Author: Denise Coley
Six Bomb’s “Becoming Prettier” a Failed Gimmick If you’re a nugu girl group, what would you do to try to gain relevance in a cutthroat K-Pop industry? Naturally, many would “train harder” or “release better music” or “come out with better concepts to get noticed.” If you’re Six Bomb, a group that debuted in 2012 with “Chiki Chiki Bomb,” you’ll do the latter. Six Bomb returned to the K-Pop scene in 2016 with the panned viral song “Wait 10 Years, Baby,” the track that only went viral thanks to their gimmicky, raw chicken-colored body suits. Internationally, the MV solidified stereotypes that…
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Lives Up to Hype On March 3, 2017, Nintendo released The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (BotW) for the Nintendo Switch and Wii U. Months prior, Nintendo hyped and teased the game in spectacular fashion, appeasing the appetite of gamers and longtime Zelda fans alike. Nintendo delivered as the game is as beautiful as promised with enhanced game play, an expansive world setting, and nice features that bring BotW to life. Pros For starters, Nintendo created a beautiful, expansive land that is absolutely breathtaking. The rich, lush landscapes are lively and teeming with activity…
The Korean-Cuban history is still nowadays, a subject which is not widely spread, although these two nations share in common, an important past. It all starts in 1905, when 1,033 Koreans left their home to Mexico to search for a better life. They set sail from Incheon in South Korea, arriving in Mexico’s Yucatan after one month, only to find that their dream land was a poor field with hard labor work. Among the demographic of this large group, there were 31% of children (below 20), 68% of adults (20-50) and 1% of old (above 50). Rising another hope, in…
Taiwan is an archipelago resides across from China. Though small, it packs quite an impact on the international bboy scene. While its Asian competitors, such as Korea and Japan, have undergone what we refer to the “phoenix” metaphor years ago, Taiwan has just begun to experience its boom. Unlike Korea, which is now known as the country that produces machines with inhuman execution of power moves, or Japan, now known as the most innovative country when it comes to originality, Taiwanese bboys do not aim to be the best at just one thing. Instead, the bboys in Taiwan observed and…
Top 5 Fashion Trends in China “Your fashion style defines who you are.” If we give fashion a definition, it can be divided into 18 different styles under 5 catalogs: Liberal, Classical, Casual, Natural and Regional Styles. The top 5 fashion trends nowadays in China, among a total of 18 styles which include Hippie, Bohemia, Gothic, Lolita, Hip-hop, Mori girl, etc. Most of the time these styles don’t show up alone, a combination of styles gives an extra taste of flavors. No.5 Baroque style – classical and luxury Baroque style can be originated back from 16th to 18th century in…
Being a big fan of SHINee for about 8 years now I was very excited hearing about their upcoming concert. The atmosphere was great from waiting outside talking with more Shawols (SHINee fanbase name) till in our seats moving our heads to the music. The following songs were played at the concert in order below: 01. Hitchhiking 02. Why So Serious 03. Juliette 04. Prism 05. Replay (remix ver.) 06. Hello 07. Odd Eye 08. Feel Good 09. Sherlock (clue + note) 10. Goodbye (taemin solo) 11. Ring Ding Dong 12. Lucifer (remix ver.) 13. Selene 6.23 14. Aside 15.…
VARSITY is a new K-Pop group consisting of 12 gentlemen including 7 Korean and 5 Chinese (one of them is a Chinese-American hybrid). Recently launched on January 3, 2017, VARSITY works under a joint partnership with both Korean Global K Center Entertainment (GKC) and Chinese Hi Media Ltd. To make their debut more official, they released their first, and so far the only single “U R My Only One” just 2 days afterwards, alongside with individual and group images, dance practices, biographies and a bunch of teaser trailers. Active news can be found on their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Fan…
Top 5 Chinese Pop Artists Chinese Pop has taken in a lot of influence from the American and western countries. It is a reflection of the growth of culture, economy and politics, which has a very strong national feature. These top 5 Chinese Pop artists that I am going to recommend, no matter where they were born or grown up, are the most talented pop artists that have or had a career in China and revolutionized Chinese Pop. No.5 Faye Wong (王菲 Wang Fei) – the diva of pop Faye Wong was born in 1969 in Beijing. She is a Chinese…
As a country with over 5000 years of history, China has always been a mysterious existence for the rest of the world, the flying Kong Fu, the Chinese food, the culture and the old architecture has attracted millions and millions of tourists every year. Here I am going to recommend you the top 5 places to visit while in China, to discover the beauty in the biggest eastern country. No.5 Shanghai – an oriental pearl in the east Shanghai is a very modern international city with a lot of Chinese traditional culture. For hundreds of years, it has been the…
By Drew Farmer Twitter: @DrewMFarmer Manny Ramirez is like the old west gunslinger unable to put away his gun and holster. The baseball great who rose to prominence with the Cleveland Indians before becoming a household name as a member of the Boston Red Sox is at it again; only this time on the other side of the world. Ramirez, now 44, is suiting up for Japan independent baseball club Kochi Fighting Dogs in an attempt at another baseball comeback. The designated hitter hasn’t played since 2014 when he spent a season as a player-coach for the Chicago Cubs’ triple-A…
