[Single Review] B1A4- "Tried To Walk"

B1A4 is a guilty pleasure of sorts, for me at least. They remind me of Orange Caramel in a way, and ever since their debut (as well as Orange Caramel's), I think they have really been taking a spin on K-pop as it is. Why? Well, personally, I find B1A4 and Orange Caramel to be forms of parody. With their over-bearing (yet awesome) cute style, I think they not only performed the aegyo which people have grown tired of, but they exploited it, being just so ridiculously crazy and loony that one really begins to understand the fine line between forced cuteness and true imagination.

Imagination, of course, is the more desired one. B1A4 do not really portray themselves as just cutie boys, rather they portray themselves as comics. Their forced cuteness as seen in their earlier videos were just another medium in which they could bring forth the parody and satire of the overly common aegyo style, and also a tool in which they could establish themselves as these adequately crazy, fun and just guilty-pleasure-ish  artists. If everyone could just understand the purpose for their image, I really don't think there would be any other reason to hate on them.

Their music is fine. Really catchy and playful, with really poor English which just add tenfold to the fun count. Their style of music, I'd say, haven't really deviated much from electro-dance pop which is perfecty acceptable if they want to set an image for themselves in stone. However, since dance pop has literally swamped all music charts, I could only foresee B1A4 having a harder time making their music stand out from the rest. Yes, they could add more crazies into their music videos, which by themselves threaten 'PONPONPON' and 'Balloons' as one of the wildest, imaginative videos ever in the Asian music market.

What I was hoping for them was to break from the mold. Try something new and different. Look at Brown Eyed Girls.

When they first debuted, the style they wanted to go after was a sort of vocal group style, primarily focusing on dull ballads and dry, cliched summertime pop music. Naturally, they didn't garner much success. That was, until they decided to go bold and indulge in the dark side of music so rarely tapped upon. With 'Abracadabra', 'Sign' and 'Sixth Sense', they firmly cast their roles as one of the premier groups in Korea.

B1A4 has so much potential. Jinyoung is a fantastic songwriter and singer. Baro is a phenomenal rapper, with mellow, deep and rich tones that almost mirror that of TOP's. Sandeul is a stunning vocalist, as is C.NU. And Gongchan bears all the charms of a innocent maknae, that just make fangirls swoon. But if they were to stick to their usual style, going the safe route of dance pop, I would be satisfied just the same, but it would be such a waste of their abilities.

What was their true, defining style?

Thus, 'Tried to Walk' was released to much of my personal interest. Just the first listen got me really hooked, and thanks to the heavens, it was different, and to my enjoyment, a welcome change. It veers away from the fun dance pop style, instead opting for a more muted Europop ballad, somewhat like 'Blue' if you want an example. In fact, I'd say it sounds quite reminiscent to Bigbang's style of music. That sort of bluesy, souful, rich vibrato-ey music. It's lush and really soothing, and is quite an impressive track overall. Now, let's break it down to analyse each section.

First, the introductory verse. It starts out slow and raspy, with chopped up verses delivered with a softness, that just bring forth this gentle vibe to start us off. It is slow, but unlike 'Janus', isn't dull or overly-stretched out or even cheesy sounding. Janus' background track was all grand and everything, almost pleading for a gregarious roar of emotion, yet only this frail, weak pleading tone spurted out instead, which resulted in a failed introduction. In B1A4's case however, the background track is barely even there, only appearing as little strums or teases, really allowing Jinyoung's and Sandeul's sweet vocals to shine. Then comes an electronic breakdown, into the main melody, a foot-stomping, bass synth-heavy Europop groove.

Though heavy with all sorts of clashing melodies, the product is surprisingly light to the ear and serves as a very upbeat and fun way to start of the song. The first verse follows the introduction somewhat, albeit with a louder, quicker beat and cleaner electronica rhythms and synths. The pacing of the song while aurally, may seem slower, actually becomes livelier and serves as a progressive build-up.

The bridge diverts the beat right back to old school pop. The first couple of notes of each bar hit the surface quickly, yet with an airy, spiritual quality. These lines are delivered soulfully but somehow keep an almost casual, overly-relaxed tone throughout. Hearing them, I don't feel overwhelmed or emotional, instead I am piqued. I feel curious, the song drawing me into a narrative, establishing the song's identity. Some lines, like these, have anthropomorphic qualities, and are just stunning to the ear and soul.

