History to star in Loen TV’s Short-Com “Tory Tory Bang Bang”

 

Rookie group History will be starring in LoenTV‘s Short-Com TORY TORY BANG BANG. It is described as a show “stronger than a sitcom, funnier than web-toon, and even funnier than gag-concert”. The first episode will be shown on June 7, 2013 on LOEN Entertainment‘s YouTube channel.

Check out the preview below:

Are you excited to see another side of Song Kyung Il, Na Do Kyun, Kim Si Hyoung, Kim Jae Ho and Jang Yi Jeong?

Sources: (News & Video) – LOENENT; Photo – History

About author

icesee

Hi! It's me, icesee, hellokpop writer since Oct 2010. Blogging has been my favorite hobby for about 10 years now. Fashion, video-making and organizing events are also my interests. My favorite Kpop artists are BIGBANG esp. G-Dragon, 2NE1, C-CLOWN, Lee Seung Gi, MBLAQ, SISTAR, EXO and a whole lot more. Above all else, Jesus is my superhero! You can reach me at camille@hellokpop.com ^^

View all posts by icesee

'); (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;} js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); } }); $.post('http://www.hellokpop.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php', { action: 'fbc_ping', post_id: '41641', nonce: '9019dbfb9e' }); })(jQuery);

Join the discussion

[News] Hyori Vs 2NE1 CL, 'Surprising Similarities'

[News] Hyori Vs 2NE1 CL, 'Surprising Similarities'

With Lee Hyori and CL slated to go head to head as the two biggest female solo artists, their surprising similarities are noteworthy.

First of all, the titles of their songs are nearly identical. Lee Hyori's is "Bad Girls" and CL's first solo debut song will be "The Baddest Female."

Second, they both have been the leader of a 4-member female artist group. Lee Hyori is now years removed from her days as FIN.K.L, whereas CL is still an active member of 2NE1.

Lastly, they are trendsetting fashionistas that garner a great deal of attention and camera lenses. Lee Hyori is one of the original fashion leaders of K-pop who has always defied to be put in a box when it came to clothing. CL is the up-and-coming fashionista unafraid to try completely new looks.

CL's "The Baddest Female" is reported to have an extremely slow beats per minute at 70 and will be similar to traditional hip hop music, whereas Lee Hyori's album, already released, moved away from heavy hip hop.

M/s : kenvilthomas@kpopupdates.com

[News] T-ARA N4 And American Hip-Hop: Could This Work?

[News] T-ARA N4 And American Hip-Hop: Could This Work?

The ladies of T-ARA N4 are back in Korea after a trip to the US to meet with various musicians and producers.

In a press conference on May 20, the group discussed their experience and upcoming plans for US promotional activities.

It has been decided they will return to the US on May 25 to perform as the opening act at Chris Brown's solo concert in Las Vegas.

Jiyeon elaborated by saying, “We are very nervous but we want to show our good side in our first performance in the US.”

It was further revealed that T-ARA N4 signed with Empire Records to release “Jeon Won Diary” in the United States. “The remake of 'Jeon Won Diary' will be released in five versions,” said Lee Jintaek, Core Contents Media's head of overseas marketing. “It will include rapping from Snoop Dogg, T-Pain, Ray J, and Chris Brown.”

While the ladies are still planning on singing their parts in Korean, the rap verses by the famed American hip-hop artists will be entirely in English. The song is scheduled to be released in June.
The plan is also that T-ARA will attend the BET (Black Entertainment Television) Music Awards at the end of June.

The love calls received by T-ARA come in the wake of many other K-Pop artists getting recognition in America. Most notably, YG Entertainment's popular girl group, 2NE1, recently collaborated with Will.i.am and performed on stage with Snoop Dogg at his concert in Seoul earlier this month.
While 2NE1 are an obvious choice for a hip-hop collaboration, they have that hard edge and already incorporate a lot of hip-hop elements in their music, there remain a few doubts that T-ARA can pull it off.

“Jeon Won Diary” will be a good test to see if T-ARA N4 really has the ability to break into the US market, and it will definitely be interesting to see how the song is adapted to the styles of each hip-hop artist expected to collaborate with them.

