SNSD Out of the Blue

So we all know that everyone's promising their comebacks of the new year... SNSD's return to Korea, Dani's debut with T-ara, Sistar19's alleged return... and many more from other groups.

But just two minutes ago, I went on allkpop and BAM - out of no where, Girls Generation's dropped a single. From their upcoming album. No teasers or anything, just here.

No one in the comment sections seemed to be so surprised, but I was kind of like WTF SMTOWN??? NO WARNING???

But omg it's awesome. The song is called Dancing Queen, and it was filmed and recorded in 2008!!! 4 - almost 5 years ago! I really love this song, because it puts all of their vocal talent in the spotlight. In SNSD, sometimes their amazingness is drawn from their looks or dancing or status or whatnot, but the only people who get real singing recognition are about 4 or 5 of them, depending on the song.

So, while this isn't the CATCHIEST song of theirs, I really like it. I can't believe it was filmed in 2008! I mean, I can watching it, because they look like they did then, but it's like... it's like I time traveled to the beginning of their career, watching them release songs as rookies. So weird.

Also, I kind of prefer Sunny with longer hair. Bonus points for that.

Anyways, at the beginning there was a little prologue filmed recently. Then at the end, it sped forwards and morphed into sort of a teaser for their upcoming album. It had them posing and looking absolutely amazing (YURI BABY!!!) with all this exotic hair stuff going on.

The album shall be called "I Got a Boy" and will be released January 1st - when I'm in freaking Mexico!!! Anyways, bursting out of my skin. They look so hot.

Also, there were teaser images for Hyoyeon, who had this really cool iridescent rainbowy color over her regular blond hair. The makeup was crazy. I can't wait for Yuri's image. She looked so hot in the teaser!

This was posted on Youtube literally 3 minutes ago. Enjoy!


I'm going to go see if it's available on iTunes yet.. actually, don't bother. I'll wait for the album. Actually I won't, but I'll wait for tomorrow anyways.


THANKYOU GIRLS GENERATION!!! YOU ROCK!!!

~Julia

Jia Rocks

OMG!!! Jia has a kitten! She keeps posting pictures of it on instagram, and it's so cute! Jia, that makes you awesome!

(Not that you weren't already awesome. This just attests to your awesomeness. Yaaaay, Jia!

Sistar19 Comeback!!!

I just went on Tumblr, and according to Sistarology, Sistar19 will be making a comeback next year, 2013. I don't know if this means January, or before or after Sistar's next comeback as a group, or what.

I'm glad that they're still keeping up with that as a subunit, but it's weird, because they are such a tight foursome... I'll miss Soyu and Dasom :(

Well, I hope they have lots of success. Can't wait for more details!

SPICA

I discovered Spica a while ago, on the Kpop Lyrics site, with their previous comeback "I'll Be There". I'll be there was kind of a bubble-gum style pop song. They seemed very at home with the style, so I just sort of assumed that they were that kind of group.

Well...


nope.

Turns out their past two releases, as well as their most recent comeback, is all sexy and darker and stuff.
They are pretty awesome, but I'm not used to visualizing them as more dark. I mean, even SPICA just sounds so bubly as a name. I'm not sure what it's supposed to mean.

UPDATE: Hello, this is like a month later, and I am here to tell you that SPICA is AWESOME!!! Spica is the name of the brightest star in some galaxy, and so yeah. I found out that Sistar's fanclub was almost named that (cuz it's a STAR) but they aren't.

SPICA's fanclub is named Mercury. Don't know what that makes me. A Mercury? A Mercurian? Anyways they are SUPER FREAKING AWESOME AND AMAZING YAAAAAY!!!

They are all really really talented singers, which you can't always take for granted in kpop. Like they are SUPER great. The lead singer is the Maknae, which I think is pretty cool. I can't tell who's better, her or the leader (who also raps).

My bias is the lead rapper, Juhyun. Juhyun has this really rich, low voice. She can sing too, but I feel like she always has a lot of... substance. Not that the others don't, really, but her voice is more relaxing.

The group has five members, including Jiwon, who was in pre-debut T-ara.

They're a rookie group, but they've already released three singles and a mini album. Wow!

