The Haunted 1&2 (The Tag Along/紅衣小女孩) Chinese Films Thoughts

 

      Tag Along didn't catch my attention the first time I had heard about the film. "Another horror film about a ghost taking the form of a child" was what I thought.  Seeing a movie poster with a girl in a red dress among all the countless horror titles don't really stand out either. I did somehow mange to run across the trailer for the second film and it peaked my interest. So, I decided to watch both films. Part one is directed by Cheng Wei Hao while being written by Chien Shinh Keng who based the screenplay off of a very well known Taiwanese urban legend called "the little girl in red". Hsu Wei-ning and River Huang star in part one and reprise their roles in the sequel. Taiwanese superstar, Ranie Yang stars in part 2 along with Wu Nien hsuan, and Francesca Kao. Both films were huge successes in Taiwan, earning much more than the budget needed to make the films.

   The first part doesn't add anything new to the universal genre that is horror. There's an overload of east asian horror films about little girls or women becoming ghost to bring dismay to the living. One classic film that I can think of off the top of my head is Ju-ion(The Grudge), A film that used the emotion of hatred as a factor to cause horror to all who came in contact with ghost's place of murder . Tag Along also uses a place of origin for the ghosts but viewers don't have the slightest clue as to why the hauntings are happening. This might be the one charming trait about the plot. None knows what the hell is going on here(unless you know all the details of the original tale.). Just that people are literally disappearing and reappearing like they been locked up in jail after a couple months. Shaking off the comparisons to the Grudge is necessary right about here. Little Girl in red strives to be her own impactful version of a horror story's ghost as the film progresses. She actually gets to the point that she gets crazy busy ruining people's lives. Well, in the matter of a scene involving a police booth, Our ghost officially freaked me the hell out at least. Big warning about Tag Along also is that the film plays anticipation games much like all the other horror films but the anticipation seems to be stretched out when Tag Along does it. Viewers will wet their pants before anything happens and when something does happen, you wish you had borrowed your grandma's diaper. It's not even that some of the scares aren't predictable. Some are predictable to the point that the scare still comes out strong. Tag Along one has a strong message about parental responsibilities outside of the horror aspect too. Especially from the mother's point of view. I won't give too much away since I like to keep these posts spoiler free. Tag Along part one was unoriginal as far as the plot goes for a horror film. However, the mechanics of the ghost's curse are somewhat fresh and new. Evidence of this is more apparent in the first film.

   I didn't have a problem with the performances of the actors. This was the type of horror film that didn't require ground breaking acting ability to get the character living truthfully in an imaginary circumstance. Part two tests the acting chops of a few of the actors and actress on another level. More about that in a few.

   I enjoyed the scenery that was shot for both films. Most of the film has to do with the forest in the mountains. Viewers will see a lot of shots from above the mountain. That includes the fog filled sky and the highways leading to the nature landscape. A lot of the scenes in both parts are filmed either at night or on cloudy days to signal that something isn't right about what's going on.

   Tag Along 2 was a whole another breed compared to the first part. The plot still follows the same formula: A person is trying to track down their loved one that was lead away by the girl in red. Differences come in to this plot by the way of each new added quality that are shown throughout the film. Now, there are some type of ways for humans to stand up to the girl in red. The first film didn't have a solid concrete method to save you from her. Humans come ready to fight back this time around because the introduction of new characters. The girl in red doesn't slow down either. I wasn't sure if the girl in red in the first film was the same girl in red in the second film. They felt a bit different to me. It was like they didn't act in the same manner. Girl in red in part two does a lot of possessing of bodies and the ghost in part one was down right physical[INSERT ME LAUGHING.]. These things didn't add up for me. Bringing back old characters tied together the two films but the way the first film ended didn't match up to the events of the second film. Hsu's character's situation in the ending of the first film leading to second film came across uneven in parts to me. Then the background that explained where the girl in red came from made sense but things felt a tiny bit rushed. Maybe because this second installment was doing a lot in the span of one film. An element of  dark fantasy eases into the story before you realize it's there. Wu Nien plays the boyfriend of Raine Yang's character's sister who got "spirited away". He comes from a family of shamans that protect a god like entity called Lord Tiger. All of these new traits added to Tag Along 2 caused the cast to challenge their acting abilities more. Playing a possessed person can come off as super cheesy or very terrifying. I got to hand it to Hsu, she did her scenes well….. Ranie Yang's acting was what it was. She's kind of a secular actress. Not too bad nor too good in my option. Wu Nien did pretty well for this being his first feature film. I loved the fantasy element added to the film because of his character. It surprisingly fit within the storyline. The film's ending ties up every loose end in a Taiwanese drama fashion… The effects saved the last fifteen minutes from being too cliche though.

