[Review] Lee Hi - 1,2,3,4

Vocals: 10 / 10

Lee Hi has a kickass voice! Not necessarily through emotion and power, but distinctive in the sound. The kind of voice that would rock songs like “Lady Marmalade” and other sassy type songs. That said, this song definitely has the Lady Marmalade vibe to it, so Lee Hi sounds fantastic. Her English is also really refined, something I didn’t expect. There’s a variety of English thrown around (required by the Korean music order) and not a single word is mispronounced. A solid range, pretty expression, and flawless English give Lee Hi a perfect score for vocals.

Appearance: 8 / 10

For such a young one, she looks way older, but I suppose that’s a trait shared by a variety of idols. I had no idea she was to be a member of YG’s upcoming girl group, so that threw me off in age guessing. At most angles, she looks like a younger Miryo (especially the ones with her hair back) and that is not a bad look at all. If she wasn’t so awkward in the music video, I probably would’ve given her a 9 or even a 10. Oh well, next time, Lee Hi!

Dance: 7 / 10

This song doesn’t place much emphasis on choreography (or the music video either, har har) and there isn’t much focused choreography until the second chorus. There’s no real theme to the dance either, just your typical shenanigans here and there. I probably should be ranking this out of 5 or not ranking it at all since it’s less focused but whatever. This will tie into what I have to say about the music videos later, but since Lee Hi is clearly the vocal dominant type, I think she should just forgo dance altogether (save it for the debut with the girl group) and just have a mic on set, and go from there (similar to Younha’s work).

Music Video: 4 / 10

Awkward does not begin to describe this video. I understand Lee Hi is young, and a rookie, but other rookies like EXO and B.A.P were pretty much flawless with their debut appearances in terms of energy, charisma, and most importantly lipsyncing. Lee Hi is to put it bluntly awful at lipsynching, in an eerie resemblance to YG labelmates Park Bom and T.O.P. Maybe it’s a trend: at least one member of each group has to (purposely or not) be terrible at lipsyncing. Does this mean T.O.P is actually good at singing?! The world may never know. Outside of really bad lipsyncing, her acting / energy in the music was lackluster, too. She looked stiff for pretty much the entire video except for miniscule seconds of emotion like a smile or wink. Hope she loosens up for the future!

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Overall: 75 / 100

Out of the blue, YG delivers Lee Hi with a catchy debut track full of soul and great vocals. While not something YG would normally release (I suppose save for 2NE1), it is very pleasant to listen to. Lee Hi is sure to be a standout vocalist in YG’s new girl group that’ll debut soon…right?

[Bonus] Best Of Younha

Younha is one of the originals who contributed to the success of current Hallyu stars today. Younha along with BoA were some of the first Korean artists to become popular in Japan. Fluent in both Japanese and Korean, Younha possesses an extremely underestimated and versatile voice (#1 in my heart). While her work is predominantly pop rock, I’ll be introducing a varying ten of Younha’s songs which I find just too good, in this writeup. I tried to include many different varieties of Younha’s work, since pop rock / ballads may not be your cup of tea. If you have never heard of this singer, you will definitely want to check these out and see what you like.
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10. Password 486 (The Perfect Day To Say I Love You)

- Password 486 is probably the staple of Younha’s pop rock style. With the standard instrumentals in the background, Younha doesn’t do anything too out of the ordinary with her voice, but it’s one of the more catchy choruses and easy on the ears. If I were to fault the song it’d be for the lackluster ending which seemed strange and was repetitive.

9. Please Take Care Of My Boyfriend (Lost In Love)

- This release is one of my overall favourite ballads in terms of vocal performance. The emotion and high range of notes is truly impressive. I think the drums could be toned down a little though, especially during the bridge (right before the final chorus).

8. Memory (feat. Tablo) (2집 Someday)

- One of two songs on the list with features, Tablo joins in for a fast paced ballad. Tablo’s raps start off slow and increase in tempo and complexity as the song goes on which is a nice touch. The slow verses countered with the upbeat and almost frantic chorus sound strong together.

