So it’s actually a duet between her and a Canadian singer named Nikki something (I don’t really know her, sorry) but it’s still very nice. They both sing, alternating verses while IU accompanies throughout on her guitar. She looked very pretty, her hair’s growing out and her outfit was very cute. As a duet, it seemed a bit awkward since the girls didn’t have that much interaction but they both sounded very good. This Nikki girl has a soulful voice and IU’s voice is a lot softer and more delicate so they balanced each other out nicely. The only thing is that IU’s accent is a bit more obvious here as she’s singing after an English speaker but she sounded so lovely, I’d hardly call it an impediment. So without further ado, I leave you with the video – if you liked it, please go to CodeMonMon’s channel and say a word of thanks for posting!

Maki

It’s my birthday today, readers so I’m sharing a happy song with you. Guaranteed to make you smile!

Credit: Youtube

Also I can’t not post about this a.k.a. THE BEST TEASER IN THE HISTORY OF TEASERS

Well, after watching that, I’m excited. I mean, I was excited before but this has taken my excitement to a whole other level. Everyone looks fantastic, especially Siwon – HOTNESS! – and I’m finally noticing that Zhou Mi is actually pretty hot too. (OMG, when did this happen?! I’m shocked!) Also I think their style here seems to be a mash-up of ‘Sorry, Sorry’ and ‘It’s You’ and this song appears to be the one they mentioned that would be in a similar style to ‘Sorry, Sorry’ so I’m not complaining – this should be good. So yes, if you’re not into SJ-M, I suggest you get into them like now, right now – no, right this minute! – so you’ll be able to fully appreciate this sure-to-be-epic comeback. Okay? Got it? Okay, good! ~Wo shi ni de Shupaman~

I’m off to enjoy my day now. Have a good week-end, all!

Maki

I’m going to start with f(x) since they’re the rookies here and this is our first opportunity to see them on stage together.

Credit: SmoothyEco1st

So I watched both of their performances, the MuCore one as well as this one and I have to conclude that this is definitely the better one. I guess they relaxed a little because you could see that they enjoyed this one more and their vocals were a lot better here. As far as vocals are concerned, they’re not bad – they seem to have a good foundation and I don’t sense any actually weak singers in the group so that’s a plus. If you watched their first teaser, you probably saw the ‘Asia best pop dance group’ label or whatever at the end of it and I have to say that I can see the focus on dancing here. Their choreography may look easy but it really isn’t, by any means and all of the girls seem to be fairly adept dancers, Luna in particular. Seriously, watch that girl (the one in all black in case you didn’t know) while she’s dancing and you’ll see the concentration and determination on her face – she is a serious dancer, I can see that already.

Yeah, so their dancing is pretty good – I love their choreo for ‘Lachata‘, I really do – it’s just so fun and cool-looking, I really want to learn it and I already told you that I love the song. The girls themselves seem all right on stage – they work well as a group, although you can see that they’re not fully in synch yet but that’s okay considering they’re just starting out and all. Now I know it might seem like I’m being overly critical and maybe I am but it’s just because I’m rather fond of the majority of the talent that SM produces, I think that all of their groups do very well for themselves and I expect these girls to follow suit. I just have high expectations for them, that’s all. So I am being critical but it’s just because I want to see them do well, you know, I want them to come out good and then steadily improve and so far, they’re not doing too badly in that respect.

As for the girls themselves, Luna’s already impressed me with how serious and committed she is while they’re performing and Sulli (the young looking one with the bun-like hairstyle) caught my attention because she’s adorable and she reminds me of all of the previous maknaes that I’ve been fond of. As far as I’m concerned, she’s the maknae in the group because she seems to be acting the part way more than Krystal anyway. Speaking of Krystal (pink and blue shirt), she seems okay so far – her voice is decent and she’s a pretty good dancer so I have faith in her. I was really looking forward to seeing the leader, Victoria (the girl in the dress) but she hasn’t exactly impressed me so far – she seems competent in terms of performing but she isn’t as charismatic as I expected her to be and so the jury’s still out as far as she’s concerned. She did get some cool points after I saw a really cute fancam of the girls leaving their fanmeeting after MuCore where she made a heart for the fans. I was like “aww~ that’s so cute!” so I guess she’s all right. And well, Amber seems okay. I don’t really have an opinion on her yet.

