[Special] Feature BLUSH

Ok so I know my blog is mainly about Kpop artist and K-Dramas, but the group i'm about to talk about has a Korean member who was on Superstar K therefore I'm using that as my justification for this post, and if you don't like that explanation then I'll just say this is my blog and I can write about whoever I please. At the bottom of the post I'll write my reasoning for why I think they could play a part in helping kpop spread worldwide.

Moving onward today I will be talking about the pan-asian group Blush.

MEMBERS: 

Alisha

Angeli 

Ji Hae

Natsuko aka Nacho

Victoria 

BIO: Blush is a five member girl group who is made up of five girl all from different counties in Asia. The members are Alisha (Indian), Angeli (Filipina), Ji Hae (Korean), Natsuko (Japanese), Victoria (Chinese). In 2010 FarWest Entertainment held a talent search called "Project Lotus." The girls were chosen and trained, since then they have released a few singles and have been the opening act for Justin Bieber, The Black Eyed Peas, and many more. They were on the "Shake It Up" soundtrack, and the game "The Sims 3 Pets." They preformed at a number of events and parades.  

OFFICIAL WEBSITES:        Official Website: http://www.blushband.com/home

                                          Official Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blushgroup

                                           Official Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/blushvideo

                                           Official Twitter: https://twitter.com/blushgroup

        

                                         

MUSIC VIDEOS: (I'm only including my favorites)

Warrior

Miss Out

Electric (I really disliked the music video for this song, I fill it does not do the song justice so here is the lyrics mv)

All Star

Christmas Lights (there's a mv for this song but I really like their live performance) [performance starts at 1:52]

As Long As You Love Me [Cover]

My Thoughts On This Group:

I've known of Blush since their debut single. Like many other people I thought it was a gimmick. Simply an entertainment company trying to copy the success Korea has had with groups. I also did not care for their debut song and I really thought featuring Snoop Dogg added nothing to the song at all. I watched their "So You Think You Can Dance" performance and felt that only one member was highlighted and the rest looked like backup dancers. So occasionally they would pop up from time to time on different kpop website I visit and I would pay them no mind. Fast forward to 2013, once again an article about them was on one of the kpop website about their new single Warrior. I decided why not give it a chance, so I watched the video. I was impressed with what I saw and heard. A well put together music video, good costumes, and a nice song. They had come a long way from their first single each member was getting more screen time and more parts. Their dancing had greatly improved and overall they looked like the real deal. Having been impressed by their improvement I decided to visit their youtube page and look at some of their other videos. I was truly shocked by what I found, these girls were really talented. They could really sing, their first single had just simple not done their voices justice. So, I can say I support these girls, they are talented and have a great chance of making it big.

Ok so i'm sure you're wondering how does all of this relate to kpop, well for the most part it doesn't, but in a small way it does. If this group manages to make it big they will be the "In" thing. That means more USA companies will want to capitalize on the "In" thing, and that would be groups with Asian members. And won't those companies be surprised when they find that the work has already been done for them, that groups already exist in Korea that are just waiting for a chance to make a USA debut. I feel like they will seek out groups in Korea that they normally would have never given a chance and actually help them make a debut. If nothing else, if Blush becomes a household name it will help people realize that people of Asian decent are just as great singers as others in the USA.

These girls are talented and it would be amazing to see such a diverse make it big https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/blush/id445745534

Feature [17 ]May Doni

So you might have wondered who his the girl in the P of my banner, well her name is May Doni and she a very talented singer with an interesting story to share.

BIO: May Doni was born in the United States and she was discovered by a JYP talent project in 2001. She was later sign with YG Entertainment in 2005, she left YG in 2007 and signed with Nega Network. She left YG because her sister Yenny was deemed not good enough to debut, May Doni wanted to debut with her sister and therefore when her sister was kicked out she decided to leave as well. May Doni went on to make an unofficial debut with Cho PD. In 2009 she made her official debut as a solo singer. After that she seemed to drop off the radar only occasionally posting videos of herself covering various songs online. In 2010 she recorded a duet with Hwanhee. She then made her acting debut with a fairly large role in the horror film "White." In 2012 she signed with J2Star Entertainment. She is now making her comeback in February of 2013 so support this talented girl! 

