Author: Denise Coley
Valentine’s Day is a day of love for many people, but for singles, it’s a painful reminder of how forever alone we are. All the candy, flowers, and romantic plans can get pretty annoying, but we shouldn’t let that get to us. Valentine’s Day should be a day of celebrating singledom! For Hallyu fans, think of the K-Drama and MV marathons we can have without having to be swallowed up by Axe spray fumes (the mating musk of high school hallways) and lovey-dovey proclamations of everlasting love. Let’s celebrate ourselves and enjoy Valentine’s Day, starting with a playlist. 2ne1 “Hate…
`Texas has been a steadily growing market for KPOP music, with many acts visiting Dallas on tours. That being said, it was only a matter of time before Houston received some of the KPOP love and 12 member boy group Topp Dogg was happy to spread it for the city’s first showcase, the first in a series of three US shows. Fans began lining up outside Bayou Music Center in downtown Houston well before the door opened at 6:30. You could definitely feel the excitement in the air, with fans displaying handmade banners and signs to photographers. Several fans also…
—–Joelle Halon
JJCC – pronounced as J-J-C-C, is the first K-pop group formed under the management of the world’s superstar, Jackie Chan. For many years, Jackie Chan has been a fan of Korean pop music, so Chan took up the challenge to launch a project for a K-pop band that will become the next big, successful group in Asia and the rest of the world. As to the name of the group, the ‘J. C’ comes from the initials of Jackie Chan and the second part of ‘J. C’ refers to ‘Joint cultures’ “Jackie Chan Joins Cultures” when translated. Before JJCC’s five…
1. Sekai no Owari Image: http://girlschannel.net/topics/227411/ They are a Japanese rock band coming into fashion in 2015, which consists of 4 members: Satoshi Fukase, Saori Fujisaki, Shinichi Nakajima, and DJ Love. Sekai no Owari (End of the World) was named by Satoshi Fukase, vocalist right after he experienced a hard time. “Once you’ve experienced the bottom, you have to find a way to go up. So I named my band End of the World to create the strength through the music.” In October 2014, they collaborated with Owl City on a new song, ‘Tokyo’. 2. Miwa Image: http://ticketcamp.net/live-blog/miwa-guitar/ She started…
Music trends shift often from decade-to-decade, and that’s what makes the music world fun. For example, twenty years ago, who would have predicted that J-Pop and K-Pop would have gained worldwide popularity? J-Pop’s popularity stood alone for about a decade before K-Pop rose to the top. K-Pop’s hold on audiences is now coming close to the decade mark—since many consider 2008 and beyond Hallyu’s Golden Era—which could indicate another genre may be waiting in the wings. Many think C-Pop could be waiting to take the throne, but China is still somewhat closed off to Western audiences. Enter the surprise…
In late January, will.i.am and CL hinted at a collaboration via Twitter. This led 2NE1 and Black-Eyed Peas (BEP) fans to speculate that CL will be filling in for Fergie on BEP’s 20th anniversary album. If true, this is another step Asia will take toward further international recognition. In honor of the potential collaboration, let’s look back at other East-meets-West collaborations over the years to celebrate (Snoop Dogg and PSY need not apply this time)! Pixie Lott ft. T.O.P and G-Dragon “Dancing on My Own” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DDpo7qQQDI YG artists tend to lead the charge with collaborations with Western artists. The 24-year-old…
Food is one of the most significant parts in each culture. It is just amazing to try different kinds of food from different countries around the world. Just like how people always think of sushi when they think of Japan, hamburger when they think of America, kimchi when they think of Korea, and so on…. They think of Pho when they talk about Vietnamese food. Pho is the famous Vietnamese beef broth noodle soup. But no, Vietnamese cuisine is not all about Pho. There are still many other delicious dishes. Even though the people from the North, the Central and…
Radio DJs often stand at the forefront of music culture. They get to experience music audiences firsthand to see who reacts to the music and what could possibly be the “next big thing” on the scene. We continue our interview with Big B Radio. In Part One of the interview, DJs Emergency, Typo, And, Rexie, Ben, Kagome, and Lizzie introduced themselves, their interests, and their radio audience. In Part Two, they share their thoughts and observations of how Asian music impacts the world and different cultures. In your country, how big is the Korean Wave, and how much of…
Plastic surgery used to be a very unusual thing, when you tell people you had something done; they would be in complete shock. It seems like that has died down a lot over the last few years. Plastic surgery is now popular more than ever and it’s so common that 1 out of 5 people have gone under the knife. Koreans are known for being beautiful but a lot of times, it doesn’t come naturally. I personally like those who didn’t get something done because I think that natural beauties are the best. I dislike how negative our society has…