So f(x) seem cool so far, they look like they’ll do well – I’m very interested in hearing the rest of their tracks – is there any word on when their mini album or album or whatever is being released? – and I’m also very interested in hearing more from Luna and seeing what little Sulli’s individual talents are.

Moving on, I’ll get to another rookie group, 4minute with their new song, ‘Muzik‘.

Credit: CodeMonmonSeason3

Let me start by saying that I really like this song, maybe more than ‘Hot Issue’, I’m not sure yet. It’s just really fun and makes me want to get up and dance – and I always appreciate when a song can do that – I definitely see some improvement on their end, I used to find their ‘Hot Issue’ performances tremendously boring but they have a lot more energy here and their choreo is cooler so I’m already liking these performances more. I still don’t think I’ll be watching too many of these performances because two of the members, the leader and the maknae ( I think) – yeah, I’m sorry to say this but their vocals leave a lot to be desired…they don’t sound so bad on the track but they go over a lot worse live. In addition to that, I’m not too fond of Hyuna’s voice in general so that really puts me off but I will say that generally, this performance was good. They sounded okay,  their clothes were decent (I’m loving those boots!) and their dancing wasn’t bad so it was okay, really.

Next up is 2NE1 with their new single, ‘Pretty Boy’.

Credit: CodeMonmonSeason3

Now I really like this song, for much the same reasons that I like 4minute’s new song – it’s very cool and fun to listen to. I actually think that this would have been a better follow-up to ‘Fire’ than ‘I Don’t Care’ because it would have showed a different side to them while still maintaining the momentum created by starting out with a song as upbeat as ‘Fire’ – but I digress….I have to commend them for being able to dance in those ridiculous boots (did you see those things?! Dang! I couldn’t take one step in those!) and well, the dancing is how it always is. Hmm, I think that they had less energy in this performance than they usually do but despite that, it was very solid. They sounded very good, they looked good (in those possibly ‘Heartbreaker‘-inspired outfits?) and well, that’s all that really matters, right? As always, I feel that they kind of went overboard with the dancing – I really don’t need to see anyone writhing around on the floor, thanks – this is particularly in Minzy’s case, I don’t know if maybe the dancing doesn’t seem sexualized to her but it comes across that way in a lot of other people’s minds and I can’t help feeling that she’s just way too young to be doing that kind of thing. Leave that kind of thing to Hyori, Minzy!

Now this right here is the G-Dragon I am used to – totally fierce and cool and in control. It was nice seeing GD not looking so nervous and unsure of himself. I think he did a great job – this was a very good performance. I love the choreo for his song which is a rarity for me when it comes to YG artists, I’m not gonna lie – I love his colour scheme, I just love everything – it’s just really cool and different and innovative and even though I wasn’t all that impressed with his album when I first listened to it, the more I listen to it, the more I like it. It’s very easy on the ears. In addition to that, he won Take 7 this week so good for him. You deserve it, GD – you did well!

Well, I don’t really feel like talking about the other performers but I’ll give Miss Baek JiYoung a shout-out just because I loooooove her song – this would totally be my jam if I lived in Korea and went to clubs – and her performances are always very good – she has such a nice voice~ Also I like to watch them and laugh at how young Taecyeon looks next to her. XD

And in related news, my favourite female duo, Davichi is performing again! Yay! Cheer, you guys, cheer – this is fantastic! Here’s their latest Music Bank performance – they’re only performing their OST song for ‘My Fair Lady’ or ‘Take Care of the Young Lady’ as MySoju is calling it since they already have a Korean series with the same title but I don’t really care because those girls are performing again and that makes me very happy.

