Wopping Wednesday: Five Fingers

Let me just point out that I absolutely love this drama. *sighs* That (sort of) needed to be said.

But this post isn't about Five Fingers itself; this post is about its music.

One of the best things about Five Fingers was its soundtrack - especially the orchestral songs. The drama was supposed to be about pianists-turned-composers, after all (in addition to the revenge, of course); if the music hadn't been as ear-catching from the start, it's debatable whether or not I would have loved the drama as much. *gazes glances at Ji Chang Wook* Nope, I probably would have.

The music just helped. A lot of the music is more orchestral than in other dramas I've seen, and that's perfectly fine. Before I start rambling about how the pieces tie into what I learn in music classes in school, let's just start listening! :)

 "Salieri" is one of the more high-energy, dramatic pieces in Five Fingers. (Of course it is, it's the song that plays at the end of the episodes, when those gosh-freaking cliffhangers happen.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osFZgYu2Lzk

Now, I would have just left "Ji Ho's Theme" out because it wasn't available on the video-finding app in Blogger, but the song is just too good to leave out. The piano melody and the orchestral integration are enough to make it one of my favorite pieces from the drama...Basically, it's a really pretty song.

As is "Sympathy." Out of the instrumental songs, this is the most...hum-able, in my opinion. The melody is easy to follow, and it is one of the songs that was stuck in my head often when I wasn't watching the drama.

In case you haven't noticed, there is a lot of usage of string instruments for the tracks...and the tracks are less pop-y than those on the soundtracks for some other drama's I've seen. Watching Five Fingers and listening to these pieces helped me appreciate instrumental music and music composition. 

But now we enter the pop-y section. Im Young Hee's (or Lim, depending on your preference) "날 사랑하지마 (Don't Love Me)" took me a couple listens to become accustomed to it, likely due to the instrumentals. The song is nice and sad and pretty, and I've grown to enjoy it. (By this point, you've probably realized that I enjoy nice, sad, and pretty songs.)

My musical bias for sad, minor songs, as well as the insane, fangirling bias I developed for Ji Chang Wook the moment I laid eyes on him in Five Fingers, is part of what led me to enjoy "채운다 (Fills My Heart)" so much. Before he was a television actor, Ji Chang Wook was a struggling stage actor, so he has musical experience. Why this and his track for Warrior Baek Dong Soo are the only soundtrack contributions he's made, I don't understand.

This is, of course, only a taste of the musical magic of Five Fingers. Not all of the songs are necessarily ones that stay with you, or ones that you'll even remember at all (this is especially true with the vocal songs). Still, if you watch Five Fingers for any reason at all, let that reason be the music.

...watch it for Joo Ji Hoon and Ji Chang Wook.
That's also an acceptable motivation.

Or, you know...

-Pamela

Wopping Wednesday: Utada Hikaru

Let's go over to Japan now for a singer who's been one of my favorites since I was five.

Yes, like a lot of Western fans, I was introduced to her through Kingdom Hearts, but I was five - how else was I supposed to hear of her? :P

Anyway, she's had a big impact on me since then. The high (-ish) notes she sings near the end of "Simple and Clean" / "Hikari" (depending on which language the version is) are part of why I taught myself to sing in a higher register, and is therefore a contribution to my role as a Soprano I in the choirs I've been in at school. She was also one of the first Asian media figures introduced to me as a kid, the others being Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and other children's cartoons. Without my love of her, it probably would have been more difficult for me to transition to K-pop and Kdrama from J-pop. (Since I was already used to listening to anime and music in Japanese as opposed to English, it didn't bother me that I couldn't understand any of the Korean language at the time.)

Hrm...I'm kind of thinking of omitting the biographical parts in "Wopping Wednesday" due to the length that some of them take up... Especially with Utada Hikaru, since she's been around for a while.

I'll try to sum her up as concisely as possible. :)

The Japanese-American singer was born in New York City on January 19, 1983 to record producer Utada Teruzane and singer Utada Junko (under the pseudonym Fuji Keiko). Utada Hikaru recorded some songs with her mother, as U3, for some time before embarking on her first solo project as Cubic U.

As a fourteen-year-old, she moved to Tokyo, where she joined the record company Toshiba EMI (now EMI Music Japan) as a singer-songwriter. Her debut album, First Love, was released in 1999. In solely Japan, sales of the album have since risen above 7 million copies, and 10 million copies overall.

Well, she's not an idol... Cool.

With her albums, she continued to find immense success throughout her career. Granted, her two English-language albums didn't sell as well as her Japanese-language ones, but her popularity has been undeniable. The release of her third album in 2002, Deep River, made Utada the first singer or group in Japan to have sold over three million units for three consecutive albums.