My favorite song is probably Russian Roulette. Painkiller is awesome because it really shows off their vocal amazing-ness, but the vibe of Russian Roulette kind of appeals more to me. It's a really cool music video. At the end Juhyun dies :(. You don't really see that though. The gun goes off and a candle blows out.

So sad...

Anyways, here are there other music videos:

I'll make an official profile for them soon...

Teensplop Kpop Awards

BEST ROOKIE:
Ailee

Runner's Up:
1) Ace of Angels
2) SPICA
3) Lee Hi
4) D-unit


CUTEST MUSIC VIDEO:
Sistar's Loving U

Runner's Up:
1) She'z UU
2) TaeTiSeo's Twinkle
3) Orange Caramel - Lipstick
4) Hello Venus - Venus


SEXIEST MUSIC VIDEO:
There has been a tie for first place between:
Sistar's Alone and T-ara's Day by Day dance video.

Runner's Up:
1) KARA's Pandora
2) T-ara's Sexy Love
3) Girl's Generation - Flower Power


WORST MUSIC VIDEO:
Rania's Style

WEIRDEST COSTUME:

*pending

BEST OUTFIT:

It's currently a tie between:

Miss A's Touch and Orange Caramel's Lipstick

VERSUS

SEXIEST OUTFIT:

T-ara Day by Day - story version

Runner's Up:

1) Sistar - Alone

2) T-ara - Day by Day - dance version

3) SNSD - Paparazzi

4) SNSD - Flower Power

BEST NON-TITLE TRACK:
T-ara's Holiday

Runner's Up:
1) TaeTiSeo - Baby Steps
2) Sistar - Lead Me
3) Miss A - Time's Up
4) Miss A - Over U


SEXIEST KPOP PERSON:
Jiyeon

Runner's Up:
1) Bora
2) Yuri
3) Hyomin
4) Hyorin


BEST CHOREOGRAPHY:
SNSD's Paparazzi

Runner's Up:
1) Sistar - Alone
2) KARA - Pandora
3) AOA - Elvis
4) AOA - Get Out
5) SNSD - Flower Power


BEST MUSIC VIDEO:
T-ara's Day by Day/Sexy Love saga

Runner's Up:
1) TaeTiSeo - Twinkle
2) Secret - Poison
3) T-ara - Lovey Dovey (dance version)
4) Ace of Angels - Get Out
5) Orange Caramel - Lipstick
6) KARA - Pandora


BEST SONG OF THE YEAR:
Sistar's Alone

Runner's Up:
1) TaeTiSeo - Twinkle
2) AOA - Elvis
3) T-ara - Day by Day
4) Sistar - Loving U
5) SNSD - Flower Power
6) SNSD - Paparazzi
7) f(x) - Electric Shock


BEST GIRL GROUP:
Sistar

Runner's Up:
1) T-ara
2) Girl's Generation
3) Secret
4) KARA

Teensplop Kpop Awards Round 2

Time for Round 2! The candidates will be evened out and 5 of each category will be eliminated. At the bottom of each category, we will list the rankings of the eliminated nominees.

THE NOMINEES FOR BEST ROOKIE OF THE YEAR:

1) Ailee
One of the strongest vocalists this year, she disputes the title of "Korean Beyonce" with Sistar's leader Hyorin. Starred in the TV-musical Dream High 2 with Hyorin and Jiyeon, showing off her strong vocal talent in their joint single "Super Star", preceding her debut with the light song "Heaven". Just released her first mini-album, Invitation, two months ago.

2) Spica
I didn't even know these guys were rookies... because they've released like five singles. It's crazy. They all have wickedly good vocal talent, and the main rapper/singers have really juicy, rich voices. Most of their stuff is toned sort of dark and sulky, but they released one bubble-gum style single called "I'll be There".

3) Ace of Angels
These guys are like awesome. The group arrangement is kind of confusing - 8 members, 5 in a band, 7 in a dance group. Their songs are catchy, they're all talented, and they're super unique. Keep fighting your way back to heaven, angels!

4) Lee Hi
Lee Hi is now known as the monster rookie for staying on top of the Gaon charts for a month straight, making all sorts of records, and winning a bunch of shows since her debut. She was the winner of Kpop Star, marking her as the next big hit as a kpop soloist.

