Miss A, Block B, and Cornrow C

To get updates from a few of my favorite Kpop bands like Miss A and Block B, I have to rely on Youtube. Especially since I live here in Cornrow C, also known as Illinois (See what I did there?). Understandably, these updates come slowly, and therefore, I don't check my subscriptions all too often. 

So imagine my surprise when I discovered new songs by Miss A and was referred to new songs by Block B by Sherry. After jumping around my room to the rhythm of the music for at least 10 minutes (which is a great way exercise for the average Asian pop fan), I went back and listened to all of their other songs as well.

Miss A is a girl band, like more than half of the other bands in the Kpop industry. However, their image is much less cute and more independent than others in the industry, such as SNSD, Orange Caramel, T-ARA, and the list goes on. Before they debuted, they caused a stir with teasers that advertised very strong dancing, but didn't offer much information about the band itself. My favorite song of theirs is "Breathe," a really peppy and catchy song with a great rap section. The music video (below) illustrates their ability to create unique songs that still appeal to their Korean audience, who tend to like cute songs.

Block B didn't have the same success as Miss A. However, I believe their songs deserve the same credit for being unique. Most Kpop boy bands stick to the "Hallyu" style made popular by SM Entertainment -- slick dance moves, smooth singing, and lots of smart suit jackets with skinny jeans. However, Block B breaks away from that style completely to offer music strongly influenced by rap and hip hop. If the music video for "Nillili Mambo" below doesn't seem different, I don't know what does.

I think this music video needs to be extended into a Kpop movie version of Pirates of the Caribbean, and Zico (Mr. Pink Dreadlocks) needs to be Jack Sparrow. Anybody with me?

--Julia

Top Combine

When I checked out my comprehensive Eastern-Western-pop-music-update website yinyuetai.com, I was psyched to see that one of my favorite C-pop groups had come out with a new song. Top Combine went MIA after debuting in 2009 with their song "Cotton Candy," and now they're back with "At Least I Still Have You." When I saw their new music video, I noticed that a lot had changed since their debut. First of all, their original five-person boyband had become a four-person group. The five members, Li Mao, Zhang Yuan, Ma Xueyang, Lin Zhoucheng, and Korean member Kim Eunsung were  chosen back in 2009 from a singing competition, with the exception of Kim Eunsung. Earlier this year, Li Mao, whose initial career choice was acting, left the group to pursue his acting dream. Li Mao was the rapper of the group, so with him gone, the new song lacked a rap section. I was used to the Korean pop song format (which Top Combine's new song seemed to follow) of a long melody leading up to a breakout of rap and kept expecting to hear the rap part in their new song. Naturally, I never heard it, but I didn't feel that this took away from the song at all. In fact, I thought that it made it stronger. Since the song was supposed to be very sorrowful and melodic, a random, energetic rap in the middle of the song would have seemed out of place. 

Another change I noticed in the group was that of its musical style. "Cotton Candy" was literally a very sweet song that gave off a calm and happy vibe. However, "At Least I Still Have You" is darker and more depressing, contrasting dramatically with Top Combine's debut style. Even the overall theme of the music video for "At Least I Still Have You" is black and white, with the members wearing mainly these two colors. Top Combine certainly has changed a lot. 

"Cotton Candy" (至上励合 is Top Combine's name in Chinese):

"At Least I Still Have You":

 

-Sherry

Japan time!

I have to admit, talking about Vocaloids as an introduction to Japanese music may not have been the best idea. 

To rectify my wrongdoings, this week's post deals with human singers in Japan. In my experience, Japanese music seems to be fond of cuteness, kawaii things, and school uniforms, which isn't to my taste.

However, a lot of well-known Kpop bands have a history of doing well in the Japanese music industry, especially Big Bang and SNSD. For example, SNSD has just released a new music video in Japanese, Flower Power. 

But I want to talk about a Japanese artist. A while back, I discovered a Japanese-American singer named Hikaru Utada. Her debut album, First Love, is the all-time best selling album on the Oricon charts, the equivalent of the American Billboard charts. She also sung the theme song of Disney's Kingdom of Hearts. The reason Utada stood out to me was her emotive voice and the scope of her vocals, ranging from acoustic songs to fast-paced video game theme songs.

 

 Simple & Clean by Hikaru Utada

Utada is definitely worth checking out. Some other notable Japanese artists are:

• AKB48
• Kumi Koda (who is currently topping the Oricon chart)
• Kalafina
• Ayumi Hamasaki
• Arashi
• KAT-TUN
• Namie Amuro 

--Julia

James Bond, Asian Style

I realized that I haven't done an artist bio in a while, so I will briefly describe an Asian artist this week.

One of my early discoveries in the world of Chinese pop music was Will Pan. He was born in West Virginia and moved to Taiwan, his native country, as a child. When he became older, he studied at Cal Poly Pomona for a while before he decided to pursue a career in entertainment. 

Will Pan's interest in the entertainment industry was actually present before left college. While studying at Cal Poly Pomona, he participated in the NMG/BMG Los Angeles Singing Competition and won "Best Image Award." Although he didn't receive an award for his singing ability, he did catch the attention of Andy Lau's, a very prominent Cantonese singer/actor, manager. His manager invited Pan to audition for the position of a host on a new show called "V Style Society." Besides hosting, Pan also dabbled in various areas of entertainment. He clung on to his dream of becoming a singer and sang four songs in the soundtrack for the first drama in which he acted, named "Great Teacher." Soon after he filmed his drama, he finally got the opportunity to release a solo album. His debut album, titled "Gecko Stroll" (I wasn't aware that geckos had a stroll), featured songs written by well-known C-pop artists like Jay Chou and Anson Hu. 