Credit: alllllllight (or something to that effect)

The performance was good – they sound fantastic, as usual, although I think Minkyung might have had a little bit of trouble this time around. That’s okay though – they haven’t been performing this song for very long anyway. Honestly I’ve only listened to this song once and I’m not all that fond of it but you should still check out their performances because they are wonderful singers and will never disappoint you by delivering a sub-par performance. So watch it, okay? Good!

And since you’ve made it all the way down to the end of this post – I think this is the longest post I’ve written in awhile, looks like I might be getting back into the swing of blogging, hmm? – I will reward you by sharing a bonus video! It’s the audio of Luna from f(x)’s solo performance from their showcase. She sang ‘And I Am Telling You’ from Dreamgirls and don’t worry – it’s very good quality. I have to say that listening to this, I was even further impressed by this girl – she has a really nice voice and I think she did very well on this song despite the fact that her voice doesn’t have the strength of the original singer’s, I feel like she managed to make it sound really good even with her less powerful vocals. And there’s something to be said about her English pronunciation – it was a lot better than a lot of other people’s and it was nice to be able to listen to someone sing an English song without being distracted by their mis-pronunciation of key words. Really, this kid has a ton of potential and I can’t wait to see more of her.

Well, that’s all for now. Lacha, lacha – ta ta!

Maki

So I really like this song. I’ve had it on repeat for most of tonight.

Credit: 919urnobody919

Honestly when I heard the first teaser, I wasn’t impressed – I didn’t like the sound of it at all. But now that I’ve heard the entire thing, I think it’s pretty good. Pretty and fun and melodic and easy to follow, the dance looks interesting enough and most of all, it’s not just ‘catchy’ or overly repetitive like the last few hit songs from SME have been. Mind you, I liked those songs but you know that kind of thing gets old fast so this is a nice change. Here’s their new MV teaser for those of you who haven’t yet seen it – it looks nice enough, the car is really cute:

Credit: urasiansourceKpop

Also just wanted to post this cute fancam I came across of IU and Eunhyuk performing MC Mong and Lyn’s ‘Run To You’.

Credit: pri3an

I know it’s a bit old now but I felt bad about not posting anything new about IU in awhile considering I’m supposed to be trying to pimp her out a bit more and what with her one year anniversary coming up in just a few weeks. Speaking of, if you want to get more info about her, definitely hit up her new international forum, WeHeartIU! She also happens to be Soompi’s Artist of the Week this week so make sure to check out the article! Anyway, she and EunHyuk both sound really great here and I feel like you can really tell Hyuk is fond of her from watching this. I don’t know if I’ve said this before but it makes me really happy to know that she’s got someone like him looking out for her. He’s a really good guy, EunHyuk and I don’t think he’d steer her wrong.

In addition, I heard that she got a regular spot on one of EunTeuk’s Sukira broadcasts so that’s also really good news – I’m sure that will be very good exposure for her and since she’s been on the show a few times already, it should already be a fairly comfortable environment for her. Anyway she’s going to be their first regular guest on a live request segment of their broadcast where listeners can call in and ask her to sing certain songs for them. Considering how she’s becoming known for her excellent acoustic covers of popular songs, I’m really not surprised to hear that she was chosen to do this. I’m extremely happy for her and I hope it turns out well. And in case you don’t know about her lovely covers, here are a few – the ‘Lies’ one is my favourite, by the way:

Credit: Alysoche

Enjoy!

Maki

That’s how long I’ll be in love with KyuHyun’s voice – if it doesn’t turn out to be longer. Ah, maybe you got it, maybe you didn’t but that was just a silly joke referring to his just released solo song which is a remake of YooYoungsook’s ‘7 Years of Love’. Just in case you don’t know, YooYoungsook decided to release an album to mark his 20th anniversary in show business featuring reworked versions of some of his songs (he reworked them himself, I believe) and he chose Kyu to particpate in it and gave him this song to sing.