5) She'z
She'z has only released two songs. Neither of them ESPECIALLY jumped out at me, but they are all great at singing and performing live, their music videos are bright and energetic, and the member Taeyeon-not-Taeyeon looks like a freaking porcelain doll!

6) D-unit
3 members. Going for a badass-y loner angle. Super talented singers, rappers dancers. Their most recent single, Love Me, is pretty freaking awesome. Includes Boram's younger sister Ram. Who is... dare I say it? Potentially more talented than her sister!


THE NOMINEES FOR BEST PACKAGED ALBUM (EVER)

1) T-ara - Day by Day
Comes with possibly the biggest freaking amazing photo book in a mini-album ever. Comes with great quality pictures of each member, as well as many many pictures from the amazing music video. High quality, sturdy pictures.

2) SNSD - Paparazzi
Want packaging? SM's got packaging. Newspapers from the paparazzi press... photocards... coolness.

3) SNSD - Girl's & Peace (deluxe)
42 page photobook, SNSD diary, 2013 calendar, and cosmetic set.

4) T-ara - Black Eyes
Kind of the same deal as Day by Day, but different concept in the solo pictures, and Cry Cry and Lovey Dovey versus Day by Day and Sexy Love.

5) SNSD - 1st Japanese Album
Comes in this big square box-a-licious maze, with a double zippered purse. Photobook. Awesome photos. Plus I love all the songs which AREN'T ON FREAKING ITUNES.

6) Ace of Angels - Angels' Story
Sturdy, thick, embossed cover encompasses this photobook with an actual plot to it - a plot of angels come to earth! Way impressive for a rookie album. Lots of time and effort in design.

7) T-ara - Best Of, 2009 - 2012
Photobook... DVDs.... CD collections... it's got it all...
Not sure if that counts as PACKAGING though...


THE NOMINEES FOR CUTEST SONG/MV

1) Sistar - Loving U
Cute, pretty girls bouncing around in summer clothes in Hawaii... on the beach... in the pool... roller skating... on slides... what could be cuter than that?

2) TaeTiSeo - Twinkle
With their hand flicks and hair flips and Tiffany winks flying all over the place... the aegyo is spilling over the top without seeming overwellming and stuff.

3) Orange Caramel - Lipstick
Sexy ping pong ball in tight orange jump suits...
...
Okay.

4) She'z - UU
These guys are just super cute, so pair that with a light hearted song in a cute music video, and you get... SUPER CUTENESS!

5) Hello Venus - Venus
Whatever. They're cute, I guess.


THE NOMINEES FOR SEXIEST SONG/MV

1) Sistar - Alone
Sultry, sexy, sullen.... A new concept for them, and they hit in on the nail. Their faces are perfect, the dance is perfect, their costumes are perfect... the shots of in the bar are so freaking sexy!

3) T-ara - Day by Day
The dance is just amazingly sexy. It's not even overly sexy, like Hyuna or anything. Subtly amazingly beautiful and curvy and smooth. Go T-ara!

4) Girl's Generation - Flower Power

5) KARA - Pandora
This is my first experience with KARA, and I am very impressed. From Hara's GIGANTIC FREAKING EYES to the little sexy arm jolts and leg slips, to the break down as the bridge... they are awesome.

6) T-ara - Sexy Love
A song called Sexy Love has to be sexy to some extent... T-ara went with robots. Sexy robots. Sexy robots meaning Jiyeon being sexy doing a robot dance.



THE NOMINEES FOR BEST ALBUM TRACK OF THE YEAR

1) TaeTiSeo - Baby Steps

2) T-ara - Holiday

3) Miss A - Time's Up

4) Miss A - Over U

5) Sistar - Lead Me


THE NOMINEES FOR BEST CHOREOGRAPHY

1) Sistar - Alone

3) KARA - Pandora

4) Girl's Generation - Paparazzi

5) Ace of Angels - Elvis

6) Ace of Angels - Get Out




THE NOMINEES FOR BEST MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR

1) KARA - Pandora

2) TaeTiSeo - Twinkle

4) T-ara - Day by Day/Sexy Love story version

5) T-ara - Lovey Dovey dance version

6) Ace of Angels - Get Out

7) Orange Caramel - Lipstick

8) Secret - Poison



THE NOMINEES FOR BEST SONG OF THE YEAR:

