On the topic of dating…

Rant time! Sorry, I can’t help them sometimes.

So you know I have a love/hate thing with fans, particularly those of ‘idol groups’ and this is why…

Music Core!

Hola. Okay so this is a little bit late but here’s the wrap-up for this week’s Music Core. I actually watched this live but my player was buffering like crazy so I only caught bits and pieces of most of the performances. It was quite frustrating. Let’s start with SHINee, ne?

This is….

………the cutest boy on the planet. Without a doubt.

It’s a Brand New Day…

So these days, I’m trying to broaden my musical horizons – there are tons of great artists out there and I don’t want to miss out on some of them because I’m too busy listening to the same songs over and over again (hello SHINee~) and since the only female Korean artists I listen to in a big way are the Wonder Girls (and really not even them so much), I figure I should check out some other people too (feel free to suggest, by the way).

So given this quest, when I heard there was a new girl group debuting, instead of cringing like some people and grumbling about there being another one, I figured I’d give them a try. So today I watched Brand New Day’s MV for ‘Livable’ for the first time. And surprisingly, I really liked it.

Blast From The Past!

So I was listening to my iPod just now and randomly thinking of how much I love Jonghyun and Onew’s voices and then I decided to pop onto Youtube and see if I could scrounge up some videos of them singing solos that I hadn’t seen yet – because believe it or not, I actually haven’t seen all. And I came across these gems which I think are way too nice not to share with you.

credit: choihaeni on Youtube

The Jonghyun solo, which I watched first, has no title attached to it, although in the comments, someone says that the translated title would be something like “Cleaning Up” and that it’s by an artist called The Ray but honestly all that doesn’t really matter. The point is that this is a really good performance by Jonghyun – filmed way back in July at Chin Chin Radio – and I would most definitely recommend it. For some reason, despite my immense love for Jonghyun’s voice, I rarely like his solos – mainly because I just don’t like the kinds of songs he chooses to sing – but this one is an exception to that rule. It’s really pretty good and towards the end, when he gets really into the song and goes off with the high notes and whatnot, I just sort of got all @_@ and kept thinking, “How is he doing that?” It’s something I think often when it comes to him. But it’s really quite good and during the first verse, I was seriously so focused on his voice that I didn’t even realize that there was accompanying music playing. LOL. Of course he has some off moments where he loses his control over his voice a little but that’s okay – those were early days and so you shouldn’t fault them that. And honestly being rookies, I’d let them get away with a lot more – I really only expect so much from their lives now because their lives were just so good before! It still amazes me… So check it out if you haven’t seen it, okay?

Onew’s Solo, ‘Still With You’ – credit: jyck923

Dubu. Solo. In English. Nuff’ said.

Just kidding – of course, I’ll say more. So this is an Eric Benet song called “Still With You” – I don’t know it (I never seem to!) but it’s in English! And the lyrics make me think of ‘Forever More’ and you know how I feel about Onew singing these ballads….his voice was made for ballads, I swear! Of course, he sounds really, really good here and dare I say that watching this, I actually thought – but only for a second – that it might have been better if he had been a solo singer. Ah, but I know I thought that I thought that just because I’m afraid he won’t be fully appreciated for his rather impressive vocal abilities within the group – they really need to give him more challenging lines in their songs. People say that Jonghyun needs to give up some of his lines to Dubu but honestly it’s not about him having more lines, what matters is that the lines actually allow him to showcase his vocal ability and his range. Ah, but I’ve said all this before and I’m starting to sound like a broken record so back to the video – as always, Onew really manages to express the feel of the song through his voice and his voice gives me such a relaxing, safe feeling that in a way, I don’t mind that I feel sad listening to it. Aigoo, I wish SHINee had songs like this on their album – I mean, I love their songs and while they’re sad and plaintive enough, they haven’t quite got that particular longing, mournful quality that these seem to have – or maybe that’s just Onew’s influence? IDK – all I know is this video is wonderful and you should really check it out. Now go watch!