Anyway, long story short – the song’s finally been officially released (fancams of Kyuhyun singing it at YooYoungsook’s album showcase were floating around the web for about two weeks prior to this) and it’s just beautiful – I’ve been replaying it since I found it a little while ago and I see myself doing so for quite some time to come. It’s a bossa nova rendition of the song and as I’m no bossa nova buff (really, I know next to nothing about it), I was pleasantly surprised to see how well Kyu’s voice suit that style of music. He sounds so breathy and his voice is so light and soothing here – soothing is really the best way to put it. Listening to it, I feel like a spell’s being woven over my mind and as though I’m being lulled off to the very sweetest dreams of Kyu hopefully – it’s equal parts sad and romantic and even though it’s a pretty long song, about 5 and a half minutes, the song just seems to fly by. Every time it ends, I feel a little sad and empty but most of all, surprised that it’s already done. All in all, it’s a really lovely song and definitely something to check out whether you’re a Suju fan or not. I think KyuHyun should be very proud of himself.

So here’s the MV courtesy of Sup3rJunior

And one of those fancams I mentioned earlier of his performance at the album showcase:

credit: kyunerdful

You’ll check it out, right? You really should….trust me – you don’t want to miss out on this moving piece of music. Go, watch the videos, you know you want to.

That said, yesterday was my last day of work so I’ll have a good bit more free time on my hands for a little while and will hopefully be a little more active around here as a result – expect lots of posts about old things that you probably already watched a million years ago now. ^^ And let me say a short saengil chukhahae to one of my favourite leaders, Teuk-Teuk-Teukie! I have to do a proper birthday post for him in a little while so I’ll just wish him all the best and all of God’s blessings for now. I hope that he looks at this birthday and sees it for what it is – another year of life passed through safely and a chance for a new beginning in his life should that be what he so desires.

Well, that’s all for now. Ja ne!

Maki

LOL, what a scandalous post title. XD Anyway, I’m excited! Wei shenme, you ask? Well, do you remember when SHINee did that guest appearance on 2PM’s season of Idol Show and for the talent portion, Jonghyun sang a cover of 4men’s song ‘Baby, Baby’? No? Well that’s okay (although you should really check out those episodes because  they were side-splittingly funny). The point is that he finally sang the entire song on ShimShimTapa (I told you I loved there!) the other day and it was buenissimo, claro!

Seriously, this was worth the wait – he sounds so good here and it totally reminded me why I love this boy and his incredible voice. Man, it was so good that randy even provided a download link (one that I will be using, for sure) so if you want it, feel free to take it – just make sure to go tell randy (at her new account) how awesome she is for uploading the video and ripping the audio for us, okay?

The boys were also on Tablo’s Dream(ing?) Radio the other day – I’m sorry, I haven’t been keeping up with their schedule much these days so I just watch things when they pop up – where they sang a full version of ‘Talk To You’ (hence the post title).

credit: randy19973 @ Youtube

I should mention that “Talk To You’ is probably my second favourite song off of their latest mini-album so I was really excited to finally hear a full live version of it. The boys sound really good here, very close to the studio version and you can really hear the improvement in Taemin’s vocals (yay, maknae – I’m so proud!) as well as getting to hear the smoothness of Onew’s lovely voice here – agh, he just sounds so clear and strong. I love his voice. ♥ I really like how MinHo and Key trade off the rapping here – I didn’t pay that much attention to it while listening to the studio version but seeing it here, I’m really impressed – those two make a good rapping duo. All in all, this was a great performance and I totally suggest you check it out whether you like the song or not.