2) T-ara - Day by Day

3) Sistar - Alone

4) Ace of Angels - Elvis

5) f(x) - Electric Shock

6) Sistar - Loving U

7) TaeTiSeo - Twinkle

8) Girl's Generation - Paparazzi

9) Girl's Generation - Flower Power



THE NOMINEES FOR BEST GIRL GROUP OF THE YEAR

1) Sistar

2) T-ara

3) Girl's Generation (TaeTiSeo)

4) KARA

5) Secret

Teensplop Annual Kpop Awards

Tis the season.... for kpop to wrap up it's awards! Youtube channels are tolling their votes, and all sorts of prizes are being awarded for song of the year, best group, that sort of thing. I decided I might as well follow the trend here. The flaw in my plan is that no one can vote, so it's really just me, and then I'll feel guilty...

I could ask my friends... but they don't really know much at all...

I'll work something out.

The point is, I'm announcing the nominations! I might make little award show videos, but I might not if all I can do is screenshots... we'll see.

Here it goes!


THE NOMINEES FOR BEST ROOKIE OF THE YEAR:

1) Ailee

2) Spica

3) Ace of Angels

4) Lee Hi

5) She'z

6) 15&

7) Hello Venus

8) D-unit

9) THE SEEYA

10) Fiestar


THE NOMINEES FOR BEST PACKAGED ALBUM (EVER)

1) T-ara - Day by Day

2) SNSD - Paparazzi

3) SNSD - Girl's & Peace

4) Sistar - Loving U

5) T-ara - Breaking Heart

6) T-ara - Black Eyes

7) SNSD - 1st Japanese Album

8) TaeTiSeo - Twinkle

9) Ace of Angels - Angels' Story

10) T-ara - Best Of, 2009 - 2012


THE NOMINEES FOR CUTEST SONG/MV

1) Sistar - Loving U

2) TaeTiSeo - Twinkle

3) Miss A - I Don't Need a Man

4) Orange Caramel - Lipstick

5) Spica - I'll be There

6) She'z - UU

7) Hello Venus - Venus

8) IU - song

9) Yuna Kim - Super Girl


THE NOMINEES FOR SEXIEST SONG/MV

1) Sistar - Alone

2) Hyuna - Ice Cream

3) T-ara - Day by Day

4) Girl's Generation - Flower Power

5) KARA - Pandora

6) T-ara - Sexy Love



THE NOMINEES FOR BEST ALBUM TRACK OF THE YEAR

1) TaeTiSeo - Baby Steps

2) T-ara - Holiday

3) Miss A - Time's Up

4) Miss A - Over U

5) Sistar - Lead Me

6) Miss A - Lips


THE NOMINEES FOR BEST CHOREOGRAPHY

1) Sistar - Alone

2) T-ara - Sexy Love

3) KARA - Pandora

4) Miss A - Touch

5) T-ara - Lovey Dovey

6) Girl's Generation - Paparazzi

7) Miss A - I Don't Need a Man

8) Sistar - Loving U

9) Girl's Generation - Flower Power

10) TaeTiSeo - Twinkle

11) Ace of Angels - Elvis

12) Ace of Angels - Get Out




THE NOMINEES FOR BEST MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR

1) KARA - Pandora

2) TaeTiSeo - Twinkle

3) Psy - Gangnam Style

4) T-ara - Day by Day/Sexy Love story version

5) T-ara - Sexy Love dance version

6) Sistar - Loving U

7) K-will - Please Don't

8) T-ara - Lovey Dovey dance version

9) Ace of Angels - Get Out

10) T-ara - Lovey Dovey story version

11) Miss A - I Don't Need a Man

12) Orange Caramel - Lipstick

13) Secret - Poison

14) Girl's Generation - Paparazzi

15) Spica - Lonely

16) Miss A - Touch

17) Ace of Angels - Elvis


THE NOMINEES FOR BEST SONG OF THE YEAR:

1) Ailee - I'll Show You

2) T-ara - Sexy Love

3) T-ara - Day by Day

4) Sistar - Alone

5) Ace of Angels - Elvis

6) KARA - Pandora

7) f(x) - Electric Shock

8) Sistar - Loving U

9) TaeTiSeo - Twinkle

10) Girl's Generation - Paparazzi

11) Miss A - Touch

12) T-ara - Lovey Dovey

13) Girl's Generation - Flower Power

14) Miss A - I Don't Need a Man

15) Spica - Lonely


THE NOMINEES FOR BEST GIRL GROUP OF THE YEAR

1) Sistar

2) T-ara

3) Girl's Generation (TaeTiSeo)

4) KARA

5) Secret





Okay... sooooo... this is the first round! Most of the categories have an even fiveable number of nominees, but some don't. For the next round, categories with candidates of 12 and over will be rounded down to 10, and under that down to 5.