The National Basketball Association, also called the NBA, is a professional basketball league in the U.S. The best basketball players in the world all strut their stuff here. It is also considered the sport of giants with an average height of players being 6 ft 7 (2m 01). NBA teams now pick players from countries like China, Taiwan and Japan. Some FORMER NBA players have also been recruited to play overseas in Asia as well. In this article, we will look at a list of past and current Asian players in the NBA as well as past and current former…
No other country in the world has left their mark in the international bboy scene as colorful as Japan. Originally outshone by their Korean counterparts, the Japanese bboys broke the blight and have outdone other international competitions in recent years. With their creative style and explosive dynamics, Japanese bboys are a force to be reckoned with. Among the Japanese scene that boasts a sea of talents, these 5 Japanese bboys made their names echoed on the world stage. Bboys and bgirls on this list are mentioned because of their achievements from 2016 to the time when this article is published.…
On March 7, 2017, B.A.P and their leader Bang Yongguk, who has been on hiatus for personal health reasons, returned with “Wake Me Up.” Since its release, feedback for the track has been overwhelmingly positive as the song and the Rose single album continues to trend on global iTunes charts. In the United States, it was even ahead of Beyoncé and Adele on the iTunes world album chart for some time. On Facebook and Twitter, the praise continues with fans and non-fans of the charismatic group encouraging everyone else to watch the video. Twenty-four hours following the release, #BAP_WakeMeUp continued…
For those that don’t know, Makestar is a sort of crowdfunding site made for Kpop groups. Companies post a group’s information, usually about a comeback or item for sale, and allow fans to donate money with perks attached to higher donations. Makestar’s home page For example, Stellar, have a project for a ‘Fan Special’ albums that is currently on-going. As you can see below, they have exceeded their project goal by more than $40,000. Some of the donation perks include Honorary Producer for the most basic donation($0.99) all the way up to invitations to Stellar’s showcase, music video filming and…
It seems February was the month of TWICE and BTS. With their songs being monster hits on the charts, it’s easy to overlook some of the other releases. February was a surprisingly strong month for K-Pop artists even though February is typically a ballad month. Let’s look at the ten songs that caught our attention. For our list, music charts and YouTube views don’t count; we only go by the songs themselves. Of course, our list may be way different than yours! Honorable mentions: Red Velvet “Rookie,” Cross Gene “Black or White,” Day6 “You Were Beautiful,” Block B “Yesterday,” Grace…
Clean It Zero is one of those products that people constantly rave about. From its cleansing abilities to its scent, beauty fanatics consider it a top-notch cleanser that should be a staple in everyone’s makeup drawer. After trying it for the first time, I will agree as I now wonder why it wasn’t a part of my skincare routine before. Banila’s makeup remover is gentle, light, and thorough and a real treat to use. Packaging I ordered the original Clean It Zero, so my packaging was pink and feminine. The product comes packaged nicely in a watercolor-esque box. Inside the…
JYP Entertainment’s chart-dominating girl group TWICE returned with “Knock Knock” on February 19, 2017. Since its release, “Knock Knock” received 60 perfect all-kills, and the MV became the fastest K-Pop MV to 30 million views on YouTube. With another hit on their hands, TWICE cannot be stopped even though they have many antis and naysayers who call them “flops” and “untalented artists.” Meanwhile, TWICE get the last laugh as they quickly become a chart-dominating, worldwide-recognized super group. Accolades aside, looking at “Knock Knock” objectively, the song isn’t as strong as TWICE’s debut runaway hit “Like Ooh Ahh” and follow-up track “Cheer…
For many KPOP fans, attending a fansign is the ultimate goal. For those unaware, a fansign is an event, usually held in Korea or Japan, excluding special events, where fans have the opportunity to talk to their favorite group while getting an album signed personally to them. For foreign fans with limited access to groups in their home country, this seems like a dream come true. However, gaining admission to one of these events can be extremely difficult and expensive. Fansigns are ran by lottery and purchasing one album gains you one entry. For some groups attending a fansign is…
SF9’s Jaeyoon is being accused of blackface after uploading a photo of his face covered in black paint. The photo was posted to Twitter after a V-App video where members of SF9 painted each other’s faces. The original tweet was posted to SF9’s main twitter account and caption “Everyone, it’s Jaeyoon. Can you….see me? I am right here kekeke” The tweet has since been taken down and many fans are requesting an apology from the group. Do you think this was blackface or just something accidental? —-Ke’Anna Bullard
On January 17, 2017, CLC released their mini album Crystyle. Unfortunately, the album did not get the love it deserved domestically despite the love and rave reviews many international fans provided. CLC are fiercer and edgier thanks to HyunA (yes, former 4Minute member HyunA) working alongside her hoobaes, but it also means some of the members have adopted HyunA’s high-pitched, nasally rap. With that aside, Crystyle is a strong album that helps get 2017 kicked off in the right direction. What’s impressive about Crystyle is that the album is multi-faceted. While CLC came back with a hip-hop concept with “Hobgoblin,” Crystyle also…