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Kpop's Beauty Standard

During my past blog posts, I’ve been talking about how much I enjoyed kpop, some artists that have contributed to my life in many ways, and overall just reviewing the actual artist, albums, and songs. But this time I wanted to talk about something that bothers me within the kpop industry. When we see people in general, most of the time, our first glance is the person's overall appearance. Especially in the kpop industry, if one never heard kpop before and watched a music video, the one thing that would stand out first is the idol’s appearance. In every kpop group, the men tend to always have a pretty boy face, thin or muscular body, nice jawline, and monolids (eyes with one eyelid). The women tend to have a cute appearance to them, wearing clothes that are revealing to some extent, monolids, sometimes big eyes, cute gestures, hourglass bodies, and many more. This blog can make me seem like a bad person as it might be looking like I'm accusing them. I’m not trying to say that it's bad to have these features, I mean I don’t even know how each person in the group feels having these kinds of things, but what disappoints me is that the industries in Korea look for these types of gestures. What I mean is, if one were to audition to be in a kpop group, they would work hard not only on their dancing but their looks as well. Some industries even took extreme measures to change how the person would look through plastic surgery or extreme weight loss. Let me explain. 

Beauty standards in Korea are already very high. I see everywhere on social media and in my own environment how people are willing to express themselves or be proud of themselves. I’m pretty sure America is one of if not the best places to be expressive with yourself. It's common that people would be supportive of those who admit to being part of the LGBTQ community, those who are proud of themselves for being heavier than most individuals, or just look different. But in Korea, these kinds of things are huge deals, especially appearance. Many are looked down upon when they look different from this beauty standard. What are the results because of this? A member of Medium wrote says “Many women and men become self-critical and as a result which contributes to the vicious cycle of feeling a low sense of self-worth and wanting to resort to cosmetic surgery.” and even wrote about herself saying “I identify as a Korean American woman, and if there is anything about Korean culture that I am most familiar with, it is the homogenous beauty standards. Ever since I was a middle school student, I had always felt a great amount of insecurity about my facial features. I desperately wanted to feel beautiful and admired.” This idea of looking beautiful in Korea causes people to feel insecure bout themselves and take it up several levels, to the dangerous side, to improve their looks. This problem then becomes more severe in the kpop industry.

Since the whole country already has this high beauty standard, how could they make their idols that are going to be famous around the globe stand out more? Of course, the music is included but the looks have to be out there as well. I’m sure you heard someone say or even said yourself when you saw a Kpop idol “They all look the same…” To be honest this phrase is kind of funny to me because I don't think people understand the beauty standards within the kpop industry. I find this phrase more of a fact rather than a racial joke. Kpop idols look the same because that's what kpop industries want them to look like. I found this interview that talks about someone who was going to be a kpop idol but quit due to their restrictions, especially on appearance.

'I could have been a K-pop idol - but I'm glad I quit'

Euodias experienced the highs and lows of a K-pop trainee's life. Why did she leave on the verge of stardom?

I also found this article that showed pictures of kpop idols that look exactly alike. Here is one of the few comparisons they make. 

I find it kind of disturbing how a lot of idols tend to look alike. What makes it kind of scarier is that it's really hard to identify as an individual. I think what is amazing about human life, in general, is that we all have our own way of identifying ourselves, That is what makes each and every person unique and recognizable in their own way. If everyone were to look the same, there is no way we would be able to see who is who. Especially as an idol who has the opportunity to become famous globally like BTS and Blackpink, there comes influence. Since many people become huge fans of groups like the two I mentioned, they start being inspired by them and start doing things that the idols want to do. It gets to a point where people try to look like idols and be part of this very strict beauty standard in Korea. There's one person who comes to my mind immediately when I think about this. He was also on Dr. Phil, talking about how he wanted to look exactly like Jimin from BTS, doing more than 15 procedures of plastic surgery. Here's the link for that

To be a kpop idol could be fun and exciting. Many idols find their job to be exciting as they like producing music and dancing. But I feel like there are a lot more people who wanted to be an idol but couldn’t due to their looks. They might’ve felt insecure about their eyelids or the way their eyes are shaped. In fact, I find it a lot more dangerous due to the influence these kpop idols have. Yes, it's the fan's choice to make the decision to change their look, but it’s because of the idols. Because the kpop industry makes the beauty standard such a big deal, it causes fans to want to look like their idol, causing more and more people to lose their sense of identity and be part of the strict beauty standards. 