After the next round, categories at 5 will remain so, and categories of 10 will be once again lowered. At the final round, there will be individual descriptions of each nominee in each category.

Good luck to all our contestants!

T-ara Won Best Kpop Idol

I don't know what this was for, but T-ara won this big award of Kpop Superior Awesomeness. The 20th Korean Culture Awards! I'm really really glad. T-ara doesn't get enough credit, and Sistar's had its turn.

They've had real boosts of sales and stuff in Japan, though. Personally, I find it really hard to listen to Japanese versions of Korean songs, because even though I couldn't sing the words, I know how they go, and the Japanese sounds wrong.

The girls are in these super spiffy wedding dresses. They look awesome, like the queens they are. Yaaaaaaay! Yay T-ara! That must be really meaningful to them, after they lost popularity over the scandal.

Part of me hates that Areum is taller than Jiyeon... but whatever.

My favorite dress is probably Qri's, but I also like the pink pearly sheen on Jiyeon and Areum's... I mean, they're all amazing dresses. A lot of the photography was crappy, though. And not a single solo shot of Qri! Like, wth!

T-ara also won another award not to long ago... It's this big Japanese Gold Album award. It's super prestigious, and they beat Girl's Generation to earning it. They all wanted the award, but they gave it to Dani, the joining member, to motivate her.

For some reason, this made a lot of people angry. They were like "Dani didn't even do anything on that album and it's stupid and she sucks."

I'm like, it still belongs to T-ara, technically... and honestly it probably makes sense to give it to her. They're all supposed to be of equal value to the group, and maybe they would give it to Soyeon, because she's the leader, but she wasn't the leader the year this album was released, but she is the main vocalist, but we don't want to discredit Hyomin and Eunjung...

In a group like SNSD, it might be easy to decide that Taeyeon gets the prize, but here, it's a lot more nasty to untangle.

Luckily, they have the perfect outlier - Dani! Dani is the new, inspired, joining member, who probably needs the encouragement. She's like their mascot now. I thought it was really generous of them to give that to her, and I expected people to agree with me, but they were really unpleasant towards Dani.

Anyways, many congrats to T-ara! Keep slaying!

Sistar is Officially the Best Girl Group Out There

MAMA is this big thing in Korea. It's basically THE Korean award show/competition/ceremony of the year. Like the Oscars of kpop.  MAMA takes into account a lot of stuff. Chart sales, awards won in little weekly shows, views of music videos, judges' scores, and the popular vote.

You go online and you vote in all the categories. The only categories I really cared about was Best Girl Group and Best Rookie.

The candidates for best rookies that I cared about were:
-Ailee
-AOA
-Lee Hi
-Spica

It was a tough choice for me between Ailee and Ace of Angels, but honestly I'm really really glad that Ailee won. Congratulations! I hope it brings her lots of future success as a soloist.

The candidates for Best Girl Group were:

-2NE1
-Sistar
-T-ara
-Taetiseo
-KARA

And possibly one other group... like 4minute or Wonder Girls or Secret or something.

Anyways, this was really tough for me, because every time I went to my groups' fan sites, they would be like "Remember to vote for T-ara!" or "C'mon Star1! Sistar for the win!"or "Sones! We can still beat Sistar! Let's do it!"

And I'm like "Yeah!" I want to support them all. Honestly, in most of the other voting competitions since, I've been voting for T-ara. I think they unfairly lost a lot of their support, but they deserve it, so I assume that Sistar can take care of itself, and just aim to get T-ara higher in the rankings.

Anyways, Sistar won. Am I surprised? No. Am I happy? Totally. They deserve it. People don't really seem to realize what a big deal they are. I'm kind of sad though, because a year ago, when I found them, they weren't as famous. Alone hadn't happened, or Loving U. It felt more personal. Now I feel like all these cheap Psy-addicted kpop junkies are just going along with it.

