Friday, 18 March 2011

Song Ji Eun is "Going Crazy" with her debut

Known for being the main vocalist of Korean group Secret, Song Ji Eun debuted with her single "Going Crazy" in March. Song Ji Eun is the first member of Secret to debut with a solo album and so far, it has been really successful. Within weeks of Going Crazy's release, it has topped some of the music portal sites.

Secret during their "Madonna" promotions
Jieun is part of a k-pop group named Secret; they are a 4-member girl group that works under TS Entertainment and they debuted back in September of 2009. Secret has been known for songs like: Madonna, Magic and Shy boy. The members consist of Hyosung (Leader and vocalist), Zinger (vocalist ad main rapper), Jieun (a.k.a Song Ji Eun and main vocalist), and Sunhwa (Youngest and vocalist). The ages of these members range from 20-21 years old and they have been previously part of different group projects. For songs like Madonna and Magic, Secret displayed a mature and feminine concept. When Secret made a comeback with Shy boy back in January, their style focused on a cute, retro concept.

Jieun's song, Going Crazy, has been known to be the Korean version of Rihanna's "Love the Way You Lie". The reason for this is not due to the similarity of chords and notes, but the use of the piano to create a gentle, soothing tune. The genre of this song is R&B and hip hop. In addition, both Rihanna and Jieun's songs talk about how difficult their relationships are and they both feature a rapper that talks about their point of view. Along with the piano, this song features a rapper that goes by the name of Bang Young Guk. Young Guk is a trainee that also works in the same company as Secret. Previously, Young Guk was an underground rapper that performs in clubs and on streets.

Live performance of Going Crazy
The storyline of this song talks about how this woman feels insecure because she knows that a man is stalking her and she is trying to get out of his reach. She tells the man that she feels scared and that this isn't love. At the beginning of the song, Jieun sings, "It's not love, this isn't love, it's just your obsession." While she sings, the only accompaniment is the piano and the mood starts out being mellow. The rap in this songs comes from the guy's point of view and he describes how she cannot get away from him. He knows what love is and how he is obsessed with her. As soon as the rapper joins in, more instruments and beats are played to create a violent and upbeat theme. For the chorus, Jieun asks the guy why he is like this and she expresses how the sight of seeing him is suffocating her so she requests him to disappear. The rest of the song goes in the form of an argument that travels back and forth between the two people.

One interesting fact about the rapper, Young Guk is that he wrote all the rap parts for this song. Since the rapper is suppose to become the creepy boyfriend, he spent around one month putting himself in the shoes of a stalker. In a recent interview, the rapper told how he watched videos and read books on stalkers in order to perfect his role for this song.
As for Jieun, she had to change from a cute retro style concept to a dark, mature concept for her debut within one week. Previously, for her "Shy Boy" promotions, she wore her brown curly hair in a ponytail and now, she has dyed her hair dark blue and straightened it.

Secret during their "Shy Boy" promotions
To me, I prefer Going Crazy rather than Love the Way You Lie since I like the mellow tune and the high note held at the end. It would be more entertaining if some dance moves were added instead of just standing there and singing throughout the whole song. Since Jieun goes on music stations to promote her song for almost four times a week, each performance needs to be different and sometimes, she plays the piano at the very beginning. Also, I'm surprised at how well she sings since it's her first time going solo. She hits all the right notes and there's no mistake each time. Her concept of having blue hair was.... surprising at first but I got used to seeing it as she performed live. Currently, she is going against Big Bang's Tonight on music stations for first place. Even though Big Bang has a huge fan base and they are also my favourite group, I hope Jieun gets to win a trophy during her promotion period.

Credits to:
mihyunkpopaddiction.blogspot.com (Secret's picture)
linearseat.org (Jieun's picture)
musicnewsonline.org (Picture of the live performance)
soompi.com (Secret's Shy Boy picture)

Thursday, 10 March 2011

Big Bang impresses with "Tonight" after 2 years

From left to right: Seungri, TOP, Daesung, G-Dragon, and Taeyang

The wait is finally over as Big Bang is finally making a comeback after their 2 years and 37 day hiatus. Even though 2011 has just begun, news of this 5-member group performing together as one has been the most anticipated event of the whole year. Over the past 2 years, Big Bang had been focusing on their breakthrough into the Japanese music market and side projects of each member but now, they are back as one performing on the Korean stage.


GD&TOP

For those of you who aren't familiar with Big Bang, they are a 5-member South Korean hip hop/pop group that debuted back in 2006 with YG Entertainment. The members consist of TOP (oldest and main rapper), G-Dragon (leader and rapper), Taeyang (lead vocalist and main dancer), Daesung (vocalist), and Seungri (youngest, vocalist and dancer). In their previous years, Big Bang had famous hits like "Lies", "Day by Day", and "Sunset Glow". Starting from around 2008, some of the members started with solo albums that were really successful. In 2010, Taeyang released his Solar album with hits like "I'll Be There" and "I Need A Girl". Leader G-Dragon released his Heartbreaker album in 2009 and earlier this year, he teamed up with member TOP to release their "High High" album. In addition, youngest member Seungri impressed his fans with "VVIP" near the end of January 2011. Not only do they sing but a few of the members have started their careers as actors in movies and dramas. Rapper TOP stared in the hit drama "IRIS" and the Korean war movie "71: Into the Fire" while Seungri and Daesung stared in dramas with minor roles. The members of Big Bang each excel in different areas like dancing, composing, acting, beat-boxing, rapping and singing.

From left to right: TOP, Daesung, Seungri, Taeyang, G-Dragon

This time Big Bang is coming back with a new mini album titled "Tonight" with six new songs. The song that they will mainly be promoting is called "Tonight". The music video of this song was filmed in Las Vegas near the end of January and the filming took a couple of days before they flew back to Korea. Although Big Bang is a hip hop group, they managed to combine techno with hip hop in their songs. Unlike the current trend in Korea, which is coming up with an addicting tune or beat right from the beginning, "Tonight" does not have the addicting tune at the start. Instead, the opening builds up right before a verse of rap comes in and then the chorus is introduced. The chorus is melodious with small amounts of techno. Throughout the whole song, clapping and cheering can be heard in the background. Near the end of the song, there is a short, quiet guitar solo to prepare the audience for the ending climax. In the live performances of the song, a guitar is smashed and broken after the guitar solo and the song ends with a kiss. In "Tonight", the dance moves are really interesting as it includes mike stands as part of the choreography. Even though the choreography is not really difficult, it is enough to keep the balance of the song and the dance.

Picture of Big Bang's live performance of Tonight

Big Bang aren't the only ones working hard. Their fan club, "V.I.P's" have been supporting them full on by buying their albums and photo books. Within a few days of Big Bang's album release, they reached #3 on the Billboard World Music Chart and #1 on all of the Korean music portal sites. It's truly amazing how a fan base can get their favourite artists on such high positions in music charts.
Below is the music video for Big Bang's Tonight:


Credits to:
BIGBANG's channel on youtube for the video
men-photo.blogbus.com (first picture)
dkpopnews.net (picture of GD&TOP)
effpoo4our.blogspot.com (picture of Taeyang)
aazncamgurl.glogster.com (second Big Bang picture)
asianuniverse.net (picture of live performance of Big Bang)