[embedded content]
The singles released by the idol group as a whole (not just the N4 sub-unit) are certainly catchy, easy to dance to, with good solid beats – making it plausible that they could switch gears to a add in more rap elements.
[embedded content]
“Sexy Love” brings up another advantage T-ARA has – they are sexy. Sexy dancing ladies have always been a mainstay in American hip-hop. Usually they are confined to the background (with the exception of a handful of attractive female rappers), the new opportunity to work in the States may give T-ARA the chance to expand the idea of popular hip-hop in America, to break entirely new ground.
However, it is songs like “Bo Peep Bo Peep” and the Japanese single “Bunny Style” fuel doubts from critics, who claim the group's image is "too cute."
[embedded content]
[embedded content]
But, one should also keep in mind that the intended audience for these songs is entirely different than the market T-ARA N4 is aiming to enter with the re-release of “Jeon Won Diary.”
What it all ultimately comes down to is image. If the appearance is right, the music will easily be adaptable to any styling or tweaking. And especially if you consider T-ARA's “Lovey-Dovey” video – a dance club hit that proves these girls definitely have the ability to show off their their naughty sides.
[embedded content]
Good luck, T-ARA N4!

M/s : kenvilthomas@kpopupdates.com

[News] 2NE1 Park Bom, In Love With Kim Min Yool "So Cute I Want To Be His Fan"

[News] 2NE1 Park Bom, In Love With Kim Min Yool "So Cute I Want To Be His Fan"

Girl group 2NE1's Park Bom fell in love with Kim Min Yool.

Today, Park Bom posted on her Twitter, "Oh my god today's 'Dad! Where Are You Going?' is so good. Did you see Min Yool? So cute. What do I do I want to be his fan."

This week's MBC "Dad! Where Are You Going?" was sibling special and Kim Sung Joo's second son Kim Min Yool came out, revealing his cuteness.

Internet users who saw this commented, "Kim Min Yool was so cute," "Park Bom fell in love with him too," and "I understand why."

Photo Credit: Park Bom Twitter

M/s : kenvilthomas@kpopupdates.com

Roundtable: Music To My Eyes

Tweet

music

Roundtable: Music To My Eyes

Written by Seoulbeats On May 15, 2013

Hello and welcome back to another Seoulbeats Roundtable!

B1A4‘s latest MV has sparked much discussion; and during the conversation on Seoulbeats, one of our readers, smo_ore, asked us if there has there been a MV which has dramatically improved our liking of a song? If this is true for you, what was it about the MV that made the song click for you?

We put their question to the team and these are the answers we received.

Shweta: This is really a hard question because either one, you have to like the song before liking MV or two, you tend to listen to a song for the first time by watching the MV. Therefore, finding an MV that made the music experience significantly better is not too common. That said, K-pop is a very visually dominated musical genre (it sound weird when I say it) because the performance can do a lot to affect our perception of a song. A recent example would be SHINee‘s “Why So Serious?” a song that is terrible, but made better by SHINee’s live performance skills and energy. The only problem is, the MV was bad too, so that might debunk everything I just said.

Now to actually answering the question: An obvious pick would be BEG‘s “Abracadabra” because that MV took that song to all sorts of heights I would have never imagined just by listening to the song (I guess “Gangnam Style” fits this category too…though I don’t love that song per se) A unique favorite of mine is Kim Hyun-joong‘s “Lucky Guy” which is a song I don’t think I would have liked as much without the MV. For the longest time, I never understood why people loved Hyun-joong so much, and that was the MV that made me understand. He’s certainly charming, and I thought the storyline was entertaining and added some depth to the song. Not the “Cleansing Cream” kind of depth, but the retro feel of the MV helped me enjoy the song more.

Leslie: Watching a MV helps me like a song more, but it rarely is a dramatic improvement to me. Usually I already like the song at least somewhat before I watch the MV, like Shweta mentioned.

A current example that would be close is B1A4′s “What’s Going On?” because the song is a bit disjointed to me, but the MV capitalizes on that and works well with it. But I also have to admit that I kind of listened to that song enough times to fall in love with its weirdness despite feeling like it doesn’t really work as a song.

I think the best example for me would be “Standing Still” by U-Kiss. I really did not like the song when I first heard it, but when I watched the MV, I actually started to like it. I come from a dance background so that’s often what sells a MV for me, and I really enjoyed the choreography for “Standing Still.” Plus, it helped that AJ (my bias) was back with the group.

But those are both exceptions for me because more often than not, I’m disappointed with a MV for a song because of the dance or concept or something else.

