[Misc] The Late Report: February 2021

I nearly forgot that February is a short month, so uh...anyways! Here's some stuff. Fuck you Blogger and your impossible-to-format bullshit. The inconsistency is driving me bonkers.

The Big Bully Blitz

February's Kpop news theme has been the plethora of bullying accusations being lobbed like candy. Some names include but are not limited to: Loona's Chuu, Seventeen's Mingyu, Stray Kids' Hyunjin, and Hyuna. All I have to say on the matter is a simple "yikes." Bullying is an entirely different beast in Asia so the only hope I have is that the truth comes to light.

Interesting Comeback Stage

Remember this track? "Black" was great and now many years later, we get a comeback performance of a different variety. Kpop's newest power couple has been born with Big Bang's G-Dragon and Black Pink's Jennie. I'd be lying if I said I remembered other famous Kpop couples, but this is definitely one of the strongest pairings to memory. Surprisingly, there's only a seven year age gap between the two. I guess it's more that I thought G-Dragon was older than 32 (turning 33 this August). Good for both of them.

SHINee - Don't Call Me

Don't. This song is awful. It sounds like the type of shit that EXO and NCT would do, and I honestly thought SHINee would be better than that. They had found their stride prior to military enlistment but seems like that's been lost as the younger groups in their company took control of everything. I just can't. More Minho rapping? Get the fuck outta here. Because they're veterans I gave them the respect of finishing the song but damn, I was not happy to do so. Swing a huge miss out of SHINee.

Collection of Miscellaneous Shit

And now a jumble blob of some other things that I noticed. Positive, negative, neutral, it's all fair game. Some German radio show host said racist shit to BTS, essentially calling them the same as coronavirus? I don't think I've ever written the words "career suicide" before but it's appropriate here. A stalker broke into T-ARA's Soyeon's house? That's fucking horrifying and I hope that creep goes to jail. Cherry Bullet and a few others have hosted AMA threads on reddit, which is cool. Luna sets up her own label, that's pretty good. Hopefully she'll see some success. Finally, some comeback news on the horizon, with the likes of Jessi, V, and DAY6 as headliners.

Late Rollin' to a #1 Spot

Brave Girls have had their EXID / Hani moment. Their song "Rollin'," which originally released in 2017, recently hit #1 on Bugs Chart, their first ever. Quite impressive considering that the throwbacks usually can't compete with their modern competitors. Great to see from them, though unfortunately I don't see a rise to superstardom in their future because the group is too unstable. Regardless, a win is a win and the song is quite good, despite the awkward pronunciation. Anyway that's all for today. Until next time, whenever that may be. Stay safe and healthy.

[Bonus] Best Of B-Sides: Part II

It's been nearly a year since the first Best Of B-Sides. There's really no excuse that this shouldn't be a more recurring series. In fact, I'm going to aim for a new installment of these every month. On top of that, I'm going to make any artist that shows up be ineligible for future posts. This will ensure that everything stays fresh in terms of the groups (or soloists!) and their music. After all the purpose of these posts is to highlight some music that might be overlooked or less popular. Diversity in representation is something I strive for here and that applies to both the groups and their music.

FIESTAR - Turn Off The Light

At this point, "remember when ___" has got to be the most typed phrase on my blog. FIESTAR have been out of the spotlight for so long that I almost forgot about the other songs on their "Black Label" EP. "Turn Off The Light" is a great track that mixes dance and R&B elements together. The high tempo means a good choreography could've been coupled with it. Then top it all off with a fierce Yezi rap and it's no surprise this song is splendid on the ears. If not for the masterpiece that was "You're Pitiful" this could very well have been the title track.

Red Velvet - Zoo

If there's (only) one thing to rely on Red Velvet for, it is their constant string of sweet instrumentals. The "Red Summer" mini album was no different, and "Zoo" has one of many more exciting instrumentals. The animal noise mimicry is abundant and fitting, then there's Seulgi's gorilla scream which is certainly...something. All of the songs on this EP play to Seulgi and Wendy's vocal strengths, and also lets the rest of the crew play support rather well. Irene's starting to get a little better in the rap department, so we'll see how that develops in their newest album.

