So this is a little unusual for me but I decided to something different and recommend to you an American artist that I’m growing to be pretty fond of. She’s a new artist – new in the sense that she isn’t particularly well known as of yet in the States and she was only recently signed to a label – but she’s already released her first studio album, which I bought a few days ago – her name is Erin McCarley and her album, ‘Love Save The Empty’ is titled after one of the songs on the album.

edit: Oh, the official video for ‘Love Save The Empty’ was uploaded to Erin’s Youtube channel today and it’s also already on VH1’s Top 20 Countdown (number 18) so go vote for it, okay?

I came across her sort of by accident after hearing one of her songs, ‘Pitterpat’ on the CW show, One Tree Hill late last year. It was probably only about a minute of the song but I fell in love with it right away and was desperate to hear the whole thing – a rare feat for me. So I puttered around online until I found the listing of the songs used in that episode – I found it on this great fansite which is updated even faster than the official CW site and which in addition to hosting a list of the songs used in the episode, includes where in the episode the music is used as well – it’s very helpful – and found out her name and the title of the song. Then naturally I went to Youtube looking for it but it wasn’t there. In fact, there wasn’t anything there by or about Erin McCarley. I was really shocked and I’m not sure what happened next – I think maybe I Googled her or something – but I ended up coming across her official website – which was still under construction at the time – which redirected me to her MySpace page.

The MySpace page was where I hit the jackpot. She was still working on her album at the time but there were three songs available for listening on her page including Pitterpat, the one I’d been looking for. The other songs were Pony (It’s Ok) and Love Save The Empty and after listening to each of them, I was sure that she was going to be one of my new favourite singers. Each song has a completely different sound from the other but they all share a common thread in the recurring sense of melancholy conjured up by each one, even Pony which is a pretty upbeat track. It’s funny because even though Pitterpat is the song that led me there, after listening to the other two, I think Pony became my favourite. I’m no musician and nowhere near a music connoisseur so it would be difficult for me to describe each one and to explain exactly what appeals to me about them so I’ll just say they’re all beautiful tracks and they come highly recommended from yours truly.

Erin says that her music is at once very personal and also meant to deal with issues that affect the current generation and while that sounds really heavy and topical and slightly depressing (you know, like Epik High sometimes), it’s really not. Her music is lovely and light and it’s actually really easy to just get lost in it and enjoy what she’s saying even with songs like ‘Love Save the Empty’ (which was also on the OST for ‘He’’s Just Not That Into You’ which I finally got around to seeing last weekend) in which she talks about children who grow up without parental guidance and as such, end up making a lot of easily avoided mistakes as well as another song off of the album entitled ‘Lovesick Mistake’ (my new favourite) which is a love song about rejecting someone in order to protect them from the hurt you’re afraid you’ll inflict on them. The music is somewhere along the lines of pop/rock (or at least that’s where the cd was located in the FYE store that I bought it at) and she writes and composes all of her own songs. I’m still taking in her album at the moment but now that I’ve gotten a chance to listen to some of the other tracks, there’s a bit of a blues-y, slightly retro (I’m thinking late 60’s) feel to some of the tracks that, as someone who’s particularly fond of music from that decade, I really like.

Hmm, I’m not sure that I did a very good job of introducing her to you here but I hope that you’re at least intrigued and willing to check her out. Her music may not be for everybody but I think that she has a lot of potential and I hope that she achieves a significant amount of success in the American market because I really think she deserves it. I really love her stuff. <3 At the moment, she’s on the road, touring and playing a number of small gigs and just doing promotions for the new album. If you’re interested in listening to her, you can hear previews of her entire album on her official website or you can here some full length tracks on her Youtube channel. If you like her or are already acquainted with her and would like to keep updated with her schedule or just drop her a line, you can go to her Facebook page and since she’s not that popular yet, I think she might actually read it! And then of course for all you MySpace users, there’s still that MySpace page that I mentioned earlier. So check her out, okay? I’m telling you she’s still new – so now’s the time to get into her – so check her out, ok? Go, go, go! And if you really do like her stuff, do like Will Smith said and “don’t download, go out and buy the record”. That’s what I did – and you should too!

