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| My amazing Kpop discoveries from the past couple of weeks... (L to R): Boni, Heenain, The ForM Project (Female or Male), and Go Eun |
There's been lot of releases for the past couple of weeks that I've been listening to that I absolutely love. What's frustrating though is that there's barely anything written in English about the artists who performed these awesome new songs. I guess it's an irony that an industry that's focused on the "Hallyu Wave" (or the spreading influence of Korean pop culture all over the world) doesn't encourage agencies to provide online content for foreign patrons in either English, Spanish or French (which are the three most spoken languages in the world --- dunno if I should include Chinese though hehehe!).
I've found four digital singles which I know everyone would absolutely love. They don't really get as much attention internationally since nearly all four acts are indie artists, and are managed by smaller talent management firms. It doesn't change the fact that they've got awesome music to share to the world!
A couple of things I've got to set your expectations on:
1. Since they're not really as popular as other groups, it's hard to find translations or MVs with English subs for the content (except for one I found online)
2. There isn't much information I could find about them, so I'm mostly posting what I feel about the music. If you have anything you'd like to share about these artists, please write a comment... I'd appreciate to learn more about them.
It's my sincerest hope that in the future, most Korean talent agencies realize that there are a lot of people out there in the world who do listen to Korean indie music, and that we would love to learn more about their artists.
Ok... here's a run-down of the digital singles for the past two weeks that I found interesting. Enjoy!
"Alcohol" by Go Eun (Audio Only)
Released on June 4, 2011
What caught my track's attention was it's strong R&B feel. The beats and the powerful vocal arrangement give the song a certain feeling of desperation. I'm pretty sure that the song touches of some of the common Kpop themes that I've always been mentioning in my past posts, but definitely the delivery for this song is above par!
"이별이 꿈이라면" by The ForM Project (Audio Only)
Released on June 4, 2011
It's frustrating that I couldn't even find the name of the artist/s in this group. There's barely anything written about this group in English, except of the fact they're a ballad group. Although what's ironic is that "이별이 꿈이라면" (roughly translated as "If This Is A Dream, Farewell") is mid-tempo pop-ballad that could pass for a light dance song. I love the synthesized songs that are used in the background of the song that give it an interesting groove.
"1,2,3" by Heenain (MV with Eng Subs)
Released on May 20, 2011
NeuroN music of Korea has a gold mine with this girl! The track is a hip-hop / R&B track about first love, and admitting to the object of your affection your feelings of admiration.
I love the way the MV was created without any of the usual sets that we see in Kpop videos. Everything's shot outside in a natural environment with natural color filters. It's great to see Heenain without make-up --- which is a big risk to play since Koreans are very particular about how their idols look like.
Another thing that amazed me was the fact that the English sub is really part of the MV! Neuron made a great investment in including English subs... hopefully it pays back by having Heenain reach out to a wider global audience.
"By My Side" by Boni (Audio Only)
Released on May 20, 2011
Listening to this track was an absolute joy because not only does Boni have a wonderful voice, but the vocal accompaniment and it's pop-jazz and R&B-esque arrangement was heavenly. The groove of the song is addictive!
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