[Review] G-Dragon - Who You

Vocals: 7 / 10

Something tells me the ranges in this song stretched above G-Dragon’s comfort range. I already don’t really like when Taeyang goes outside of his range (read: too high), and G-Dragon has a less impressive voice. Nonetheless, some of the hooks were nice and the overall flow of the song was nice on the ears. It feel really weird to even talk about G-Dragon’s vocals in something related to Big Bang (even when I reviewed “One Of A Kind” and “Crayon” in September) but he did average work in the song, and so an average score he’ll receive.

Rap: 7 / 10

There wasn’t too much rapping in this track, but I share most of the same sentiments regarding the rap as I did with the vocals. I caught a “shotuout” or whatever to CL’s “Baddest Female” at the end of one of the lines. G-Dragon’s usual rapping performance is weakened by the higher pitched usage of his voice. But I will acknowlege that he went through the entire song within this range, similar to how he did in “That XX” (except for the rap break).

Music Video: 9 / 10

I appreciated the idea that this was a community-created music video, with the help of all the fans volunteering, It’s awesome to see artists working with and reaching out to the fans that they care about and are cared about in return. That said, this wasn’t that interactive of a video from a artist-to-fan perspective. The glass walls were pretty expansive, and just seemed like a cage of G-Dragon to be watched and observed by, all the while essentially providing four minutes (or however long) of fangirl-fainting stares and fanservice. But, I won’t take away from the fact that this was an awesome community-created video, and so kudos to you, G-Dragon. Also, nice car.

Overall: 78 / 100

In terms of score, G-Dragon comes out (barely) on top over Taeyang and T.O.P, but within the three I felt all of them lacked something (or in some cases many things) to really cement themselves as staple singles / releases of the Big Bang group. With military enlistment looming over the group, I was hoping they’d make a final “wave” (or “bang”, heh), and I’ll try to hide my disappointment, but in the end, they had some decent tracks during November. I’m moving on though, Miss A and M&N are next,

[Review] G-Dragon - Crayon

Vocals: 6 / 10

I think compared to “One Of A Kind”, there are even fewer lines which are being sung, so again there’s a matter of weighing this the same amount as the other categories, but this is marked low for one specific reason: the various filters that sort of autotune or muffle GD’s voice throughout the song are really irritating to my ears and severely hurts the overall pleasantry of the song. If it was just one sort of muffle that was consistent it wouldn’t be a problem, but it’s multiple. Had it not been for them, I could probably listen to the song on repeat but as it stands I can only listen to the rapping sequences whenever I load up the song.

Appearance: 8 / 10

Considering this is a sequence of appearances by G-Dragon in short succession, I can’t really elaborate too much (I mean I could, but it’d be stuff I said before). G-Dragon looks more or less the same compared to his appearance in “One Of A Kind” and “That XX”. I saw glimpses of Zelo with his hilarious / wacky facial expressions while he was in the bathroom, and from the haflway point of the song and onward the faces he makes are nothing short of extraordinary. Although I will comment on how people thought the girl in the TV scene was GD in a dress, but I don’t think it was since I’m pretty sure his arms are splattered with tattoos of various sorts.

Rap: 10 / 10

“If I were to rank Korea’s top five rappers, G-Dragon would easily be in the top three if not top two. With nearly every release, he continues to showcase his dominance and talent. This song in particular is a little weird since it’s got a slow intro that suddenly picks up into a blitz.” Does this sound familiar? Well it should, the rap style and sequence is a little like that of “One Of A Kind”, where the tempo is mostly slow but still rather erratic and unpredictable, but this is the style that G-Dragon excels in. If it worked for a previous song, it’s still going to work now. Excellent work all around.

