Kotaku East Archives - Page 64 of 501

K-Pop Pick Of The Day: Dally

If Sistar had to die for Hyolyn to live, that might be something I would eventually come to terms with. Hyolyn is probably one of the few K-Pop artists that I could compare to, say, Beyoncé and not feel a small twang of guilt. She has a stage presence that compares to precious few others…

By Seung Park Published April 24, 2018

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K-Pop Pick Of The Day: Give Love

Akdong Musician (sometimes stylized as AKMU) is like nothing else in K-Pop, which is honestly some of the highest praise anyone can give to a K-Pop artist. This brother-sister duo of Chanhyuk and Suhyun rose to fame through season 2 of K-Pop Star, a talent elimination show, and promptly signed on to YG Entertainment. Since…

By Seung Park Published April 19, 2018

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K-Pop Pick Of The Day: EASY

MAMAMOO’s Whee In has gone solo, and the world is a better (and jazzier) place for it. Given that MAMAMOO tends to favor jazz in its many incarnations for their own title tracks, it’s not a surprise that Whee In decided to go in that direction for her solo debut with EASY. And it works…

By Seung Park Published April 18, 2018

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K-Pop Pick Of The Day: Good Day

Watched any K-dramas recently? Then you know this song. Good Day came along at the perfect time for IU (real name: Lee Ji Eun). She had already built up a respectable following with Marshmallow and Nagging, her duet with 2AM’s Seulong, but needed that one last push to propel her to the big leagues. This…

By Seung Park Published April 13, 2018

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K-Pop Pick Of The Day: Nillili Mambo

Hey, look, it’s the perfect workout song! I only slightly exaggerate; Block B’s Nillili Mambo is probably one of the most energetic and motivational K-Pop songs out there. (If you have any more recommendations, shout them out in the comments!) Block B is a seven-member boy band who have endured their fair share of dramatic…

By Seung Park Published April 12, 2018

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Japan’s School Bags Are Expensive and Fashionable

Grade schoolers across Japan carry leather backpacks called “randoseru” (ランドセル). Traditionally, kids have carried one of two colors: black for boys, and red for girls. In recent years, however, that’s changed. This article was originally published on September 3, 2014. Randoseru, which comes from the Dutch word “ransel,” or “backpack,” vary in price. It’s possible…

By Brian Ashcraft Published April 11, 2018

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K-Pop Pick Of The Day: Hands Up

What time is it? It’s 2PM. (No joke: I started writing this post at 2PM for my own amusement. Gotta get your kicks somehow.) At the time of its release, Hands Up was a bit of a controversial track, coming from a group that was known (at the time) for their aggressive choreography, slightly depressing…

By Seung Park Published April 11, 2018

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K-Pop Pick Of The Day: What Is Love?

That sound you’ve been hearing today? That’s the sound of TWICE fans pressing the replay button on this video. (8.2 million views at the time of this writing, Jesus.) As you might’ve guessed, TWICE — far and away the nation’s most popular girl group right now — has returned with What Is Love?, their newest…

By Seung Park Published April 10, 2018

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K-Pop Pick Of The Day: A Song For First-Time Lovers

To fully appreciate A Song For First-Time Lovers, you need to hear the backstory behind this incredibly chill ode to the acoustic guitar. There used to be a television show in Korea called We Got Married, where two celebrities would pair up to show their fictional dating life. It was pure fanfiction-bait, but at the…

By Seung Park Published April 6, 2018

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K-Pop Pick Of The Day: Don’t Be Shy

Did you know Korean reggae was a thing? How about Korean reggae with a healthy dose of melancholy? Now, how about Korean reggae… with a healthy dose of melancholy… with a music video featuring Pokémon cards and spooky dolls, of all things? Reggae is a bit of an experiment for PRIMARY. He’s a prolific Korean…

By Seung Park Published April 4, 2018

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K-Pop Pick Of The Day: Red Flavor

Yes, a South Korean girl group performed in front of Kim Jong Un and his North Korean cadres over the weekend. At least they listened to a bop? Red Velvet debuted in 2014 from SM Entertainment. They originally started off with four members, with Yeri being added a year later. Happiness, their first release, is…

By Seung Park Published April 3, 2018

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K-Pop Pick Of The Day: The Gloomy Song

Jung Hyung Don and Defconn are a comedian-rapper duo, respectively, best-known for their long-running variety program, Weekly Idol. Given the recent news that these two uber-popular hosts will be departing their show, it only felt appropriate to showcase one of their songs. Weekly Idol is something of a halo program among idol group fans; it’s…

By Seung Park Published March 29, 2018

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K-Pop Pick Of The Day: We Like

I have a love-hate relationship with Pristin, the latest girl group to come out of Pledis Entertainment. I love them because, well, they’re great! We Like is ridiculously catchy, and I’ve been waiting for Xiyeon to debut for nearly a decade (you can catch a glimpse of her as a young trainee here at 0:26).…

By Seung Park Published March 28, 2018

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K-Pop Pick Of The Day: Notorious

If you didn’t know SM Entertainment housed a rock band called TRAX, you’re forgiven — it sometimes feels like they’re the proverbial ugly duckling of the bunch, given their erratic, near-nonexistent releases. It’s a shame because if nothing else, K-Pop could use more rock. Thankfully, the benevolent powers-that-be saw fit to release this band from…

By Seung Park Published March 27, 2018

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K-Pop Pick Of The Day: Goodbye For You, Not For Me

Ready to feel melancholy? You’ve come to the right place. It’s time to listen to the ultimate break-up song. Standing Egg is a bit of a curiosity in the Korean indie-pop community. All of the group members remain anonymous; if you look them up on Wikipedia, the musicians are simply credited as Eggs 1, 2,…

By Seung Park Published March 22, 2018

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K-Pop Pick Of The Day: Bo Peep Bo Peep

While contemporary T-ara is little more than a footnote in the vast, vast history of Korean pop music, they used to be a driving force behind K-Pop trends in the early-to-mid-2010s, and it all started here with Bo Peep Bo Peep, perhaps the ultimate definition of a “earworm”. The circumstances behind their eventual fall from…

By Seung Park Published March 21, 2018

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K-Pop Pick Of The Day: Wedding Dress

All of the five men that comprise Big Bang have gone on to enjoy solo careers of various levels of success. While G-Dragon may be the most prolific (and successful), one of my favorite songs to come out of their solo experiments is Taeyang’s Wedding Dress I love pop songs that feature piano in a…

By Seung Park Published March 20, 2018

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K-Pop Pick Of The Day: Return

Lee Seung Gi may be one of the most prolific Korean celebrities of our generation. He started off as a singer but soon branched out to find success in both variety show hosting and acting. You might’ve recognized his face from popular shows like 1 Night 2 Days, or from K-dramas, like the rom-com My…

By Seung Park Published March 16, 2018

Kotaku East

K-Pop Pick Of The Day: Knock Knock

I’m sure some of you were wondering: when the heck is Twice going to appear on this column? Well, the time has come, and here we are. Twice debuted in 2015 under JYP Entertainment, one of the “big three” K-Pop agencies (next to SM and YG Entertainment), and rocketed into stardom almost immediately with a…

By Seung Park Published March 14, 2018

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K-Pop Pick Of The Day: Chau Chau

If you’ve watched any sort of Korean television show in the past ten years, chances are you’re familiar with this 1997 track in some form or another. Deli Spice is a pioneer of modern Korean indie rock, bringing light to this genre at a time when the commercialization of mainstream, produced K-Pop was fully underway.…

By Seung Park Published March 13, 2018