That same year, Square Enix released the Kingdom Hearts video game. The Japanese version of the theme song was decided to be one of Deep River's hit singles, "Hikari;" she recorded an English version of the song for the international copies of the game. (And I am very, very pleased about this! :)) For the third game in the series, Kingdom Hearts II, she recorded "Sanctuary" - and it's Japanese counterpart, "Passion" - as its theme song.

Utada's career continued to be successful in general. However, since 2011, she has been on a hiatus, although she did release a single in 2012 ("Sakura Nagashi") and began hosting her own radio show, Kuma Power Hour, in April of this year.

If I had learned Japanese by now, I'd be listening to that...

I won't say much about her romantic relationships, but I found out recently that her mother committed suicide on April 22. That's...there's not much I can really comment on with this topic, but I hope that she has been able to effectively grieve. (My personal belief that my comforting skills are in need of improvement still stand.)

Well, uh...on to the music now. (See, this is why I kind of want to stop writing this part - there's so much that I want to say about her, but there's also too much. Plus, I haven't even been able to write it very well. I'm sorry...)

(I'm going to choose to not pay attention to the picture because this is the only unedited audio I could find that wasn't removed by Youtube. I was also never aware that this song is the theme song for the first Rebuild of Evangelion movie, as the Neon Genisis Evangelion anime is one that I haven't watched yet.)

"Beautiful World" is one of my favorite songs by Utada. Its melody, combined with her voice, is pretty. The repeating piano riff also compliments the sound nicely. But I've just always thought that the song is...well..."Beautiful."

(Pamela, I thought you were done with the puns.) Nope.

I was going to put a different song from her 2010 English-language album, This Is The One - a song that had a music video - but this song is one that I've recently realized connects with the fangirls out there. *points to self*

From her second single-compilation album, "Goodbye Happiness" has a...cute video. It also is a really pretty song, for the same melodic reason as with "Beautiful World."

Honestly, in general, most of her Japanese - and some of her English - song's melodies sound nice to my ears, so such a sentence is true for whatever song I put in this post. Granted, I've been listening to her for eleven years, so that may be partially due to my bias.

I'm trying to refrain from mentioning the improper breathing technique she's implementing in this music video, but I can't ignore it. I usually enjoy listening to "Flavor of Life," but...I prefer listening to the song as opposed to watching the beginning of the music video.

By the way, this is the ballad version, but there is also a more upbeat version, which I...think...is the original. There isn't a video with the audio of it as far as I've searched on Youtube, but iTunes has it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SHyi59U2bU

(For whatever reason, I can't find this through the "upload video" option on Blogger, so here's the link...)

"This is Love" is a fun, dance-y song, and it also somewhat showcases the ability of Utada Hikaru's vocal technique. By the way, if you do choose to click on the link, this is a live performance of the song. 

Okay, let's go nostalgic for a moment...

(Ah, well, the Japanese audio keeps being removed from the Youtube videos, and I prefer the fast English version over the slow English version, so...)

"Simple and Clean" (fast English version)

This was my first introduction to her...thanks, bro! *bounces around and sings along* By the way, this is the song that convinced me to teach myself to sing high notes. So...this song is part of why I'm a soprano... :P Oh, I love this song...

...as well as this next one. (Aish, I love a lot of her songs; this is nothing new... :P)

"Sanctuary" (English version)

(And for this one, I cannot find any Japanese/English audio from this "insert a video" option that hasn't been removed. So...I just used a walkthrough video...because I'm sneaky - and desperate - like that. Skip 30 seconds in for the opening sequence, about ten-ish seconds extra if you don't want to hear Haley Joel Osment's voice...)

This song...I love it so much...I just love Kingdom Hearts...and Utada Hikaru...

Well, her voice is nice to listen to. Sure, her occasionally shaky-sounding vibrato can be a little noticeable at times, but she's not the only one with it. Plus, the skills she brings to each song she writes and performs is just amazing, in my opinion. I'm afraid to ramble on about her melodies, her songs, her career, and her voice for much longer because I know that I just have too much bias left over from my childhood to effectively discuss her without seeming like a narrow-minded idiot.

-Pamela

Wopping Wednesday: G-Dragon

Yay, now I can explain why this is called "Wopping Wednesday"! (Um...I'm not sure why I am excited about that...)

I find this picture amusing, if only because
it snowed in the town where I live...
yesterday.

But just imagine - if it hadn't been for my friend, Jang Yi, talking about Big Bang, and my curiosity getting the better of me, none of this would have been possible. This guy and the group he leads wouldn't have grown on me, and I never would have started all of this K-pop and Kdrama obsessing.