And a little duet for you…here’s Onew and Jonghyun singing “Did We Really Love You?” originally by Brown Eyed Soul.

credit: MusicRandomx on YT

So I’ve never heard the original of this – but after this, I’m gonna have to check it out – so I can’t say much about it as a cover but it’s a great performance nonetheless. I’m not always a fan of duets between the two of them – speaking of, where’s my JongKey duet? The two of them need to sing a song together like stat! – but this one was very nice. Their voices went well together for the most part and of course, they sounded amazing individually. LOL, when the song first started, I got confused because the opening lines sounded just like “Nothing Better” to me but soon that went away. This song is really nice, by the way – I love the chorus! Ah, I’m going to go look around for the original now – you just go watch the video, okay? Now this one’s also from July so they’re not perfect but still, they sound so good for amateurs. Every time I watch these videos, I feel like I’m at a karaoke except with people who can actually sing. (Okay so yeah, there are good singers at karaokes too but they aren’t always, you know)

Adios! Enjoy!

Maki

Oh, and on a side note, I now have 400 favourites on my Youtube channel. Awesomesauce, yes? I have SHINee to thank for that. XD

Soshi imitates what SHINee fans do every day…

….which is spazz over our lovely Minho in their adorkable new MV! Here it is!

credit: AhMiGo on YT

Okay, that still shot in the above video is horrible, by the way. How do those things get chosen? YT always picks the most random moments. LOL.

~Interlude~

So I’m feeling a bit ill – as such I’ll be back with a proper post later. In the mean time, enjoy these two lovely videos.

Jonghyun singing ‘Nothing better’ at SHINee’s Iple Christmas Party

credit: randy19972

And Onew singing  ‘Drunken Truth’ (and sounding amazing)

credit: dongbangjunior

edit: Oh, and it’s practically been confirmed that Minho’s gonna be in SNSD’s new MV! Yay! Now I’m actually excited for it. So all you SHINee fans out there, even if you don’t like Soshi, you should still check out the MV to see Minmin in action~ This is big for him!

Enjoy~ Laters,

Maki

5 Things SHINee Wants To Do

So I don’t usually do this but I wanted to post the pictures from this interview and I figured, I might as well do something productive and post up the whole interview as well, right? So here it is.

I love how Dubu looks in that picture – Taemin too, and Jonghyun and Minho and Key – LOL, I guess I should have just saved myself some trouble and said I loved how everyone looked, huh? Hmm, look at all those pretty awards~

Interview beneath the cut…

SNSD’s Gee – Full Audio!

So Gee’s out. Listen.

credit: soshisubs2

I didn’t like it right away – to be honest, it wasn’t the super catchy, upbeat song I expected – but after several listens, it’s definitely grown on me. The chorus is really the cincher, I think – it utilizes repetitiveness to pull you into the track. LOL, I can already imagine the nauseatingly cute dance moves that are going to go along with it. Overall, I think it’s nice, fresh and just a good song to start the year off with – and a good song for them to start over with. Now I didn’t listen to SNSD’s first album but I think this is a different sound for them – still pop, yes – but not quite as cute or cheesy as the kind of stuff they made before.

Some people are saying it doesn’t fully showcase their vocals and while that’s true, I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. Every song isn’t going to showcase their vocals and honestly after having been gone for so long, this is just the kind of song SNSD needs. Something that will stick with people and get them interested in them again and being the first major group to make a comeback right now, SM’s chosen just the right time to bring them back. There’s less competition and therefore more focus on them. So I don’t love it yet but I can see it growing on me. Let’s wait and see what the MV’s like, huh?

Gee, Gee, Gee, Gee, Gee!

Maki

So….Please Excuse Me While I Scream.

All right – the SHINee medley performance I was talking about – it’s out AND OMG, IT IS FANTASTIC! WATCH.

credit: randy19972

Did you hear what I said? Fantastic? Yeah, I’m not joking – I was shocked. I was a little anxious about the Romantic performance, to be honest, because I know the boys are tired and Onew’s been a bit hoarse lately but there was nothing to worry about. Seriously, the boys really delivered here! They sounded good - so good – and they were full of energy and life and just overall awesomeness! Yay!