So good luck to you, Erin. I wish you all the best! (I hope she gets picked for the next batch of ‘you oughta know’ artists on VH1 or something – man, that’d be so cool….it’s really great exposure. SM should try to do that for BoA too.) Anyway, thanks for reading.

Peace out.

Maki

So if you’ve been following my blog for awhile, you’ll know that couples aren’t really my thing for a number of reasons, but that doesn’t mean, of course, that I can’t appreciate when two people seem to have a really good rapport within a group or that two people are clearly very close and unabashed as to showing their affection for one another. I’m all for that – it’s cute. So in that vein, I’ve decided to do a post about my favourite ‘couples’ in various groups – because I just felt like sharing today. And if you think I’m weird and crazy after reading this, well then, okay – you’re entitled to your opinion.

So we’ll start with SHINee, right? Because well, I always start with SHINee, don’t I?

1. OnTae

Aww, these two are really, really cute together. Honestly people say that they’re ‘appa and son’ and they’re not joking – they really have that sort of relationship. I always get the sense that Onew feels very protective towards Baby Min and that Taemin really feels affectionately towards him. With these two, you have to pay close attention to their body language around each other because you’ll notice that Onew often pats Taemin on the head or smiles at him affectionately and that Taemin, who I’ve gathered doesn’t seem too keen on a whole lot of skinship, will usually actually initiate skinship with Onew, hugging him or holding onto his arm or leaning onto his shoulder or something. The affectionate relationship between them is somewhat subtle, I’d say, but it’s definitely there – and it’s a terribly sweet thing to see. ^_^

2. JongKey

Haha, OMG, these two….they’re a large part of the reason that I started to love these boys. They’re so funny together! SO funny! I remember reading in an article awhile back that the two of them are the mood-makers in the group and I was completely unsurprised. The article went on to say that the two of them have a lot of inside jokes (still unsurprised) and that usually Jonghyun will initiate the joke and then Key will turn it into an ‘outside joke’ by explaining it to the others (which is awfully nice of him, I think, considering that the nature of an inside joke is to keep it private). Hmm, to be honest, I think their relationship is sort of unique because even though there’s an age difference there, I’m almost never aware of it (seriously, I constantly forget that they’re not the same age) and more so, a lot of times you’ll notice that even though he’s the hyung, Jong is the one who follows what Key does. I’ve felt for awhile now honestly that JongHyun’s kind of in awe of Key – I can’t be completely sure why but it probably has something to do with Key’s eccentricity and self-assuredness – and you can see it sometimes when he looks at him. Like when Key’s going off on one of his little, random tangents and doing something weird, Jong always watches him like “WOW”, as though he’s really amazed that he actually knows someone like that (someone so cool, you know) – and subsequently, he will usually then copy whatever silly thing Key’s doing (like the ‘Christmas, Christmas!” thing in their video message about their UFO competition/giveaway thing from last year). In addition to that, I get the feeling that the two of them get along so well because they’re on the same wavelength – like they really understand one another (which explains the inside jokes). It seems like I’ve got a lot to say about these two, eh? What can I say – their BFF-ery just amuses me to no end. It’s part of why I miss Yunhanam so much – because that’s where I really got to see it.

