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Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Roly Poly
For a few months there in the early 2010s, K-Pop went through an unabashedly retro period. That trend started with T-ara’s 2011 sleeper hit, Roly Poly Roly Poly’s own inspiration becomes abundantly clear starting with its album, John Travolta Wannabe, a not-so-subtle hint to movies like Saturday Night Fever. Even the music video looks like…
By Seung Park -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Remember
Another idol group has been tossed into the dustbin of history. This one especially hurts. Happy trails, Nine Muses. In the past, I’ve made no secret of my belief that Nine Muses (well, more like Four Muses by the time this goodbye song came out) was one of the most underappreciated, hidden gems of mainstream…
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Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: DALLA DALLA
ITZY is the newest girl group on the block, and they bring some eye-opening pedigree to the saturated K-Pop idol market. First, they hail from JYP Entertainment, which is reason enough to pay attention. JYP is one of the oldest and most storied agencies in Korea that drove groups like Twice, 2PM and GOT7 to…
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Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Tears Attack
Throughout the run of this column, I’ve noted several Korean reality programs like K-Pop Star, Produce 101, and the like that revolve around making people famous. For every contestant that hits the big time—like Kang Daniel, Akdong Musician, and others—there are dozens more that don’t quite have that “it” quality to get them through to…
By Seung Park -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: We’ll Be Alright
It’s the start of another week. Here’s a soothing indie track to get things started on the right foot. The indie duo OuiOui has been pumping out chill R&B singles perfect for late-night listening since last year. Blueny and Meijee released their first song, Thinkin’ Bout You, in March 2018, and We’ll Be Alright is…
By Seung Park -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Face
No K-Pop band has ever had quite a comeback story like NU’EST has. The five-member band was one of the bigger debuts of 2012, an impressive feat considering that the year was notoriously stacked with high-interest boy group debuts (EXO, BtoB and B.A.P would all debut in that same year). However, NU’EST’s popularity would soon…
By Seung Park -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Childish
Sometimes, you need a break from the flashy, whiz-bang, (over)produced pomp and circumstance of mainstream K-Pop. I’ve covered a lot of indies in this column; and yet, I have a feeling no one will complain if I cover one more today. Especially if said indie song is as chill, comforting, and heartwarming as LambC’s Childish…
By Seung Park -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: I Don’t Need A Man
Every decent-sized agency has a “forgotten” artist: someone under their label that doesn’t quite get the investment that their bigger and more popular labelmates might. SM Entertainment had TRAX and CSJH. YG has iKon. And, perhaps most infamously, JYP Entertainment had Miss A. While Miss A had a relatively short lifespan—from 2010 to 2015—they left…
By Seung Park -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Honey Tea
When I was sick as a kid, my mom would sometimes brew a pot of piping-hot yuzu tea, into which she would always squeeze in a dab of honey. Runny nose? Sore throat? General listlessness? Honey tea was the all-in-one cure. Honey Tea makes me feel twelve years old again, with a mug of tea…
By Seung Park -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: I’m In Love
I’m In Love was SECRET’s last Korean single before their premature disbandment last year. If they had to end—and in my opinion, they didn’t—I’m glad they went out with this one. There were two sides to SECRET’s coin: the energetic, brass-filled side exemplified by I’m In Love, Madonna and Poison—and the kitschy, cute concept they started…
By Seung Park -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Straw
Let’s balance out yesterday’s intensely saccharine, one-dimensional pick with something from the opposite end of the spectrum. Straw’s music video is unsettling, thought-provoking, and defies simple explanation. I recommend listening to Straw twice; once accompanied by the video, and once without. The song itself starts out on an upbeat note (I couldn’t help but be…
By Seung Park -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Q&A
When a major agency debuts a new girl group and said group’s first music video is a love letter to video games, that makes my job a little easier. Cherry Bullet is the new girl group from FNC Entertainment, and as far as girl group names go, we’ve seen worse (remember these poor ladies?). It…
By Seung Park -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Kissing You
The early years of Girls’ Generation contain more than their fair share of saccharine B-sides. Even among those, Kissing You stands out as one of their most unabashedly upbeat. Look at those lollipop mics! Kissing You, released in 2008, is representative—and is in many ways the pinnacle—of Girls’ Generation’s early thematic beats: innocence, naïveté, and good,…
By Seung Park -
K-Pop Pick Of The Day: Beautiful
Korea, and the world at large, seems to be going through a bit of a retro music boom these days, focusing on the 80s aesthetic with both original and cover releases. Stella Jang’s Beautiful is perhaps one of the best executions of this trend I’ve listened to yet. We’ve seen Stella before in this column,…
By Seung Park -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Curious
Clazziquai Project is one of the leading band names in Korean electronic pop, with over a decade of activity spanning multiple full albums, remixes, and collaborations. While the band officially consists of four members—Alex, Horan, Christina and DJ Clazzi—not all of them participate in every song, which leads to a bit of confusion in which…
By Seung Park -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Days Gone By
For their latest release, Day6 decided to go retro (yes!!) with hints of Japanese city pop (yes!!!!!). Day6 is JYP Entertainment’s resident band-style boy group, analogous to Trax from SM Entertainment or CNBLUE from FNC. Bands aren’t very well represented in mainstream K-Pop, which does tend to prefer more traditional performance-style acts. In fact, I…
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Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Written In The Stars
I really need to start paying better attention to what SM Entertainment is doing with their STATION brand, because I totally slept on this amazing collaboration between John Legend and Red Velvet’s Wendy—for almost three months, it seems. I’m also ashamed to report that I had never heard a single John Legend song until I…
By Seung Park -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Butterfly
Do you need some inspiration to get off your lazy butt and do something productive? Here’s the perfect song for the occasion. Loveholics’ history is somewhat convoluted; the band actually started off as Loveholic (singular) in 2003 but underwent a name change in 2008 after some member shuffles. Butterfly, released as a digital single in…
By Seung Park -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Snow
We’re in the thick of winter, so it only seems fitting to feature a track that embodies the season like few other songs do. SURL (설) is a Korean indie band that just released their first extended play last December, of which Snow is its title track. The band consists of four members: Seol Ho…
By Seung Park -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Snail Mail
Younha is back! Snail Mail is only a single, but her fans—myself included—will take whatever we can get. Within her fandom, Younha is (in)famous for spreading out her music to near comedic levels. Among her full album releases, her most recent album came out in 2017, following her Supersonic album, which released in… 2012. Five…
By Seung Park
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