OFFICIAL WEBSITES: Official Website: 

                                           (I think this is a fan channel)Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/HDPmegainu/videos?view=0 

                                           Official Twitter: https://twitter.com/kimmaydoni

        

                                         

MUSIC VIDEOS:

메이다니(May Doni) - 교실에 오면 [TEASER]

[Here's a link to the full audio] http://pann.nate.com/video/221257372

조 (PDIS) - 끌려 (Feat. 메이다니 May Doni) 

Strangers(남남)-Hwanhee(환희) & May Doni(메이다니) 

May Doni - Molla Ing (feat. 2AM) 

[a live performance] 처음처럼[Like the First Time] (feat. July)

[cover]Jessie J-Domino (This is one of my fav covers by her)

[cover]David Guetta-Titanium 

[cover]Adam Lambert-Whataya Want From Me (the video and audio are a little out of sync but she still sounds amazing)

(showing off her rapping skills)

(dance practice) 

I really like her because she is a triple threat (she can sing, dance, and rap, oh and act as well) and she has stage presence and knows how to connect with the audience.

Fan Hatred/Anti Fans

As my readers may know, this blog it about promoting kpop groups/solo artists as well as reviewing k-dramas and Korean movies. I try to keep this blog a place of positive energy, since kpop fandom can be mean, rude, and down right hateful at times. Even when I review a drama or a movie and end up not liking it, I still stress to those who read my posts, that they should check out the drama or movie for themselves to make the ultimate decision if it was good or bad, since opinions and tastes differ.

I am however so very disheartened when I go to various kpop music videos and see the hateful and nasty comments people leave.

Why do kpop fans feel the need to bash each others idols/groups? Why are fans so blinded by their worship of a certain idol/group that they can't acknowledge other idols/groups for their strengths?

There are the antis. They spend their time photoshopping pictures of certain idols/groups to make them look in a bad in some way, they leave hateful messages on idols/groups videos, they even celebrate when something bad happens to an idol/group. (There were anti's who were seriously happy when Secret got in their car wreck.)

Then you have the normal haters. They belong to an idols/groups fan clubs, so whenever their idol/group does not win an award or get the time of day they think they deserve. They feel the need to attack other fandoms and idols/groups who receive the attention they think their idol/group deserves.

Lastly you have the casual haters. Fans who don't rant and rave about how they hate other idols/groups, but they are quick to form an opinion of a idols/groups and don't give other idols/groups a chance to really show them what they are made of. They are also the ones who will go to an idols/groups page and leave comments "Well if XXXX had performed this song it would have been a lot better" or "Their rapper sucks, he/she will never be as good as XXXX." The sad thing is that most of the time these people don't consider themselves haters, they think they are simply stating the "cold hard truth" but people have different tastes, so who are they to say what is right and what is wrong.

I can't understand these mentalities, why can't fans just say "It's just not my type of music" and leave it at that. Why do fans feel the need to spread so much negativity, and i'm calling out both K-fans and International fans because both of them do it. In fact another type of arguing happens because of those two. They argue about who supports an idol/group more, and how one is better then the other. If you both support a certain idol/group then you both are fans of that idol/group, why bicker? If you are a K-fan then you are fortunate enough to support that group in person, and if you are an international fan you are helping support that idol/group from afar buy their cds and showing the Korean music industry that other countries are interested in kpop idol/group and that helps open doors for that idol/group to expand their activities outside of Korea.

Why must we fight, why can't we acknowledge our favorite groups faults, while complementing other groups strengths, because they all have them.

I know it's the internet and people feel invincible behind a computer screen. But when you are typing those horrible hateful messages, think to yourself "What if someone wrote this about the idol/group I like" how hurt would you be? Why would you want to hurt others? Are you a sadist? Do you get some type of sick thrill from it? If so then you are simply a sad and misguided person.

So here is my plea. The next time you want to write something horrible about a idol/group, just click out of the page and leave it be. Don't try and be smart and leave a back-handed complement, just leave and go watch your favorite group and enjoy your fandom and let others enjoy theirs.

Feature [16] Kai

To start off my first feature of 2013 I thought I would pick a solo artist. The guy I am about review has an amazing voice and proves that kpop is diverse. Unfornately if you were to google his name you might end up finding a page on another famous kpop star. So today I will tell you about Kai (and i'm not talking about the one from EXO).

BIO: Kai debut in 2009. He graduated at the top of his class from Seoul Arts High School, he went onto Seoul National University from which he earned a masters and then a doctorate in musicology. Kai is noted for his deep rich voice and classic style of singing. 

Fun Facts: Though his name is often mixed up with EXO's Kai, he is noted for having similar facial features as Big Bang's TOP.