   Viewers get a lot more expansion on the forrest mountains for part two. You can see that in part one, the mountains are pretty big and cover a large amount of ground. The cameraman shoots the cast walking through abandoned hospitals and amusement parks in a scary manner. What shocked me the most was the special effects that looked really good considering the budget used to create them. The effects of the Lord Tiger and the demons exceeded my expectations. The last sequence involving the girl in red was also eye candy for cinema lovers.

   I had fun watching both films. The writer left a possibility of another film so I wait and see what will happen. Fans of Horror and East Asian cinema should give these films a watch if you want to.

EXO-CBX(첸백시)- Blooming Days Mini Album Thoughts(K-pop)

 

Track List:
01. Monday Blues
02. 花요일 (Blooming Day) 
03. 내일 만나 (Sweet Dreams!)
04. Thursday
05. Vroom Vroom
06. Playdate
07. 휴일 (Lazy)

  EXO- CBX has had music released before this album but I thought that this was the boys's first album[INSERT ME LAUGHING.]. I keep showing how out of the Kpop loop I still am... This group is a sub unit of the boyband EXO who is popular all throughout East Asia. Who knows what the "CBX" stands for(I think its the first letter of each of the member's names.). I'm not about to take the time to find out. I care more about the music than searching up too much background information on the artists. Blooming Days is the newest release for the three boys. The mini album was introduced by a colorful music video that used the blooming of different flowers as the theme. Visuals for the MV were very eye catching in beauty, to the point that I ran over to listen to the album.

  I might have forgot to mention that I liked the title track, also called Blooming Day when I watched the music video for the first time. Chen and company tap into a fine tune of finesse for the number. Guitar playing that twangs forming an echo that rings under a smooth mid tempo eat. It's production begs to remind foreign listeners of the good old days when American boybands weren't afraid to be about the ladies in the respectable way. Monday Blues opens the album while also making way for the title track. These two songs are like two peas in a pot for me. Monday Blues brings back that off beat melody that EXO themselves have done in the past making for a catchy track. Blooming Day and Monday Blue feed off of that lively energy. From here, the next two tracks given into the stereotypical sound that is what Kpop is today on a mainstream level. So these songs were easy to skip over after I listened to the first two minutes of each one. Playdate gives me early 2000s Super Junior vibes that made me forget what year it was. The chorus does at least seem to play on the boy's good vocal traits. Each time the chorus comes around, the vocals of the three get stronger and stronger. You believe they really planning a "Play" date with someone. I'm going to need whoever wrote this song to omit the word Play…. Nobody calls going out with someone a "PlayDate". Not unless you're little children. Vroom Vroom wasn't a bad song either.. or it must not have been since I actually remember it off the top of my head. Yep folks. I only liked three out of seven songs.

   EXO's boys have always been good vocalists. There's no doubt about that. They only get better with time. Having only three of the members in this sub unit shows that they can hold their own with out the support of the other members. My hat goes off to them.

    I only listened to this album because I like the Blooming Day music video and song. I at least got three good songs out of experience. I'm going to go watch the music video again. BYE!!!!!

