Korean Pop!

[holdfast]

your explanation makes complete sense, and i really do agree. 갈증 is my favorite song too, i wish it had made the album. that and then 아주 먼 옛날. but you are right, they are made to fun, crazy songs, not ballads. oh, by the way, i'm 23 (feb 84).

yes, i have heard evergreen, it is a great song. it seems like they've been everywhere but korea recently. which is weird, because suju has stayed in korea, but they won (over dbsk, rain, battle, and shinhwa) the asia artist of the year award at the beijing star awards last week. (hopefully this doesn't have anything to do with suju china and lsm breaking up suju as we know it, but i really shouldn't get started on that.. haha..) i think they were only in korea for a day and then left again - it was an anyband concert, but dbsk performed as well. there are lots of fancams on youtube.

i think ft island has the potential to make great music as well. they are so young and already so talented and have been through so much training... i'm excited to see what they can create as well. and you mentioned 박효신 who is also great!

what other groups do you like? i'm still looking for more groups to check out. in general i don't like pop, but i really don't like any of the korean rock groups i've heard... it's hard to explain what i don't like about it, though..

[Taliana]

Ah I won't get started on Suju China, because that's just a can of worms that needs to stay closed, so I will only say that SM Entertainment suggests a lot of things that never come to pass in the end, so ... ;D I won't believe it until I see it.

There's some Korean Rock that I like, but the fanbase is very small and its quite hard to find good Korean rock bands. The TRAX is one, but that's sort of poprock. Buzz (버즈) is another, but that's more ballad-rock. Moon Hee Jun (문희준) was always very popular, but I've never enjoyed his vocals. Seo Taiji (서태지) is pretty cool, with a lot of hiphop, dance and punk influences to his rock music, but his vocals are the kind you either love or hate (can be quite nasal). Vanilla Unity is one that I do quite enjoy, but need to be in the mood for (random screaming in the middle of an otherwise soft song, wtf confusion XD). EVE is another good one from what I've heard so far.

Nell (넬) is my favourite Korean rock band. Check out their Let It Rain album, it's great stuff. Good Night is a pretty cool MV of theirs, so check that out. I also really enjoy MOT (못). MOT are still indie, if I recall correctly. They are a bit similiar to Nell, and worth a listen. Try to find their Close MV - the MV itself is nothing special, but the song is really great.

izi are another cool soft-rock group!

My main loves lie outside of Korean rock, though. Shinhwa are my biggest love, closely followed by Epik High.

Even if you're not into hiphop, you should check out Epik High. Take a look at their MVs for Fly and Fan; two really awesome singles, two really awesome MVs. Their third album, Swan Songs, is definitely worth checking out. My favourite song from it is Let It Rain. Their latest album, Remapping The Human Soul, is also awesome (disc 1 is better than disc 2). It's a lot more aggressive than their previous albums, and I really consider it to be the best album I have heard in a long, long time. 혼 is my favourite track off it, if you can get your hands on it, and 피해망상 pt.3. Very good tracks. And of course Fan, the first single from that album. Very catchy, and the MV is amazing.

I could go on all day about what artists I like, because there is a LOT XD;;;

[holdfast]

hahahahaaa!!!! oh i agree, i don't want to get started about how much i just absoloutely LOVE sm entertainment (insert sarcasm here)....... i'm sure i don't even need to explain, you probably have the same feelings as i do about that.

i just saw your picture on the picture thread, and i just wanted to say that i have never met another non korean kpop fan before! it is very exciting to know that there are more of us out there! (:

i do enjoy epik high. i acually have remapping the human soul, and it's pretty great. i can't listen to it all the time, but i really like it. i also like fly to the sky (btw, have you heard brian's solo album??), clazziquai, july (but i've only been able to find one album of theirs), and 이승기. i will listen to wonder girls and snsd on a rare occasion, but i'm not really a fan of femal vocals.

you know, now i have a million questions that i'd like to ask you, but it would be off topic. perhaps it would be better to move our conversation. if you want, you can email me: - i'd love to talk to you more about how you got into kpop and learning korean.

--EDIT--

i had nell mixed up with someone else i guess, because i hadn't actually heard them before. i started listening to them the other day and i absolutely love it! exactly what i've been looking for.... i found mot too, and they are really good as well.

[middy6096]

Another Nell fan! Looks like there are a few of us!

I got Let's Take a Walk for Christmas but now I'm trying to hunt down Let It Rain and Walk Through Me. I saw that Yes Asia had them but they are out of stock.