OFFICIAL WEBSITES: 

                                                                                                                        

MUSIC VIDEOS: (he hasn't released that many MV's but he's amazing live)

눈을 감으면 (브람스를 들으며)

이별이 먼저 와 있다

사랑이란 이름

울게하소서

The Prayer (featuring Sohyang)

I would link to his itunes store but he doesn't have one. 

List of Kpop Groups 1980-2012

Before I even begin this post I will beg and plead that you PLEASE do not steal these charts and claim them as your own. It has literally taken me months to collect and find all of this information. If you must post them on a website please credit me as the creator and provide a link to my blog that's all I ask.

Now on with the post, so for the past couple of months I have been working on something, slowly but surely, and I'm finally ready to reveal to you guys just what it is.

I present to you, a list of the all the past Kpop groups starting from 1980 onward.

How To Read The Chart

[The year they debut is in the left black bar as well as along the top and bottom of the chart. The name of the group is in a colored square and a corresponding square with the same color shows the length of time that group has been active. On the right are color letters, BG, GG, M, and D.

BG stands for Boy Group, this is for groups of all genres that have all male members.

GG stands for Girl Group, this is for groups of all genres that have all female members.

M stands for Mixed Group, this is for groups that have both male and female members.
*Side note, if a group debut as a mixed group but later became a BG or GG I gave then the label of Mixed group if that is how they debut.*

D stand for Duo, a group that only has two members. The neon blue D is for duos with two males, the red D is for duos with two females, and the lime green D is for duos with one female and one male.

If a group started out as a group and then became a duo they were given a group status since that is what they debut as.

Most of the older groups are presumed to be disbanded, but if I could not find a website to confirm it I did not put it.]

(Sorry I had to take screenshots of my excel spread sheet, blogspot does not allow you to upload PDF's.)

(click on the pictures to enlarge them)

Solo artist and groups that use instruments[aka Bands] are not included on this list, I am making separate lists for those two.

I know without a doubt that a few trot groups and a few bands somehow managed to make their way onto the chart. The trot groups can stay, but if you see a band let me know so I can add them to my other list and take them off of this one.

Sorry I had to plaster my watermark all over it, but I knew people will steal it and not credit me and this took a long time to make so I want my credit.

DISCLAIMER: Allow me to state right now that all the information is not 100% accurate. I also had multiple sources contradicting others on such things as when a group debut or when they disbanded. In those cases if two sites had different dates I went with the year the group released their first album/single. I'm not Korean so I did not grow up with these groups knowing when they debut, so please forgive me if a few of them are out of place. If there is an error in the information I am more then willing to correct it, however you must provide me with a link of some kind that will show me proof of the date you are claiming the group debut in (or some type of proof). Also activity is dictated by albums/singles/mini album releases. If the group last released an album in 2004, but have released songs for OST in 2005, I did not count that as active on the chart, because often OST's will credit an entire group when only two members participated in the OST.

Here are a few fun facts, and fake awards I want to hand out.

Fun Facts:

1. Mixed groups were really popular early on but the trend has seemed to have died out.

2. I had always thought boy groups had were more popular early on and then girl groups grew in popularity but is not the case. They seemed to be even, and then girl groups over took the number of boy groups over the years.

3. Korean's love using acronyms for group names. 

Now for some awards (these awards are just for fun and should not be taken seriously)

STRANGEST GROUP NAME: It's hard to choose, some of my personal favorites are Mutant, Butt Head, Turtles, and Stony Skunk

MOST ANDROGYNOUS GROUP: Case & Nova. They are a duo who I first thought were both boys, then I thought it was one boy and one girl, and then I found out they were both girls XD.

SINGERS WHO CHANGED GROUPS THE MOST: Boom (yes Boom from Strong Heart), was in three groups before he went solo, they were Key, Nuclear, and Lexa. Jungah get this award as well, she was in three groups as well, Kiss Five, Sz, and After School.

GROUP WITH THE MOST MEMBER CHANGES: Xing. With a total of 18 members through the groups existence, I think they win the award for most member changes.

These are not really awards just random facts.

GROUPS WITH COLORS IN THERE NAMES:
COLOR: Colored Paper, The Color, Color.
BLACK: Black Beat, Black Out, All Black, Blacklist, Black Pearl, Black Eye, Black Queen.
BLUE:The Blue, Blue Marble, Blue Spring, T-Blue.     
ORANGE: Orange, Orange Caramel.
BROWN: Brown Eyes, Brown Eyed Girls, Brown Eyed Soul.
RED: Red Soul, Red Sox.
GREEN: Green Area.
PINK: APink.
GOLD: Gary Gold Smith, The Gold.
PURPLE: Indigo.
GRAY: Eness Gray.
RAINBOW: Rainbow.