Granted, IU (and a tiiiiiiiny bit of T-ara and f(x)) helped, but this post is about G-Dragon, the leader of Big Bang, so it's time to talk about G-Dragon. (Despite him basically being my friend's bias, I think, I probably will never show her this post :P)

On August 18, 1988, the icon was born. He has a lot of experience in music, dating all the way back to being a member of the short-lived group called Lula Lula as a five-year-old (probably six in Korea-age terms...). When he was eight (nine...), he was scouted by SM Entertainment - I know, it's hard to believe - and he trained there for five years in dance. During that time, he was introduced to Wu-Tang Clan, an American rap group that debuted in 1992, and he became interested in rap as a result.

Thank goodness for that!

Kwon Ji Yong rapped in the album Daehanmingook Hip-Hop Flex  in 2001, becoming the youngest Korean rapper to debut. After becoming a trainee at YG Entertainment, and having to be sort of like a stereotypical company intern, he and Dong Young Bae (a.k.a. Taeyang) were intended to debut as the rap duo GDYB.

By the way, for those who don't know, his stage name is G-Dragon because "G" sounds like "Ji," the first syllable of his name, and "Yong" means "Dragon."

I wonder who the person was who came up with that name. I really do.

Anyway, instead of the two debuting as a duo, they were kept around until they debuted with the rest of the Big Bang family in 2006. The group grew increasingly successful, especially with some of the songs G-Dragon took part in the writing processes for. (He can write some catchy songs, that man.) 

In 2009, he released his first solo album, Heartbreaker. It features some good songs, but it also spawned the song that creeps me out the most amongst all of his solo songs: "Breathe". I like the song, don't get me wrong; but... *shudders* I never should have watched that music video. His cheesy smile scarred me. The album also faced controversies over plagiarism involving the singles "Heartbreaker" and "Butterfly," but those were resolved. And then, even more controversy --

Okay, this guy is a very controversial figure, by K-pop standards... Let's just agree on that. (I'm not going to bring up the marijuana thing, because I'm sure that topic was exhausted the first time around. The same goes for the concert-obscenity allegations for his Shine a Light concert.)

Then, he and fellow Big Bang bandmate T.O.P released GD & T.O.P together in 2010, before Big Bang's comeback in 2011.

G-Dragon returned to the solo music scene with another popular album, One of a Kind, in 2012, and then with Coup D'etat just a little over two months ago.

That's a very rough overview, because I could also ramble on about his fashion and his incessant need to dye his hair more than is necessary - and healthy. 

Honestly, this man's going to go bald early on in life. 

But I've bored the few people who've clicked on this post enough already. Let's just get on with the music, shall we?

Let's start off with his first single as a soloist (not counting his solo songs from the group albums...) with "Heartbreaker" from...Heartbreaker. Whether or not this song annoys me really depends on what I'm okay with hearing at the time. This is a catchy song - duh, it's G-Dragon - I'll admit that much. The chorus...it really depends on your taste. I enjoy listening to it, but for me, it's one of those "it sounds so bad that it just sounds absolutely amazing" choruses. The way he says "heartbreaker" slightly annoyed me the first few times I heard the song, but I just fool myself into thinking of the chorus as amusing. 

Plus, whenever I listen to the beginning, I just want to say it along with him, because the man has a way of saying words in a way I'd never think of saying them.

For the more visually-artistic people out there, the video for "Butterfly" is pretty interesting to watch. Even if you're not one of those people (ha ha ha, I'm not an artist.), this is a nice video. The song is also nice and calm. It's sweet...

Oh, he's so pretty... *currently watching "Butterfly"*

This song is also calm. The lyrics are sad, and so is the overall tone of the song. When I listen to the other audio, which has Sky Ferreira singing in English instead of Jennie Kim, I like the female part a tad less. Ferreira doesn't necessarily do badly, but the way she puts emotion into the song just makes her voice sound a little less appealing to me. (I think it's because of how...clenched up *shrug* her voice sounds, but she still doesn't sound that bad, I guess.) Even so, I really like the soft, subtle melancholy of "Black".

I love this song, and I really don't know why. :P (Oh, hello there again, Jennie Kim. Long time, no see.) 

...I just honestly love this song. "That XX" is one of my favorite songs from One of a Kind, even from his whole career, maybe.

Aish, I just realized that there are so many songs I want to put into this post, but I try to limit the number of songs down to about 4-6, so...yeah.

This sad, sad song...is so fun to sing. Dude, this song is just really catchy. It took me by surprise when I first listened to it, but "Crooked" has quickly broke its way down into my heart.