Ambika: Like Leslie, if a music video makes me like a song, it’s because of the choreography, especially since decent story lines aren’t around often. That’s probably why I like a lot of SHINee and Beast‘s music videos, and some of that carries over into their songs.

But a music video that really brought more meaning and made the already good song better was SHINee’s PV for “1000 Years, Always By Your Side.” That is probably one of the only videos to actually bring tears to my eyes from how sweet it was, and it definitely made that song one I listen to more regularly.

Amy: MVs only make songs better of I didn’t like the song that much to begin with and then I got to see it in conjunction with choreography. This was 100% the case with f(x)‘s “NU ABO.”

Since we’re talking about visual experience, though, I’ll cheat for a little and talk about practice videos. (Go me, for always bringing on tangents!) The MV for U-Kiss’ “Stop Girl” didn’t do much for me, but the practice video just brought the song from an 85 to a 250 for me.

Lindsay: I’m going to go ahead and say it: “Gangnam Style.” I actually prefer “Gentleman” as a song, I’ll listen to it anytime with just the audio, but “Gangnam Style” isn’t as appealing to me music wise. Without the initial shock and hilarity of the music video and the association with the horse dance it just doesn’t do much for me. Sure, it is still catchy, but that is definitely one MV I’ll take over the song any day.

Shweta: Lindsay, though I really don’t like either song, I’ll have to agree with you on that one. “Gentleman” is kind of the foil to “Gangnam Style” since I think the MV does nothing to help “Gentleman” though “Gentleman” is more of a “song” than “Gangnam Style” is.

Mark: MVs that bring forth a deeper meaning to the song certainly improve my perception of the song’s quality. The best examples are “Ugly” by 2NE1 and “Sixth Sense” by BEG. As songs, they’re decent and lyrically subdued, but when they’re combined with the overflowing symbolism in their respective MVs, the themes conveyed become magnified tenfold, leaving us with a chilling and daunting critique of society and media. It’s rare to find a MV that will evoke such a critical degree of social commentary as these two, but “Cleansing Cream,” also by BEG, and “Pray” by Sunny Hill certainly falls into this category.

As for dance practice videos, I’m won over every time I watch Teen Top‘s sophisticated choreography. In the case of “To You,” I was won over by watching a Waveya cover of their choreography.

Gaya: Funny you mention Teen Top, Mark, because their MVs have the opposite effect on me; I enjoy their songs much more without the visuals, which are often bordering on creepy. if anyone has suggestions for Teen Top MVs that I might like, send them my way.

And being a very visual person myself (as in, my understanding of the world is in a visual context, I am not a visual), I find that, unlike Shweta, Leslie and Ambika there are MVs which make me appreciate a song much, much more. A recent example of this would be Lee Hi‘s “It’s Over:” I found it meandering, but the cute, bright and funny visuals presented in the MV really improved my perception of the song. Sure, the MV doesn’t have a definite narrative either, but it was a lot more entertaining and the music suited it.

Miyoko: It’s a good point about dance versions and/or practice videos; if the choreography really complements the song, it can help me visualize the music. Sound elements I didn’t notice before pop, and a lot of times I prefer them to the actual MV. An example in this vein for me would be SNSD‘s “Genie.”

I’m finding this surprisingly difficult, because there aren’t many videos that made go 180 on a song. There are plenty where the visuals enhanced the song, but if I’m talking about a drastic change of heart, usually the MV links to another interest of mine. An example would be 2NE1′s “Hate You.” I love that song, but I’m pretty sure it’s because the MV is animated, and I love animation. This makes it more personal, but that’s what it takes for me to love a song that I find “meh” by itself.

Nicholas: Most of the time, I tend to like a song first before checking out the MV, so the MV really just tilts my impressions a little bit.

There are times though, when the MV really transforms the experience, as in the case of Infinite. “The Chaser” very nicely created the feeling of a guy who would keep sticking by the girl through various abstract scenarios, and the same could also be said of “Be Mine”.

On the other hand, MVs that really played down the quality of the song would be Beast’s “Beautiful Night” and SNSD’s “Bad Girl”. In Beast’s case, a great song let down by a music video that was the result of a budget gone awry, and in SNSD’s case, a great song coupled to a video that could have been shot out of a basement. Yes, I know most J-pop girl group PVs are made on pretty small scale budgets, and it was nice to be a bit humble, but come on! SNSD being the bold new entrant could do well to go big in this case! Given how much they spent on the posters in Shibuya…

Fannie: Really good choreography (showcased in the MV or on stage) can definitely add a lot of value to an otherwise mediocre song… agreed with Amy on how it made “NU ABO” palatable, and off the top of my head, “Lucifer” was like that for me, too.