The boys were actually on quite a few radio programs recently – Sukira, ChinChim, SSTP and Tablo’s Dareaming Radio and I haven’t gotten a chance to watch everything yet but if you’re interested (and how could you not be?), then check out this playlist of radio live performances created by randy for easier viewing pleasure. LOL, I sound like a bad advertisement. Anyway, in addition to that, the dance version of the ‘Juliette’ MV was released so if you wanted to learn the dance, here’s your chance. I don’t think I’ll be able to learn that whole thing myself but I might try to learn that ‘dah-da-da-da-dah-da-dah’ part at the end with the hand movements – yeah, that part because I really like it.

Anyway, that’s all for now. Stay healthy! SHINee Fighting!

Maki

Okay so this is just a quick update to say that it’s officially announced that SHINee will be having their ‘Juliette’ comeback performance this Friday, God willing on Music Bank, followed by comeback performances on Music Core and Inkigayo on the following two days. Apparently Onew’s recovered almost completely and he’s been given the okay to perform now. That’s really great news, I think. You know I might have been the only one but I wasn’t too dismayed when I found out that the boys’ comeback was going to be postponed. I mean, of course, I wanted them back on stage but I really felt that this must have happened for a reason and that we should look on the bright side and think of it as allowing them more time to practice and perfect their moves. As such, I have all faith in them and I’m sure that they’ll deliver really good comeback stages this weekend. And in retrospect, it was slightly fortunate that their comeback had to be postponed because there was a lot of postponement of music shows and whatnot recently because of everything that happened and that would probably have thrown the boys off so at least this way, they could maintain their focus.

In addition, it seems that Jonghyun and MinHo filmed an episode of Star Golden Bell (my favourite variety show!) the other day so we have that to look forward to as well. I was a little surprised to see Jong there because he’s only been on that show once or twice before but I’m not complaining – I’m deefinitely glad to see more of him. I’d really like to see Dubu though – I really hope he’s fully recovered by the time they start actively promoting again. Anyway, sadly no one subs full SGB episodes anymore but hopefully SHINeesubs will do the boys’ cuts. Things have been fairly quiet over there recently but I’m sure it’ll pick up with the boys becoming active again.

And as a little heads-up, you may or may not know but SHINee Forums International is working on a Taemin Birthday project right now and I definitely encourage you to participate. Unfortunately the deadline for the booklet’s already passed but you can still donate and whatnot so go check it out!

Hmm, I know I haven’t posted about the mini-album yet but that’s partly because I wanted to do a proper review of it in a little while. I kept quiet actually because like ‘Juliette’, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it at first – generally, the style is very different and it definitely took some getting used to but after I listened to it again the other day, I found myself being really drawn in by the tracks and hearing the improvement in the boys’ voices. They are experimenting so things are going to be different but I think they did a pretty good job with this mini-album, not resting on their laurels and branching out in that contemporary way they’re always talking about. Also I know some people aren’t really happy with ‘Juliette’ as a promotional single and perhaps it isn’t the strongest track on the album but I find it really fun qnd upbeat and I think it was a really good choice for their single. It’s grown on me a lot over the past few weeks and I find myself singing and dancing along to it whenever it’s on. I still don’t replay it much but not every song’s like that, you know. That said, I just really want to see the boys on stage again – I didn’t realize it until this weekend but I miss their performances so much. They just bring something fresh and lively to the table and few artists’ perormances are able to fully capture my attention the way their’s do so thankfully, we won’t have to wait too long for some new ones.

So SHINee Fighting! And I’ll leave you with some pictures from that SGB filming – credit as tagged and SFI.

Ah, there’s that cheesy smile I love. ^^

Adios,

Maki.

Here it is!!! EDIT: I changed the video to the official one, btw – turns out the one I posted before was the leaked version, my bad. Anyway, it’s really not that different – it just has some longer solo shots and a few added scenes as well as added effects in the dance portion. The effects are a little distracting but other than that, it’s okay – still a fantastic video.

credit: wondersmurf

Enjoy! Spazz to come. I’m warning you – this will be long. It might rival my ‘Amigo’ spazz post – just saying.