Over the years, Pan has matured as a singer and has made great progress in his singing career. His style began as more old-school hip-hop and developed into somewhat pop and occasionally R&B. He released an album each year and even did a collaboration with Akon. I thought their song turned out alright, but some of my friends thought it had "the quality of a potato." Since the feedback varied so drastically, you'll have to judge for yourself:

(Here's where the title of this post becomes relevant. Their collaboration piece is called Be With You from Pan's album 007, alluding to James Bond's code name. The music video is also based on the story of Will Pan being a spy.)

 

-Sherry

The Unappreciated

When we think of Asian media, we often forget some of the most important people in the industry, the dancers. In Asian pop, dancing is much more an integral part of the music than in the United States, where the celebrities themselves don't bust moves too often. However, in Asia, live performances are often rigidly choreographed.

Also, the larger-than-life celebrities performing on stage and in music videos need background dancers, not to mention the the choreographer. If the choreographer of the song is lucky, the dance will be so iconic and distinctive that the moves will soon be recognizable by anybody that keeps up with pop culture. Iconic dance moves include: the horse dance from Gangnam Style, the hand rub from Super Junior's Sorry Sorry, and the crab dance from SNSD's Gee, to name a few. For a more in depth analysis of Kpop choreography and more examples, I direct your attention here.

One Kpop choreographer who I've found is Ellen Kim. Based in San Francisco, she is a member of a dance company named Movement Lifestyle. She also co-owns a dance company called the Lost Kids with Kyle Hanagami, another notable Kpop choreographer. She has choreographed for big Kpop names, and has danced for big American names such as Beyonce and Snoop Dogg. Below is one of her dance covers, where she dances to I am the Best by 2NE1 with yet another notable Kpop choreographer, Aimee Lee Lucas, and a few others from the Movement Lifestyle Studio.

If you care to explore more, here are links to other choreographers and Ellen Kim's Youtube channel:

• Ellen Kim
• Rino Nakasone: website and Youtube
• Kyle Hanagami
• Aimee Lee Lucas

-Julia

Soccer

With a twist. Imagine a game of soccer with kung-fu. Well that's exactly what the Hong Kong film Shaolin Soccer is about. It tells the story of six Shaolin monks who form a soccer team to defeat the evil team sponsored by Hung, a former friend who betrayed the monks. The captain, Sing, seeks out the retired kung-fu masters and brings them into the team. Unfortunately, the old masters are completely out of shape and have to revive their martial arts skills in a short amount of time. It also turns out that the players on the evil team are taking drugs to turn them into invincible, superhuman soccer players. The tension builds up and at the beginning of the final championship, the good team is completely beaten. The force of the evil players’ kicks sends the ball rocketing across the field, covered in flames. Many members on the good team become severely injured as a result. When all seems lost, Sing’s love interest shows up and proves to be an amazing kung-fu soccer player. She and Sing team up to defeat Team Evil.

Shaolin Soccer is one of my all-time favorite kung-fu movies. It's action-packed (but not too gruesome and graphic) and hilarious. There is one scene where the good team, the underdog, charges onto the field for its first game, cheering. Much to the players’ surprise, there are no fans waiting for them on the bleachers. All they see are a few cleaning ladies sweeping the bleachers. One member quickly bounces back from the disappointment and screams, “You are all still our fans!!” The cleaning ladies respond by throwing their brooms at the team.

In order to fully appreciate this movie, the viewer has to understand that it is intended to be a lighthearted movie and not meant to be taken seriously. Some viewers complain that the plot is too simple and the kung-fu action scenes are too fake. Although I agree that the plot could have been better-developed, I think that the “fake” action scenes fit the movie well. After all, what are the chances of kung-fu masters fusing their martial arts skills with soccer techniques? Close to zero. Because the entire movie is set in a fictitious world where soccer players can zoom 50 feet into the air and rotate freely, violating everything Newton held sacred, expecting the movie to seem realistic would be unrealistic. Shaolin Soccer is an action-packed comedy that is just for laughs.

Meet the team (Sing is in the center with a “10” at the bottom of his cloak/uniform):



-Sherry

Vocaloids

A vocaloid, in the most literal sense of the word, is an artificial singer. Vocaloids are computer synthesizers that can mimic the human voice as it sings using source sound bytes from actors and singers. Developed in Japan, vocaloids are surprisingly popular among Japanese music fans, but not as much outside of Japan. 

Vocaloids aren't totally true to the human voice, which can be off-putting. However, fans of vocaloids still enjoy vocaloid music, and even go to concerts, where a vocaloid singer is represented on a huge screen as an anime character.

Notable vocaloids include Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Rin, Rin and Len, and Luka. Below is a live performance by Hatsune Miku, who, as far as I can tell, is the most popular and well known vocaloid.

The best part of vocaloid music, for me, is the cuteness. It is easy to see why people like it, even if it isn't exactly to my tastes in music. I am also amazed that each song is "sung" by a computer alone and that the voice is so accurate, even though it isn't exactly like that of a human. Maybe someday, technology will have come so far that vocaloids will be indistinguishable from human voices.

-Julia