Another group whose MVs really help to make their music pop would be Orange Caramel, especially their releases tend to be a bit more creatively (or heavily) themed than your typical smorgasbord of K-pop love angst. Of course, since most international fans aren’t fluent in Korean (and let’s be honest, most of the time we don’t even bother looking up the lyrics) we all rely on the MV to show us what exactly a song is supposed to be about.

(Images via: WM Entertainment, Unite Asia Management, EMI Japan, NH Media, Nega Network, YG Entertainment, Woollim Entertainment, Pledis Entertainment, SM Entertainment)

Seoulbeats

More Posts

Tags: B1A4, Beast, BEG, f(x), Kim Hyun-joong, Seoulbeats Roundtable, SHINee, SNSD, U-Kiss

Related Stories:

K-pop as a Means of Advertising

Tweet

idols

K-pop as a Means of Advertising

Written by Shweta On April 30, 2013

If you’ve ever paid attention to the sidebar here at Seoulbeats, odds are you’ve been fortunate enough to be graced by the presence of HyunA and her Toyota Corolla. For those who haven’t, you can probably either take a look to your right— provided it is still there, or check out the screen shot. (I’ve also highlighted the ad for those who don’t think the car is a big enough giveaway.)

It’s not all that surprising to see K-pop idols take over a significant sector of the CF industry. CFs are one of, if not the biggest, money makers for K-pop stars. Starring in as many CFs as possible is a mark of national popularity, as in the case of Miss A’s Suzy and Girls’ Generation. It’s for that reason that we see all of those quarterly, midyear and year-end tallies for celebrities with the most CFs. What is unique in the K-pop sector though, is that you have popular pop music singers sing songs specifically for advertising a particular product. HyunA’s Toyota promotion falls in that category as she has made a music video for “My Color,” a song basically all about being super attractive by owning a Toyota Corolla or something along those lines. To be entirely honest, I’m not quite sure what the song is trying to say beyond product placing through the line “Toyota, places, Corolla, places,” and the excessive repetition of the Toyota tagline, “Let’s go places.” I also don’t claim to understand what the whole “my color” concept actually means. The song itself is pretty generic yet catchy, as long as you disregard the annoying pre-chorus and rap. I actually even find myself humming the chorus from time to time. Regardless of the quality of the song, however, HyunA does sell the car well by being her usual, very seductive self.

[embedded content]

HyunA though, is not all that unique in making a music video for her sponsors. 2PM sang a song (conveniently called “My Color” as well) a few years ago while promoting Samsung’s Corby Phone. Complete with the always compulsory “JYP” whisper at the beginning, “My Color” is actually a legitimate song with a legitimate music video that just so happens to be littered with phones and pretty girls. No one would ever notice that it’s really a CF masquerading as a music video, not at all.

I may be joking about the 2PM music video being un-advertisement-like, but there have been occasions where the impact of the music video and song essentially supersedes the product being sold. The most famous of these MV/CF hybrids are the music videos for Girls’ Generation and f(x) who both promoted the LG Chocolate phone through different versions of the song “Chocolate Love.” The song became very popular, and ironically, “Chocolate Love” is often regarded as one of f(x)’s best songs. Another surprising thing about “Chocolate Love” is that the song, which started out as just a CF song, actually became a promoted song for f(x) in non-advertising avenues. They preformed the song live for KFN, Children’s Day, and multiple other events besides the one for LG CYON promoting the phone—there’s even an English version they promoted in France. Another great example would be the popularity of Big Bang and 2NE1‘s ”Lollipop,” which was a song released for the promotion of the LG Lollipop phone that pretty much skyrocketed 2NE1′s popularity before they even debuted.

Sometimes advertisers go as far as to create new musical groups to promote a product. JYJ’s Junsu (while he was in TVXQ), BoA (the main model), Tablo, and a pianist named Jin Bora made the project group AnyBand for AnyCall Samsung, through which they promoted two songs: “TPL” and “Promise You.” The group made a single music video for both songs and also had a concert which included supporting performances by TVXQ and Epik High. In my opinion, the project group sounded amazing together (you literally had some of the best singers and rappers in K-pop in one group) and I only wish there were more releases from them, advertisement or not.