7. Telepathy (2집 Someday)

- Take the style of Password 486, now intensify everything: the instrumental, the voice, the speed, the power, and throw in a sassy piano solo, and that’s what Telepathy is in essence. As a bonus, the music video is absolutely hilarious.

6. Delete (The Perfect Day To Say I Love You)

- I’m not really sure how I would describe Delete. It comes off as a medium paced ballad that suddenly explodes into a frenzy of drums and high notes at the chorus, before transitioning back to the slower tempo. This song seemed to be one of the earlier songs in which Younha experimented with various options and arrived at quite the pleasant result. The increasing usage of power notes at the end are the highlight of this song.

5. I Like You (3집 Part B: Growing Season)

- While Password 486 is a staple, I Like You is the epitome of Younha’s pop rock releases.Trading in piano for strong electric guitar riffs,Younha sings her heart out from beginning to end. The muffled voice in transition between chorus and verse is a tad strange, but is offset by the great high note and adlibs following.

4. My Song And (2집 Someday)

- The first full English song, Younha shows off her perfect English. There were no flaws whatsoever. The instrumental is very soft which compliments the softness and innocence of her vocals. This song paved the way for future English covers and hopefully more English songs.

3. Would We Have Changed (feat. John Park) (4집 Supersonic)

- This song boasts really amazing harmonization work between Younha and John Park. John Park’s smooth baritone notes compliment Younha’s higher pure notes. While Younha excels at slow emotional ballads (and everything else), I think she perfects this specific style of ballad, and easily rocketed to a high rank on this list.

2. Broke Up Today (3집 Part B: Growing Season)

- One of Younha’s most prized ballads, Broke Up Today combines the simple instrumentals of My Song And with the smooth and moving vocals in Memory. The chorus structure is very pretty and also relatively catchy, a trait I find not many ballads have. I’m not one for the background vocals who make short appearances, even if it was Younha’s voice, they still sounded funny.

1. Hero (2집 Someday)

- Hero is Younha’s gold and hands down one of the best songs ever. Right from the start, Younha brings power, emotion, and stability to the table and the intense instrumental is with her all the way. And how can you say that the piano solo was not one of the best you have ever heard. The song was so amazing that upon my first listen years ago, I thought this had to be the title track, simply because of how good it was. To quote a certain someone “absolutely sublime from start to finish and I will jam forks into my eyes if I ever use those words to describe anything else ever again.”
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“Honorable Mentions”

Houki Boshi (Go! Younha)

Time2Rock (Audition)

Ima Ga Daisuki (Single)

Gossip Boy (2집 Someday)

“Everything Younha has.” -Miharu hyung
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So get out there and discover the brilliance of Younha and which songs / style you like most!

[Review] B.A.P - Warrior

Vocals: 5 / 10

The vocal showing was rather lackluster to unimpressive. The chorus was good since the parts were low and such but everything else was, for a lack of a more interesting word, bad. All the other lines resulted in strained vocals, members reaching for their notes which really turned me off from the song. The bridge leading to the finale was the most obvious example of this with the stretched high note. If you’re going to debut a group which isn’t known for their vocal talent (which isn’t even the case with B.A.P with Daehyun and Youngjae), it’d be wise to release songs which don’t have too much vocal strain.

Appearance: 7 / 10

So I know I have said before that I appreciate singularity or a state of togetherness witihn a group. It irks me when a group has one or two members who have a different hair colour which makes them stand out randomly. However, when every member has the same hair colour and hairstyle, I think it tends to get a little confusing. Especially when this is a group’s debut and nobody (except for the insane creeper fans who have inside sources) knows who they are yet, it becomes extremely difficult to determine who is who. When this song was first released, I saw pages upon pages of comments like “Who is when?” to “I like the blonde one” simply because it was just so goddamn difficult differentiating between each member. I suppose the slight variation in colour of their jackets and pants could help if you were paying that much attention for the 0.5 seconds they were on screen. I feel the blonde took away from the punk aggro style they were going for but I guess the cut and outfits helped everything be okay.