I miss my little underrated Sistar!

Anyways, congrats to them. Good luck in the future, other girl groups!

Best Singers in Kpop

1) Hyorin from Sistar

2) Taeyeon from Girls Generation

3) Ailee

4) Soyu from Sistar

5) Seohyun from Girls Generation

6) Tiffany from Girls Generation

7) Min from Miss A

8) Boa from Spica

9) Juhyun from Spica

10) Choa from Ace of Angels


(*Note: This is my personal opinion of who I view as the best singers. To me only the first three are obviously placed. While I am confident that the other seven rightfully belong in the top 10 (of artists with which I have had experience), their placing may not be as exact.

Kpop Mart

OH MY GOOOOSH!!!!!

 I found an epic online market!

Tis called 'Kpop Mart'...

and it's amazing! Way beats Yesasia. For one thing, it has full stock of EVERYTHING kpop related. Even the limited edition stuff.

Second thing - the prices are amazing!!! Even lower than eBay. Shipping is thus far unclear, but looks low. I'm serious, the prices are so convenient. Makes me want to buy the whole thing right now. Like the T-ara Photobook.... costs $27! With minimal shipping!

...

That's so better than anything else available! I expect Kpop Mart to become the Amazon of kpop, squashing Yesasia.

Honestly though, I feel kind of bad. I'm pretty sure Benj is getting me the Photobook for Chanukah... at $40. I think it's my fault for a) wanting something so expensive and then b) not realizing in time that there was a much cheaper option.

I feel like Mom heavily disapproves of the photobook...

It won't happen again! First thing tomorrow I will tell Benj about Kpop Mart! Hopefully he won't see the T-ara price and feel crappy... Like me. I guess It's only really $10 cheaper... but that's a lot for a nine-year old. Especially Benjamin.

How did I find kpop mart? Funny that you would ask.

Dylan, from the Channel of Dylan, does giveaways. Like he'll buy extra SNSD albums and then do a little raffle thing. You enter on Youtube.

This time the prize was.... a free album from Kpop Mart! Free. Three different raffles - Youtube, Tumblr, and something else. 

And... I entered! To enter you had to like the video, be subscribed, and comment as to which member you think has the most flower power.

I've been terrified of commenting before, but I did it this time, totally successfully and under the radar. Now I have the confidence to comment again in the future!

Anyways, I might win. Might. I mean, someone has to!

I feel sort of scared though, because if I do win, it will be before Chanukah, and how can I reasonably not buy T-ara Photobook without confessing my suspicions? Maybe Benj can find some way to talk me out of it.

What will I buy with my free thing? I'd say So Cool... because that's on the top of my list... but why not take better advantage of the free deal? Of course my system is to go down my priority list... but what about expensive Photobooks or video collections that I would never otherwise buy? Let's make a list of those things...

Okay, three SNSD photo books... only the first (and most expensive) of which I really want.

Item: SNSD First Official Photobook

Price on Kpop Mart: $99

(I actually think there might be some cheaper ones on eBay, but whatever)

Item: SNSD Paradise in Phuket Photobook

Price on Kpop Mart: $66

Item: SNSD Holiday Photobook

Price on Kpop Mart: $55

Okay, so kpop mart doesn't have the T-ara collection thing... nor the Sparkle photobook. It does have the Girls Generation complete MV collection for over a hundred dollars... 

That would actually make sense to people probably. Even though I'm yearning for the T-ara book, the SNSD one that costs $60 more is totally the obvious choice.

If I win.

Which I won't.

Which is kind of sad.

Making the Rounds

So, I went and dove into a couple groups I've heard fuss about. 

- f(x)

- KARA

- Hello Venus

I'm content not forcing myself to hype up memorizing all the names and the songs and such. I can still be a fan of their music and their videos.

Let's start with f(x).

Nothing that impressive from them so far. Actually, they had a really spiffy song called Electric Shock, but the music video was a bit... ish.

Jessica's younger sister, Krystal, is in f(x). She's a pretty important vocalist, and I wanna say that she's the maknae, but I might just be making that up. She's cool, and SHE LOOKS LIKE FREAKING YOONA. I mean, it's insane.