Anyway, I can't include every G-Dragon song, so I might as well make the last song the explanation song for why these posts are called "Wopping Wednesdays"...

But let me say this: Missy Elliot's lyrics are interesting to listen to. At first, I didn't really care for hearing her, but now I'm okay with her.

"Wop, wop, wop, wop, wop, wop, drop it like"

And there's my explanation. It's quite a letdown, isn't it?

You know, it's very strange for me to say that I'm a G-Dragon fan. Within the realm of K-pop, I never imagined that I would come to dislike rap so much less. Granted, I still hate it with a passion in Western music, as I often couldn't stand the music my brother sometimes played in his car when I rode with him to our school last year. My opinion of rap has been that it's mostly about sex, or if you're someone like Eminem, painful life experiences and some motivational stuff. Not that I'm ever going to put any effort into becoming an Eminem fan. 

Korean rap is sometimes about love, fun, pain, among other things. But the lyrics are rarely as...dirty as Westerners'. Oh, I'm aware that there's some dirty K-pop out there right now. However, the infrequency of overly sex-ified songs and music videos, plus charisma that rappers such as G-Dragon and T.O.P bring to the spoken word, makes me not as...abhorrent as I was before. Not that I'm every going to put any effort into liking Western rap. That ship sailed years ago.

-Pamela

Wopping Wednesday: INFINITE H

I'm warning you ahead of time; this post is not very interesting.

Now, let me get this straightened out: I honestly haven't really listened to Infinite H all that much before writing this post... At least I now have an excuse to!

Let me rephrase that...I've been meaning to listen to more of Infinite H's songs, but I just haven't gotten around to it... It's not that I forgot about them - ohhh, no, not with me becoming an Infinite fan - but I've just been preoccupied with watching Kdramas as well as listening to other groups.

But I don't think they're bad or anything; otherwise, I wouldn't be doing a post on them, right? :P

So before we get to the music, let's give ourselves (mostly me) some background...

There are these two members of the K-pop boy band known as Infinite who were placed into this subgroup. Both of them are rappers in the group... Dongwoo (on the right in the pictures) is the main rapper of Infinite, and Hoya (left) is a rapper/vocalist...

The whole group debuted in 2010, but I'm not posting about the whole group yet. Infinite H officially debuted as a subgroup in January of 2013. I guess the official debut date could be considered January 10, because that's when the music video for "Special Girl" was released, but *shrug* what do I know?

Goofy: "Donald, you know, uh, I betcha that --"

Donald Duck: "Ah, what do you know, you big palooka?"

Goofy: "What do I know?"

(little dialogue excerpt from Kingdom Hearts)

Well, uh, anyway...

That's about as much as I can divulge about the subgroup as a whole...because it's a newer one...and this is my first group/duo "Wopping Wednesday"...

You know what? I'm going to shut up now - no, I am not - and start putting in the videos.

"Special Girl" was the debut single for Infinite H. A few months ago, my friend, Jen (my brother's friend's sister and immense TOP and Infinite fan), showed me this song and...I thought it was kind of cute. I'm still not entirely used to it, and it's a song that takes a little getting used to, at least for my personal taste. However, this may be due to Bumkey, the featured artist; his vocal tone is...not what I am accustomed to... 

And now, I will look at some of the other songs the duo has released thus far...

I think I know what my problem is... I've never been that interested in the hip-hop/R&B style. They're not a bad group, they're really not - and I think I'll end up liking this group. After all, my main issue is with American hip-hop/R&B, but its Korean counterpart and I are on slightly better terms.

The two songs I've put here so far are kind of laid-back sorts of songs, and that's perfectly fine with me :) Like I said, the songs don't entirely fit my tastes, but I can musically flexible at times - plus, there are definitely people out there whose tastes coincide with Infinite H's style.

Plus, the dancing in this video for "Without U" is nice and smooth...I just had to say my first thought :P As the song continues, I start to like it more... (Keep in mind that this is the second time I've listened to "Without U," and the last time was two months ago.) However, part of me doubts that my iTunes playlists will ever include very many Zion T songs; again, this is just my personal issue. He has a Taeyang-esque voice, I just realized...but this is not a post about Zion T.

Aaaaand, that's the end of their music videos, so on to the audio tracks!

What a "Victorious Way" to open the mini-album...um... *shrug* I'm just searching for puns to insert now...

These songs invade your mind...though that's nothing new when it comes to K-pop. (Seriously, there was this one time when the chorus to "Special Girl" was stuck in my head for a whiiiile... More than one time, actually...) When it gets to the skippy part (how do I describe it? The stereotypical club DJ effect?), my ears perked up.

I'm debating whether or not to just put the whole EP on here, because including the song immediately following this sentence, I've put all but one song - and I'm kind of liking that song.

Way to "Fly High," guys --

Pamela, you need to quit it with the puns...

Fine! But in all honesty, this is probably one of my favorite songs so far on this mini-album, and I am really not sure why.

You know what? I "Can't Do It" (or "I Can't," depending on your source). I can't just end the post without finishing the EP.

Sorry, I included another pun. I also apologize for lying - I think this is one of my favorite songs on this mini-album, but I did not lie about not knowing why that is the case...for both this song and "Fly High".

(Man, what an exciting "Wopping Wednesday" this has been, huh?)

That's the thing with the hip-hop/R&B style of music: there is a relatively small number of songs and artists that I really enjoy, but it's a bit of a coin toss at times whether I'll end up liking them (*cough* G-Dragon *cough*) or not. Right now, though, Infinite H is one of those coins that is standing up on its side, not landing decisively on either face. Though who knows? Maybe soon, it'll start to lean over to the face almost solely dominated by GD.

-Pamela

Wopping...Friday: Heo Young Saeng

Here we go with another consecutive SS501 member!

Yeah...I just didn't have enough time on Wednesday to write this post, and I'm still trying to finish up School 2013 so that I can review it tomorrow (we'll see; I don't think I will, though)... Ah, well, let's get on with this.

See, last week, when I was thinking about what to do for this week's "Wopping Wednesday"...I was originally going to compile a bunch of K-pop/video games/etc. songs that relate to Halloween, since Halloween was yesterday.

However, then I remembered something:

Heo Young Saeng enlisted yesterday.

The Shy Prince with the voice of a freaking angel is going into the military... I know that he's just going to be a conscripted policeman, but STILL...

Anyway...on to the good stuff.

Heo Young Saeng was born in Gochang County (in the North Jeolla Province, a.k.a. Jeollabuk-do) on November 3, 1986. He is an only child. He also was apparently a trainee of SM Entertainment before transferring over to DSP, with whom he debuted as a member of SS501 in June 2005. During the group's time with DSP, Heo Young Saeng wrote three songs. One was his solo song, "Is It Love?",
from their subgroup's album, U R Man, in 2008.

Aww... He even wrote the lyrics for two of SS501's fan songs; "Green Peas" (wrote with the group?) for their Rebirth EP in 2009; and he wrote the lyrics to what I consider to be their farewell song of sorts, "Until Forever," which was on their last album as a group (for now...I guess), Destination (2010).

For his 2013 Memories to You album in Japan, there is a song called "Hajimete Miru Sora Datta (First Sky I've Ever Seen)" which he composed a memorial version of for the album. The song had originally been included as his solo song for SS501's Japanese album, Kokoro, as well.

After SS501's contract with DSP expired, both he and Kim Kyu Jong joined B2M Entertainment. In 2011, he released his debut solo EP, Let It Go. In 2012, he released Solo in Korea and Overjoyed in Japan. Apparently, he also participated in a KBS2 daily sitcom, I Need A Fairy...

Then came this year...

Heo Young Saeng was a cast member in the Japanese musical, Summer Snow, which he left to start working for after the release of his Korean EP, Life. Then, after it was announced that *sniffle* he would be enlisting, his farewell Japanese album, Memories to You, was put on the marked in June.

On October 16, 2013...She was released as his farewell Korean album...

Aww, man - and I just realized that he's going to be 27 (Western years) in two days, too! I just can't... O~O

However, now I have to include videos/songs with one of the sweetest adult male voices that I'm aware of, so let's get going, shall we?

Do you see what I mean? His voice is just so nice and pretty... Plus, Kim Kyu Jong raps for a little near the end, so I'm happy. This is "Rainy Heart" from Let It Go.

I really can't say much, because I'm just going to keep repeating my praises for his vocal beauty. I'm being completely serious here.

Oh, look, it's another sad song! He just... He expresses emotion in his voice so well - whether it's happiness or heartbreak. I personally like "Rainy Heart" a little more, but "Crying" from Solo is a good song, too.

I really recommend looking up some of the songs from Overjoyed. The ballad songs are amazing, and the upbeat ones... Well, it depends on your style, but some of those ones are cute. :) Some take a little getting used to, though...

...such as "1.2.3." This song and I are okay now, but I was kind of iffy about it at first, to be honest, because I wasn't sure how I liked his voice with this sort of style, which I hear a bit in parts of J-pop, anyway... Now, I think it's fun to rock along to. "Vacation" from this album is a cute little tune, so it almost went here instead...

"Art of Seduction" is not only a fun song, but it fits his voice nicely. It doesn't differ too much from the kind of style I'm used to from him as much as do some of his Japanese songs do Overjoyed.

I haven't discussed the music videos much, but this one is interesting. Certainly, I am not the only person who relates to the video's first few seconds?

Since the only songs I've listened to (as of yet) from his Memories to You album are ballads, and I don't want to have 4 slow or mid-tempo songs and only 2 upbeat-ish songs, we'll just go straight for his most recent Korean song, which is also going to be his last for a while O~O

Just...aww... Even if you just listen to the song (because I don't watch the music video as often as I press the repeat button on my phone for this), it's just so nice... His clean tone fits the melody and grows within the chorus and the verses and just the whole freaking song.

There's also the passion that Heo Young Saeng expresses in his songs that threaten to hit me right in the feels more so than in the solo careers of his fellow SS501 members, to be honest.

You know, I wasn't sure if I wanted to put another song in here, in fear of making this post too long, but considering the awkward ending of  "Weak Child" (the song by itself, anyway; I just noticed this while listening to it just now), it would be good for me personally to end on another song from the She EP...

See, it's just... Aish, I need to find another adjective besides fun... Energetic? Yeah, that's it.
The lyric's translation is a little sad, yes, but it's also in remembrance of the female fans and it at least says to me that he's going to miss his fans. Whether he means it or not (I'm choosing this moment, of all opportunities, to be cynical), though he and his bandmates have a reputation for being nice to their fans, this is what I'm going to take from his last pre-military Korean mini-album. (And the cynicism's gone again.)

I also think that the fading out of the music is symbolic of the fact that he's getting farther away, even though he's still going to be in South Korea, and Heo Young Saeng will likely be coming back after finishing as a conscripted policeman. It reminds me of that cliche ending to the majority of Pokemon episodes:

Oops, wrong one...

-Pamela

Wopping Wednesday: Park Jung Min

Nice work, iTunes: "Wopping Wednesday" has two SS501 members in a row!

                                                   
Hey, Mal...How's that long hair of yours doing recently...?

Most of the pictures with his recently long hair I haven't liked that much...but hey, I still love his voice. It's deep; it's powerful; it's one of the smoothest voices I listen to. When I first started listening to SS501 and I was trying to distinguish each of the members voices, I thought to myself when I heard him singing, "Well, this guy has the smoothest tone out of the five of them." Seriously, I'm not joking; he sounds like silk to me at times.

"Sexy Charisma" or "Mal" (horse) is the second youngest member of SS501, as he is four months older than my Baby Bentley here, aka Kim Hyung Jun. He joined DSP Entertainment after switching over from SM because he thought he'd debut more quickly through the former; he'd been told about there being a new, large singing group at SM, whom he thinks was likely Super Junior. (I'm trying to picture him in SuJu and I just can't...) 

With SS501, he debuted in June 2005 and sang a couple solos while they were still active. After the group's contract expired, Park Jung Min was the first of the members to debut as a solo artist under CNr Media with his Not Alone EP. In 2012, he filed a lawsuit against and left the company, joining Yamaha A&R and CJ E&M (I'm not quite sure which one it is...but I've heard the latter more) and releasing Beautiful at the end of the year. Park Jung Min has also been performing in Japan since 2012 under the pseudonym "Romeo" (even though we all know it's him anyway, so it's not much of one.).

In 2008, he also was in the musical of the Korean version of Grease, in which he played the main role of Danny Park (Danny Zuko).

Just like Kim Hyung Jun, Park Jung Min has released songs that are very, very high on my song-loving list. Maybe you'll see why below :)

But first...speaking of Baby Bentley and Sexy Charisma (oh, don't worry; he'll have his own Pamela-fashioned nickname soon)...here's a screenshot from SS501's short 2005-2006 variety show, Thank You For Waking Me Up! (The host went into whatever apartment the group was staying in at the time and had to...wake them up. It's really cute!)

                           

He's an ass in the morning. :)

Now that that's been settled, let's move on to the music itself. (I say "let's" as if people are actually reading this :P)

Pertaining to his official solo debut song, "Not Alone," all I can say is this: prepare for the epicness.

(Seriously, I really love the instrumentals in this song; this is one of the few songs whose instrumental version I will actually download.)

\

Now we go back two years to SS501's Solo Collection, in which he sings "하면은 안돼 (If You Cannot)," featuring Jisun from the now disbanded South Korean rock group Loveholic. She kind of reminds me of Utada Hikaru in this song...but that's just me, and this is about Park Jung Min right now. This song isn't quite as...epic...as the one placed above, but it's still nice to listen to, in my opinion.