Dance: 10 / 10

This choreography is aggressive, flashy, and downright awesome. The dance 100% matches the style of the song, and while there are other songs with solid dances to compliment them, this one is by far one of the best performances I’ve seen. Choreographies lately have been more focused on catchy moves for fans / others to imitate, dances like this really power B.A.P to being a standout group in terms of dancing skill. The choreography of “Warrior” is a perfect blend of synchronized movements and unique / individual parts (like the fantastic puppet master bits), which is quite literally amazing considering the trend is typically one or the other. The dance break (or at least parts of the break) was by far the most impressive of the choreography. Really impressive work by B.A.P.

Rap: 10 / 10

Whoo does this pair of rappers put others to shame, and they are rookies, no less! Yongguk and Zelo deliver a powerful performance to match the song. Never having followed the releases of either rapper beforehand, I didn’t really know what to expect from these two (or in a sense I did in that I assumed neither would be impressive since there aren’t many good rappers out there) but they shut me up (or at least Yongguk did) right away. Yongguk easily reminds everyone of Korea’s resident badass rapper in T.O.P but with an even lower voice(?) and not quite as good looking (huehue). Zelo’s young but he’s definitely got the skill as his bursts of lines shocked me the most. While both rappers’ parts were aggressive and matching in beat, Yongguk’s rap was more powerful while Zelo’s more quick. I’m excited to see what future work for these two will bring.

Music Video: 8 / 10

This music video is not much different than the standard, but there are differences worth noting. For one, the deadmau5 appearance is strange but neat at the same time, mainly because not many groups have a logo and I think it’s good enough. Of course the aggressiveness of the video and various images / effects added flavour to the video. Camerawork (which I don’t really touch upon) was really good, too. I suppose since nothing else could have come from this theme the execution for the music video was close to perfect.

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Overall: 80 / 100

This was an extremely impressive debut for a group amongst the sea of newbies, showing off rappers and choreography which blew many away. Like others, if I hadn’t known any better I would have never guessed this was a debut. I have yet to follow up on any of B.A.P’s other releases (because there are so many!) but if they are more or less the same style and flavour of “Warrior”, I can come to enjoy them.

[Bonus] Girls' Generation Vocal Power Rankings

Girls’ Generation. Perhaps one of the most stacked (also including underrepresented) lineups in terms of vocal talent. However, in any group, there are some that shine stronger than others. I’ll be writing up some thoughts on each member and why they stand where they are. Included with each rank are some songs I selected which highlight a glimpse of each member.

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1. Taeyeon

- Glorious Taeyeon comes in at #1 and as such is one of the strongest female group vocalists ever. Powerful emotion, shivering falsetto, solid range, and near-flawless English are some of her qualities. Taeyeon also has amazing utility in singing multiple genres: bubblegum pop, ballad, rock, country; you name it, she can sing it, and well. Compared to Seohyun and Jessica though, her comfort range is low and while she can perfectly hit every high note you throw at her, there’s a very noticeable difference in power between her belts in Twinkle and Gee to those in Genie and Mistake.

Highlights: Genie; Devil’s Cry; I Love You; Mistake; O Holy Night

2. Tiffany

- If Taeyeon’s voice is “ying”, then Tiffany’s voice is definitely “yang”. Words cannot describe how perfectly the combination of TaeNy’s voices compliment each other. Taeyeon has high emotion and falsetto, and Tiffany brings low power and huskiness. Tiffany is really the only member who can provide those long powerful belts, and while she excels at that, she can still hit those high notes quite beautifully, too. With such a wide range, it’s almost inevitable that Tiffany can easily sing various genres. Being a Korean American, English is as easy as knowing how to breathe which gives her increased utility expanding her covers (the recent Rolling In The Deep comes to mind).

Highlights: Lady Marmalade; Rolling In The Deep; Hoot; Diamond; Rise & Shine

3. Yuri

- I 100% believe that Kwon Yuri is Girls’ Generation’s most balanced and versatile member and one of two severely underestimated singers in the group. While Yuri’s natural range is low, she has shown she can handle higher notes with relative ease (Into The New World).Yuri’s forte remains in deeper songs, so cutesy lines just don’t quite cut it (read: fit her image). Yuri unfortunately falls into the half of Soshi that doesn’t get many lines, but the few that she does get thrown her way get executed quite nicely.