Okay, so I came home today, hoping (but not expecting) that the video would be released and planning to write a ridiculously long Suju spazz post to get out all of the random thoughts that I have about them and to hopefully get some of my fangirliness out because I am so totally a Suju fangirl now. Really, I’m ashamed of myself at this point – I can’t believe how much I love them. I’m just watching all their videos and dramas and lurking around Suju posts because I am a loser to read the comments and just generally being very sad and pathetic. But that aside, the good thing is that the video did come out and it’s good. Hmm, I think if you don’t like the group but you like the song, you’ll think it’s just okay but for me in my current non-logical fangirl state, IT IS FANTASTIC. Did you hear me? FANTASTIC. It’s definitely one of, if not their best, MV to date.

Agh, where to start? First off, let me talk about the song – I really like it. No, I love it. It’s mature, it’s sexy, it’s good – not catchy like ‘Sorry Sorry’ or cute or fun like some of their other songs – it’s just a good song and I’m very impressed with it. Suju have shown that they were serious when they said they wanted their sound to mature and I think their music’s going in a very promising direction. In addition to that, even though this song uses synthesizer and whatnot, their voices aren’t digitalized and I can actually hear each person clearly which brings me to my next point. The lines are distributed fairly evenly – everyone gets a part (except Kibum)! Man, I’m hearing Teukie, Heechul, Shindong AND Eunhyuk which is certainly more than in ‘Sorry, Sorry’. Of course, they’re all getting like two lines but with so many of them, that’s to be expected, right? Now let’s move on to the video, shall we?

Good points: First off, I actually like the dance. The first time I watched it, I thought “ah, it’s okay – there are some awkward parts but it should carry over all right on stage” but then the more I watched the video, the more I liked the choreography, especially in the mainly dance parts like during the little interlude between the first chorus and the second verse. This dance routine doesn’t immediately make me want to get up and learn it like ‘Sorry, Sorry’s did but that’s okay – I think it’s good enough and works well for the song. It’s better than the choreo for ‘Why I Like You’ at least and that makes me really happy because as much as I liked that song, the choreography was so random and cheesy and all over the place. Methinks this is a lot better. I particularly liked the little dance portion with EunHyuk, Donghae and Shindong as well as the choreo that goes from Sungmin’s lines to Shindong’s in the second verse.

credit: hightimejump on LJ

Then, almost everyone looked good in the white portion of the MV – except Kibum. Please take off that headband and then we can talk. It is nice to see you though. Yesung and KyuHyun basically stole all my attention in this video. Seriously there is not a shot where those two did not look good – Yesung totally had his stage charisma on and Kyu, I take back what I said about you not being sexy. I don’t know how I could have thought that – he proved me wrong here. Ryeowook is also looking pretty good here, he almost made it to manly, not quite there but he is very close – a far cry from the awkwardness I perceived in the ‘Sorry, Sorry’ video – and he looked so sweet at first with that bouquet of flowers. Sungmin’s hair….I keep thinking I don’t like it and then he’ll start dancing and it will swish to the side and I’ll end up going ‘ooh, pretty~’ so I guess I only like it in motion then. after watching the video some more, I really like it. It’s mesmerizing, instead of looking at his face, I just keep looking at his hair. It’s a very nice colour – a pretty plum. I’m not sure if it suits him though.