3. Jongyu/OnHyun

Now I think I’ve mentioned this one before but I believe Jonghyun really looks up to Onew. Now it’s a subtle thing and you usually have to be paying attention to them to notice it but it is there – IDK why but the examples are eluding me at the moment  – but there have been moments when I got the impression that there’s a certain amount of respect and even admiration between the two of them and particularly on Jonghyun’s end. I think that it’s more difficult to see with Onew just because he’s generally so nice and he really makes an effort to compliment all four of them and to showcase their good points but with Jong, it’s a little more overt, partly because Bling’s just so expressive. These two have a very good dynamic, I think, and a lot of it has to do with their hyung/dongsaeng relationship as well as Onew’s position as the leader of the group. You know, I’ve heard people say that they think that JH should be the leader of the group because he’s very vocal and a good speaker and often seems to be in the forefront but if you really pay attention, you’ll realize that although he seems to take the lead a lot, he often takes his cues from Onew. For example, sometimes when they’re doing an interview and Jonghyun’s answering a question, he’ll glance over at Onew every once in awhile as if to check that he’s saying the right thing and other times after a question’s asked, he’ll pause and look at Dubu to see if he’s going to answer it before he says anything. In addition to all that, the two of them just have a good rapport, they get along well and they seem to have a good understanding of one another and I think that they play off of each other well – which is why they’re often sent on shows alone together – and as I said before, I really feel that Jong admires his hyung (probably because they’re pretty different personality-wise and I figure he’s able to appreciate Onew’s numerous good points to a much greater degree than we do).

Honourable Mentions – OnKey, 2Min – they have cute, close relationships too and I’m really happy that Taemin has someone like MinHo to look out for him and Onew and Key are similar to JongKey in the sense that they also play off of one another very well and seem to be on a similar (but not the same) wavelength but tbh, I don’t pay too much attention to them (partly because of their popularity within the fandom) and partly because I just don’t.

Super Junior – (a few months ago, when I was initially planning this post – I’ve had it on the back burner for awhile – BB would have been next on the list. Hmm, how quickly things change….)

1. SiHan

What I like about these two is that they have these really funny moments where they goof off and act really silly together (I have three words for you guys: Super Junior M) and they also have these sweet moments where they talk about how they’ve been there for each other and have constantly been a source of encouragement and support and strength to one another and it’s just really nice. They clearly have a deep bond and if you can’t appreciate that, then I don’t know what to tell you.

2. EunSiHae (no picture because I can’t find one with all 3)

Now I know everyone likes EunHae (and hey, I do too – because they are clearly BFFs and are practically joined at the hip most of the time) BUT I’m more partial to the above alternative just because – well, I guess I should tell you how I heard about this pairing….when I was almost done with Full House, I came across this fan video called Something about DongHae you MUST Know (tbh, I don’t normally watch fan videos but a title like that always catches my eye) and it was a pretty good video – made up of facts about DongHae (like why his nickname is Fishy) interspersed with pictures of him that go along with the facts that came before (like pictures of him in hats after it says he likes wearing them). Anyway, there was a particularly notable fact about how EunSiHae came about – where she said (and a Suju friend of mine reiterated) that first, there was EunHae but then DongHae started to become close to Siwon and since he didn’t want either of the two to get upset, he made EunSiHae and solved that potential problem and I won’t lie – when I read that, all I could think was “Aww, that Donghae’s a really thoughtful guy”. And then the next day, I watched episode 12 of Full House where they go to a sauna and there’s a really funny part where they three of them go off on their own and goof off with gym equipment and after that, it was set.

Honourable Mentions – HanChul, KangTeuk – I have mad respect for HeeChul for sticking up for Hangeng the way he has in the past – people say a lot of things about him but you can’t deny that he really does his best by the people he cares about and I think that’s really admirable.
Kangin and Eeteuk, on the other hand, make a really scary duo – because after watching Adonis Camp, I am sure that Kangin’s willing to coerce anyone into doing what Leeteuk wants them to do – and Kangin can be very scary when he wants to be. There seems to be a lot of affection and mutual respect there as well. ^_^

DBSK

Yoosu (no numbering here because there’s only one)

I call them my DBSK JongKey because it’s a fairly similar scenario – they both crack me up with their shenanigans, get along pretty well and really seem to understand one another. What more can you ask for? (This would be longer but I still don’t know DBSK so well – blame Suju - so for the moment, there’s only so much I can say).