In the early 2000s, Asian entertainment culture began its spread to Western audiences. Anime, manga, dramas, film, and music migrated toward the computers of Westerners by way of illegal file sharing and YouTube, creating the boom of which many are familiar. Currently, Internet radio plays a large role in the spread of Asian music culture. Big B Radio is one of the stations leading the charge in the spread of Asian music. Big B got their start in December 2004 through SHOUTcast Radio. The station caters to C-Pop, J-Pop, and K-Pop fans with their different station choices, so any Asian…
In recent years, the music industry in Vietnam has been greatly developed and has become an attractive area to step into. Therefore, nowadays, there are a lot of new solo singers and groups. Some of them are very talented; they make high quality music products with unique voices and performances. They greatly contribute fame to the music industry of Vietnam. My first favorite female pop singer is My Tam. She is one of the most successful and famous singers. Even though, more than ten years have passed in her music career, she still maintains a strong and passionate voice. …
By Chuck Taylor for Kcrush. South Korean pop/rock band FTIsland (a.k.a. Five Treasure Island) has long been a phenomenon at home, since their 2006 debut album ““Cheerful Sensibility,” was deemed the No. 6 best-selling album of the year—while their launch single “Lovesick” was lodged at the top of the K-Pop charts for 8 consecutive weeks. In 2014, FTIsland upped the ante with the release of their latest full-length album “All About.” Writing all of their own songs, the quintet comprises members Choi Jong-hoon (guitar & keyboard), Lee Hongki (lead vocals) Lee Jae jin (bass & vocals), Song Seung-hyun (guitar &…
In recent years, Korean pop music and Korean movies have become really popular in Vietnam. Therefore, Vietnamese fashion is influenced by a lot of Korean pop stars and movie stars, especially young people. Here are a few fashion trends in Vietnam nowadays. 1. Simple youthful Street styles Young people like to wear simple color outfits, but they create interesting and youthful styles. They want to look energetic and cheerful, and also fashionable. For girls, sweaters or t-shirt, tank tops with cardigans, are mixed with high-rise shorts, skirts or skinny destroyed jeans. Boots or sneakers usually look well with those…
2014’s undisputable hit, Taeyang’s “Eyes, Nose, Lips” (ENL), seems to be embroiled in some controversy lately as amateur artist Derrick Bullock accuses him and YG Entertainment of plagiarism. Bullock claims the instrumentals for “ENL” came from his song “Change Me.” Bullock claims he has ownership of the instrumentals and says he has paperwork to prove it. On the now nonexistent MV for “Change Me,” Bullock wrote, “…It [the song] DOES NOT belong to a Korean band — it was stolen from me and used in music in Korea 4 years ago. Before you start telling Derrick he stole this music,…
The Big Three’s artists dominated as expected in 2014, and other non-big-three artists like A Pink, Girl’s Day, BTS, VIXX, Orange Caramel, and B1A4 among others produced many fan-favorite hits that dominated the scene. Of course, there are some hidden gems that barely earned attention. Hopefully, you will give them a chance! Amor Fati “Say the Word” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggCJEFIjGIw Since AOA has seemingly ditched their band concept in favor of sexy, cookie-cutter K-Pop themes, there are very few (read practically non-existent) girl groups who fulfill the girl-band concept. Enter Amor Fati’s “Say the Word” that easily fills the girl-band void.…
As we all know that learning a foreign language, regardless of the language, requires keen interest and focus, as well as rapt concentration. It also requires more exposure to the language as much as possible. But still each language has its own uniqueness in terms of pronunciation, vocabulary as well as its grammar. So here are some very usable tips on the best way of learning Chinese: Tip 1: Chinese is a tonic language. Its four tones are distinctive in meanings. So the learner must have this basic awareness in order to learn Chinese properly. Tip 2: The tones are…
It’s been almost 6 years of listening to kpop. I didn’t like it at first because it was so different than what I was used to. My friend was the one who convinced me to listen to it because she used to be obsessed with kpop back then. My Top 5 Favorite Boy Groups 1) My number 1 favorite boy group would have to be Big Bang. This group really gained my interest and without this group, I probably would have stopped listening to kpop as soon as I first heard it. My favorite songs from Big Bang…
Top Ten Albums of 2014 Besides individual songs, there are many great albums that dominated 2014. In fact, there were so many good albums, it is difficult to choose the most impressive ones without careful consideration. After some diligent thought, here are the top ten albums of 2014! 10. g.o.d Chapter 8 2014 gifted us with returns from a few first generation groups; the returns just made missing the worse feel worse. Chapter 8 gave K-Pop fans a taste of an era gone by and proved age is just a number for g.o.d. They still have the magic. Songs like…
What I found unique about kpop is that there are always a large amount of group members and they each represent something in the group such as lead vocal, lead dancer, visual, etc. I think it’s really cool how all the groups have choreography to their songs. Having different dance moves that go along with the song are one of the biggest reasons why so many people are into kpop. When you’re first introduced to kpop, you might be confused and overwhelmed especially if you’re watching the music video because there are so many things going on all at once. …