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Beginning and End of BIGBANG

This week is about an artist profile and of course, I have to go to the kpop industry. Throughout my life, I’ve grown up listening to so many artists like Travis Scott, Bruno mars, EXO, and many others. When thinking about who to write about, I realized that there is one group that I could never forget. This group has been with me since middle school times and I have never fanboyed over a group as much as I have with them. This group is named BIGBANG.

BIGBANG is a pop group that blew up to become one of the most popular groups of musicians in Korea and around the world. They would release many songs in different genres, mainly focusing on a hip-hop style, although they have made songs that had their R&B tone to them. This group however would become so popular that they would inspire other musicians in the K-pop industry. Not only was the group an inspiration but each individual member had their own moments. For example, G-Dragon, the leader, would come out on his own solo and even would be recognized by the popular rapper Ludacris. Taeyang, the vocalist, would also come out with his own solos, showing his impressive singing, and amazing dancing inspired by Chris Brown, and even had a hit song “Eyes Nose Lips”. But how did this inspiration come to rise in this popularity?

In the early 2000s, a group of 5 people participated in a Korean music show where they were able to make their music known to the public and eventually leading to their official debut. After singing with one of the top K-pop companies during this time, YG Entertainment, They were able to release multiple singles and mini-albums until one song “Lies”, which was in their 2nd mini-album called “Always”, became a hit in the nation. They made more mini albums, received many rewards, and grew to become one of the top artists in Korea. They were able to expand their popularity into Japan where they also made songs in Japanese. 

As 2009 approached, the members of the group split up and went on to do their own thing. Some worked on fashion, some worked on acting, and others continued to make more music. 

They returned in 2012 when they released some new songs “Blue” and “Bad Boy”, which exposed their style of fashion and personality, making them grow in their popularity. They released another song a little later called “Fantastic Baby”. Here they were able to make a big jump into popularity from nationally to globally. The song blew up around the world and the fanbase of this group only grew more and more. As they became successful, they had a three-year hiatus from music as they again focused on their personal activities. 

Then in 2015, the group announced their comeback with the “MADE” project where they would release four mini-albums, all containing different types of music ranging from R&B to Hip-Hop to Party type songs, within a few months and then combine all of them in the end with the addition of three more songs. This comeback made their fanbase grow once again, especially as their first comeback song “Bang Bang Bang” came out. The global fans grew more and Bigbang hit their peak as they released the whole “MADE” album. A year later they released a single called “Flower road”, making their places in the charts only be secured as the top songs. 

After their project, each member separated once again, as they had to fulfill their military duties in Korea. During this time 2016-2020, they gained a lot of negative attention as two members got caught smoking weed, which is illegal in Korea, one member had a car accident that ended up killing someone, and another member got caught up in a scandal of being a part of a private group chat with his friends that would share each other's sexual experiences and drug use through videos and pictures that then led to his imprisonment. This time made a big downfall for the group and lost a lot of support from people. Losing their attention and popularity, they decided to break up, losing one member in the process due to imprisonment. The group went on another long-term hiatus. 

Finally, in April 2022, they released a comeback single called “still life” which reached out to the hearts of their fans as they would sing and rap about how their lives are still going and they have become more mature. The song remained on the melon chart in Korea as number one. This song has once again brought out the fans' praise for the group even though they have been through so much. 