Music Video: 10 / 10

Talk about an exciting music video. If you thought “One Of A Kind” was clever, this smashes that to the ground. G-Dragon has many many friends, and they’re all here to party and not lipsync very awkwardly. The sets get even more bizarre and the outfits more intriguing: being the DJ / person inside his crazed self, fighting / dancing in puffy sumo-esque suits, literally going insane on the dance floor, etc. The use of camera angles were also really nice and helped emphasize G-Dragon getting his “cray on.” Did you see the creepy / cheeky grin when the girl butts were shaking behind him? Extremely serious.

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Overall: 85 / 100

In the end, I have given “Crayon” a handful of listens but I may just try to find a condensed version where it’s only the raps strung together. The autotune and muffles are really distracting and hurts the replay value of the song by so much. While I would say this is the weakest (use the term loosely) of the three releases thus far, it’s by no means a bad song and has some great rhymes and hilarious music video.

[Review] G-Dragon - One Of A Kind

Vocals: 7 / 10

This song is more heavily centered on the rapping and sing rapping than singing, but there are bits and pieces throughout playing around with GD’s vocals, and they’re decent enough. G-Dragon in my opinion has never had that good of a voice, but he makes use of it with help from the autotune. The various vocals towards the end of the song are more random shouts and noises than anything, so it doesn’t require too much vocal talent to do that.  It feels like I’m having unfair balance again, where I’m rating GD’s singing the same amount as say the rapping or the music video, but it helps me write the overall reviews so I’ll take it.

Appearance: 8 / 10

G-Dragon is back with the blonde and boy is it more bizarre than ever. G-Dragon’s hairstyles typically speak for themselves, so there’s no need for me to comment on anything regarding that and honestly aside from that, there really isn’t much more to talk about. The crazy appearances and outfits are pretty much a staple of GD’s (and to some extent even Big Bang now) that I’m sure most people weren’t really shocked by anything they saw. Did you see all those cute little kids and punk-looking thugs though? Quite the contrast in a single video.

Dance: 9 / 10

This dance is pretty neat. The fluidity (especially when the backup dancers have their backs turned and all have the dragon on their sweaters) and just the style matches the song quite nicely. I feel like the purpose of  the song could have been reflected more heavily on the style of choreography, to emphasize it being “one of a kind.” Doing so would require less of the common hilarity in the music video to be exchanged for more dance scenes / sequences, something I wouldn’t mind in future G-Dragon videos. But then again, if that was so it wouldn’t really be a true G-Dragon video then, would it?

Rap: 10 / 10

If I were to rank Korea’s top five rappers, G-Dragon would easily be in the top three if not top two. With nearly every release, he continues to showcase his dominance and talent. This song in particular is a little weird since it’s got a slow intro that suddenly picks up into a blitz. G-Dragon’s rapping voice for the most part is low which is good (in contrast to his singing voice). I’m kinda surprised I can’t really think of much more to write about the rap, it’s solid and pretty easy to listen to, if you can keep up with him, that is.

Music Video: 9 / 10

This music video is everything you’d expect a G-Dragon video to have and a little more. From the wacky hairstyles, to the pseudo-creepy backup dancers (both male and female), to the animals, to the strange sets, to the graphic hats, this is definitely one damn good music video. Unlike with 2NE1’s “Can’t Nobody” and the random dog, GD actually has a bear when he’s talking about it and the tiger matches with the fancy stripes GD sports. The children’s cameos throughout the video are also a cute addition, especially in the beginning where they’re talking to teach other through the cup phone. G-Dragon also reveals to us that he’s probably as athletically capable as a brick, since he gets destroyed in boxing and made me laugh seeing his tennis form. Taeyang’s appearance is…strange though. Taeyang doesn’t have any lines and is just there to kinda loaf around (he doesn’t even do any of the choreography) and lipsync G-Dragon’s lines, it’s actually quite confusing to me why he’s there. If anything, include the rest of Big Bang, not just your childhood buddy. Also, the Barbie section is hands down the best and funniest part of the music video.

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Overall: 86 / 100

“Yessir, I’m one of a kind.” Indeed you are, GD. Once again, you’re setting yourself apart from every other rapper and every other male singer out there in Korea with a nice beat, smooth lyrics, and a quality music video. But next time, leave Taeyang at home, okay?