Highlights: As Time Goes By; If; Oscar; Into The New World; Paparazzi

4. Seohyun

- Beloved maknae places at #4. Seohyun has a really soft and innocent voice, making her a perfect ballad singer. Honestly though, I can’t really think of anything else to say after it. Seohyun is fantastic at singing ballads, and while her voice can adapt to other genres, it’s very ordinary at best, which is a shame. Seohyun also lacks power, and the rare instances where she does showcase some power like in Twinkle show her reaching for those high notes. Aside from the Korean Americans and Taeyeon, Seohyun also has the strongest English enunciation (Way Back Into Love).

Highlights: Twinkle; Run Devil Run; Flying Duck; Journey

5. Jessica

- Jessica’s voice is one of the most recognizable in all of Korea. Pretty much no matter what she is singing, any avid follower of Korean music will be able to identify her voice without fail. Compared to Seohyun, Jessica is even better at singing medium tempo ballads than her, partly because of her mastery of high range.This same voice that is so strong on ballads and more serious natured songs very noticeably weak in other categories, more specifically cute pop music. While there are exceptions to both ends, Jessica is more at home with emotional ballads and so ranks fifth.

Highlights: One Year Later; How Great Is Your Love; Seoul Song; All My Love Is For You

6. Sunny

- Sunny has a very noticeable voice, tinted with the cutest of aegyo that becomes so familiar after a few listens. In many ways, she follows Jessica with their unique sound that is easy to listen to at times, but seems out of place at others. While Jessica excels at high ballads and slow melodies, Sunny’s forte is typically bubblegum pop and faster songs. However, because she’s got such a unique voice, it still sounds out of place in certain pop songs (Three) and sometimes just awkward overall (Paparazzi). It seems earlier (like way back), Sunny was able to sort of overcome her aegyo voice in releases like Girls’ Generation and Into The New World, which still sounded unique, but without the cutesy sound that may sort of “restrict” her in some of the songs I listed above.If Sunny’s work in future releases can mask the cute sound for more power I think she can really shine as a vocalist.

Highlights: I Love You, I Love You; Time Machine; Genie; Mistake

7. Sooyoung

- Sooyoung is the second member of which whose voice I find heavily underrated. The main problem being with such high caliber singers like Taeyeon and Seohyun why would you give Sooyoung and others more lines? That’s the primary fault in most if not all of SNSD’s music. Sooyoung’s comfort range lies in the lower half and is flexible enough to sound solid in most variants of their music, but she lacks the range to really be given any impressive lines. I would love to see a song by Sooyoung, Yuri, and Tiffany only. Maybe one of the possible rotations for the subunit? S.M., make it happen.

Highlights: Sway; Oh!; http://youtu.be/1ExGhLGKY0M

8. Hyoyeon

- Hyoyeon possesses unique voice #3 within the group. At first listen it’s kinda weird, not in the negative sense but in the “I’ve never heard a voice like this before” sense. Hyoyeon’s range is actually more expansive than most people would give second thought to, the most recent example being her notes in Maxstep. However, Hyoyeon’s representation in SNSD’s music is perhaps the worst out of anyone in Kpop and it’s extremely unfair. Okay, I understand she’s an unbelievable dancer but that doesn’t mean she can’t sing more than a four second line, right? Even in Maxstep, in which she was supposedly a member and not a feature, gets no solo vocal lines and is only there for less than half of the video. Fix your shit, S.M.

Highlights: Please Don’t Stop The Music; Into The New World; Snowy Wish

9. Yoona

- Unfortunately, someone has to come in last. Yoona is like Hyoyeon, where they both possess less expansive comfort zones than the others and aren’t given much time to showcase their ability but there are a few key differences. Yoona sounds stronger in the lower ranges and doesn’t have a distinct sound to her voice, which pretty much delegates her to a support vocal in any instance, as pretty much all the other members outshine her in other aspects. Yoona is kind of like the reverse version of 2NE1’s Dara. Whereas Dara is a very strong support singer with high range, Yoona works on lower range support like in Hoot but is also a strong transition voice like in All My Love Is For You. This low voice also lends her some rapping capability as seen in The Boys, so perhaps we’ll see some rap singing in the future.