Big Bang

ToDae

Another set of guys who crack me up when they’re together – initially i didn’t pay much attention to their interactions but then I watched their episode of Come 2 Play and Daesung mentioned that he learned all of his jokes from T.O.P. (which really shocked me) and ever since then, I’ve paid close attention to their relationship. They seem pretty close and they really have a cool hyung/dongsaeng relationship that often has me squee-ing like a typical fangirl. (I’m not joking – this video nearly gave me a heart-attack.) I like to see them together because TOP’s usually so stolid and reserved on tv but he relaxes a bit around Daesung and you get to see his fun, playful side come out more. So thanks for that, Daesung. And in addition, you can tell that Dae really looks up to his hyung and that they just have a whoooooole bunch of fun together.

Honourable mention – GRi - To be honest, I’m not particularly fond of these two (although I recognize their talent) but you’ve gotta admit that they have a really cute relationship. If I mentioned that other people admired their hyungdeul, well then SeungRi takes the cake as far as that’s concerned – he practically worships GD and he’s so eager and stuff around him. I love how he always copies what GD’s wearing (even though, considering GD’s often questionable fashion choices, that’s not really a good thing) and borrows his clothes and stuff without even asking – they have what I’d pretty much call the ideal big bro/lil bro relationship and I can’t help but think that that’s adorable. Aww~

The Wonder Girls – I should note here that I was surprised when I first started watching Season 3 of their reality show, the Wonder Years at how blase the girls are about their pairings and how they actually joke about it amongst themselves. It’s actually part of what helped me to reduce my dislike for the whole thing because I figured “hey, if they’re the ones being paired up and it doesn’t bother them, then why should I let it bother me?” So thanks, WG. Anyways…

MiSo (SunMi/SoHee)

These two….now these two have an interesting relationship. I think it’s because their friendship grew out of a semi-rivalry, that even though they’re close, you might not see it right away. Honestly I hadn’t seen them interact too much outside of performances and so on (which don’t really count) until I started watching The Wonder Years – I never finished (it was kind of boring….) but I did get a glimpse of their relationship and I have to say that it was lovely seeing little, usually quiet SoHee, acting playful and joking around and even squealing in excitement (!) with SunMi. And it certainly helped that the show’s PDs were clearly favouring those two so they got a lot of screen time – but I guess you could say then that it’s better for me.

Honourable Mention - YeEun/YooBin, SunMi/YooBin – YooBin is awesome and so her interactions with the two craziest girls in the group are guaranteed to be amusing. She does very well at keeping up with those two and seems to get along with them swimmingly. They’re just fun to watch together – it’s as simple as that.

And so, we’ve reached the end of my couple post. Fifty cool points for you if you read to the end. Ah, it feels good to get some of those random thoughts out of my head. Well, later.

Maki

So remember how I said Key has like PERFECT cheekbones or something to that effect? Well, I’ve found the best picture to prove my point. etherenia, this is for you – thanks for all the comments!

Gosh, that boy's just so darn PRETTY!

Yeah, so I know I should be posting about AhMiGo but I don’t really feel like doing that right now. It’s not ’cause I don’t like the song though! I really like it, certainly heaps more than I liked LLO on first listen but I’m still processing it so I’ll be back with my analysis later. I am definitely looking forward to their performances of it though – it’s gonna be hooooot~

Maki

So today is a V.I.D. in the SHINee World (V.I.D. – Very Important Day) – it’s SHINee’s 150 DAY ANNIVERSARY! Yes, that’s right – it’s officially been that many days since they debuted! But it feels longer, right? Hmm, that’s how it feels to me. Anyway I just want to say congratulations to the boys for reaching this milestone and that I hope to be with them until their 1000th day anniversary although we’ll probably stop counting by then, in days at least. They’ve come so far already – I can’t wait to see what they’ve got in store for us next (like their new song and MV, Ah.Mi.Go – already Number three on the M!Countdown charts and it’s not even out yet! Amazing~).