The song's name is in Korean, however, the English name is “Still Life” recorded sometime in 2022 and premiered on April 4, 2022. I find this song very significant to me because I personally have been a fan of BigBang ever since “fantastic baby” came out back in 2012. I have been listening to them since I was growing up so they have been in my childhood. I’ve always jammed out to their MADE project in the car with my mom and friends while it was being released. During their four-year hiatus between 2018-2022 so, many things have happened to them, and I personally have been growing all the more. When they released this song, I was so excited and honestly felt very emotional. It's been so long since I’ve heard their voices once again and the lyrics they write about really stand out to me. I felt the song on a more personal level as time has changed me so much from the beginning until now. I would listen to this song wherever and whenever. It will always stick in my heart because this group has made such good music during my life and now I think their time is going to be over and they are going their own separate ways. 

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Violin perspectives

So this weeks blog is about an interview with an artist, instrumentalist or producer. This was a little tough for me cause I literally knew no producer or artist. I tried hitting up a k-hiphop artist but never got a response back sadly. So I decided to interview one of my friends that used to play in the 5 loaves 2 Fish orchestra with me a long time ago (also talked about in a previous blog). Together, we played the violin. Although not famous, he didn’t want me to mention his name as he didn’t feel comfortable but he gave some answers to my interview questions. I’ll talk about three questions and say a few words of my opinion.

First, I let him introduce himself and talked about what inspired him to start violin and be part of the orchestra. He says that he’s been learning violin ever since he was a child and always saw it as a habit, but as he kept on practicing more and more, he found it to be more interesting. He also tried to find a few jobs for teaching violin to beginners. He always liked the idea of everyone playing together to perform a classical song for everyone. He also liked the idea of working as a team to practice and rehearse in order to make a song perfect. 

Next, I asked him what kind of challenge he faced while playing the violin. He said to me “I would say one challenge is practicing. Especially when it comes to playing with others, you canfind yourself to be very discouraged as its difficult to play a certain part and everyone around you is so much better than you. It can bring you down. Its also very time consuming. There are times where I want to do my own thing and hang out with friends or just relax. But then I have to head to orchestra rehearsal and it was bothering. But I would say to never let these challenges bring you down. At the end, there comes this satisfaction of finishing the journey that you take with others. And it feel really good.”

Finally, I asked him what he would say to other people who inspire to become violin players or any instrument players in general. He told me “Well, Im not one to inspire anyone but if I were to teach someone, I would to persevere. There are times where you will feel down and left out. There are times where songs will be difficult to play. But persevere through the struggle. Think about the future and let the good results inspire you to keep going. If you keep up with you willingness ot keep going, then nothing will stop you from pleasing others while playing in the orchestra”

I chose these three questions mainly because I thought they were pretty important when it came to learning an instrument. As one who also plays violin, I could agree with many of the things he said to me. I’ve also had to start from when I was child and it took a lot of practice to master the songs I had in books, pieces or just playing in general. Furthermore, I found his words of persevering to be inspiring to me. Many times I have found moments where I wanted to give up playing the violin and quit. But now that I kept going, I found that playing the violin is more exciting and makes me miss the days of playing in the orchestra, especially together with my friends. I would like to thank him for letting me interview him, and here's the orchestra that I played in with him.

[dg1010]

Music in the Company

Many songs from the K-pop industry have now been blown up and listened to by so many people from across the globe. We have groups like BTS and Blackpink having their songs being heard by people in Asia, America, Europe, and many more. But one thing that I don’t see a lot of people talk about is their environment and where they make most of the music that blows up. Sure, it's not something that matters to us, but it’s important to just know where all the creative songs are being made. Whenever I look up where they make music, I always find information on if they made the song or not. It’s true that many Kpop songs are produced by someone else, but each group is definitely putting in their own effort in some way to make the song as good as they should be. However, when making the song, each artist group have to have full focus and contribution in order ot produce a good song. 

From my own knowledge of K-pop, I know that each group has its own respective companies. BTS is part of HYBE corporation, Blackpink is part of YG, Twice is under JYP, etc. Each company has its own building where basically all the magic stuff happens for each artist. Take Blackpink for example. Since their company is YG, they work in that building. That's where all the choreography, lyrics, and recording are done. 