GROUP NAMES THAT HAVE BEEN REUSED OR SIMILAR TO OTHERS
(I didn't include sub-units):
Baby VOX 1997, Baby VOX Re.V 2007.
Brown Eyes 2001, Brown Eyed Soul 2003, Brown Eyed Girls 2006.
Chocolate 2010, Chocolat 2011.
F.O.X 1997, Fox 1999, Foxy 2006.
SEEYA 2006, The SEEYA 2012.
Speed 1998, Speed 2012.
Sugar 2002, Sugarless 2006.
Tiny 2000, Tiny-G 2012.
Take 2003, Take Out 2011.

GROUPS WITH NUMBERS IN THEIR NAME:
1: 1TYM, Uno, As One, A.D-One, One 2 One, OneTwo, A'st1,F1rst, B1A4, One Piece, S the One
2: 2 Shai, Deux, Mr.2, Two Two, C2K, Two & One, O2R, 2NB, Chapter 2, 2AM, 2PM, 2Lepik Soul, 2NE1, B2Y, 2Face, 2Nise,Gril2School, J2, Y2Y, 2Boram, 2 BiC, E2RE Two X
3: 3 Boys, M3, 3 Chongsa, 3rd Story
4: 4Men, A4, 4U, BGH4, 4Mintue, M4, 4Heaven, 4K
5: 5tion, Five, Tin Tin Five, Eagle Five, F-IV, Kisfive, 5 Dolls, X-5
6: Six Bomb, Keep Six
7: 7 Dayz, 7 Princess, 7Size, 7.9.4.2, E7
8: 8Eight,
9: Nine Muses
10: Ten
13: i-13
15: 15&
19: Sistar 19
24: O-24, 24/7, 24K
45: 45RPM
84: 84LY
91: Ninety One
100:100%
212: 212
501: SS501
1730: 1730

I hope international fans find this useful for discovering old school kpop groups. Also I hope this will make fans stop complaining about the large number of rookies that debut each year. As you can clearly see from the chart, as each year has pasted more and more groups have debut and this will continue to happen (unless Korea's economy takes a dive and smaller companies are unable to stay afloat and put out more groups) but more then likely more groups will continue to debut each year.

PLEASE let me know if I left anyone off the list (please remember that this list is for groups only, not solo artist or bands) especially groups from the 1980's.

This is an ongoing project I hope to continue for as many years as I can. I'm looking forward to 2013, let's see if the number of rookie groups can surpass 108.

Link to 2013 list HERE

Feature [15] SPICA

Today's feature is on a group that has amazing vocal talent, though these girls are technically rookies, they have been working behind the scenes of the music industry for years, time to talk about Spica.

MEMBERS:

Boa (Leader, Lead Vocalist)

Jiwon (Vocalist, Visual)

Juhyun (Main Rapper, Vocalist)

Narae (Lead Vocalist)

Bohyung (Main Vocalist, Maknae)

BIO: Spica is a five member girl group who debut  under B2M Entertainment in 2012. Many of the member had pre-debut experience in the music industry in one way or another. Jiwon was originally going to debut as a member of Five Girls along with Uee, Hyosung, Yubin, and G.NA however the company fell on hard times and they never debut. She was also supposed to be a member of T-ARA but left before the group debut. Boa was the vocal trainer for Kara, Rainbow and Infinite. Bohyung was supposed to debut with 2NE1 but never did. Narae was a contestant on Superstar K season 1. Juhyun was in Heo Young Saeng's music video.

Fun fact: Spica is the name of a star in the constellation Virgo. 

OFFICIAL WEBSITES: Official Website: http://www.b2m-spica.com/
                                           Official Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/spicaofficial

                                           Official Twitter: https://twitter.com/B2M_SPICA

        

                                         

MUSIC VIDEOS:
Doggedly (Hyori was the main actress in the MV, the girls do not appear in the video.)

Russian Roulette

Painkiller

I'll Be There

Lonely (a lot of people said this video was coping Sistar's Alone, however I disagree. The outfits do look similar, but the pace of the song sounds nothing like alone, and the dance really does not look all that much alike.)

Up N Down (for those wanting a more dance like beat check out this song.)

You can help support these girls by purchasing their music on itunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/seupika-spica/id495860373