Friday, August 11, 2006.

My beloved brother got an A2 for his Chinese 'O' Levels and he was one of those who used to fail chinese terribly. Hard work does pay off and I'm proud of him. Very very proud and happy for him (:

Surprisingly, the literature poem test wasn't that bad. I did page 4 and I realised that poems aren't that detestable after all, if you think you are able to comprehend, analyse and evaluate them.

I hope I did the poets justice. We'll just have to see about the results :S

I was writing rather happily, feeling contented looking at my handwriting covering two and a half pages of writing paper. I love to write ; but only when I am capable of producing words.

Anyway Irene could you like pass me a few tips on your very pretty Shinhwa brochure? If I had to do anything for a brochure, I would never have thought of using the Shinhwa concert to do a promotion. I take my hat off for you for thinking about that. Maybe next time I'd do a DBSK one just for fun.

In case any of you were wondering who DBSK are, and if you don't know who they are I can't really blame you. They are a near-perfect boyband (I don't like this word but there aren't any synonyms are there? Quintet? Ewww!). All five of them sing well, and they even sing live well.

I can think of dozens of english and chinese pop singers who can't do justice to the songs they supposedly own when they attempt to perform live. Sure, DBSK might have done Tri-angle and Rising Sun with the music and their voices blasted from the stereo systems when they focused on their dance routine, but it is un-arguable (if there's such a word) that their live is marvellously (?! I just want to prove the extent) marvellous.

They have beautiful voices and seriously, I can't say anything else apart from the fact that they really CAN sing.

Aaaaah it's quite no wonder that after being accustomed to DBSK, my expectations of singers of all languages have risen by quite a number of levels and whenever an act can't do live for nuts, I put them down and keep comparing them to my beloved DBSK.

Of course, there's no cutting Shinhwa out of the picture. Shinhwa can dance, and boy oh boy, they do it on par if not better than N'Sync and Energy can't beat them for nuts. The painful truth is that Min Woo's voice doesn't come out strong when he sings live, and Jun Jin tends to sing a little out of tune sometimes. Dong Wan is alright, but nowhere as hypnotising as Hye Sung even though the look on HS's face can be annoyingly sickening at times. I still am unable to embrace the unlimited movements of his mike-free hand at times. He looks constipated sometimes too.

If you want me to, I can go on and on about Dong Wan, Andy, Jun Jin, Eric, Min Woo and Hye Sung but I don't think anyone other than Irene and maybe Germaine would know who I am talking about.

So, let's go back to DBSK. :D

To tell you the truth, they looked horrid in their Tri-angle video. I hated their hairstyles and their gory make-up and thus never re-looked that MV. Things are so much better with neater and more kept rather than unkempt done-on-purpose hairdos. I used to detest Micky cause I always thought he looked like an absolute monkey. However, he is starting to appeal to me and his voice just makes me eh...swoon? Not literally of course. Xiah's voice is highly distinguishable and it is no lie that he sounds the best out of the 5 of them when they perform live. Yun Ho's voice is very him and very hard to describe. Dear Jae Joong has a pretty face and a very pretty voice and sometimes when you hear those really really high-pitched sounds you thought only a girl could accomplish, you might be wrong. Chang Min has a very magnetic voice which has astounding quality, a voice that I like very very very (vey vey vey Mr Loh alert!) much.

Aside from voices, let me tell you about the genre of their music that I happen to be in love with even though you might not want to know. Like I've always said, even if you might not want to know I'm still telling you (:

English pop and mando pop gets boring sometimes because the songs that are produced in these two industries get increasingly monotonous and predictable. You can listen to the title of a song and know it's a ballad and not be the least bit surprised when you hear how exactly it sounds like on the radio.

K-pop, in my opinion, is vastly different. To me, every band/singer/group in the industry has its own branding of songs and the singers that I've heard vary from each other quite a lot.

For example, Shinhwa's, DBSK's and FTTS's styles are very different, so much so that if you would want me to choose between the 3 groups, I am unable to do my best.

Korean songs are not predictable. They have very different tunes and tones and melodies and what I like most about k-pop is their ability to incorporate soothing and rnb-like rap into ballads. In most of Shinhwa's ballads you hear Eric and Andy rapping and you would never feel that their rapping would be anywhere out of place. In fact, without the rapping, the song is made incomplete. And take Coming Near by Brown Eyed Girls (video below) for another fine example. This is an rnb song which to me, sounds half like a ballad and half soft rock-ish, complete with a decent fit of rap. These are the wonderful combinations you are able to look for and forward for in k-pop.

I guess the k-pop style is what made me like korean songs so much. As much as I have been criticised for liking music without even knowing what the lyrics mean, I am adamant about my love for k-pop (:

There is never once I listen to a DBSK song and not awe at their voices ; same goes to FTTS :D

Aaaaaahhhh I guess I can talk about k-pop on and on and on considering how much I've talked about which I think might not make sense of most people out there.

But, I really think k-pop is good. I don't know about j-pop for the only act I listen to is BoA and the songs which DBSK released in japanese. All I can say is that singers should really stick to singing in their native tongue.

AND, I don't really like the Kangta/Vanness pair-up. Kangta is fine on his own, thank you. Vanness is... well, I shall not comment but I have never really liked him.

My prejudices which come with initial impressions do go rather far but things can change, like how I didn't like Zai Zai at first but got a changed impression of him after Mars and the same goes for Ken Chu after Marmalade Boy.

Actually, I never really liked F4 as a band but individually they are more tolerable. I remember there was once I was doing my work and the radio was playing one of Jerry Yen's cover of an all-time hit. I dropped my pencil and it rolled off the book when the chorus came on.

Why?

Thanks to Jerry Yen's unbearable voice, that was why.

He's so much better off vocally now, that's a good thing.

Alright. What a post this is. From my brother to literature to Shinhwa, DBSK, FTTS, BEG and F4.

Goodbye for now although I do not plan to embark on any homework. As Bo Wei always says, Friday nights are for relaxing and I think we all need that even though we have already had 3 days of holidays.

Procrastination is essential sometimes. Just sometimes. (:

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