My favorite songs of the year, #5-1.
Here are my top five songs for this year!
#5: T-ara—“Day By Day”
Or you can see the insanely long drama version at this link. I actually quite liked the drama (continued in “Sexy Love”), which features Hyomin and her character’s younger sister (played first by Dani, the newest T-ara member, and then later by Eunjung), who has super powers, battling an evil Jiyeon. It’s a bit…well, dramatic, but it has pretty cool sword fights and blood, and the story was interesting.
T-ara has had a somewhat controversial year with rumors about member Hwayoung being bullied and then departing from the group this month, being replaced by members Ahreum and (soon) Dani.
Obviously, we will likely never know what really happened, but I think that it was probably a minor incident that was overblown, as this sort of thing seems to happen a lot in our Kpop community. True fans should take all rumors with a grain of salt. I do feel it’s a shame that they are changing up the member lineup in what seems like a response to this, though. I very much dislike member changeups. To me, however, the quality of the music overrules any private issues, and I loved “Day By Day,” even though it kind of took me by surprise.
It’s different than most of the ones on this list: rather slower and more gentle but very sweet. My boyfriend noted that “it doesn’t sound like most Kpop,” and I have to agree. I think it’s the flute that gives it that different feel. I loved Hwayoung’s two rap sections (which makes her imminent departure from the group even more painful!).
The English is a bit, er, horrible (“Kiss me, baby, I’ll must be stay here day by day”), but frankly I don’t care because the music in that part with T-ara’s blended voices (particularly Jiyeon’s) is very lovely.
Boyfriend’s one-liner:
“I like the soft bunny rabbit. Also, the pink-haired lady is like the Bride from Kill Bill.”
#4: SHINee—“Sherlock”
Whoo, boy, I sure complained a lot about this song, but ultimately I bought it, and since then, the chorus has grown on me to the point where this is one of my favorite songs of the year. I still don’t like the music video much and I’m still irritated by the “Give it up for SHINee!” parts, but I just love SHINee’s trademark chorus so much that it more than redeems the entire song for me. “I’m so curious, yeah!”
I did a full review of this music video at this link.
Boyfriend’s one-liner:
“Clearly the real Sherlock is the dog.”
#3: Psy—“Korea”
I know, I know, this is the year “Gangnam Style” took the world by storm (more than a billion Youtube views at this point and climbing), but in terms of music alone, I very much like “Gangnam,” but I love “Korea,” Psy’s Olympics cheer song.
I love the heavy rock and the relatively little amount of melodic variation. It kind of reminds me of SHINee’s “Lucifer” in that respect, giving the impression that the lyrics are being almost yelled or chanted while still being very listenable. It makes the entire song very exciting, culminating in the best part, “Korea!”, which is just made of win.
I did a full review of this music video at this link.
Boyfriend’s one-liner:
“I want to see the Winter Olympics version in two years…mainly to see Psy in a figure skating outfit.”
#2: Block B—“Nillili Mambo”
Dear God, this song has some serious attitude, and I absolutely adore it. With a backdrop of the pirates theme in the music video (P.O even wears an eyepatch!), Zico is free to growl all over the place and show off his register for lower notes (whoa!). I think there are few personalities in Kpop as arresting onscreen as he is. Such swagger.
But the other members get to shine here, too, which I appreciate. Kyung saying “holiday” was so cute, and P.O’s “ooh, yeah” part after Zico’s growling was awesome. But the best part for me is the kickass chorus: “Nillili lalala nillili ya nillili mambo!”
My hope for 2013 is that Block B continues to release material like this. That will make me very pleased. Bye, guys—hi, ladies!
Boyfriend’s one-liner:
“The rooster ate the diamonds, and the next video will be like Snatch.”
#1: BTOB—“Wow”
Okay, yeah, this song has some issues, namely the frankly ridiculous intonation on some of the English phrases (Like “Groove it, groove it”—Minhyuk, what is up with your voice here?), which doesn’t make much sense as they have an English-speaking member (Peniel), but he doesn’t get any lines here!
However, I’m willing to forgive pretty much any offense for that amaaazing chorus: “geubi dalla namdalla, tae tae tae taega dalla [Your level is different, it’s different, the air around you is different]; I like it, I like it.” I like it, too!
I love the rough bluegrass guitar, which helps make the song slouchy, fun, and danceable. I also love the “Don’t break, oh eh oh eh, okay” section. And I don’t think I’ve ever heard falsetto lines as sexy as the ones here. Just a really stunning and catchy song, and my favorite of the year! Makes me happy whenever I hear it.
Boyfriend’s one-liner:
“Guess she really…wait for it…blew them away.” …Oh dear. -___- One might even say (sarcastically), “Wow.”
So that’s it! Let me know your favorites, too! Thanks for reading, and have a very Happy New Year! :)
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