Music Monday

I don't know what's come over me, but I've been going through a serious K-pop phase. I can't get enough. This first song is a song I heard on the noraebang bus on Teacher's Day. It's incredibly catchy, makes me want to dance, and there is hip thrusting, so much hip thrusting. I've had this song on repeat for the past two weeks. There's another version of the video, a "dance version" with even more hip thrusting.

This next video is from the Wonder Girls. I can't say I love this song or this group, but I felt they are worth sharing. The Wonder Girls are Korea's first real K-pop group, or at least the first has ever made it internationally. They toured with the Jonas Brothers a couple years ago (Woo!) and they were the first South Korean group that made it on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Music Monday

K-Pop time. A Music Monday dedicated to K-pop has been unavoidable. You can run, but you cannot hide from K-pop.

This is BIGBANG. A boy band that belongs to the YG Entertainment label, one of the biggest K-pop labels in Korea. YG Entertainment is known for being liberal with their artists; the artists write most of their own music and their wardrobe and hair and appearance are decided by the artists. The other big labels are known for training their K-pop stars at a ripe age of around 12, and they are trained and controlled by what the label wants. At least this is what I've heard. Anyways, Big Bang is one of the two K-pop groups and I like, and they're pretty popular in Korea. I think I should note that Big Bang beat Britney Spears at the 2011 MTV Europe Music Awards in the "Best Worldwide Act" category. So yup, they're kind of a big deal.

This video makes absolutely no sense to me. I don't know what story they're trying to portray, I can't even detect any political message which is what I originally thought with rioters and the gas masks. Their hairstyles are all extreme and their clothes are ridiculous, and yes coming from America, it was weird to see Asian rappers, but man they own it.

My favorite parts are at 1:10 when T.O.P. starts his sexy rap montage, at 1:25 when Taeyang is looking all peaceful sitting cross-legged, and finally at 1:45 when T.O.P. comes in again with his frosty blue hair and mutters "Wow. Fantastic baby." Swoon. Following that is a nice medley of all band members lip-synching, with their heads cocked, eyeliner-lined eyes, looking all cute, and at this point I can't tell if I'm being sarcastic or completely serious.

Regardless, I have no idea what they're singing about, but this song is catchy, and there is no denying that Taeyang is one big cutie-pie with a hairstyle that looks like a radish, and T.O.P. has the sexiest voice in Korea. Also, this video makes me want to rave while wearing a gas mask.

P.S. I highly recommend watching this video in full screen mode. And probably in HD.

UPDATE (March, 28, 2012)
Here's an article I just found in my inbox! Inside Korea's Pop Factory

Confessions of a Girl in Korea, Episode 1

So I have a confession. A big one. So prepare yourselves people. When I first got here, I did not like it. I  Inje. I didn't like teaching. I hated kids. I didn't like my small town life. I didn't like the fact that there is no English anywhere. I hated everything. I missed home and my family and friends. I even missed my old serving job (GASP).

However, this past month, I finally realized how much I truely enjoy my life here. I've finally developed my own style and technique of teaching and I get so much joy when a kid answers something correctly. I still don't really like children but I've accepted that fact a long time ago. Inje is really small, but I've been to bigger cities over the weekend and it's nice to come back and relax in my sleepy town. I am rarely homesick, because now Korea is my home; there are great people who have become my friends, my apartment is super small yet cozy and homey, and my boss has been like a mother to me here.

Sorry for the sap, but this concludes my first confessional blog.

Here's some K Pop to lighten the mood.