EMPiRE - The EMPiRE Strike Start!! Album Thoughts(J-pop)

• Tracklist
  
  • A-SiDE
    1. FOR EXAMPLE??
    2. Buttocks beat! beat!
    3. Black to the dreamlight
    4. MAD LOVE
    5. Don’t tell me why
    6. TOKYO MOONLiGHT
  • B-SiDE
    1. EMPiRE is COMiNG
    2. Dead Buddy (デッドバディ)
    3. LiTTLE BOY
    4. Kono Sekai no Katasumi de (コノ世界ノ片隅デ)
    5. Akarui Mirai (アカルイミライ)

  I've been watching these girls little by little since the latter part of last year when teaser photos of EMPiRE were released, I'm not a dedicated enough of a fan to watch any type of idol group(Kpop included.) very closely so I didn't take part in the unveiling of the members faces. The girls's label called Wack, stated that they would release the face shots of each girl if their personal profiles each gained ten thousand followers on Twitter. Only one member ended up getting to the set goal but that didn't stop Wack from promoting the soon to debut group in different ways. These ways included having the producer of EMPiRE's music sing the girls's supposed first single by himself(Which is actually a good song.). EMPiRE released their first album called" The EMPiRE Strike Start!!!" This month and the album debuted in the top ten on the Oricon chart at number seven. A pretty good chart position for a new group.

   EMPiRE is basically the little sister group to Wack's other well known groups, Bis and Bish. They are anti idols while also not completely giving into this idea in their music. It would have been very easy for Wack to release another group that sounded just like the first to groups. Empire Strike Start!!! creates a whole new lane for the girls that's new to them but familiar to Japanese music. The tracks on the album showcase a mixture of EDI dance fusion mixed with rock. Some of the tracks are just pop which is perfect for the new idol group. Yes, they are considered anti idols: An idol that is the opposite of an idol that's pure or not dirty but EMPiRE stays very real to revealing the idea that an  anti idol is still an idol at the end of the day. A crude person can still have a fun easygoing side to their personality without giving up who they are at their core. EMPiRE's music is like the symbolism of this to me. Much of the album is upbeat club numbers for all those Japanese listeners who want a reason to move as they wait in the subway station for their train to arrive. The equal fusion of the band instrumental along with the studio production of the beat gives the tracks a dark feel while also sounding very mainstream. The girls also channel Bish in tracks such as Buttock Beat! Beat! and Little Boy(My favorite track on the album) by using a hard rock style. Wack created an idol group that learning to play both sides of the fields. They can be dark and different or mainstream idol pop.

   What makes me really love Wack groups isn't just the disturbing visuals that they give their groups but also the fact that they always have at least one girl in each group that can sing well. Normally its the leader of the group that has the best voice.(Think a group like Arashi where Ohno is the best vocalist followed by Nino in close second.) EMPiRE has one squeaky voiced girl but there's also a girl that has a mature voice who can actually sing. She sings just as loud as Bish's leader and I'm here for it.

  EMPiRE is as good as Bish in my opinion. Both groups sound nothing alike but I can see Wack making serious money off of all their groups in the future. The label has seen a huge increase in sales because I believe his anti idol idea is starting to resonate with the masses in Japan. It's good music so I give all of them props.

Our Little Sister(海街diary) Japanese Film Thoughts(2015)

   Our Little Sister is a 2015 film that stars Ayase Haruka, Nagasawa Masami, Kaho, and Hirose Suzu.  Kase Ryo made an appearance in the film as well. The film was directed and written by Koreda Hirokazu( Like Father, Like Son) who was awarded for his efforts at the Japanese Academy awards by winning best director. Each actress also either was nominated or won with Haruka taking home best lead actress for that year. Originally the story was a manga series that was created by Yoshida Akimi, known as Diary from the Seaside Town.


   Three sisters live together in the house that their mother left them. The hear the news that their father has died and go to attend the funeral. Problem is that the father left the sister's mother for another women and had a love child in the mist of their infidelity. This girl is basically left alone so the older one of the sister asks her to come live with them. Thus reopening old wounds for the family.

    This film is pretty slow moving in plot. Not in a boring sense. Nothing is actually boring about this film. Our Little Sister is just the kind of film that likes to take it's time showing viewers it's undoubted charm. The plot doesn't try anything too flashy. Yes, this is a drama and there's plenty of it but no special tricks are pulled to get you deeper into the story. Every now and then you get a bit of comedy that can be a bit shocking while being funny none the less. The films true charms lies in the characters's emotional bonds with each other. Little things really do count, especially in this film. Many of the scenes that show the sisters spending time with one another are similar to their own mini revelations about life. These times of bonding are more powerful than any soap opera type drama any day of the week. Reasons being that the viewer seem something in these forming relationships that they can take and apply to their own lives. I could directly feel the emotions from the characters of each one of the girls trying to figure out what to do with this girl as well as what to do with their own lives for the future.