The members of f(x) all have really cool names. Amber, Krystal, Luna, Victoria... (and Sulli, but whatever). None of their other songs have struck me that much, but I dunno. They're cool.

Next... KARA!

KARA is cool. 6 members? Or maybe 5... they have a lot of songs that I haven't spent that much time on, but one really cool one that stood out to me was "Pandora".

Up-an-a-ah-aaaa.... so freaking catchy. Love it.

Their dancing seems really impressive. I think they're one of those dance-focusy groups. One of them, I think their face, Hara.... HAS THE BIGGEST FREAKING EYES EVER. You can see it in the music video. Like, Jiyeon has huge eyes, but these are like unnatural.

They are cool. I want Pandora on iTunes.

And finally... Hello Venus!

...

I don't really have anything to say about them. They're cool, I suppose. Rookies. I'm not that taken by their debut, but that's just me. They're supposed to make a comeback soon. I guess I'll see.

Lee Hi

Guess who just debuted?

It's our old pal... Lee Hi! Haha, just kidding. I'd never heard of her before. But now she is screaming to be known! Lee Hi was the winner of this TV show called Kpop Star, in which Asian teens from Korea, China, the USA, Canada, and a few other places participate in a competition designed to pick up the next big hit on the Korean music market.

Only the top winner gets the prize, but the runner-ups are likely to have an extremely good chance of getting a recording deal with some company pretty soon.

The prize is like $10, 000, some cars, some other expensive junk, and a contract with the big company of your choice - SM Entertainment (Girls Generation), YG Entertainment (2NE1), or JYP (Miss A).

Pretty much a dream come true. You have to earn it though. On each round, the un-eliminated people sing a song that displays the best of their vocal abilities, and are judged by judges.

Lee Hi was such a person. Only sixteen, she won Kpop Star only about five months ago, signed with YG, and released her first single just less than a month ago.

Obviously the winner of such a contest has to be amazing, and there was a great flurry of excitement on Allkpop preceding her debut.

I have to say she lived up to almost everyone's opinions!

Let's start with the song itself. Lee Hi has an amazing throaty voice that's pretty powerful, and a remarkable voice range. She gets a lot of emotion in her voice, but it's not goopy 70s stuff, it's just epicness. The song was sort of a jazzy hip hop style that I've never heard in kpop before.

(Prophet Blog was hating on Lee Hi's song because it sounded stupid and old fashioned and lame or something. I think Prophet Blog was not nice.)

The music video was really cool. It's basically her walking around in some retro area making badassy glances at the camera and grooving around with some back-up dancers. A lot of comments have been made about her lack of acting skills. I don't think it's that bad, personally. I mean, she basically has three faces - a blank face, a badass face, and a happy face.

To me this didn't really lessen the overall coolness of the video, so I was fine with it. Nobody (besides Prophet Blog) seems to be causing any negativity over it, they'll just be like "That was sucky acting" and move on with worshipping her.

Also, her first live performance was seriously WORLDS better. I guess YG saw that people were unimpressed and decided to hype it up. Her live performances are really pretty spiffy.

This one song has been at the top of every chart and show for about three weeks straight, which has made a ton of shabbam about various records for rookies and stuff.

Her next single is scheduled to release in two days. I quote Allkpop quoting YG representatives

"There will be no impressive music video, dancers, or outfits with this comeback as the focus will be put entirely on her voice and vocal talent.”

I don't know if this means that there will be a music video at all. Maybe not. It's cool that they're really focusing on her vocal talent. Her last release really did have a lot of cool outfits and sets and stuff.

I hope this isn't a ballad. Ballads bug me. 

The Lull

So a couple weeks ago I posted about how I had missed a few days and wanted to catch up.

I have not met up to my word.

Let me just summarize one point:

...


COMPUTER!!!!


I have more things to say, and I am just going to post them separately in as timeless a manner as I can accomplish.

I have my new computer. I'm on it right now. It is amazing. I don't really feel the need to post about that... but maybe I will anyways. :)

Let's get started!

Awestruck

Here's an email I sent to Clarissa:

Ohmygodohmygodohmygod....

AAAAAAAAAH

Okayokay FREAKING OUT!!!!!

Agh call me call me except i'm about to have dinner but any time after 6:30 CALL ME!!! Cuz i'm SPAZZING OUT


Okay, guess what happened? Like two seconds ago?