When it comes to making music in their own individual company buildings, I think its not only about the music making, but its the community inside each company. Since each company has more than just one group, they learn and take inspirations in their lyrics, music, choreography from each other. For example, one of my favorite groups is BIGBANG which is under YG. Now that they’re time has pass by and the group has disbanded after releasing their final song, other and more newer groups within the same company find them as “sunbaes” or like teachers where they can learn from. They also have the same producers, allowing for everyone to connect the company overall can have a friendly environment. I think this is a big contribution to Kpop’s friendly vibe to it. In the company, where they have a studio and a dance studio, the artists are allowed to have full focus and heart to participate in their song.

The environment where the artists work is important as it allows for a community to let others learn from each other and have full attention to their songs. All the artists work very hard on their songs and it comes from where they work and how much time and effort they put in. These companies that the Kpop artists work in is the best place for the idols to make good song and also have a good time. Thank you for reading my blog. Here is a video of Blackpink with one of their new songs, in the dance studio performing their song

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GANADARA

Today, Korean music is a very big thing within the music industry. As many kpop groups grow more and more, other artists who are part of Korean rap, r&b, and rock are getting recognized as well. One man who is getting more and more popular around the globe is Jay Park. Although having a little controversial past, he grew up to become not only a great artist but also the founder and president of two K-hip-hop companies, AOMG and Highr Music, and even made a soju company, a popular Korean alcoholic drink. Out of the many songs released by Jay Park, I chose to do a little deep dive into one of his recent songs called GANADARA featuring another big artist, IU. When listening to this song multiple times, I found it to be pretty simple, as most of the instruments were pretty noticeable, the lyrical aspect was very interesting, and the overall song is just really good. I’m just warning you that my music skills are not good so I could be mistaken about some of the things I say. 

To begin with, I wanted to look over the instrumental and singing of this song. The song is in a D major key at 90 bpm. The song starts off with an electric guitar that plays a repetition of a few chords throughout the whole song. I did some research and I found the chords on the Music sheet. I think this song is unique in its tone of relaxation and soothingness. It gives me this type of vibe to ease into the song without rushing into it. In my perspective, the instruments played a big part in the song's overall vibe. The use of the electric guitar, drums, and snapping/clapping gives this loose feeling to it that makes me want to listen more. Not only do the instruments play a big part but the voices in the song. Jay park has many styles in his songs. This song brought out his more melodic way of music rather than hard rap. Although there was rapping in this song, jay park was able to keep that calmness in his tone that matches the song perfectly. He also picked a great feature for the song. IU, who is usually a ballad singer, was able to provide a great match with Jay park as their voices match really well. She has a huskiness to her voice that adds to the soothing sound of the song. 

Another aspect of the song that made it unique was its lyrical side. Yes, I know it's in Korean… so I found an English translation of it on Genius. I also found an article that perfectly describes the song and how the lyrics make it stand out. To begin with, GANADARA is letters from the  Korean alphabet. It's a basic thing that children use to help them understand the letters. However, Jay park uses it in his own way that conveys a little story behind the song. He sings about two lovers who have a language barrier, making it difficult to communicate. But through the basic parts of the Korean, they would be able to express their love for each other. 

GANDARA is a good song, but the instrumental, the voices, and the lyrical aspects of the song are what make it more unique than what it already is. If you want to give it a listen, here's the link. Thanks for reading:)

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Mind Drifting Songs

Just by the title, I’m sure the term “Mind-drifting” would seem fairly new but the whole act of it is very common. It literally means what it says…your mind starts to drift away, you start staring into nothingness and all you can hear is the sound around you. When thinking about what my playlist should be about, I was “mind-drifting” while listening to probably a really known classical song by Chopin called Nocturne Op  9 no. 2 (Of course I had to include that song in my playlist). When I say that music really helps me focus, It really does!! But maybe not on the right thing I should be focusing on. This playlist I made consists of 6 songs that always tend to send my mind far away, leaving me with emptiness in my head and the sound of these songs flowing around in my ears; sometimes making me sing along. 