[dewnyc]

I enjoyed one of the recent lessons - "I'm Sorry, I Love You"
I guess I'm one of the people mentioned who became interested in learning Korean through K-dramas (as was as Korean movies and K-pop)
Anyways, it actually reminded me of the similar lyrics in "Lies" (거짓말) by Big Bang...
"i'm so sorry but i love you 다 거짓말... "

[rooraa]

What? No one has mention SG wannabe? Their songs are so amazing! Very emotional =]

[bschriver]

dynamic duo!

[rooraa]

Evan, Wheesung, Anyband


I just recently discover 넬, their 음악 is just so cool sounding! 기억을 걷는 시간 is *2 thumbs up*

Has anyone seen the awesome collaboration b/t 넬 and 에픽하이 - Missing You?
타블로의 rapping part really touched me. He dedicated the song to his friend who past away.

"This is dedicated to anyone who's lost a friend. I know I did" ..... >__<

[matthew254]

oh man i just gotta join in... Geez this feels like AA or something. So here goes...

I was born in 1983. I am white. I live in Texas.....and I like Super Junior.

There I said it. I absolutely love their music. Seriously though, I like Kpop a lot but maybe this is out of context. Check out the band I used to be the singer of and you'll get the joke : www.myspace.com/thumbscrew

Also, I'm into SNSD, Yoonha, and a little bit of DBSK, Epik High, and FT Island.

Just thought I would join in and put myself out there. *whew* I feel relieved!

[holdfast]

wow.. grindcore, eh?

yes, yes, i get the irony. my love for super junior is ironic as well.

honestly though, i like them not really for their music. the first korean t.v. show i ever watched was super junior full house (not the drama full house) which was about two english speaking girls going to live at the super junior dorm for a month. the show was to promote super junior (it was right after they had debuted) but the whole thing was language barrier after language barrier and it was hilarious! the girls trying to speak korean/the boys trying to speak english/the girls speaking korean better than the chinese member who had lived in korea for two years already.... after that, i started listening to them just because i liked their personalities so much. now i watch almost every show that they are on (which is a lot, considering the 13 members) and listen to them quite often. my friends all think i'm crazy.

by the way, you can watch the whole season of super junior full house with english subs on youtube. i highly recommend for korean learning because the girls speak very basic korean (not always correctly, though) and it's easy to follow along. i remember the first time i watched it through i didn't understand a word, but i've watched it again recently without the subititles and was o.k. without them.

[rooraa]

I remember SuJu Full House, that was one of my first shows with them but I think it was Exploring the Human Body that got me really into them. The show mainly has them doing experiments to test their body and to figure out how the body works. For instance, they had to eat Chili peppers, try to walk in a straight line after spinning, ect. Just hilarious stuff

[matthew254]

the first korean t.v. show i ever watched was super junior full house (not the drama full house) which was about two english speaking girls going to live at the super junior dorm for a month.

oh man oh man - you just told the story of what I did last summer during a three week break. I watched all of Full House (w/ 비 and 송혜교) then I got confused and clicked on SUJU Full House and just was amazed at the group dynamics. That show was hilarious - and yes, a total shameless self-promotion for "U". Then I watched Exploring Human Body... yeah so anyways, I totally agree with you on the whole personalities thing. The music just kind of happened, I guess.

[holdfast]

my non-korean friends think i'm crazy because i don't listen to anything but korean music anymore, and my korean friends think i'm crazy because they say i'm too old for super junior (i'm 24 and most of their fans are in jr high or high school).

인체탐험대 is my favorite show for sure! i loved all the experiments. my favorite episode was when they were really mean and made 은혁 and 려욱 cry just to collect tears to test the saltiness. the little goggles they wore when they were eating curry and cutting onions were too funny! and how about the episode with laughing gas and tickle me elmo?

[rooraa]

ahhh!! That was sooo funny! and siwon's face when he thought he was going crazy at the hospital: "O.o"
Priceless!!

yeah, my friends think I'm reallllly obbessed and all that (well i am but...) and they think that they all look way too pretty. They are pretty and I wholeheartedly embrace it ^^ but I think taht it's just the culture, in america everyone's use to the whole Bad Boy Ganster Tough Look so when they see Pretty Korean Boys .....it doesn't go too well with them =P

[matthew254]

I don't know, it's really hard to find an American equivalent of SuJu. I mean, I would kind of say that 'NSync = DBSK (let's keep the hating down to a minimum) in regards to style change, image, and talent. Whereas SuJu is really more of a collection of 13 totally different talents like comedy, acting, hip hop, ballad, etc - and I think they pull it off well. I mean, even Heechul has his place

The whole "bad boy" boy band thing has come and gone in America so, like many Korean things, Koreans have taken one thing, molded, improved it, and created something far more unique than what was originally intended.