girls generation - i got a boy
nothing like starting off the new year with a bizarrely hypnotic kpop, 10 songs in 1, tween friendly, booty shaker. what makes the song even more awesomely hot mess is that all the 9 gals gets a chance to sing/rap and do their eye batting thing. it's kind of amazing really.
unleashing onto the US national airwaves in the past 24 hours, girls generation offered up their brand of catchy watered down pop and collective dance moves to hopefully a nice kpop crossover segway. weirdly, i can't look away even though everything about them screams "factory made". what do you guys think?
i don't know whats been going on with me this past week, but i've spent more than my fair share of time online checking out the girl acts of the kpop (aka korean pop) world. much has to do with the fact that kpop is easily the most influential sound of asia at the moment, fusing very popular music with korean cute meets sassy attitude (at worst it'll only be a PG-13 type performance). plus the fact that the songs are actually pretty catchy and i'm the first to admit my love for a good pop tune. if you're game, check out the following 10 acts that are making waves over yonder in kpop land and tell me you're not humming some of their pop crack by the end of the video!
1. miss a - bad girl good girl
[my favorite of the batch also consists of 2 chinese gals in the foursome. hailing from the jyp family (one of the biggest music labels in korea), it's their mix of great dancing and edgier than most approach that works for me. love this song!]
2. sistar - chronos soul
[their name is supposed to be an amalgamation of sister and star. oh boy..... luckily this song is a wonderful catchy sentimental pop mid tempo ballad that can stand up to the best of western poppery.
3. boa - hurricane venus
[nicknamed the 'queen of kpop' boa is returning to her korean roots after a long run releasing albums in japan and in the US. i'm kind of tripping over the fact that joseph kahn directed this video... cause it's kind of 'meh']
4. snsd (aka girls generation) - genie
[why it takes 9 girls to be in a girl band is beyond me, but these girls are definitely mega popular (their single gee was the #1 selling single of 2009) and have spun their success with variations of the group including a junior members division and also a 'darker edgier' version called black girls generation (kind of dig this one more). their latest incarnation is as SNSD, a japanese version of their korean setup. looks like the group translates very well since their debut performance in tokyo garnered 20,000 kpop fans. as i said, they are big.]
5. secret - madonna
[pulling a bit of a beyonce 'work it out' vibe here. these girls are barely a year out.]
6. narsha feat sunny hill - mamma mia
[ex-brown eyed girl member gone solo, narsha has the distinction of being a tv host and therefore much more quick witted and sassy than her pop peers. she's also kind of raunchy cause she sure is making out with the boy in this video!]
7. nine muses - no playboy
[hm... snsd are 9 gals, this new act also consists of 9 girls... similarity? hell yes!]
8. gp basic - game
[in kpop it takes 6 teens to sing autotune! the youngest of the bunch, these girls are also the most street of them all. heck they use the word 'negro' in the song! what the f?!]
9. chocolate - what to do
[the most girly of the batch, this new act features members from china, korea and the US. the song is also the most summery pop of the current list which makes them different by default]
10. free star - diss
[my least favorite of the batch. the whole song is an autotune mess but weirdly their intro video showcases something more. not sure about the future of this one.]