To start off the showcasing my playlist, I included two songs, both from the same artist named DEAN. Dean r&b artist who has made pretty famous songs. He is famous for his pretty high voice with a very smooth and melodic sound to it. Out of his many songs, I included Instagram and Come Over both really famous songs. “Instagram” is about how many people are laying down within their own thoughts which leads them to just not being able to sleep and opening Instagram again and again. I chose this song to be part of the playlist mainly because the whole vibe is trying to prevent you from having these deep thoughts. Whenever I listened to the songs, I always found myself staring into the distance, singing along, having no complete thought about anything. In this way, listening to this song sort of emptied my head, while I was studying, walking, working, or just laying down in bed. I also got this same feeling when listening to “Come Over”. Not only are the lyrics just going through my head, but it's also the combination of the instrumental and his voice that just makes me lose my train of thought. Personally speaking, Dean’s voice is just so beautiful to me that I just have to drop my pencil, sit back, and just listen to his singing. In a way, he’s like a magician just hypnotizing me with his songs. Don't get me wrong, this kind of voice is very unique and amazing, but there are times when I just kind of get sick of people singing.

That's why I jump over to my classical/instrumental songs and listen to them. The next song I included in my playlist is what I mentioned before, Nocturne Op  9 no. 2 by Chopin. Although many people may not know the title, it's probably heard one way or another. This is one of those songs that are usually played in those boujee restaurants where everyone wears suits or a local cafe that just plays classical piano music. I chose this song because it is one of my favorite songs to listen to when I try to “focus.” Whenever I try to fall asleep and empty my head, I play this song. Another song that just has this same sleeping potion in it is Howl’s moving castle’s song “Merry go round of life”. I don't usually watch anime, but this movie is an absolute masterpiece. Not only does it make my mind go blank, but it also sticks with me as I always listen to it with my mom. It’s one of those songs that I personally grew up with and it just never leaves my head. I had to include these two instrumental songs in my playlist because I’ve always experienced a few minutes of daydreaming whenever I heard my collection of classical music. 

The last two songs I included were “Until I found you” and “Versace on the floor”. I chose these songs simply because I have these on repeat while taking a walk. Wherever I’m walking, I have these on so that my mind can just be clear and I can feel the wind blow on my face. These songs are more on the romantic side and to be honest, these songs make me think about my future love life (I know its cringe but honesty is the best policy). Again, it drifts my mind to just imagining and daydreaming, just like all the other songs mentioned previously. Both of these songs, I’ve discovered from my friend. He usually plays Versace on the floor while driving at night since it has that kind of vibe. I was with him recently and he played until I found you and I just automatically fell in love with the song. I thought to myself  “I have to know the lyrics to this song.”

So you might be wondering why I made a playlist about my mind drifting away. From my perspective, Mind-drifting gets me out of reality, even if it is just for a few moments. Whenever I face trouble or feel a little lost mentally, it gets hard to just keep thinking. Listening to songs like any of the ones mentioned gets rid of all those problems, even for just a few moments. Those small moments give me this kind of reset to rethink and help me overcome any problem I have. These small moments help me feel encouraged to keep going because of the music playing through my ears. I don't know about anyone else, but even though my mind drifts away while listening to these songs, these small moments of just nothing but music help me get through a lot. Mind drifting does a lot for me and maybe it can for you too:) Has anyone ever felt the same experience? Ever catch yourself staring into the distance with nothing in your head but music? Think about it!! Thanks for reading the blog:) Here's the playlist for you to see the songs.

