k-pop – Page 2

Tag: k-pop (page 2 of 4)

A Very Personal Review of EXO’s Don’t Mess Up My Tempo

Like many fans around the world, I had November 2 marked on my calendar—finally, an EXO comeback. It had been over a year since the last full album release.

With that immense and quietly building space of expectation, new music would be 1. immediately welcomed by EXO-Ls worldwide, but 2. with a group at the top of its game, eventually there will be a below-average release. No pressure.

With Don’t Mess Up My Tempo, EXO pulled it off…mostly.

Tempo

Tempo feels comfortably EXO. It’s fun in the vein of “Call Me Baby.” The chorus is singable. The sound engineering and f(x) are incredible. The harmonies are on point—specifically the bit where Xiumin and Sehum sing and rap octaves over each other, and of course the a capella section. This is a song that knows the best of EXO and how to present it to its fullest, morphing and reprising itself through funky descending bass lines and soaring vocals.

As the members grow as artists/performers and head into their late 20s (Sehun, the youngest member, is currently 24 years old), they’ve transitioned from a young group in search of a sound to a self-assured group who knows their strengths. If you were wondering which group reigns as the VOCAL KINGS of k-pop, this is your receipt.

I will not be surprised when a bunch of other acts come out with a capella tracks next year.

The music video isn’t super-innovative but the glitchy light effects are really cool, like the boys are holograms. Chanyeol shines with his blue contacts (I picked a good bias).

Sign

I don’t recall grotty bass lines (reminiscent of NCT 127’s “Limitless”) being a popular back then, but this song reminds me of an alternate-universe Korean version of an early 2000s boy band song. (Maybe it’s the “bye bye bye” part?) We don’t deserve Baekhyun and his vocals.

Fun fact: I keep mishearing one of the lyrics as “Honestly, pikachu”

Ooh-La-La-La

This is a song that makes you really appreciate SM’s sound engineers. It’s such ear candy—from the subtle pop of a record-player effect to the way that the layers of sound are so airily pieced together. The guitar riff is beautiful, almost “island feeling,” like you could play it on a ukelele and sing on a beach and it would sound just as good. Otherwise it’s a simple song; I want to hate it because it verges on saccharine but I also kind of love it. Like a popsicle on a hot summer day, but that’s French themed with a big whiff of fresh island air.

Gravity

“Gravity” is the song that “Power” wanted to be. I’m loving 80s club feel to this one, with the sample from “Power” in the intro, and the powerful yet funky bass line (SM is really good at those). Lyrically, I love the interplay between Korean and English; the chorus creates a rhyming pattern in Korean that begs for a declarative singing of “GRAVITY” to round it out—but instead of giving us the relief in the first round, they build anticipation through a full seven lines before finally giving us the payoff. It’s great—I haven’t had a song keep me on the edge of my seat lyrically like this before. Especially since most of the lyrics are in another language!

With You

EXO would like to float over fluffy white clouds with you. It’s ballad with undertones of traditional Korean music. Sweet, but not particularly memorable.

24/7

Love it or hate it, this song builds from a distinctive whistle to a very Motown-ish throwback (disclaimer: I’m not a Motown expert). I’m not a fan of full-on falsetto songs (with the exception of Big Bang’s “Cafe“), but this one is really well executed. The call-and-response structure is interesting, and the vocals are on point.

Bad Dream

If any of the songs on this album grew on me, it’s this one. I went from “okay I kind of like this one” to “obsessively listening on repeat” in less than an hour. This song is all over the place musically, somehow combining a bouncy synth, gorgeous guitar riffs (but not enough of them!), a dolphin-like pealing sound, and an absolutely beautiful-yet-rough moving bass line that reminds me of something that I can’t quite place. The vocals shine on this one, with more technical acrobatics a la “Stay” from last year’s winter album.

Damage

HYPE.
Sehun’s E-X-O is back.
It’s a jam.

Smile On My Face

One of EXO’s b-side staples is the R&B ballad. Most fans love them. This incarnation is very soothing, and Chen’s harmonies are heavenly. Moving on.

Oasis

Like “Been Through” from last year’s winter album, I bet that “Oasis” will be a popular track on the album with American fans. To me, it sounds more like Western pop than k-pop. It’s not a bad song at all–the melody is gorgeous–it just feels like anthemic indie pop.

