, lies, sorry sorry)


the extra live is her playing guitar and singing roughly 1.5 minute long covers of a couple recently really famous songs. basically if you dont know those songs youve been living in a cave as far as kpop is concerned. ironically, her standalone cover of gee was the first time i had heard of her. at that time she was performing with dara of 2ne1's brother, and i just assumed it was another fan vid since the recording was some simple do it yourself kinda deal. i do remember thinking that her voice was really nice though before i moved on. oddly enough, some months later i came across her except now shes getting famous and it turns out to be the same girl.


its really funny how the crowd is laughing at the host who cant help but stare at her during her performance. im not quite sure id be able to react any differently if i were sitting in his place, she was really that surprisingly good.


a little background. iu turned 16 two weeks ago, yeah, shes that young, making her 15 in some of these recordings. she also hasnt been signed for very long, which means that even though shes both young and old as far as the entertainment industry is concerned, she lacks the pedigree of having 5+ years of training that many others (cough snsd, wondergirls etc) would have had at this age. in that respect, she has quite a bit of catching up to do.


seeing her now, i still have to admit that shes lacking a few basics for making it in the korea. these include showing emotion while performing, animation, stage presence, and probably also the ability to dance. im sure that these had to do with her past rejection by jyp entertainment (producer of rain, wonder girls, 2pm), because they create some difficulties in marketability. faults aside though, theres no doubt in my mind that she has unquestionably enough talent for success. it seems that she also has the willingness to do what it takes, like picking up the guitar within the last year or so. everything counts.


ius company appears to be pushing her in the direction of true pop with tracks like boo, and her latest you know. while i dont think that this is the wrong move, given the currently immense popularity of those cutesy girl acts, i also dont believe that this will be her place. she will definitely end up as a singer, but i predict that as she matures through these next couple years through whatever she is made to do; that she will end up being a superb singer/songwriter/performer. at this point in time she has neither had enough opportunity to practice, nor perform. she is therefore not comfortable enough on stage, and as a result her voice isnt allowed to completely shine. my biggest hope for her is that she can write. if in the near future, she can awe people with both her voice and profound, moving, lyrics, she will have truly done her best.


the reason i picked the songs/perfs that i did is because those are the examples that i think fit her the best. mia is actually a track from last year since her newer stuff really doesnt feel like a match for now. as i said before, she isnt the greatest performer yet, but her voice, although not fully matured, is truly, shockingly good. keep in mind that the recording of mia was about seven months before the three covers she did on sketchbook; and in that short time alone shes already come a long way down the road toward stronger performances.


i firmly believe that with the right guidance, effort, and solid production she can become a superstar. i guess it also depends on if she can write though. all in all, theres just something about ius voice thats simply enchanting, looks like younhas got a rival now.


you can do it! iu fighting!

Labels:

Thursday, July 2, 2009

tell me all your wishes without hiding anything

{ still stuck listening to music at 2:57 AM | 0 comments }
since my last post ive moved to japan, so thats something new

taeyeon decided to channel a little bit of junsu for this track

소녀시대 - 소원을 말해봐
Tell me Your Wish (Genie)
SNSD (Girls' Generation)
korean
2009

perf uhh.. heels, booty shorts, uniforms?

first off, they look so much better than before its not even funny. not sure how that was managed but the more mature approach is probably good. their hair is also pretty awesome lol.

regarding the perf, if you watch carefully you can catch sica's (jessica, the girl who sings second) killer winks, she does it twice, left eye, the one with the glitter star thingy next to it. towards the end when my girl taeyeon is bustin her part like a champ @2:28 she looks sooo into it, not even doing the dance anymore; what a cool kid. whatever perv was doing the camera angles noticed and scoped her shakin her butt. im pretty sure that that was the only time in the entire perf that that particular angle was used haha.

although the girls arent individually the best dancers out there (where are rain and yunho at?) theres something about the choreography done for them as a whole that ends up looking cool when performed by nine people in unison, at least for the most part. most of them have long legs which makes some things simply look better, and that was definitely a strength utilized here.

the effort put into their outfits was also noticeable. even though theyre wearing military-esque uniforms to make them look well, uniform; there are subtle differences such as which shoulder the tassel is on, their hats styles and color, whether or not you can see a shirt underneath the jacket and so forth. i also find it interesting that while theyre sporting uniform tops, their pants and shoes choices - mini shorts and heels, while no doubt sexy, create a sort of juxtaposition between rigid discipline and extravagance.

when combined, their outfits and the choreography, while simple, looks cool. some sharp motions like the shoulder thrusts showing off the tassels, the mesmerizing leg thing and the way they trade off positions with each other on stage all in all make the visual aspect plenty entertaining.

now about the song itself...

the track is really, really lively. laced with heavy accompaniment its well, another typical a+ class pop song. i like how a few of them (taeyeon, jessica, tiffany and sunny i think) are given a more distinct time to shine with unique lyrics, while the bridge is done in pairs. this gives a feeling of progressive vocal harmony beginning with a solo singer, to a pair, the into the chorus; all the while the track follows suit.

the lyrics follow the current trend of most groups gunning for a repetitive, catchy, and easy to remember chorus - in english! how can you honestly forget, tell me tell me tatatatata tell me, or again and again and again and again, or gee gee gee gee baby baby baby. genie is another one of those following in the tracks of its predecessors successes. one comparison between gee and genie that i feel is important is while the dance for gee tends to accompany the songs lyric, genie follows its beat. both are important in my mind, but the second tends to give a stronger performance as it can make some moves look really clean.

at the end of the day, its all about taeyeon. she opens the song up, which is unusual since they tend to lead off with one of the girls i dont like much. after tiffanys dj put it back on @2:35, you can hear taeyeon start to turn in on as she wails ooooooh~ in the background. finally during the last chorus @2:55 she takes off harmonizing 4 lines on her own while the rest of the group turn into her support, lettin em know whos boss. the sound is just so full at that point that those seconds alone are by far my favorite part of the song.

if youre curious what she sings its romanized as:

nuh eh fantasy leul soomgim ubshi malhaebwa

naneun genie gileul boyeojoolgae

niga gajin sowon soomgimubshi malhaebwa

nuh eh genie naega deuluh joolgae


cant believe i have such a long post about snsd... oh well. looking forward to posting more now that im not plowin that lich king full time. matta ne.

im genie for you boy


Labels: