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