Overall: Don’t mess up a good thing

This album feels sonically cohesive, and darker than The War (which would make sense, considering that this is an autumn album). SM is good at matching album “tones” to the season, as you can see in the differences between Red Velvet’s summer vs fall releases.

With this album, there are no surprises. EXO has dialed in their sound. It’s like they’re now a “middle aged” group instead of a hungry young wolfpack. I’m glad they’re making cohesive albums now instead of random collections of singles, but on the flip side there were no songs that catch me by surprise, no “Forever” or “El Dorado.”

When I first listened to The War last summer I was immediately and utterly obsessed with “Forever.” It grabbed me in a way that few songs do. None of the songs on DMWMT have grabbed me in that way, with the possible exception of “Bad Dream.”

I like this album, but I don’t LOVE it. Like…there’s nothing wrong with this album but I’m also not obsessed with it. It’s clean. It’s well balanced. It shows off EXO’s skills in a variety of ways. But I honestly can’t see myself listening to it much, other than picking off a few favorites to add to my epic EXO playlist.

It says something that I listened to NCT 127’s Regular-Irregular again before I settled down to write this review.

[Update: I’ve been listening to this album on repeat. Oops! It’s great, the end.]

It may be relevant to note that I’ve always preferred the young, exploratory phase of a musician’s existence over the polished and complete work that tends to be produced later on.

The Reader: Media Smears, Social Skills, and GaryVee

2018-11-03 / childlike empress / 0 Comments

source

When I came up with the idea of #storyvember, I didn’t think about this series that I’ve started to feature on the weekends. Because this format doesn’t lend itself well to story, I’m not going to worry about smashing it into the “story” format just yet. I’ll chew on it for a while, and maybe by the end of the month I’ll modulate this list into a story of its own.

» IRB doesn’t apply in research online by social media companies, and now it’s starting to fail in real life. I don’t know if this is a win for dismantling outdated institutions, or a loss for humanity. Please be alert and aware in any medical setting.

» They did it to Mike Cernovich and co earlier this week. Now they’re coming for Julian Assange. Caitlin Johnstone is always worth a read.

The point is to create public revulsion for Julian Assange, thereby killing sympathy for his unconscionable persecution and dampening the impact of any future WikiLeaks releases. The point is to marry Assange’s name with the idea of bad smells, so that the public will begin to find themselves increasingly disgusted by him and everything he stands for without quite remembering exactly why they feel such disdain for him.

» Socialite Magazine is an interesting read, for those of us who struggle with social skills. I find that for myself, it’s not the actual skills involved (I can get along with anybody if I have to), rather it’s the realization that I need to deploy those social skills and that I could, in fact, make a new friend at any given point in time. Perhaps that’s the difference between Extraverted Feeling (me, even though it’s weak) and Introverted Feeling (the ISTJ who writes Socialite Mag)

» A little birdie told me that Colourpop’s Boss Brow Gel is a dupe for Glossier’s Boy Brow. Ordering some now, I’ll report back when I have an opinion.

» Hawaiian Libertarian has graced us with a new post. Look past the gloss of “tinhat conspiracy theorist” and look for the big picture—Keoni knows what he’s talking about. Read and learn.

» K-pop has avante garde music, too

» In honor of #storyvember: What is a Story?

» Watch out for the goo-roos slipping blood into your taco (read this if you’re trying to launch a business or sell a product)

» Intro to Visual Culture (warning: lots of academicese)

“Visual Culture” studies recognizes the predominance of visual forms of media, communication, and information in the postmodern world.
Has there been a social and cultural shift to the visual, over against the verbal and textual, in the past 50 years, and has it been accelerating in the past 10 or 20 years?
- Or are our written, textual, and visual systems continuing an ongoing reconfiguration in a new (recognizable) phase?
Study of visual culture merges popular and “low” cultural forms, media and communications, and the study of “high” cultural forms or fine art, design, and architecture.

A very personal review of NCT 127’s Regular-Irregular

2018-10-19 / childlike empress / 0 Comments

When I sat down for my first listen to NCT 127’s first full album, Regular-Irregular, I got about 30 seconds into the first song and paused. What was a hearing? Did this song sound suspiciously like EXO’s “Unfair”? (Yes it did.)