Now let me leave you with 2 pictures of the boys:

Shining SHINee just after debut

Shining SHINee now!

Oh, and to dilute the flood of Jonghyun posts I’ve been making lately, I’d like to share a lovely Onew tribute video that I got linked to from Soompi called ‘5 reasons why we love SHINee’s leader…’. Go watch it! It hits the nail on the head as far as Onew’s concerned although I think his smile should be a reason all in itself.

Going now! Have a good night!

Maki

You know I tried so hard not to have a favourite in SHINee. Really, I did – but Jonghyun’s just so amazing and charming and suave and good-looking and cool and funny and smart and I seriously think that his voice is as close to heavenly as we’re going to get down here – for the moment. I’m sorry if that sounds a bit shallow but I’m not feeling particularly eloquent at the moment. Aish, I just like him so much! It’s such a shame we’ll never date. (I was going to put ‘meet’ but I still hold out hope. Who knows what the future holds?) Anyway, just watch this and you’ll see what I mean (about the voice at least).

credit: randy1997 on YT

Hmm, I think this song sums up my feelings towards him pretty well – focus on the chorus:

credit goes to musicfromgossipgirl

Hey SME person who I think could be reading my blog? (yeah right) Can I marry Jonghyun? Please, please, please? I promise I won’t tell anyone – really. I can keep a secret.

Ah, I’m going to go now and try to get my bearings. I’ll leave you with a picture of him – the one that set me off in the first place. credit as tagged and basmspasms on Soompi for the reupload

Hyunnie~

Good-bye,

a love-struck Maki

I just realized why I love ‘Love Like Oxygen’ so much. It’s the dance.

You see, I never paid that much attention to the Replay dance (although it still managed to impress me) and I only watched about two Replay performances while I’ve watched the LLO MV – regular and dance versions – tons of times and I’ve seen pretty much every performance they’ve done of it (only on music shows though) and I’ve really come to love it. You know I didn’t like the song on my first listen – I mean, I didn’t even listen to the whole thing – I was just like “Eew, this sounds like some kind of Michael Jackson knock-off” and closed it down and that was it, I was pretty much ready to wash my hands of them BUT THEN I was looking for the MV for my friend, who is also a big SHINee fan – bigger than me initially – and when I found it, I figured “Hey, I might as well watch it – I mean, it was their dancing that impressed me in the first place so maybe they’ll have a cool dance in this video too”. AND THEY DID!

That seriously simplistic video – made up of just them dancing and some very nice close-ups – is what renewed my interest in SHINee and that was why I ended up watching their ‘comeback’ performance on Inkigayo of SHINee World and LLO and THAT was what really impressed me. That performance was incredible and it put SHINee back on my radar in a big way. You see, that’s what I love about them – they’re performers and really good ones at that – and they’re only going to get better. It’s a very nice thought.

So because I loved the video, I kept watching it over and over and over and eventually the song grew on me too. I mean, it took some time but I came around and I’m glad I did. Otherwise I would have missed out on some really great performances – and a hilarious reality show and kind of getting to know five amazing boys so I can understand if SHINee’s not your cup of tea but I think you should at least give them a chance if you haven’t already.

Love Like Oxygen MV – Regular version, Dance version and the first performance (including SHINee World)

Ah, I love these boys too much! Adios,

Maki

Hi all you banner makers out there…yeah, I don’t care how lame and pathetic this makes me sound but I really want a SHINee banner for my Soompi signature. My signature is currently non-existent and I would really love it if I could get a nice banner of my boys to put there. Then I could write the names of the groups I follow underneath it and my sig would be all cool and pimped out like everybody else’s. So any graphics makers out there willing to make one for me?

