evacuatewithstyle » 15 minutes of fame

15 minutes of fame

January 31, 2010 at 6:20 pm

Because I am super jaded about Kpop, I really don’t think Jung Yong Hwa (and by extension, CN Blue) is going to have any lasting power in the Kpop mainstream. At the moment they can still coast on Yong Hwa’s stint on “You’re Beautiful,” but that’s not going to last long unless Yong Hwa picks up another role asap. But if he does that, he’s going to compromise the musical side of him, which kind of puts CN Blue in the back seat again. Look at Kim Joon from T-Max. What the hell happened to him? And T-Max? Two hit wonder with “Almost Paradise” and then “Fight the Bad Feeling.”

CN Blue definitely has a unique sound and they deserve more success and recognition, but their management is half-assing them. Their first official Korean debut mini-album consists of only five songs, and two of them are recycled from their Japanese debut. It’s all about pushing out the product while it’s still hot. Who cares about musical integrity and gravitas? In another three, four months, like so many others before them, Jung Yong Hwa and CN Blue will be tiny, diminishing blips on everybody’s radars.

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jaesu17

somehow I think JYH and CNB >> Kim Joon and T-Max, but I see your point :)

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hapacalgirl

I see your point about the management needing to step up their game. The problem with T-max was that although the group had two talented vocalists their songs sucked outside of the ones for BOF resulting in them fading to the background once the BOF craze died down. If CNBLUE’s management steps up their game I can see them having staying power because unlike T-Max, CNBLUE lived up to the hype that preceded them by releasing an album with really good songs (outside of the repeats). They may lose some of the steam that they have right now as time passes but if they release good music and keep doing radio shows like they have, they may just last.

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Amy Reply:
February 1st, 2010 at 11:56 pm
“their songs sucked outside of the ones for BOF”

I actually think the opposite of this. I think their BOF songs are the only songs of theirs that have no musical legitimacy, haha. “Almost Paradise” is the worst Kpop song known to man. I really liked the ballads on their mini-albums, and they’re all great harmonizers, so I like their singing.

I don’t see CN Blue having the same sort of fame that, say, their labelmate FT Island has. Heck, if we look at how popular FTI is compared to all the other idol groups, they’re not even close to what the other bands have. (But, popularity =/= how good their music is, and FTI’s music is good.) FTI’s popularity is also due to Hongki doing a ton of stuff to spread his and FTI’s name around, which I somehow can’t see Jung Yonghwa doing, because he doesn’t have the same sort of variety show pizazz that Hongki has.

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Bernice

Hi Amy,
I’ve been looking for a good blog on kpop and fashion for quite a while now, and this is perfect! I’ve recently fallen into the abyss of fandom, but for some reason I can’t be a silent (and ignorant, may I add) fangirl and love whatever the entertainment companies churn out. I have a weird tendency to ‘rationalise’ my love for Hyun Joong, boybands and kdramas along socio-cultural discourses – so the sociological slant you employ in your writing makes this blog a particularly good read. I went back to your older posts and read your BOF recaps – they were excellent and completely on a par with my thoughts on the drama. It could have been so, so much better – though Hyun Joong’s looks made it worthwhile amidst all the melodrama. haha. As for CN Blue, I love the fact that I can have my indie music from a boyband, but I do agree that once Jung Yong Hwa’s ‘You’re Beautiful’ honeymoon finishes and promotion finishes, their future is a bit uncertain.
Anyway, kudos to everything about your blog… I love it!!

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Amy Reply:
February 7th, 2010 at 8:25 pm
Hi Bernice!

Thanks for the nice comment, I really appreciate it. I sometimes feel really silly rationalizing Kpop through a socio-cultural lens because it’s hard to actually enjoy Kpop after that, but I’m glad I’m not the only one :)

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loopyloop

Idk I don’t think you can compare CNBlue’s situation with T-Max’s. The latter hasn’t done anything since Kim Joon’s turn in BOF. But the former has come out with an album that’s doing quite well on the charts, they’ve already got a K-chart and Mutizen win to their name, and they’ve been appearing on a lot of radio shows and tv shows. Of course everything hinges on the next few months and the quality of music they churn out but I have a feeling they won’t disappear.

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loopyloop Reply:
February 2nd, 2010 at 7:18 am
But I still can’t reconcile how their popularity is necessarily tied up with Yonghwa doing dramas? If their music was crap then yeah they’d definitely have to rely on Yonghwa’s stint on You’re Beautiful but since it’s not (and hopefully it won’t be in the future) I don’t see why they can’t survive as a kpop band in the vein of FTIsland *is puzzled*

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Amy Reply:
February 2nd, 2010 at 11:55 am
Yonghwa being in a popular drama *definitely* put them where they are now. Without his appearance, who knows if they would even debut in Korea? They started in Japan and I’m sure their management had no plans to debut them this quickly in Korea (correct me if I’m wrong).

There are tons of bands who make music in the vein of FTI who don’t get any recognition at all. The Kpop mainstream audience just doesn’t appreciate their genre of music.

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loopyloop Reply:
February 2nd, 2010 at 4:48 pm
Ah I get where you’re coming from now :) No I agree it’ll definitely be hard to maintain the huge popularity they have right now especially with the other big idols’ comebacks. Which kind of makes me sad, I guess. They did inject some much-needed freshness into Kpop and it’s going to be sad to see a crappy song like Oh topping the charts just because they’re SNSD :( Kpop makes me so frustrated at times.

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asian girl in US Reply:
February 6th, 2010 at 5:09 pm
I just have to pop in and agree with loopyloop. CNBlue, indeed, brought in a new wave of fresh music. And they are not bad too. The two vocalists can sing and all of them can play instruments.And, their songs are addictive. Amy has a point too. I havent really known about CNBlue until JongHwa was introduced in the drama YB. The thing am concerned about is their stay in the kpop biz. If what Amy is saying is true (The Kpop mainstream audience just doesn’t appreciate their genre of music), then they might not stay long. But am hoping otherwise, especially since they have been recognized, getting great reviews, and awards….

By the way, I just have to add, that song “Almost Paradise”…omg! still makes me cringe!!!

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Amy Reply:
February 2nd, 2010 at 10:48 am
“The latter hasn’t done anything since Kim Joon’s turn in BOF. ”

They were active for the couple of months after BOF was over, which is exactly what CNB is doing now that YB is over. We’ll see where they are in two-three months.

The former has come out with an album only because they’ve never officially debuted in Korea. TM already had mini-albums under their belt. You can’t really compare the two in that sense either.

And I’m probably cynical, but in addition to their music actually being good, I think their wins are actually attributed to the fact that they’re not up against any major idol groups. SNSD’s back now, 2NE1 will be back, Big Bang will be back. Let’s see how they fare then.

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asian girl in US Reply:
February 6th, 2010 at 5:15 pm
*sigh* (reading the last paragraph)

Although i find their music much better than SNSD, I get your
point….

oh well, I just hope they will continue making good songs/music in the long run…

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