I was concerned. In fact I was so concerned that I quit Spotify and walked away.

It wasn’t until later that I gave the album a fair shot. But, like other books that I started a few times before getting invested in their plot and characters, Regular-Irregular just needed a little bit of time.

Unlike many k-pop albums, Regular-Irregular is arranged around a concept. The “dreamlike” concept has been with NCT the whole way through, so that’s nothing new, but I was not expecting 127 to come out of the gate with a fully-formed concept like this. It took EXO years of “singles” albums to refine a sound that worked for them enough to build a whole album around it.

This album is fantastic. It takes everything great about NCT 127 and remixes it into something new and utterly fun to listen to.

The first section is “Regular,” in which most of the songs sound like much of NCT 127’s earlier mini-albums. There’s the rap track (City 127), the bright pop song (Replay/PM 01:27), and the ballad (Knock On). None of these are unfamiliar, and once I pushed past my initial reluctance to the first track I breathed a sigh of relief. This is the NCT 127 that I know and love. Good rapping, smooth vocal harmonies. They’re good songs with some interesting moments, but nothing overly memorable.

Then we come to “No Longer.” This is the gem of the album. It’s a ballad, but in the style of an EXO winter album: the exact opposite of what NCT 127 usually does. (Seriously it would fit in perfectly with Universe.) The instrumental is acoustic, rather than synth-heavy. There is no urban or rap influence anywhere. This is a song that gives the vocalists time to shine, and they take advantage of it—especially Haechan. It immediately rocketed onto my unofficial list of k-pop songs to fall asleep to, it’s that soothing and complex and delicious.

Now that you’ve floated off into the land of vocal harmonies and upright bass, it’s time for the turn. This album is helpfully bisected by an “Interlude” that takes us from a sedate, classical beginning (regular) to a dark, distorted ending (irregular) with spoken-word poetryish stuff in between. Parts of this piece sound a horror movie, so I’m never sure if the IRREGULAR part of the album is supposed to be merely dreamlike or more like a nightmare. It’s a little bit unsettling, I won’t lie.

The journey is worth it, because it takes us to another of my favorite songs on the album: “My Van.” It’s very playful and all over the place, overscored by a metallic chiming synth and underscored by very deep distorted voices. This is another song designed to showcase rapping, giving some of the other members a chance to chime in even though Mark and Taeyong dominate. That’s okay though, they’re really good at it. (And Mark finally got his turn at vocal fry with a very well placed “Ahhhhhh yeah.”)

The second half of Regular-Irregular follows the same structure as the first. After the rap track (My Van), we get the bright upbeat pop song (Come Back), and the ballad (Fly Away With Me). Unlike the first half, however, these songs are more sonically interesting to me. Maybe it’s the distortion, maybe it’s a willingness to use chords that aren’t “regular,” but they’re very satisfying songs for someone like me who is a complete sucker for complex pop music. I particularly like “Fly Away With Me,” which is somehow light and heavy at the same time, with a four-on-the-flour beat that somehow never gets old.

If you’re more interested in the chords and rhythms, I highly recommend React to the K’s “First Listen” video, where Umu and Kevin react to and break down the album.

Technically “Fly Away With Me” is the last song on the album but much like “No Longer” was a complete left field surprise, we get a bonus track in the form of “Run Back 2 U.” If you need some NCT nostalgia, this is an expanded version of “Bassbot,” a dance video they released as undebuted rookies. It’s a gonzo song that jumps all over the place, has a female vocal sample, and ends abruptly—but I really like it. Something about k-pop has given me the ability to love and appreciate these songs that are just completely all over the place.

At this point, if you’re at all familiar with the album you might be wondering why I haven’t talked about the title tracks—the English and Korean versions of “Regular.” The short answer is, I don’t like it.

The long answer is a bit more nuanced. “Regular” reminds me a lot of the Twice song “Likey.” They are both very understated, and seem designed more to be played in shopping malls (and sound good) than for fans at concerts or at home streaming with headphones. Both songs are earworms, full of ear candy—Twice’s in audio effects, NCT 127’s in vocal color, think “splash” and “brrrrah.” It seems to me that SM Entertainment is more interested in laying the groundwork for future NCT 127 recognition than they are in providing a song that is immediately interesting to listen to. I respect that decision, even though I dislike the song. “Likey” grew on me. “Regular” has not.