Mind Drifting

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Community in Orchestra

“Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”(John 6:9) For those who don’t know, this verse comes from an infamous story in the bible where Jesus feeds 5000+ people with only five loaves and 2 fish. Being part of a Christian community for my whole life, I was able to learn so many things, especially when it comes to music. One thing that really stuck with me as I was growing up was the ability to learn and play the violin. With many other people, within my church and people from around the globe, my church was able to form an orchestra group called 5 Loaves & 2 Fish orchestra. Based on the bible verse John chapter 6 verse 9, we wanted to raise people who had an interest in musical instruments to help others in need. It’s been a while since we were to perform, due to Covid, but thinking back to those years really makes me miss my time as I was playing in those concerts. Someone made a video dedicated to us, and watching this video really makes me happy about how much we were able to help others.

To be honest, I think this blog is gonna be a little trip down memory lane and how my experiences made me who I am today. I was able to perform in 5 of the concerts shown here. My review for being part of these concerts can be described in four words: Okay performance, amazing experience. Let me explain.

Performances were ok while playing them in the concerts. Looking back, I think one thing we definitely could’ve done better is practice more. Although we met every Saturday to rehearse, individually, we definitely could have done more. The quote “Practice makes perfect” is definitely something to remember when comes to being part of an orchestra. For example, we played Canon rock and the performance was kind of…eh.

I still remember the time while playing this. I was in the 2nd violin section and I would always be a little behind cause it got fast for me at some parts; I would even skip some notes too if I had to. But so many of us would skip, that it ended up kind of sounding messy. I still remember talking about it with everyone when going backstage during intermission. We always made fun of each other for it. But we did have some good performances as well!. At our 9th concert, we had a singer, named Ahn Se Kwon: 2nd place in Korea’s got talent. I still remember when we played with him, I got goosebumps every time while listening to him. The video doesn't do it justice, but here it is. Start from 22:54 In my opinion, it was one of the best performances I’ve ever played in and it was an honor to play for such an amazing singer. So overall, our performances were ok, not bad. The one thing that I definitely miss is the experience

The experience of just gathering together and practicing, the thoughts in my head while playing, performing for many people, and many more will never leave my memories. I made many friends who I still talk to today and I’ve met amazing, talented people. I remember always complaining about going to rehearsals, but I realize now that I would do anything to rewind time to those moments of just struggling together to pour our hearts out through this music. It made me fall in love with all types of music and made me open to trying out new genres. I think performing in these concerts really showed me that music is more than just sounds and notes. It’s also about passion, heart, and experiences. Music does so much more than just entertain our ears. It brings together a community of people who can relate to each other, work together for a better cause, or just have fun. Overall, being part of the orchestra is probably one of the most precious memories that will be forever with me, because it shaped my view on music from entertainment to ears to a whole new world of creativity and community. If you want to watch a concert, here's a link you can watch. Thanks for reading

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M.A.D.E by BIGBANG

Throughout years of non-stop training and music production, many groups within the K-pop industry have grown to become a worldwide renowned genre. Many groups today like BTS, Blackpink, or TomorrowXTogether are groups that are especially popular today. However, there is one group that blew up across the music industry. Before all the groups mentioned were well-known, BIGBANG, a group that consisted of five people, was at its prime during the years 2015-2017. Although they had many popular songs like “Haru Haru” or “blue”, one album that made their career explode was their MADE album, released in December 2016. 

There are so many things about this album that makes it as special as it is. One aspect of this album that's pretty unique was the fact that the songs were released in increments before actually being put into one full album. Each of these increments was released under a mini-album that was one letter of the word “MADE”. The songs were released two at a time in 2015 from May-August. With a total of 11 songs, every one of them is MADE (pun intended) with passion and heart from each of the individual artists in the group. 