SM Entertainment in particular has been rather bold when it comes to their idols’ promotions for products through music, and are even shameless advertisers themselves when it comes to product placement in music videos and dramas (for example,”Genie” High School in To the Beautiful You.) I’m not entirely sure about how effective those ads are anymore as most of us have been practically desensitized to all the permanent banners on MVs. Although, many of us should remember the initial outrage. My favorite form of SM product placement, though unrelated to music itself as an advertisement, has to be the Girls Generation music videos, where they literally have the product they’re advertising in the music video. Along the lines of the previous examples, SM has also been part of “company-wide” music-based advertising campaigns, such as “Younique” with Hyundai, for which we’ve even reviewed an album and a music video.

Clearly, companies are spending huge sums of money to have K-pop idols support their products just by their presence alone. It feels like every other day that we seem to hear something about Girls’ Generation promoting a product that gets sold out faster than you can count to three just because they promote it. K-pop idols, male and female alike, are always working for make-up companies, and you see their faces littered across beauty shops in Korea and on websites online. K-pop endorsements certainly don’t end there since they promote everything from water filtration systems to school uniforms.

If the faces of idols are enough to sell a product, why do companies need to make music videos and songs which certainly costs them even more? The reason is probably to increase the memorability of the advertisement. As I just mentioned earlier, most people have been desensitized to the presence of the banners in SM music videos due to sheer overexposure. Many of us probably don’t even notice that they’re still there (Yes, I went and checked the latest SHINee video just to make sure.) Overexposure to print ads usually ends up becoming detrimental, because over-stimulation is something people are biologically designed to ignore. ( The reason you tend to smell something strongly only for a short time period, or how you can listen to conversations in a noisy room is very much related to this.) If I see fifty thousand Genie ads on SHINee’s music video, by ad number ten, I’ve already tuned out or have left altogether.

Music, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to work that way. We watch performances of the same song multiple times over, make playlists that we play over and over—there’s even a button on iTunes that plays a single song on infinite loop. Songs don’t just stick to our brains, they stay stuck. ”Chocolate Love” and “Lollipop” are still songs I enjoy and associate with the LG phones they promoted, even when the phone isn’t on sale anymore. The beauty of K-pop as an advertising medium is its parasitic quality, wherein catchy songs tend to just not leave, no matter how much one tries. Advertisements have taken advantage of that quality, and to great success. I won’t be surprised if we see K-pop based advertisements well into the future.

Seoulmates, do you find “musical advertisements” to be as successful, if not more successful, than print ads? What are some of your favorite promotional songs?

(YouTube, Images via SM Entertainment, YG Entertainment, J.Estina, Toyota)

Shweta

A Biomedical Engineering Student who writes about K-entertainment. Yeah, I didn’t see that one coming either.

More Posts – Website

Tags: 2NE1, 2PM, Big Bang, BoA, f(x), Girls' Generation, SM Entertainment, SNSD, Tablo, Xiah Junsu

Related Stories:

WBS K-POP STORM Live in Malaysia

SHINee will soon be appearing at the "WBS K-POP STORM Live in Malaysia" concert on November 6th! They will perform four of their hit songs live on stage as the headlining artist group.

Aside from SHINee, artists that will be present include U-Kiss, TEEN TOP, Block B, Girls Day, Dal Shabet, Nobrain, D-unit, and The Gwangdae, who will be singing three songs each.

Event organizers have answered a few frequently-asked questions on their official Facebook, shown below.

1. What is a visual show?
The special visual show is related Wbs open broadcasting. Singers will be on the stage. The name of the poster will be change with a new design and title. It shall be 'WBS Concert K-POP STORM Live In Malaysia'. We will put new poster as soon as possible.

2. SHINEE is really coming or not?
Answer: Yes! Yes! SHINEE is coming. They are already fixed their schedule to the concert. Don't worry about that. You can meet Shinee on 6, Nov.

3. Ticket price, seat and release and so on.
Answer: We will let you know more information about the ticket later.

The concert will take place in Kuala Lumpur's Sunway Lagoon Resort at 6:50 PM. Ticket sales will open October 10th on ticketcharge. Be sure to check out K-Pop Storm's event page, Facebook, and Twitter if you plan to attend!

Source: K-Pop Storm Facebook
Cr: joAnnwashere @ shineee.net 

M : kenvilthomas@kpopupdates.com