Honestly, Hae, Geng, Teuk and Siwon looked fabulous here as well – I was just too busy spazzing about Kyu and Yesung to focus much on them. They got some nice close – ups though. That’s another thing – everyone got almost equal screen time! That’s practically unheard of for a Super Junior video – I love this, they really seem to be trying to even things out somewhat amongst the members (except Kibum but that’s a whole other story). And Heechul looks unlike himself but in a good way. He has a really versatile look, that Kim Heechul, I feel like he’s always reinventing himself. Like Madonna, ooh~

Okay, Not So Great Points:

Okay, I’m sorry but clothes-wise, there was a lot of fail here. They seemed to be going for some sort of vintage, 1950’s feel with the outfits (or at least, that’s what I was getting) but if that’s the case, then what happened to EunHyuk’s street outfit? He looks like a total hoodlum and it really doesn’t flow with the others (his random graffiti-ing is also a little bit odd, it’s sweet too – ‘only4you’) but whatever, his dance outfit was very nice. Actually it worked out like that for most people where they looked good in either the dance or the street scenes but not in both – notable exception being Yesung (I LOVE both of his outfits, especially his black and white shirt) and Kyu – no, really, this isn’t bias – it’s the truth! The shots did flow very nicely into each other though – whoever edited this video did a really good job.

Also, the actors were over-acting a bit. Kibum, Heechul, Hangeng and Siwon, I know it’s supposed to be sad but y’all went a little too far – I ended up laughing at them instead of feeling sorry. Well, looking at it again, I guess they didn’t do too badly but I still think they could have pulled it back a little.

The others did a pretty good job though and like I said, the dance portions were nice. The video could have been a little more colourful or so but  guess the dull colour works with the theme of longing and heartbreak. But anyway, it’s a really good video! I quite liked it and I’m going to go watch it again. You do that too, okay? I really can’t wait to see a performance of this now – remember, the first one is going to be this Sunday, the 17th on Inkigayo. I’m excited – are you excited? You should be. Come on, get excited! It’s going to be great! SJ fighting! ‘It’s You’ – Dae Bak! (And you guys know what comes after the 17th, right? SHINee’s new song teaser on the 18th – yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!! These next two weeks should be fun – don’t miss it if you can!)

Anyway, I’m really going now – have a good night. Hope you liked the video. Laters. (And you guys, I promise to respond to comments – I know I’ve been lax on that recently but you’ll get your replies soon, okay? Sorry, Sorry!)

Maki

………OK, I’m exaggerating maybe a little bit. I mean, I pop into her Soompi thread fairly regularly so I am aware of her movements and I know that she’s alive and well (thank Goodness) and supposedly in Korea atm, working on a new album. (Please, OMG, please let this be true. SM don’t let me down here, come on, I’m dying for some new stuff from this girl – even though her ‘I Will’ album is still on replay on my iPod, of course.) But anyway, Zhang Li Yin, along with many other prominent artists (including Super Junior) performed together at a concert organized by Jackie Chan at Beijing’s Bird’s Nest stadium on Friday night.

(OMG, doesn’t she look so pretty here? Wow, I love this picture….)

Li Yin performed her song, ‘I Will’ and she sounded, to put it simply, breath-taking. I was pretty shocked because I’d gone Youtube-ing a couple of her old performances and to be honest, they weren’t that great but she has definitely improved. The strength of her voice and her control over it has improved immensely and even though there were one or two rough spots, you could see that she knew her limit and made sure not to overdo anything. So overall, her performance really impressed me. So go watch it now, now, now now! (Please?)

credit: xKLYN @ YT

So yay! I’m really happy about this – it has reignited my appreciation for her ample vocal ability and I’m quite pleased to see that she’s better able at demonstrating it live now than she was before. ^_^ Also, it’s really great that she was able to be a part of this thing – I mean, there were 70, 000 people there – 70, 000 people watched her sing that song and even though it may not have made an impression on all of them, I’m sure that a good few people left that stadium with a new (or rejuvenated or increased) interest in our little LiYin, eh? (LOL, I’m talking like she’s younger than me when really, we’re the same age.) This was wonderful exposure for her, really.