With that said, I’m super-happy with Regular-Irregular as a concept and as an album. I like the back half a lot better than the front half—usually I start with “No Longer” (because I’m addicted) and carry through to the end—but it’s still a solid album from front to back. There are no bad songs, and it will integrate well into an all-NCT 127 playlist. (Except for maybe “Interlude” but that’s okay.)

Highly recommend, will be listening to on repeat, etc.

Why REGULAR is wrong for NCT 127

2018-10-09 / childlike empress / 0 Comments

Maybe this should be titled “Why ‘Regular’ rubs me the wrong way.” Something about it doesn’t sit right with me, like I’m watching my kids grow up and start hanging out with questionable friends.

To understand why, let’s go on a quick tour of NCT 127’s title tracks.

Firetruck

Rumor has it, Taeyong’s childhood dream was to become a firefighter. With “Firetruck,” SM Entertainment made that happen, in a sense. It’s a club-type dance song, with a fire fighter theme, but it’s difficult to believe that the theme was pure coincidence considering that Taeyong trained with SM for so long, and he’s one of the rappers that they’re actively encouraging to take an interest in crafting song lyrics.

Limitless

This is one of my favorite fashion eras, mostly because of Taeil’s shark jacket there on the far right.

To me, “Limitless” is the type of song that you would repeat to yourself like a mantra. It is the perfect type of song for a group that is just debuting, hungry (excuse me, thirsty) for acceptance, love, and fame. It’s disguised as a love song (“oh baby it’s you”), but the main theme is about working hard for your dreams and the limitless potential spread out in front of you.

They were all chasing dreams while being deceived
Most of them only consider themselves as the real deal
Or else they hide with their backs turned
The repeating days are so cruel

Lies stick, they are sticky
In this gray city, it ain’t got a chance
I wondered when the future was gonna come
But it’s in front of my eyes now

Cherry Bomb

“I’m the biggest hit / I’m the biggest hit on the stage.” This is another song that gathers momentum, that speaks into existence what NCT 127 wants to be. It carries multiple messages—that the boys are ready for their songs to hit the world like an explosion, that the haters can come at them and they’re ready. “Cherry Bomb” is intense and explosive, with words, music, and choreo all reflecting one central theme.

Touch

Touch doesn’t exist in my world. It’s a typical “imagine me as your boyfriend”song. More importantly, it was the overt signal that proved that SM decided to crash the NCT concept (although arguably it happened first with the Japanese version of “Limitless”), giving the soft theme to 127 instead of the group’s usual urban-inspired vibe. The song sounds really corporate to me, very much like the Coke ad they did predebut. I dislike it on multiple levels.

Moving on.

Chain

With their Japanese release, however, NCT 127 was back to their normal tricks.

A factor that’s yet to be born (it’s a factor)
The hearts resonating in symphony are a medium (by the medium)
Make a wish, change the reality (we want to)
Get me started, the chain begins now

Chain! Reaction
The chain spreads
Chain! Reaction
From here on, the world is connecting

World domination, creating a great future for themselves, growing as artists…this is the NCT I like. One of the things that I like most about following NCT as a fledgling group of k-pop acts is that their ambition mirrors mine. I find a lot of what I want to do reflected in their songs, in their chord progressions and intensity and even in the wtf-ery of their Limitless-era styling (like clickbait but for clothes).

Most of their songs seemed really authentic to me, coming from a place of wanting to grow as entertainers, to win over fans and haters alike. Even though 90% of k-pop songs are created through the Pop Machine—very few of them are “heartfelt” in the singer/songwriter use of the word—the songs resonated with the group and their goals.

It probably helps that Mark and Taeyong write most of their own rap lyrics.

On my part, perhaps it is too much to expect a young group to sing about their bright and glorious future for too much longer. Clearly at some point the lyrics would have to evolve, and to change.

What I was not expecting was “Regular.”

Disclaimer: this emotional whiplash (heh) is probably fueled by NCT Dream’s latest mini-album, which featured the track “Dear Dream.” This song is almost 100% written by the members, is super heartfelt, and legit makes me cry. It is genuine, real feelings.