I’d dedicate a post to you – and love you forever. ^_^

Maki

You know it isn’t exactly easy staying on top of things in a K-pop fandom. I mean, if your artists are out promoting, it means that there are new performances and pictures and videos showing up almost every day and I seriously cannot keep up with all of this stuff. I checked the SHINee thread on Soompi around midday today after leaving it early last night and it had already grown by two pages, one of which was practically just pictures. And it seems like there’s a new WG performance every day -and while I like ‘Nobody’ and I think their performances are very good, I don’t think I’ll be watching all of them, like I do with SHINee’s LLO ones – I only watched about five and I’m kind of getting sick of it. Sorry, WG – trust me, I’m still supporting you!

You know the problem with having a bias is that sometimes I can’t tell if I genuinely dislike something or if it’s just a gut rejection. For example, I finally saw U-Kiss’ Not Young MV today and I won’t lie – I sort of went into it hoping to dislike it – that’s horrible, I know but it’s true – but it wasn’t bad. I won’t compare them to my lovelies because I don’t like when people do that but I will say that the one thing that SM did with SHINee that I think they should have done with U-Kiss is play up the young angle. I mean, they’re young – we know they’re young and I’m sorry but some of the members of U-Kiss have the biggest baby faces on the planet so it’s very difficult for me to take them seriously while watching them sing ‘I’m not young, I’m a grown man’. Yeah, I’m not buying it – that said, the song wasn’t bad, the MV was kind of blah – I don’t particularly care for Soulja Boy and since they incorporated some of his moves I wasn’t too impressed but the lead(?) singer or the one who sang the most in that song anyway – you know the one with the curly hair, yeah, him – he has a very nice voice, it’s very soothing and pretty . I’m not feeling the rap though but they’re not too bad, I guess. Oh, and I’m listening to their cover of BSB’s ‘As Long As You Love Me’ and it’s not bad – their english is actually very good.

I still have to watch SHINee’s performance clips from the Asia Song Festival but the few I saw looked pretty good. No surprise there though – I’ve never really seen them deliver a bad performance and this is me speaking totally unbiasedly. Now I’ll leave you with a picture from there. Enjoy it, okay?

SHINee at the 2008 ASF

Adios, Maki.

Ok, so I haven’t got a lot of time and as such, I’m condensing these two very important things into one post. First off, I just want to say a big CONGRATULATIONS to the Wonder Girls for winning Number one with ‘Nobody’ on the K-chart after only one week. You go girls! Show all those naysayers they were wrong! In case you were wondering, they beat out Big Bang and Brown Eyed Girls for the top spot.

In addition to that, since it’s probably already the 4th in Korea, I want to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my favourite female rapper, Ms. Kim Yoo Bin! Whoo, happy 20th/21st! I hope you continue to grow as a person and an entertainer and that you enjoy your success and hopefully get some rest on your special day. May God continue to bless you richly, YooBin unnie! Finally, someone’s older than me!

I’ll leave you with a picture of the birthday girl:

Happy Birthday Binnie!

Maki

So I just finished watching Episode 10 of SHINee’s Yunhanam and…I don’t really know what to say. It was funny – but in a weird way. And I know that all of the stuff that the noona did – which I won’t mention because you really need to see it – was probably totally scripted/fake and the whole point of this episode was to garner laughs but I couldn’t help feeling weirded out all the same. I mean, they didn’t need to make it funny – it was already hilarious. That said, there were some cute moments, a good bit of Onew sangtae (Condition) and um, the boys were very good-natured about the whole thing. I briefly wondered if they knew what was supposed to happen but I don’t think so – they’re not very good at masking their feelings and their facial expressions throughout this whole episode were pretty telling. People said that Key seemed upset throughout this eppie but I didn’t see it – he seemed his usual good-natured self to me, if a little quieter than usual. Anyway, I know that there are people who will watch this and laugh and others who will be annoyed and I guess I’m stuck somewhere in the middle. I’m just weirded out – Episode 10 definitely didn’t meet my expectations. *sigh* In a way, it was even more disappointing than Episode 6 was. Maybe I should stop looking forward to it so much…

Bye!