   Without the lead actress helping to construct a huge portion of the film's charm through their performances, Our Little Sister wouldn't have been the success that it was. Other parts of the film show the sister's lives individually. One part being their love lives while the other is their careers. Their love interests say a lot about each sister. Their reactions to love also plays a big part in how the viewer views them. I liked how the characters were determined to find love but didn't make it such a top priority. At the end of the day, each actress showed that the sisters had each other's backs. They also had a good relationship with the people in the town that they lived in which does effect them plus the story during the course of the film. Ayase was perfect as the oldest sister. She gave off a sophisticated elegance in the role as stand in mother since their real mother went MIA years before.

   Scenery shown in the film holds an important role in the film. If you know anything about me, I love scenery or nature. So a film set in a little Japanese country seaside town is perfect for me. The director made sure to precisely get shots of the sisters in this scenery. He directed the camera to be placed a bit farther away from the actresses so that they could easily be captured surrounded by the calming setting. The traditional Japanese house that they lived in contained a feel of openness too probably because the shots were sometimes done from the outside focusing on the open sliding doors that bring in the sunlight from the yard. I also noticed that the camera would slowly move in closer to the actresses as the acted for a closer look at them from farther out.

   I don't normally make posts about things that are two years old however, It took me forever to finally watch this film. I'll say that I wasn't disappointed. It's really a cute film that will leave you wanting a little sister of your own.

NAUL(나얼) - Sound Doctrine Album Thoughts(K-RnB)

    Naul is one part of the male group known as Brown Eyed Soul. The group of men produce music that has a strong influence from American sixties and seventies RnB. This caused them to stand out very strongly in Korea. Even Naul himself has had a very successful career as a soloist, with three number one songs under his belt. His newest album is called Sound Doctrine which would be his third album to date.

Track List:
01. Soul Walk
02. Heaven
03. Spring Song
04. Baby Funk
05. 기억의 빈자리
06. Stand Up
07. Blue Wing
08. Gloria
09. 널 부르는 밤
10. Comforter

   Naul comes beck to the music scene still doing what he loves to do best of all: shadow his biggest influences as a musician. He stated many times in interviews that he loves American soul music from the old school. I mean come on….. The group he comes from is called "Brown Eyed Soul". Those brown eyed black guys he spend so many nights watching on the Greatest Soul Hits of The sixties DVDs must have made a huge impression on him. So most of his albums all have the same sound musically. Sound Doctrine ranges from Naul jumping back into his inner found soulfulness in new material to rewritten covers of old classics. Listeners will be able to tell that this man sings soul like it is the breath coming out of his body. Tracks on the album are a nice reminder of how special music of the sixties and seventies was. Naul taps into the pureness of the mechanics of the genres nicely. He should look into adding something new to what has already been established in the sound though. Maybe a quality that is more him…. Just a little gripe from a foreign fan. Korean listeners won't mind as much because this genre of music isn't done too often in Korea so it's still fresh here. I felt that the track lineup became kind of predictable because the music from that time can get played out if you listen to it for a long time(Even though the music is amazing.). That disco beat and the saxophones became the norm a bit too much in this incredible time of music glory for me. Not to mention, I'm black so I grew up listening to all the music from that time and more thanks to my parents. It is a part of my culture after all.. I also didn't like that he put the title track so far toward the end of the album. The title's track is the only song that seemed like I'm listening to Naul and not a Earth, Wind, and Fire poser.

   Naul's singing is the saving grace of all the music that he releases. He's been in a very vocally demanding group for a long time, causing his vocal harmonies to be so on point that you have to wonder what all those Kpop idol boy bands have been doing with their lives. Brown Eyed Soul is one out of a few groups in Korea that when asked to sing acapella, could actually do it and harmonize well together. Soon that becomes muscle memory for a singer. When Naul sings with other vocalists, It's like your ears are blessed with what some aspects of current music is missing in the world: Pure vocal talent.

