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Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Hit
Seventeen’s latest, Hit, is a powerful, thumping, anthem-esque banger of a song that deserves a spot on many a workout playlist and gym soundtrack. The chants at 2:35 are especially motivational, and it doesn’t hurt that the tempo of Hit is at a perfect steady jogging speed. (That is, if I ever jogged.) Seventeen is,…
By Seung Park -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Happiness
This week marks the fifth anniversary of one of my favorite contemporary K-Pop groups, Red Velvet. They arrived on the scene with Happiness in 2014. (Where does the time go?) Red Velvet’s debut wasn’t the smoothest. Happiness came when dissatisfaction with SM Entertainment’s management of their current artists was reaching a tipping point; this was…
By Seung Park -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Summer Night
As we close the book on July and move into August, it’s important to remember that autumn—and its welcome respite from the oppressive summer heat—is still almost two months away. The only thing to do, therefore, is keep on playing those summer songs, and hope they can ease our sweaty suffering a little bit. Gray…
By Seung Park -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: I Am Not Alone
SoRi’s I Am Not Alone is a breath of raw, fresh, emotional air in a K-Pop landscape that often seems suffocated by expectations. Too much in K-Pop, choreography is shackled by rules and guidelines, bound by the realities of line distribution, group formation, and the television camera. (In some cases, idols may even perform a…
By Seung Park -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: You And I
If there was an award for “Song That Would Be Perfect For An Anime Opening”, Dreamcatcher’s You And I would be an immediate contender. Dreamcatcher is one of those groups that are currently treading water in that grey zone between unqualified success and abject failure; their releases never blow it out of the park, but…
By Seung Park -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Shower
It’s always a fun, if slightly down-the-rabbit-hole-esque time whenever the irreverent rock duo Norazo releases a new song. Shower is no different. Shower is basically more of the same thing that Norazo has been known for since their debut in 2005. Even a quick glance at their previously-featured songs on this column, like Superman and…
By Seung Park -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Fan
Growing up as a Korean-American in the Los Angeles suburbs, I was naturally surrounded by karaoke culture. Epik High’s seminal 2007 hit Fan is one of those songs imprinted upon my memories, thanks to that heady era of my youth. As someone who didn’t truly get into K-Pop until my college years (singing along to…
By Seung Park -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Shining Road
Shining Road, from the long-running indie band Sultan Of The Disco, is a retro powerhouse. The video game-reminiscent music video is just an added bonus. Sultan Of The Disco is a five-member band which debuted in 2007. Although it fluctuates, their current lineup consists of Nazahm Sue, J.J. Hassan, Kim Kanji, G, and Hongki (all…
By Seung Park -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: I’m So Pretty
I imagine I’m So Pretty came about when someone asked, “how much brass can you fit into a song?” and the producers took that question as a personal challenge. Not that I’m complaining. NATURE is a nine-member rookie group who debuted in 2018 with Allegro Cantabile, which longtime manga and anime fans will instantly recognize…
By Seung Park -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Follow
If you like motorcycles, fake lightning effects, and a beat that absolutely slaps, Yunho’s Follow might be for you. True Colors, Yunho’s first mini album, released just last month, but he’s been around K-Pop for far longer than that. He debuted in 2004 under DBSK (also known as TVXQ), which means his entertainment career spans…
By Seung Park -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: On A Rainy Day
There are some artists who are inextricably linked to a state of mind, or some kind of inner voice. For me, Younha’s voice is rain. It is the pitter-patter of soft raindrops on umbrellas; the rhythmic gurgle of an impromptu brook as it flows down the cracks of the sidewalk; the melancholy that often accompanies…
By Seung Park -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Love Me
I absolutely love the phrasing in the chorus for Punch’s Love Me. It’s playful, melodic, and somehow more than a tinge of gothic at the same time? Whatever, can’t explain it, love it anyway. The opening piano chords are also a highlight; overall, Love Me boasts a high level of polish and completion for a…
By Seung Park -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Run Devil Run
For some idol groups, their eventual turn to mature concepts happens somewhat gradually, like A Pink or GFriend. On the other side of the spectrum, there’s Girls’ Generation with Run Devil Run Coming hot on the heels of Oh!, 2010’s Run Devil Run was the aural equivalent of whiplash after that saccharine marshmallow of a…
By Seung Park -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Uh-Oh
(G)I-DLE, the winners of the ignominious Worst Group Name Ever Award, is back with Uh-Oh, and it’s a total 90’s nostalgia trip. From the record scratches to the percussion beat to the choreography, Uh-Oh is a love song to that decade when we as a collective society determined that, when it came to highlights, the…
By Seung Park -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Pink Magic
By this point in my life, most of the K-Pop groups I used to religiously follow are either radio silent, a shadow of their former popularity, or have disbanded altogether. So it always comes as a pleasant surprise when I hear news of a long-awaited comeback from one of the previous generation’s greats. During Super…
By Seung Park -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Line 1
My birthday is coming up. Pardon me if this week is melancholic. It’s just my mood at the moment. With some of my very first memories taking place in Seoul (I only moved to the States in the first grade), I have a lot of good feelings tied to its subway. My grandfather would take…
By Seung Park -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Zimzalabim
Red Velvet, who is quickly becoming one of my favorite artists of all time, just released their newest title track, Zimzalabim. And it’s… hmm. Part of the reason why I’m so struggling to encapsulate my feelings for Zimzalabim is, I think, because the song is quite literally all over the place. It kind of reminds…
By Seung Park -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Step By Step
It’s been awhile since we’ve featured a classic girl group pop ballad, in the veins of Gfriend’s Me Gustas Tu or A Pink’s No No No. Oh My Girl’s Step By Step is one of the better examples of late. Step By Step is one of the B-sides from Oh My Girl’s 2016 repackage album,…
By Seung Park -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Run
It’s summer. You’re working on your beach body. Jogging seems like an easy way to do it. Your running soundtrack would benefit from the inclusion of Younha’s Run The rhythmic drums, set at a perfect allegro pace, mimic the steady beating of feet on pavement as best as a song could. I especially love the…
By Seung Park -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Birthday
It feels weird writing the words “Jeon Somi’s debut” in the year 2019, because as far as I’m concerned, she debuted all the way back in 2016 with Produce 101 and I.O.I. But I suppose Birthday is offically considered to be Somi’s first release, which is wild, because, well, what has she been doing all…
By Seung Park
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