Another aspect of the album is how it connects with the group. BIGBANG filmed a documentary called BIGBANG10 the Movie: BIGBANG MADE, which is about this album, where they talked about how the word MADE stood for four words that would open up how they felt and tried to express themselves through this album. M stands for muse or music, A stands for art, D stands for design, and E is for emotion. All of the artists were able to display in their own individual way how they fit into the specific categories of music, art, design, and emotion. For example, G-dragon and T.O.P, the leader and rapper of the group, were able to express their artistic styles not only through their sense of fashion, as G-dragon has his own brand, and T.O.P collects chairs…yes that’s right chairs. The main singer, Taeyang, is said to always “exercise on tour” as he believes the design of his body must fit the stage performances. Through their expression of music, art, design, and emotion, they were able to work together to make a great album for fans and others to listen to. The whole album overall is just a great listen. All of the songs are very different from each other, having a big range from pop to hip-hop to rap to r&b. 

I think one big reason why I love music so much is because of this group. The songs they made were all being released while I was in middle school and all of them were just amazing to listen to. The songs are personally so fun to listen to because I grew up with them. The K-pop group has been stuck with me as I have been going up through my high school years. As I grew up and faced times of trouble, their music, especially songs from this album, has helped me persevere through my struggles.

Listening to BIGBANG made me see that music is not always just for fun. It opens a way for listeners to connect with the artists and even lets themselves understand that we are never alone. Music helps people feel like they are in their own world. Artists provide songs to express their own emotions while listeners can relate to them, whether it'd be k-pop, hard rock, classical, or dance. Music is like a friend that's always there for us.

If anyone is trying to get into K-pop or just got into it, let me STRONGLY recommend you this album. It has everything. Want something sad? Listen to “If you”. Something fun and exciting, you got “bang bang bang” or “We like 2 party”. Here’s a link to my favorite song “Last Dance” give it a listen:)

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A Romance Story in NANGMAN.

When people say the name of the infamous genre “KPOP”, we always come to think about good-looking male or female dance groups with very cheerful rhythms. But the idea that “KPOP” could refer to a bigger picture of all of Korean music, such as rap or r&b, never comes to mind. While he is not part of any famous idols, he himself is an artist that has been popping off for a couple of years and especially after releasing his newest album NANGMAN. 19-year-old Seo Dong Hyun, commonly known as Big Naughty, released a track of 10 songs that portray a whole story of romance and what it means to be in love. The theme behind this album may seem a little cringe to some, but the music itself is done with passion, creativity, and hard work. That’s why I want to say that every song on this album is just really good. 

Through this album, Big naughty was able to show his versatility by showing his skills through singing, rapping, lyrics, and so much more. Each song has its own different rhythm and vibe, which makes the whole album even better as it gives a wide variety of different types of music to listen to for his listeners. My personal favorites are good examples of how the album portrays distinct genres. R&B comes through the songs like “Hachiko” and “Lovey Dovey”, Pop rhythms in some of the songs such as “Romance Symphony”, and hip-hop come out through a few songs like “Period” and “Actor”. The music is not the only thing that makes this album so great.

One thing I love about this album and this artist is that he makes the music through his personal experiences. He shares it with his listeners so that many of them could relate to it and know that no one is alone. He shared with ENVImedia in an article, written by Vanessa Arias, called BIG NAUGHTY TALKS ABOUT NANGMAN AND HIS CREATIVE PROCESS stating “The rapper shared that “Vancouver,” one of the pre-released tracks, remains one of the most meaningful songs on the album for him… The track is deep, discussing an ex who left him to go to Vancouver and he’s stuck with the thoughts of their past relationship and the idea that he would chase her there.” When I look at many artists these days, there is always the main theme of getting rich, flexing their wealth, or how easily they can get with girls. When I listen to Big Naughty, one thing that stands out is his personal experiences within his songs. He shares his familiarity with the topic of each song while also following a trendy path of music. 

These ideas of versatility and personal experience are great for creating an album. However, One minor thing behind this album is that I feel some songs that include a feature he could have done on his own and it would be a lot better. For example, “Hachiko” features three other people that do good, but I don't feel as connected with them as I do with Big naughty in the song. If he did the song on his own, I feel it might have been so much better. No hate to the features. This is a minor problem so it doesn’t really matter. Overall, this album is amazing and everyone should go check it out. Here's the music video for “Romance Symphony” if you want to give it a listen.