The chorus then kicks in, with a crass burst of raining electronic beats. Falsetto is used in abundance here, in addition to a couple deeper, richer wails. The blend is really amazing to hear, and the beat somehow manages to add another layer to the lyrics, adding a core to it, and also sustaining the pace. From the intro to the chorus, although the lines themselves have undergone significant variations, from choppy syllabic lines to airy runs, the pace never lets up and the pulsating bass beat keeps our feet tapping. Jinyoung's interjection in the chorus, brings us back to the start with the choppiness, and makes the chorus seem almost like a tease at what the song can be, before reining it back to its humble, indigenous roots.

This brings us to the rap. Oh how much I love the rap. It's deep and really mellow. The rap itself is split into 2 sections. The first is a portion in which Baro barely gets his voice out, letting a lot of air burst through his words, and also adding a melancholic, almost heavenly quality to his lines. The pacing here doesn't drop, and the rap intertwines around the main beat to make things work.

The section part is more fierce, and the lines are delivered with a more cocky bite that I really adore. The raps aren't empty, they are versatile and teeming with emotion, unlike those empty, hollow, rap-for-rap's-sake type of breakdowns. The rapidfire is really cool, and the overall rap sequence serves as a brilliant flip side of the song, albeit with a similar beat and pace.

On a whole, I'd say, that this song is a lot more complex than it seems. While appearing to be a one-off sad song, I think the stark changes and differences between each section, be it the way it is delivered or how it meld around the synths, really gave the song such variation which kept me really hooked and intruiged. The style and progression of the song really mirrors the concept of creativity, which as I mentioned really enabled B1A4 to have the success they've been having. Though each section, to the ear sounded unalike, they were all rooted by the same beat, the same core and the same emotions.

Maybe creativity is complexity? Creativity is maturity?

If creativity can come across as forced cuteness, totally unappreciated and flat, how can it be such a rich, deep concept simultaneously? An immature maturity? Maybe that's what really describes B1A4's defining style; the bombastic perfection, the playful abider, callous obedience.

These may not seem to make sense but who cares.

It's creativity, give me a big dose of it.

- Kpop Philosopher

[Single Review] Boyfriend- 'Janus'

The two-headed Janus. The god of beginnings, transitions and changes, with two heads guarding both the future and the lost eras simultaneously, predicting the ending of time in itself. Such profoundness and almost complex simplicity in the depiction of such a character; everything makes sense with two heads overseeing two points, yet the power in it actions far supersede the superficial meanings of the duplicate heads, the power to alter existence.

Just the thought of all that in a song slays my very existence, and overwhelms all my senses. Would I believe there is an added pressure of having to abide by historical accuracy and mythological understandings by naming a song after a certain god? Yes, I would think so. A title serves two purposes in a song. First, to simply state out the catchiest line and/or second, to serve as a satisfactory, conclusive phrase to encapsulate the meaning of the entire song. Just thinking about the titles of some songs, the shallowness, the irrelevance, simply induce rapturous forced coughing from me.

With this said, having a Roman god of such admirable impact to our very existence as a title for Boyfriend's latest track simply adds some pressure for a song with a message perfectly symbolic of everything that the legendary bipolar Janus stands for. The splits. The hidden sides to people. The message that things have layers of depth to them, and that simplicity is complexity in disguise. Hearing Boyfriend's latest single, I would have to say that they have done a pretty decent job at doing just that.

Let's analyse the song in little sections. The start of the song honestly, doesn't really do it for me. I'm not sure why. Even after reviewing the song over and over, some part of it just seems a bit to weak for me. It doesn't exactly draw me into the song as quickly as that of quite a number of other songs. Look at 'Beautiful Night', it starts with some hard-ass, slightly pitchy wailing from Gikwang, and it gets me on my feet, squirming to the beat frantically. As for 'Janus', well...it starts of well enough with a mixture of sad violin squeals, but then it jarringly moves on to these odd shooting sounds and the singing portions in here are really not that great. They seem a bit too melo and slow to start the song.

When the electric guitar riffs drop in, it just adds more of this superfluous complexity to the song, which I not only underappreciate, but I also think it just adds this sort of cheesiness to the intro that I really do not like. Some may argue that some songs start slow as well and that I'm probably speaking poppycock. But look at 'Cleansing Cream' for example. The start is just dripping with emotion and backings that really complement the feeling of the song really well.

As for Janus, they don't work. And the lines delivered just seem really 90s, Westlife to me. Just a little dull and boring in my opinion. The next verses follow the same, syllabic style, with frequent pauses and a mass of orchestrals in the background. An orchestra depicts grandeur, right? So why utilise such brassness to describe stories of such shallow, heartless, soulless, trivial matters?

The pre-chorus however turns the whole song around.