“Regular” is not genuine, real feelings. “Regular” is a song that flexes just for the sake of it. Somehow I’m supposed to believe that NCT 127 has gone from “make a wish, we want to change reality” to “I just made a million and I’m still not satisfied”?

These are not the boys that I know. Even if NCT 127 is super-successful now and they’re rolling in money, this doesn’t feel genuine to them. It feels like they’re playing parts. Even the bits that I want to like, such as Mark walking his pet tiger in the MV, make me cringe instead.

These are boys I want to root for, and the fake swag makes it really hard to do that.

I’m still holding out hope. “Regular” is the English-language version of the title track for their upcoming full album, and there will also be a Korean-language version. Apparently the Korean version is on the “regular” section of the album, and the English version is on the “irregular” section of the album—the dreamlike part.

Because all the teasers have been wrapped around a dualistic office drone/after hours type of theme, perhaps this is just in keeping with the extravagant dreams of an office worker.

Maybe the concept will make it work. Until the full album comes out, I cringe.

Update: After a few more listens and watching some reaction videos—specifically this one from PD at Form of Therapy—I’m becoming more comfortable with “Regular” as a concept for NCT 127. There are some execution-related points that I didn’t take into account that change the context of all this:

The English-language version isn’t cringey at allll. The boy’s pronunciation is pretty spot-on. The lyrics are mostly good, and bits that are a little rougher aren’t any worse than comparable American lyrics. (Which is not great—this is why I listen to k-pop, people.)
The concept is the dream of success, from a group that is starting to get some. I really can’t hate that.
The video makes the boys look really, really good.

Overall, it’s a decent American debut.

Personally, though, I can’t get into it. Back when “Boss” came out, I didn’t love it at first either, but it grew on me—the sound engineering is so interesting to listen to. With “Regular,” something about the engineering sounds compressed to me, like their normal range of dynamics is limited (much like circa 2012 pop music) and I’m listening in a fishbowl. It also feels to me like the musical arrangement is monotonous, even though there are different sections that switch up the rhythms and orchestration. I don’t know enough about music theory to tell you why exactly, but that’s how I feel right now.

Also, the instrumentation sounds like Latin-inspired elevator music. I expect so much more from SM Entertainment, honestly. SMH.

Dark 80s (in which I discover Taemin’s MOVE)

2018-10-02 / childlike empress / 0 Comments

Drift happens. As a project matures, it tends to gather momentum and move in its own direction. Most of the time this is a good thing, as it’s difficult to visualize the fullest extent of a project before it’s underway.

Batfort has experienced drift. Mostly this is a good thing—there’s now less of me talking about politics, which I have no business talking about. But one of the things that has lagged over the past year is the focus on aesthetics.

I had originally envisioned Batfort with a “dark 80s” theme, kind of a neo-noir-Victorian aesthetic heavily influenced by Blade Runner and Awake in the Night Land. Something that would stand in heavy contrast to the bright color blocking and pastels that dominate the aesthetic scene right now.

As I got caught up in the day-to-day of blog posts and the excitement of analytics, I forgot about the aesthetic experience.

Until now.

For whatever reason I decided it was time to check out “Move” by Taemin.

Boy was that a mistake.

I slept on this release last year. For all I admire SM Entertainment, I haven’t checked out every single one of their groups. First on the list is SHINee—except I couldn’t bear to after Jonghyun killed himself last year.

But let’s not talk about that. Let’s talk about “Move.”

This is the first k-pop song I’ve heard that’s actually sexy. The bassline is addictive. The distortion of the synths is the kind that makes me want to weave the sound into a magic carpet and float off into the night. Taemin’ voice is silky smooth. Of course, it could be…
The choreography. It’s perfect—for Taemin, for the song. Subtle and sensual. Normally the unfinished-ness and lack of energy through his arms of would bother me, but it’s such a part of Taemin’s style and it suits the song so well that I can deal with it.
The aesthetic of the music video is like…dystopian 80s-inflected perfection.
There are some k-pop singles that are so good that I wish an album had been written around them. “Move” is one of those. K-pop albums are mostly random grab bags with no cohesion. I feel like making this a single and not one in a series of related songs missed a chance to explore this musical idea and feeling to its fullest.

If Taemin and his A&R reps at SM Entertainment didn’t fully explore this idea, perhaps it’s up to me. Not that I’ll be making music videos anytime soon.