Highlights: Introduce Me A Good Man; 4 Minutes; Girls’ Generation
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Girls’ Generation stands alongside 2NE1 and Brown Eyed Girls with some of the industry’s most diverse and talented singing rosters. If only there was more variety in line distribution, I’d love their vocals all the more.

[Review] Wonder Girls - Like Money (feat. Akon)

Vocals: 8 / 10

Not a fan of the autotune. Let me get that off my chest right away. It distorts Sohee and Hye Lim’s already only mediocre / soft voices, and in the latter’s case it almost makes it sound like she’s straining for some medium range notes which she shouldn’t be. Thankfully, Yenny and Sunye do quite the job of bailing them out with their high notes and fancy adlibs at the end. After seeing them live in Hong Kong this summer, Yenny really stands out as a strong vocalist who has solid versatility in belting out those power notes to sounding soft but sincere. Sunye on the other end has moving emotional vocals, as her parts at the end of the song are pleading and her voice reflects that. Akon also sings a chorus, and again the prevalent autotune decreases the appeal, oh well.

Appearance: 8 / 10

Most of the looks seem reminiscent of some sort of “Nobody” meets TRON mashup, a little futuristic and retro at the same time. It’s not awkward enough to be creepy but the use of outfits and heavy makeup in order to match the scenery seems a little reaching. The girls are plenty attractive without too much makeup (see “Like This”) and the futuristic setting in the music video doesn’t need to involve high amounts of makeup. For that though, Yubin and Yenny stand apart from the others, mainly because of their hair, ahaha.

Dance: 8 / 10

For some reason I found the movements (positional movement, not the dance motions themselves) similar to “Nobody” which makes the dance seem more simpler, and by definition that is more welcoming to outside listeners, since the Wonder Girls are not known for their high power choreography to begin with. There’s also some solo flashy silhouette (oxymoron much) dancing when Akon is singing which helped ease the switches between him and all the girls dancing. Overall it’s a little flashy, a little sassy, and a little sexy, and so it earns a solid score.

Rap: 8 / 10

I think if Yubin’s English was a little more refined in terms of pronunciation this would have been scored higher. As it is, there are some awkward words which make her / the rap sound funny. Akon is technically (or at least by sound) rap singing but he does a pretty good job of it, which I wasn’t really expecting. Then again I don’t listen to Akon so I have no idea what his comfort range is in terms of his music. I do like the exchange between Yubin and Akon at the end of her sequence, a pleasant mixture of singing and rapping. Some good execution / presentation marred by a little mispronunciation.

Music Video: 7 / 10

I cannot wait until JYP starts shoving his face into 2PM music videos, that is if they ever recover from the shame that is Nichkhun’s drunk driving shenanigans. Anyways! This music video is an unfortunate deviation from the nice “Like This” MV but I guess I couldn’t deny that it wouldn’t happen. I paid no attention to the first minute (or however long the intro is) because I quite frankly didn’t care, only noting JYP’s appearance at which I exuded pure unbridled rage. The previously mentioned mix of “Nobody” and TRON gives the scenery a nice touch of colour, but the various showing of random body parts floating around on an operating table countered that bizarrely. Upon rewatching the music video I noticed (some of) the girls don’t actually get a lot of close-ups, either, which shifts more emphasis to (a) the dancing and (b) the weird robotic surgery going on. By the end of the video though the intro surgery stuff fades away and it’s more or less focused on the choreography. When Akon shows up half of the camera is on him and the other half of the girls dancing, which had to have been odd considering they weren’t singing but I guess I’d have preferred showing them dancing as opposed to more creepy surgery so I guess that’s a plus?

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Overall: 78 / 100

The release of “Like Money” marks the return of the Wonder Girls to the American market. While it is not the shining standout “Nobody” was, the song certainly has its own unique appeal with a strong showing of vocals, catchy choruses, and appearances by Akon. Throw in a neatly coloured music video and overall it’s got a nice vibe to it. The Wonder Girls have grown by leaps and bounds since the days of wanting “nobody, nobody but you” and I’ll be anticipating future releases from the girls.