The video for "Beautiful" is cute...and the song is fun. :) It's kind of disco-y, but it's still modernly fun enough to dance to.

And now, for the finale of awesomeness, we return to the style that is similar to "Not Alone"...

(Don't be thrown off by the lack of HD quality.) This is his first song released under the persona of "Romeo," "Give Me Your Heart." In 2012, Park Jung Min/Romeo released "Midnight Theatre" (following a few EPs that included songs from this album), which featured a more...haunted style, I guess? The word "darker" comes to mind as well. The song is powerful, dark, and works well for Halloween next week. :)

(This post is a little less cohesive than my other ones have been - and that's saying something. Anyway, I apologize...)

-Pamela

Wopping Wednesday: Kim Hyung Jun

Since I started My Sunshine Girl/Glowing She a couple days ago, I'm back to my plentiful Kim Hyung Jun enthusiasm for the time being.

His voice may be incredibly nasally, but...I guess I really don't care. (I hope the people in my choir at school don't read this :P) Out of the five members of SS501, he makes me freak out in fangirling due to his cuteness the most often... This is what you get for being the maknae, Baby Bentley.

I came up with that nickname the other day... The "Baby" comes from the nickname given to him by the Triple S fanclub due to the confusion between him and "Leader" Kim Hyun Joong (you see why there's confusion, right?). The "Bentley" comes from a few blog posts that I read in my early days in the fandom. For his animal nickname, it was said that he was given the nickname "Turtle" due to his appearance, which I'm kind of skeptical about...but whatever. He does kind of look turtle-ish. ADD the fact that he sings with a nasally tone. He's named after Bentley, the permanently congested turtle from the Sly Cooper video game franchise...

     NOT           

I'm sorry, I've made no sense whatsoever...

Now that I've rambled about my nickname for him...Let's talk about the idol himself.

He debuted as the youngest member of the K-pop boy band SS501 back in 2005. When the band had to go their separate ways due to an expired contract with DSP Media in 2010, all five members developed solo careers. Kim Hyung Jun signed with S-Plus Entertainment and Avex Entertainment for his Korean and Japanese activities, respectively. His official solo debut was with his My Girl EP in 2011 in Korea.

Baby Bentley was born on August 3, 1987. Kim Hyung Jun's younger brother is a member of UKISS: Kim Kibum.

The idol has also ventured into acting. I won't mention everything he's been in here, though. I'll just name three recent productions he's been in...

In 2012, he appeared in what I'm not sure is a film or a drama: Late Blossom, or I Love You. I think he played a secondary role as a public service officer who forms a relationship with a co-worker. (allkpop)

That same year, he was in My Sunshine Girl, which I'm currently watching. He plays a bratty top star singer (oh, really.), but I still haven't figured out his position in the love triangle with the female lead and her senior writer... He's probably the male lead, though. (This drama has a lot of, uh... *ahem* stuff. In the first episode, he and this one girl make out on a bed and his shirt comes off. I was not prepared for that.)

Kim Hyung Jun was also part of the main cast in Pots of Gold, also known as I Summon You, Gold! from April to September 2013.

Now that I've skimmed over his career, let's listen to some of his solo songs... I'm not going to include a ton of his songs, especially since his debut music highlights his nasally problem, and it may throw some people off... These are a few of my personal favorites, though :)

"달콤, Everyday" is from the soundtrack for My Sunshine Girl. I started liking this song even before I started the drama because it's just such a sweet song. Out of all of his songs, this is one of my favorites for that reason. Ah... "saranghae yeongwonhi," Kim Hyung Jun.

I love this song so much! Part of it's the melody...but I just adore this song a LOT! He conveys his sadness pretty well in his voice, which is another reason why I love to repeat this song over...and over...and over again. *blushes and efficiently hides on the other side of the computer screen*

Yeah, the music video is kind of long, but I was so focused on the music video's overall story that it didn't even feel boringly long. Kim Hyung Jun is not the sole focus of the plot, so that helps. This video is either a sequel or a prequel to his video for 나쁜 남자라서 (Bad Guy Thing). The song's style is sort of R&B-like, I guess...a little bit on the older side of the genre, in my opinion. It's also a simpler type of song, but it isn't boring in my opinion.

Apparently, there's supposed to be a 25-minute video that includes "Just Let It Go" and "Bad Guy Thing," but I haven't found it yet...and there's only about 16-17 minutes with the two videos I found.