So yay, good job, LiYin – it’s good to see that you’ve been working hard while you’re on hiatus or whatever and I’m sure that it will all pay off in the end. I refuse to believe that SM will let a bright star like her just fade away and I’m sure they’ve got something good up their sleeve for her – and I really hope that we get to hear at least one new song from her jin nian (this year), that is, if her second album is not released in the latter months. I doubt it but I’m still trying to hold out hope. Anyway, she looked hen piaoliang – very pretty – (I’m practicing my PinYin, okay? No tone marks though – dui buqi) and I really love the style of the outfit that they chose for her – it’s very classy and stylish without seeming too formal and it fits her quite well. So overall, I’m glad – this was a very good thing for her.

So picture time! Here she is at the dinner and with Super Junior and Mr. Chan himself.

picture credits: as tagged and Soompi, LJ, bunch of different places….

Doesn’t she look just like a doll? She looks so tiny surrounded by all of those guys in the last picture and so cute standing next to Hannie. I believe they’re close – and it’s understandable, right? – that makes me happy – I’m always glad to know she’s got someone to look out for her and HanGeng’s a pretty reliable guy so it’s very reassuring. Anyways go watch that performance if you haven’t!

Wan an!

Maki

Here’s her new MV for ‘Boo’.

Okay, yes, the concept and the song are very different from ‘Mia’ and probably not what you were expecting from her (I know I wasn’t) but it really isn’t that bad and we shouldn’t think of it as a step down but instead as her trying out a new style. Honestly, ‘Boo’ really is a very cute, catchy enough song and it’s impossible to hide IU’s impressive vocal ability in a song like this – and look on the bright side, it may be on the cutesy side but at least, they didn’t digitalize her voice or use a ton of synthesizer – and for that, we should always be grateful.

So the MV, like the song. is very cute – it’s basically just different scenes of her strutting through a neighbourhood and walking with her video love interest who is alternatively seen standing around and looking bewildered and mildly annoyed at her lateness – it doesn’t really make sense, per se and I don’t think there’s much of a plot so it doesn’t really matter. Hmm, I must say that I love that pink car she’s standing next to in the video – it’s just adorbs! – and even though I liked her long hair, this new style gives her a lovely, childish, fresh look that quite suits her concept and age. What does not suit her age, however, is that ridiculous frou frou piece of tulle mascarading as a skirt that her stylists have her prancing around in – I really don’t know what’s going on with that, it is obscenely short, so short that you can see the red tights that she’s wearing beneath it and she’s even wearing them for performances! This makes me want to cry. Codies, why are you doing this to her? Am I the only one outraged?

What makes me feel better though is listening to her first full length album, Growing Up – listen here; buy here – it is thankfully quite lovely and it follows the style of her mini-album in that it incorporates slower songs that do a better job of showcasing her vocals as well as more upbeat, catchier tunes that show her range and versatility. I’ve only heard it once so far but I’m quite enjoying it so far and I definitely recommend giving it a listen. All of her mini-album songs are on it, including a rock version of ‘You Know’ (Itjanha) that’s extremely entertaining – she actually pulled it off very well, I’m impressed! Hmm, I’ll probably be back with a proper review of the album in a little while – in the meanwhile, give it a try, okay?

I would also recommend checking out one of her new performances – here’s her latest M! Countdown one. I’m happy to report that she has really improved in terms of her performances – her vocals are as strong and consistent as they always were but her actual expression and so on was severely lacking previously and that’s definitely changed now. She’s a lot more lively, expressive and open here, she loosk more comfortable on stage and she really seems to be enjoying herself doing her cute, little choreography so I guess giving her this style to perform was good for something. She still has to work on her actual stage presence a bit – and of course, the skirt HAS to go – but other than that, I’m happy to report that IU seems to be doing quite well for herself. So I hope this image change really works to her advantage by generating a good bit of interest in her and hopefully, this video of a number of other artists including FT Island, Davichi, Bae Seul Ki, K. Will and  Untouchable talking about IU and ‘Boo’ will help her get some more recognition. Goodness knows she deserves it.

IU fighting! DaeBak!

Maki