But I do want to be more deliberate about what I focus on in this blog, and Taemin has reminded me of the original intent. Well, and the pitchfork mob that is currently chasing after Brett Kavanaugh.

The future is coming, and it’s going to be dark.

Waiting for the EXO comeback like

2018-09-28 / childlike empress / 0 Comments

Recently W Korea released a photo spread featuring members of EXO, and it’s basically a visual representation of EXO-L waiting for the next album.

I feel you, Chanyeol.

Exo has released a full-length album, a repackaged album, and a winter mini-album each year since debut.

Last year’s album, The War was released in August 2017.

It’s now nearly October 2018.

No new music.

Over the years, the members have been getting busier with external activities. Kai, Sehun, and Chanyeol go to fashion events. Suho is starring in a musical. DO is starting a serious acting career, and is currently the male lead in a drama. CBX exists. There are variety shows. Collaborations happen.

Still, no new music.

Members are starting to stare down Korea’s mandatory military enlistment.

(I believe Xiumin is required to enlist this year.)

Military service time is 18 months.

There is a deadline.

Here’s what I think is going down:

SM is “testing” the fans, to see if they’ll wait patiently for more than a year between albums. (It’s been 14 months and so far nobody has gone crazy yet.)

Sometime this fall, maybe in November at this point (after NCT 127 and Lay), EXO will finally release new music.

The repackaged album will take the place of the winter album, to be released in December.

After that, all the members will enlist at the same time. During that time, SM slow-drips content. They are getting the hang of YouTube, and fans would 100% love another dedicated EXO variety show, especially when the members are in the military.

Or perhaps they stagger into 2 groups separated by 6-8 months, and we are treated to a new subunit or two.

When they are discharged and back together full strength, EXO head directly into the recording studio an through the magic of the SM production machine, have new music ready to release in a ridiculously short amount of time.

One of the many things that SM Entertainment does well is learn from its mistakes. Super Junior has been taking a long time to get back on its feet now that its members are trickling out of the military. I doubt that SM wants to inflict that on EXO.

Anyway, I really hope we get new EXO music soon. The end.

NCT Dream We Go Up

2018-08-30 / childlike empress / 0 Comments

SM Entertainment’s love affair with minimalism continues.

Maybe it’s white space.

Whatever you want to call it, “We Go Up” is the latest in line of lighter songs that breathe between notes rather than being a 100% wall of noise all of the time.

Twice’s “Likey” also did this. I don’t follow all of k-pop enough to know if this is a legit trend, but I can trace it from Red Velvet’s “Peek-a-Boo” through to NCT 127’s “Boss” and now NCT Dream with “We Go Up.”

There are so many tropes that permeate this video. The IRL bubble sounds and other samples, which tie it directly to songs like “Boss” and even the clinking glass in EXO’s “Sweet Lies” and “Twenty Four” (I’m pretty sure it’s the same sample in both songs). There’s the pantheon of NCT dance moves, including the bicep flex, the elbow airplane, the knock-knees, the back-to-the-camera-ending-pose (previously seen in NCT 127 “Limitless” and EXO-CBX “Hey Mama”), and of course the obligatory NCT high five.

Mark is aging out of NCT Dream after this comeback. Because of this, the Dreamies have been working to bolster their rap line. I’m pretty impressed with Jaemin and Jisung’s raps. Somebody’s got to hold down the fort when Mark is gone, but nobody could replace him. Mark’s raps have gotten better with age (and he’s barely an adult). Compare his rap in “We Go Up” or “Go” to something like “Mad City” (which was still good) and you’ll hear how much he’s grown.

I really hope that Renjun drew the wolf that’s on their flag. He’s the artist of the group, in that the members have forced him to show off his drawing skills on variety shows.

Like “Boss,” Dreams’ “We Go Up” is a lot more interesting with headphones. There’s a lot of subtle layering that gets revealed when you pay more attention. The bass line is addicting–just enough space between the notes to keep you hanging on–and I love the use of the minor key.