After a break from the rock tracks, the electric guitar kicks in again, by this time instead of serving as an unnecessary side, it serves a start, a beginning of each line, a kick of adrenaline before each syllable is uttered. It really lifts the song from the previously melondramatic feel, almost like an elephant previously jogging in molasses to one skidding on grease. It slowly builds up pace with the notes getting stronger, richer, longer and the background pace getting more and more frantic. It IS a frantic build up to the chorus that I thoroughly appreciate, and serves as a foreboding sense of danger and mystery for the chorus that lies ahead.

The chorus is brilliant. An intense explosion of emotion, completely worthy of the stellar build-up before it. The emotion is now a lot more evident. One can sense anger, confusion and slight sadness, all of which delivered brilliantly throughout everyone's long notes and sharp yells. It's also really really catchy, another plus point.

The rest of the point use raps as interesting fillers and thankfully make do without the boringly slow introduction. The verses are all really masculine and meaty, with tons of feeling oozing out of each line. The raps, while not the best top-notch, do a decent job of ensuring the pacing of the song doesn't slip, also making sure the feel and the beat of the song continue abiding by the progressively booming orchestra track behind the vocalists, ensuring a continually strong progression to the end.

In conclusion, this is a really great song by Boyfriend, a great change from their previous songs and image. If they could focus more on a strong beginning, but keep the intense progressions, I am very certain that they could create some pop magic. In all, disappointing intro but shocking amazing build-ups.

Fantastic song.

Sorry, for not posting in a while. To make up for it, in a couple of days, I'll be posting a review of that new, rawesomely sick B1A4 song! So please suscribe! And share this with your friends!

[Single Review] Lee Hi- '1.2.3.4'

YG almost never disappoints. I use ‘almost’ lest some SM stans come screaming at me, berating about the ‘countless’ flaws that YG and its acts have. I have had my disappointments with YG before, many in fact; I hate their closed-ness to their fans, their secretive ways and I was definitely disappointed with a couple of their songs. (‘I Love You’, ‘Ugly’, ‘I Need A Girl’) Not to mention, they have not been first-timers with controversy, with the marijuana and sex scandals whatnot.

However, while they have hit some lows, their ability to just bounce back and blow everyone’s socks off have been nothing short of pure, remarkable perfection. 2NE1 have still remained epically swaggy and confident without being overly-brass, BIGBANG time and time again have reminded us why they are indeed the true kings of the K-pop industry, and perhaps the most important achievement of all of YG’s countless, Gangnam Style!!

Thus, when I heard about Lee Hi’s upcoming debut, I was excited. I had seen her on Kpop Star before, and she was pretty damn good a singer then. So, I know she can sing, but all of YG’s acts have had a sort of unique stage presence about them. Could a young barely legal teenager pull off a head-turning, confident performance, being the junior of legends in a highly dog-eat-dog industry? I wondered and hoped.

‘1.2.3.4’ is very much like a bluesy, soulful song, with hints of Duffy and Amy Winehouse injected into many portions of it. The slowness of the song, coupled sometimes with the lack of background music really enable Lee Hi’s incredibly mature and rich voice to shine, though at points I think I would hoped for more intonation variation, as certain sections were really one-dimensional, and really soft, like the verse before the chorus. I won’t really be going on a full breakdown of the song, because there really isn’t that much for me to talk about (on a whole, they sound fine) but I will be putting some input about the chorus.

The way she says ‘1 and 2 and 3, 4’ is so catchy and I’ve been repeating it in my head for days since listening to it. She is really deep when she hits this section, which makes her reminiscent of those 1960s trot/blues singers. Her voice is really well-developed I’d say, very mature, and I especially like the tiny tinges of vibrato which sometimes penetrate. It is bluesy not because she is raspy, but because she is serious in her voice. The serious quality of her tone really adds a lot to the feel of the song. The way she delivers her lines are composed and in their own way, emotional. Despite this emotion, her acting in her music video is cringe-worthy, such irony.

On a whole, a solid debut track, though not the best female solo K-pop debut I’ve ever heard, the honours of which are tied between G.Na and Ailee, for ‘I’ll Back Off So You Can Live Better’ and ‘Heaven’, but nonetheless, I will be looking forward to what direction YG will be taking her.

 I hope they can continue developing on the soul route, as it is a genre seldom used or heard in K-pop which should give Lee Hi, and her voice, a chance to shine. Please YG, don’t botch up her career like how Cube botched G.Na after her debut (still a fan of hers, don’t get me wrong).

I will be looking forward to what lies in store for Lee Hi next.