Rest In Peace, Hara

It has been one month. One fucking month. Now Hara is gone. I could hardly process the headlines yesterday. I can hardly still process anything today. Three suicides in two years. All from close friends, all from groups that got me started on my Kpop journey. While at work, my iPod shuffled through Jonghyun, f(x), and KARA songs within ten songs. It's unbelievable how the world works. I almost cried on the spot. KARA was an integral part of Kpop's explosion and she was an integral part of the group. Her visuals were stunning and while her singing was never the big selling point, she made up for it with her presence in the variety world. I still have good memories of Invincible Youth and her shenanigans. Hara, we never deserved you. The media never deserved you. The bullshit you got was appalling. I don't even wanna write anymore. Just gonna watch old KARA music videos and let everything sink in. It's funny how you think you've put some distance and less attachment to Kpop over the last few years, and then shit like this hits you hard.

[Review] Mamamoo - Hip

Damn, November is half over already. What's been happening? Kpop has not been my priority as of late with work (both current and trying to find new), new games (Legend Of Bumbo and Pokemon) and adopting a cat (I'm in love). But this does not mean the end is nigh. In fact, if I don't publish anything else this year it would still be 3rd place in terms of number of posts, and I definitely have more in the tank for the blog in 2019. With that business out of the way, how did Mamamoo fare after giving me a glimmer of hope during the teaser?

[Review] Mamamoo - Hip (Teaser)

Mamamoo is coming back before winter rolls around, and I for one welcome them having a chance to fight Twice for the end of the year stuff. This teaser is a culmination of their plethora of previous teasers, all of which were classic Mamamoo in how quirky and goofy they are. It'll be interesting to see how they incorporate all the teasers into the music video, since there were a lot of teasers. Solar was a weird alien princess and a boxer, Moonbyul was a videographer / director and choreographer, Wheein was a painter and protestor, and Hwasa was a broadway performer(?) and mom. That's...eight personalities to incorporate into a MV, on top of the other dance scenes and outfits we see here. These new visuals are as tacky as the members are, and I definitely don't like Solar's weird hair. The song sounds good at a glance, paired with an interesting-looking choreography. As always I look forward to eating well as a Mamamoo fan. My expectations have been raised slightly. Please do not come back to bite me on this, I'm begging you.

[Bonus] The Late Report: October 2019

With this, a full year of Late Reports have been filed. I can safely say that I like this series' inclusion on the blog: it helps take any pressure off having to write multiple reviews frequently, is clean and easy to format and write, and is super resourceful when it comes to Best Of 20XX and any compilation posts. Very glad I decided to do something like this. Here's what caught my eyes and ears during the month of October.

Tiffany - Run For Your Life

It's been a hot minute since I paid attention to what the non-Taeyeon girls of SNSD are up to. Tiffany strikes fear into the hearts of fans with this freaky MV. Halloween came early with these music video because she's got some curious outfits and styling present in "Run For Your Life." Those distorted leg shots are unsettling to say the least. Everything visual appears inspired by the works of a young Lady Gaga, and so does some of the sound. In particular, the way the autotune (or whatever mixing is involved) and her pronunciation of "glitter" is what reminds of Gaga's older material.