Sometimes I think about how much SM does A/B testing and releases new-and-improved versions of their own content. Red Velvet’s “Mr. E” is a more refined version of “Zoo.” EXO tested the reggae concept with “Twenty Four” before they came out with a reggae-influenced title track. In that vein, this song feels like a refined melody of “We Young” from last summer combined with a bigger version of the beat from “Boss.” Not everything is an evolution, but it’s interesting to tease out the similarities and watch ideas develop.

Kind of like when every group in SM worse gold and silver lame sometime circa 2012.

Anyway, that has nothing to do with NCT Dream. “We Go Up” is not the sound I was expecting from them, but I’m loving it. It’s relaxed and loose and yet interesting and fun. I’m looking forward to their album release–this should be good.

PS. SM Entertainment, this is another official request for a Mark/Haechan subunit.

The Gucci trend needs to die already

2018-08-17 / childlike empress / 0 Comments

When a phrase like “That’s so Gucci” enters the relative mainstream, you know the meme is close to death.

Super Junior D&E: A prince among men vs. the Gucci clown

Look, I don’t dislike Gucci.

Their ideas over the past few years have been interesting, especially when they started down the high/low kitsch path. Back when Jared Leto was the Gucci high-fashion drama king.

Now though, the whole Gucci aesthetic feels overplayed.

Maybe it’s just me. Maybe I’m craving refinement and deliberateness (and let’s be real I’m more of a D&G girl anyway) but the gonzo-ness of this latest incarnation of Gucci has grown, IDK, stale.

Take, for example, the photo above. Donghae keeps it classic — “ringmaster” never goes out of style — and relatively toned-down despite a very flamboyant jacket. Eunhyuk, however, is stuck in tragic fashion victim mode — his clothes are more than he can handle. (And as a k-pop veteran, he can handle a lot of clothes.)

Let’s move on from “high fashion tacky grandma,” okay?

When you want to decorate your room like a Red Velvet promo photo

2018-06-20 / childlike empress / 0 Comments

Aesthetics, people.

The way things look matters, especially the way that the spaces around you inspire you and urge you on (or don’t) to living your best life. Go into a gothic cathedral and tell me that it doesn’t make you feel different from going into a cinderblock church.

I used to think that “good design” was mostly the bones of the design, the way that a system or document hierarchy functioned. But I’m coming around to the idea that the actual aesthetics of the things, the “finishing touches,” matter a great deal too.

Design resonates differently with different people, and I’ve been thinking lately about what types of design stick with different type of people.

I, for one, wouldn’t mind if my living room looked something like this:

Red Velvet / SM Entertainment

Surrealist neo-victorian with a liberal dose of naturalism. I can get behind that.

The question is: how can I get the moon to park so close to my window, and what’s the best cleaning method for tree-rugs?

Red Velvet Appreciation Post: Body Talk

2018-03-11 / childlike empress / 0 Comments

I don’t think I’ve talked about Red Velvet on this particular blog. Red Velvet has a special place in my heart.

One of the fun side-along problems with my autoimmune problems has been a propensity to depression and melancholy. I don’t think I’ll ever shake my love of melancholy, but after cleaning up my diet, I no longer get depressed or on a melancholy streak or “coffee depression” like I once did.

I know this, because I’ve started listening to much happier music. Namely, k-pop. Red Velvet was one of the groups that clued me into this, because in the past I never would have been able to listen to “pop” music for a long period of time without it grating on my nerves for going against whatever (bad) mood I was in.

Now, Red Velvet is a very R&B-inflected pop group who doesn’t shy away from dark themes and minor keys, so it’s pop that is very much in line with my melancholy tendencies. It’s just way happier overall.

So when I realized that I was listening to almost nothing but k-pop, I realized that on the whole I was in a much better mood, and had been for a few months. I realized this while listening to Red Velvet’s “Ice Cream Cake,” which is still one of my favorites.

Specifically about Body Talk, tho

“Body Talk” is one of my favorite b-sides from Red Velvet. (For those of you new to k-pop, a b-side is basically any song published by a group that’s not a title track–the ones with the music videos that are used for promotion.) It’s a fantastic example of the RV girls doing their best R&B-inflected singing, and I am particularly fond of atmospheric, orchestral pop arrangements. The harmonies are lush and the chord progression is really interesting. As with most k-pop I listen to, it’s better with headphones.

I also really like how it reminds me of those late-80s fantasy movies with the synth-heavy theme songs.

Batfort

Style reveals substance