I got home from violin lesson and was putting my violin away and Benj was like "I need an idea for a comic in art class" and I was like "Day by Day :P" and he was like "Blargh" and stuff.

Then Mom was like "Julia, there's something for you from Uncle Steve!" (sounding a bit puzzled). (Uncle steve isn't actually my uncle, he's mom's uncle and my great uncle, but whatever. We call him that.)

It was this little card with a bowl of fruit on the front. 

The card said:

Dear Julia,

Perhaps there is something "permanent" but too clear you've wanted which you'd like to use this for, but howsoever you use or save it, I hope it adds some small measure of happiness to your life.

My hope is to see you again ere too long.

Love,

Uncle Steve.


And guess what was in it?

A check.

For.

Freaking.

FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS.


...


AAAAAAAH!!!!

And he didn't even know about the lap top! It's not on facebook or anything... I don't even know how to respond! We're not THAT close or anything... how do I say thank you for something like that.

I had seen the check folded in a square and I was like "Huh, that looks kind of like a check, but nah, it can't be, it's a square!" (Clarissa moment :P) then I assumed it was some weird dollar bill from New Zealand or something that he was sending for my coin collection... I opened it and I was just like OH MY GOD and then I tried not to be like showing it in front of Benjamin so he wouldn't feel bad but he got really excited and ran and told mom.

OMG I CAN BUY THE LAP TOP RIGHT NOW. I COULD GET A NEW ONE IF I WANTED TO. BUT I DON'T. SO HA.


Yeah.

See that email up there?

It's TRUE. I won't say much because I'm tired and it's late, but tomorrow a certain MACBOOK PRO is coming my way...

Woopee! Thank you so much Uncle Steve!

Suppitude

Suuuup!

I haven't been able to post all weekend due to the presence of chemical-sensitive grandomtherly figures, but luckily nothing groundbreaking happened while I was disconnected. Not that much is going on...

Let's see...

I'm almost done with a thing on Ace of Angels that I might be able to post tomorrow....

I haven't been able to watch Flower Power as much as I've been yearning to, and it's still not freaking available on iTunes...

There's a new soloist on the scene named Lee Hi who just scored a couple of records and awards this month with her debut. She was the winner of this big competition to find the next big idol. She has a pretty amazing voice, and I'll give my opinions on her debut, 1 2 3 4, later...

Daylight savings... 11:30 in my head and mom is practicing and I'm kind of half dying, but whatever... Mom's sounding weird and metallic and screechy-ish... not significantly, but the sound is super penetrating right now. I think it's her new bow, I mean I know how she plays.. but god, this is HORRIBLE, my head is splitting...

Oh, I saved myself from ripping music downloads off some blog thing... by ripping music downloads off the blog, dying with guilt, impulsively buying those same songs on iTunes to remove temptation, then deleting the dowloads... that'll make for an epic blog post....

Ugh, Mom, you're amazing, but just STOP... your bow doesn't want to go that high, it's making me sick...

I drew some pretty silly cartoons of 1-Direction for Clarissa's benefit... she's totally OBSESSED with them right now, but I really don't care... I mean, it's great, and I like listening to her talk and stuff; I don't really mind... but I'm just not into boy bands, even in kpop (cuz that's like my thing now)... it makes me feel bad about being so in to kpop all the time though, when nobody really cares.... that's kind of why I started this blog. So I wouldn't have to talk about it to my friends...

I had an iTunes party... that was before I was de-computered, but it can't hurt to post about that, right?

Benj payed me to buy Gangnam Style, but I really regret it, because his dollar can't float back into my iTunes account to pay for songs I actually want... :(


Anyways, posts about most of that crap coming soon! I shall now watch Flower Power and then go to bed. Ugh mom. ughughugh. I'm too tired to be in the room with this... it's ABRASIVE. How can she say that about dad? My teeth feel dead. If I had fillings they would be loose.

I feel bad about writing this stuff but it's just so LOOOOUD. I know it's not her fault but it sounds terrible and I just can't stand it. OOOOOOOOW. BE QUIET. SHE'S NOT EVEN QUIET WHEN IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE QUIET SHE'S FREAKING OVERCOMPENSATING OOOOOOOW FLOWER POWER SAVE ME....