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Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Love Love Love
It’s still the holiday season, right? Right??? I’ve yet to encounter a song and music video that is as good-cheer-spreadable like After School’s 2010 end-of-year holiday track, Love Love Love. This Christmas-themed song is also a window back to a time before Pledis Entertainment’s current crop of artists like Seventeen, NU’EST and Pristin dominated the…
By Seung Park -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Sometimes I Want To Hug You Like Crazy
Autumn Vacation is a two-member Korean indie group active since 2009, and Sometimes I Want To Hug You Like Crazy (that might be the longest-ever title in the history of this column) is from their first eponymous album. The vocalist absolutely makes this track; her name is Im Soo Jin (stage name Cinnamon), and prior…
By Seung Park -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: You Are My Destiny
While modern K-Pop fans will most likely recognize HaHa (full name Ha Dong Hoon) for his work on Korean comedy television, he actually started out his career in Korean entertainment as an artist. And not just any artist—a reggae artist. With 2007’s You Are My Destiny, sampled from Ben E. King’s Stand By Me, listeners…
By Seung Park -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: RBB
Wait, wasn’t Halloween two months ago? If your first reaction after listening to RBB was “gee, this is so different from their last title track,” that’s because Red Velvet has regularly switched between polarized concepts since their inception. In fact, their group name itself is based on this idea: “Red”, which stands for their colorful…
By Seung Park -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Fairy Tale
If a Korean pop song could ever be featured in a Disney animated film, this would be it. Kim Dong Ryul is a veteran of the Korean ballad pop scene, having debuted back in 1994 and dabbled in many sub-genres of soft, soulful easy-listening music since then. Fairy Tale is his latest, and a collaboration…
By Seung Park -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Monsieur
I’ve been on an indie kick recently if you haven’t noticed. I personally blame Haruna Stella Jang, who officially debuted in 2014, is an interesting study. Her musical style is greatly influenced by 90s artists like Yoon Jong Shin and Jung Jae Hyung, by her own admission, and yet, her latest track is an eighties-city-pop…
By Seung Park -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: On You
Growing up, I played the piano. Maybe that’s why I can’t resist a solid piano opening. Sweetch is another one of those artists that I only found after a deep, deep dive into obscure Korean indies on YouTube, much like how I stumbled upon Haruna a few days ago. His discography is mainly easy-listening and…
By Seung Park -
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Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: You’re The Best
MAMAMOO occupies an interesting position in the K-Pop market. They’re not quite billed as an idol group, like, say, Red Velvet or TWICE. At the same time, though, they’re not quite indie, either. They occupy the space in between, and they’re damn good at filling it. We’ve met some of MAMAMOO’s members before, in solo…
By Seung Park