evacuatewithstyle » Japanese pop

Two Tone

Amy — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 18:46:46 +0000

I really wanna know why Yunho looks like an Angry Bird doing the Irish jig on the yellow cover.

All of TONE‘s covers are incredibly uninspired. They’re the covers you look at when you see them at the CD store (do these…still exist?) and you go, “…Okay.” And then you shrug before you put it back down and head on over to judge other CDs by their more awesome covers.

The covers actually match perfectly with the content of the album — both bland and possibly a regression in style and execution compared to past works.

Tohoshinki’s past albums have always been a great mix of everything. There were the uptempo ballads, the downtempo ballads (I call them the ‘weepies’), the dance tracks, the tea-time melodies, the jazzy lounge tracks, the randomly intriguing pop songs that have a very distinct J-pop feel to them. They were all really unique in their own way and I would be incredibly happy as a listener because I got a little of everything. Of course there were the one or two throwaway weepies that I just did not care for at all, but they were the minority and they were usually on the second disc of the album or something (and this distinction between material from the first disc and the second disc is a big one).

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Post tags: Dong Bang Shin Ki, Japanese pop

Song of the day

Amy — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 02:24:18 +0000

Kanjani8 – Tsubasa ni koi
[See post to listen to audio]

So I have a love/hate relationship with this song.

I love it because the instrumental melody is amazing and I get chills listening to the first few notes.

But I hate it so much because omgwtf-my-LORD-who-let-these-people-sing.

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Post tags: Japanese pop, Korean pop, Song of the day

Formspring.me #5, impressive lives

Amy — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 02:56:07 +0000

To show you that I am a delightfully delinquent blogger, I will humor you by answering a formspring question that someone asked me a year ago (I started this post in July, 2010). He/she asked,

Most impressive live performances?

Kicking off with you-know-who:

DBSK’s “Five in the Black” concert

There’s just something so impressive and attractive about trying really hard.

All in all I think DBSK’s greatest achievement as a group was their success in Japan, and their Japanese concerts are nice markers in the different points of their careers. FITB was the tip of the scale: when they finally succeeded on some measurable standard that they and their companies had delineated for them, but not so successful that they could stop striving. They were good enough to be recognized, but they still had something to prove. There is something rawer about FITB that I don’t think can be found in any of DBSK’s other concerts. I’m also biased because I really like how they were dressed and mmmm suits :3

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Post tags: BoA, Dong Bang Shin Ki, Formspring, G-Dragon, Imogen Heap, Japanese pop, Korean pop

Song of the day

Amy — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 18:59:02 +0000

Utada Hikaru – Beautiful World
[See post to listen to audio]

Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate!

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Post tags: Japanese pop, Song of the day

Moon Lovers

Amy — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 07:21:41 +0000

God, can we just look at those GQMFs right there. Just look at them.

Anyhoo, I’ve been meaning to watch a Kimura Takuya drama for forever but I’m still pretty new to Japanese fandom in general, and getting into a new country’s fandom is intense. Every kind of fandom — TV, film, books — has its own rules, and even moreso if the fandom originates from another country. I’m already comfortable in my Korean — and to a lesser extent, Chinese — pop bubble, because I know where to look for discussions on the pop culture and I know where to find that material on my own to sample it. Totally not fluent in J-fandom, which is why I’ve really put it off for so long. Also, I have a huge problem remembering Japanese names. They’re so much longer than their East Asian counterparts D:

More rambling after the jump, oh and yeah, off to watch every single drama Kimura Takuya has ever done.

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Post tags: Japanese dramas, Japanese pop, Moon Lovers/Tsuki no Koibito/月の恋人

Best! Commercial! Ever!

Amy — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 03:23:38 +0000

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The original BAMF

Amy — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:17:42 +0000

A friend and fellow Matsuda Shota afficionado sent me these pictures as a gentle slap in the head for neglecting MS for all the pretty, young (and sometimes talentless) boys of Kpop. My bad. Why did I ever neglect him again??

Here he is modeling jewelry for a current issue of Vogue Hommes Japan. There were some shots that had a little, er, too much butt, but the rest is all good:

I LOVE the second shot. (And no, I will not watch Liar Game 2.)

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Post tags: fashion spreads, Japanese pop

Song of the day

Amy — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:00:14 +0000

Pretty quintessential summer pop song for me:

Namie Amuro — HIDE & SEEK
[See post to listen to audio]

Oh Namie. You’re not a really great vocalist, but you’re fierce as hell and beauuuuutiful to boot.

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Post tags: Japanese pop, Song of the day

Late Spring

Amy — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 05:06:39 +0000

Late Spring is a movie made in 1949 by Ozu Yasujiro, depicting the relationship between a widowed father and her daughter. From the Criterion Collection overview,

Late Spring focuses on the dilemma faced by a young woman who lives with her widowed father. She refuses several marriage offers, preferring to keep her father company rather than assume the duties of a housewife and mother. Determined that she will wed, he lets her think that he plans to remarry.

I vowed to dislike this movie, but after watching and rewatching a thousand scenes for an assignment, I’ve learned to love the film’s aesthetics. I just want to pet Ozu and his adorable OCD-tendencies, as illustrated by the freakishly symmetrical shots in so many of the movie’s scenes.

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One story, a bajillion versions

Amy — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 03:46:51 +0000

I’m Hana Yori Dango’ed OUT, people.

In the last two weeks, I’ve watched most of Meteor Garden and re-skimmed Hana Yori Dango. I’m not gonna lie — I’m doing studious, intricate prepping for Kkot Boda Namja. After this post, I’m gonna go watch me episode 1 of Kkot Boda Namja. ;)

Phew, where to start?

I tried to come up with a reason why this particular story of one girl and four boys is so damn popular as there continues to be yet another version of it made. And at the end of the day, I think the biggest reason is that a majority of the largely female audience of the HYD story likes the idea of a girl being a boys’ world — where she is not only an active participant in it, but where she’s the center of it. The idea of one normal girl being chosen from a bunch of girls who already have the appropriate “credentials” to satisfy rich, good-looking boys is a tried-and-true fairytale plotline; HYD is a modern spin of it.

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Post tags: Japanese pop, Korean pop, Taiwanese pop