[Review] S.M. Dance Unit - Maxstep

Vocals: 8 / 10

This is a dance unit. Each member is pretty much the top dancer in their respective group and as such their vocals are not the best. Luhan and Taemin are the exceptions and they did really well. Henry also has a pleasant voice and his awesome high note definitely took me by surprise. While I knew he was one of the two options (the other being Taemin) was still like a “Woah that’s awesome”. Taemin’s “Maxstep” parts at the end was also nice. Hyoyeon’s chorus is good at the English is not out of place, showing improvement since “The Boys” and even has some higher notes thrown in there. Eunhyuk sings very little and Kai not at all, which is alright with me considering these two have the weakest voices of the six. A good choice by S.M.

Appearance: 8 / 10

Eunhyuk looks awkward with hair down, and the random colour addition to the side didn’t really help. He would’ve totally looked better if he had his hair spiked like in “Sexy, Free, & Single”. Given everyone else didn’t have straight hair (not counting Hyoyeon), Eunhyuk looked like the oddball among the group. Henry really hasn’t changed at all since his original appearance, his baby face is eternal. What the flying hell happened to Taemin’s eyebrows? This isn’t like Taeyeon in “Time Machine”. Taemin’s eyebrows are literally not there anymore. This is remedied during one of the solo shots where his hair down (the best looking one) but the others were creepy as hell. Luhan and Kai are looking good, too. Luhan should go back to his “History” look, really fitting. Let’s talk about the feature of the show, Kim Hyoyeon. For starters, I would have prefered she switched her hairstyles. The solo shots were flawless but the long split hair during the dance sequences looked messy with all the movement. Her red jacket / black outfit clashed with the guys’ outfits and made her stand out really nicely. The choice of outfits were a little iffy for the solos except Hyoyeon but other than that, no complaints.

Dance: 9 / 10

Okay, the dance is strong, but maybe I hold some of the members like Hyoyeon, Eunhyuk, and Taemin with too high regard (rightfully so) because I found 50% of the choreography underwhelming. I can’t really pinpoint a specific time period where I found the choreography lacking but it was more like various bursts of disappointment. The interesting sequence involving Henry after the first chorus was really neat. There is still a fair amount of individual expression though which I like, and once Hyoyeon arrived the dance shifted to become more centered on her. Overall, the execution by all the members makes up for a lack of interesting / intense choreography.

Rap: 8 / 10

The good: Kai. The bad: Eunhyuk. The great: Hyoyeon. That is the sequence if raps in a nutshell. Kai does a solid job with his lines although I did not even think for a second that his very first line was actually English. Eunhyuk is rather disappointing, per usual (although admittedly his work in “Spy” wasn’t half bad). Hyoyeon destroyed everything with her rap. Fierce and up to speed on the tempo and everything. Well done. I’ve said before, S.M. Could possibly take advantage of Hyoyeon and Tiffany’s rapping potential, we’ll just have to see if they really do anything with it. Kai and Hyoyeon carry Eunhyuk to a 8 out of 10.

Music Video: 7 / 10

For what it’s worth, this music video is for a dance heavy group, so I didn’t expect anything out of the ordinary and there wasn’t. There’s even a car for little Taemin to be serious facing in, which I can only assume is a Hyundai. For some reason, Henry and Eunhyuk are together for the solo shots, maybe because S.M. feels the need to remind everyone that Henry Lau is a member of Super Junior M and that he does still in fact exist and has not rotted away in the company basement due to inactivity. Taemin gets a car and Kai gets a chair, how unfair is that? Those lazy punks. Thankfully they receive karma by being forced inside some bizarre geometric figure for the other half of their solos. Luhan got the most boring box out of them all but he seemed like he was having fun. Hyoyeon’s mirrors did well to show her off and she exuded some charisma in the chorus near the end. Bland music video but there wasn’t really much expectations to begin with.

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Overall: 80 / 100

Since the preview of this song existed during the 2011 Gayo Daejun, I’m not sure what I was going to see or hear from this but overall the vocals are pleasant to listen to and the dance is solid. The boring music video is offset by the fact that it’s from S.M. and it’s a dance specific group. Pretty good work. Now let’s see a dance version of the music video so I don’t have to see too many close-ups of Taemin’s lack of eyebrows.