I'll bring up a more recent release. The music video was uploaded back in August, and 우리둘이 (Always Love You) features Kota from Sunny Hill... It's so sweet and cute! O~O

For me, some of his songs have immense replay-ability...but that's just me :P

Saranghae, Baby! (That's still kind of weird for me to say...I'm not used to calling people that...)

-Pamela

Wopping Wednesday: Sly Cooper

(Note: The name I gave to this will-be-recurring segment is a G-Dragon reference that I will explain later...)

Ah, the Sly Cooper games... They may not be as difficult as other games, but they are incredibly funny. They may be about larceny, but it's...moral larceny, if that makes any sense; the gang only steals from bad criminals because "there's no honor, no challenge, no fun stealing from ordinary people. You rip off a master criminal, you know you're a master thief." (Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus, 2002, Sucker Punch Games)

Back when I was little and following my older brother (he's two years my senior) around like a puppy-dog sister, I often watched him play video games on the Playstation 2; and he let me play a bunch of times, too. This was how I became interested in such video game series as Jak & Daxter, Spyro (though I haven't played any of this one since I was six... :( )...but most importantly, Kingdom Hearts and Sly Cooper.

Granted, when I was five, I never played past the first level of the first game ("The Tide Of..." *cue unnecessary and exaggerated creepy music* "...TERROR"!!!!!!!). However, I loved what I saw of the characters; there were lines spoken by the characters Bentley and Sly during that part that have stayed with me since 2002:

"Sly! Come in! Slyyyyy! Do you read me?" "Yeah. I read you. Loud and...very loud."

"Don't mention it - it's your funeral."

...This is just to name a couple. The same goes for some of the locations in that first level with the old, rich, and bratty frog who is only the first of many to insult Sly using a synonym of "bug".

Since I rediscovered the series by finding Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves for Playstation 2 (I still have and use the slim silver one my brother got around 2005-ish) in Gamestop in early August of 2011...the experiences I've had have been just...awesome.

Anyway, on to the soundtracks. I only have music from the third and fourth games, as those two actually released official soundtracks. However, the music is really good, in my opinion, although I personally prefer the OST for Sly Cooper: Thieves In Time (the game came out in February 2013, the soundtrack a couple months later).

This is one of my favorite songs from the third game: "Gauntlet of the Ancestors".

"Lemonade Drinking Contest" is a song during which Sly, Bentley, and Murray (the raccoon, turtle, and hippo, respectively) have a...lemonade drinking contest with a bunch of, uh...dingoes in Australia. It's a fun song, in my opinion, because it's just a dumb situation. :)

Bentley and Sly, while in Venice, Italy, execute a mission to sneak into the game's first-level boss's hideout for some "Venice Espionage". It's very...spy-like...? *shrug*

Now, some the songs in Sly Cooper: Thieves In Time get stuck in my head fairly easily. As such, it makes sense for me to include those pieces here. (Note: the main characters are time traveling in this game.)

Sly, Bentley, and Murray have journeyed back to Medieval England, and "Merry Olde England" is the field music in this area. It's a calmer, yet kind of pretty song...I'm trying to explain it. But I just really like the melody/variations of the melody here...

Sly is literally fighting in a "Bridge Battle" in this one; in Feudal Japan around 1601, he's fighting a Cuban tiger from the present named El Jefe (ha ha, I see what you did there, Sanzaru Games...). It's an energetic song in a...cartoon-y sort of way; my band director heard this song playing from my phone earlier this year and thought that it was from a cartoon. Grr...

Now we've ventured into the Wild West in what I think was the mid-1800s... Can I just say how much I really like the melody in this song, too?

I also really like this song. Seriously, I thoroughly enjoy this game's field music. In this part of the game, we're in Ancient Arabia with one of the best, most sarcastic old-timers I know. Seriously, Salim  al-Kupar is just awesome when he is complaining to Bentley that he's too old to be climbing up ropes for these jobs when Bentley's just sitting at his computer for a while.

There's also music that plays when Bentley is doing his little hacking mini-missions, but I've included enough songs to give you an idea of what the music is like - at least in Sly Cooper: Honor Among Thieves and Sly Cooper: Thieves In Time. Although the songs I included for the former are less...loud (?) in terms of the use of the orchestra. I've just included a few of my personal favorites from both of the games.

Hopefully, even if you haven't played the games, the music somewhat interests you, and you can listen to it...although a lot of people may look at you funny if they see a raccoon holding a cane on your phone/iPod/mp3 screen when you're listening to music *shrug*

By the way, Peter McConnell composed all but three of the songs for the series; Michael Bricker created the songs that play during the computer hackings in Sly Cooper: Thieves In Time.

Oh, and I will be revisiting this series again at some point. I just adore these games and characters. O~O

-Pamela