   Sound Doctrine is Naul's new excuse to relive the reasons why he wishes to be a black person if he ever got reincarnated. These are his words. Not mine. Dude, You don't want all the problems that  comes with being black in this world…. Believe me. Well….. You would at least have deeper reasons to sing soulfully as a black person.

Basick(베이식) - Foundation Vol 4 Mixtape Thoughts(K-rap)

   Basick was a winner of one of the seasons of South Korean Hip Hop reality show, Show Me The Money. He is well known for his freestyle rapping that cuts deep when he raps without an instrumental. Foundation vol. 4 is his fourth mixtape in a series of others with the same name.

Track List:
01. One Time
02. SM58 (Feat. JUSTHIS)
03. Microphone Checker (MC) (Feat. Koonta, Paloalto)
04. F`Artist
05. IDCA (Feat. Double K)
06. The Kid
07. Mask (Feat. B JYUN)
08. ￦on It All (Feat. MBA)
09. A Game (Feat. Dbo)
10. My Wave (Feat. Sik-K)
11. Flava (Feat. SUPERBEE)
12. Real Life (Feat. The Quiett)
13. Starter (Feat. DJ Ebony)
14. Untitled (Feat. EPTEND, DJ Noah)
15. Flower
16. Goodbye (Feat. Brwn)

   Foundation vol. 4 might be some of Basick's best work for new time fans to get into his music. I'm sure the other mixtape were just as good as this one but I didn't give him the time of day until I listened to Microphone Checker. A big factor that makes this dude's music stand out among the other is the fact that he went to college in the states. So his outlook on Hip Hop culture will be very different from a rapper that has never been outside of South Korea. He can also speak English fluently like a native which he shows off in his tracks. Basick glides back and forth between English and Korean in his lyrics, Even using his English ability to hate on other rappers that he knows can't reply because they don't speak the English language. What I really look for in Rap that I listen to is for there to be a catchy hook. This doesn't always mean that the tracks have to feature a vocalist because a rap song can be catch depending on how the chorus is written. A rapper can use the repetition of a word to make a song stick in the listeners head. Plus having good flow, voice indiction, and good lyrics helps a bunch too. Family man Basick(since he is marred with a kid.) accomplishes most of these standards. Especially in tracks such as Real Life where The Quiett joins the rapper. Some of the tracks aren't as catchy as others since Foundation has a lot of tracks to choose from. I do appreciate the fact that he doesn't try to be a Korean bandwagon hip hop head. We all know what they look like….. Show Me The Money is full of these kids. He stays looking really regular besides his hat turned backwards sometimes. Please just be Korean so you can speak your truth through your art. Certain moments in Foundation, made me think that he was taking too much effort to go hard however, those "bitch pleases" and "I don't give a fucks" might have come from the heart.

   Basick's voice by itself isn't all that commanding if I'm to be honest. His strength lies in his lighting fast flow. He has this kind of ability to make you relate to what he is rapping about. I was watching one of his old performances on Show Me The Money that moved my heart.

  Basick isn't the best rapper that South Korea has to offer. He's still a king in his own right though. Check out his music if you want to.

Aaron Yan(炎亞綸) Where I Belong(最想去的地方) Mini Album Thoughts(Mandopop)

   Aaron Yan first got his start in the once mega popular Boyband called Fahrenheit. Things didn't work out with the group as members started to leave the group one by one until the band was put one hiatus. I still hold out hope that one day all the boys will come back together for an album. Aaron has since been maintaining a solo career as well as acting in various dramas. He has released several albums but this is his first release in awhile.

1. 最想去的地方 - Zui Xiang Qu Di Fang
2. 玩具人 - Wan Ju Ren
3. 最久的瞬間 - Zui Jiu De Shun Jian

  Where I Belong starts off like Aaron hasn't been out of the music game for a bit. There's not really much here that's different from his other releases. Best thing that this three track album can offer listeners is another chance to hear Aaron sing in all his poppy goodness. One track sounds like it came straight from a pile of songs that didn't make the cut for Aaron's other albums. Not that I hate it, Where I Belong is the perfect mix of pop rock and bubble gum pop for Aaron's fans(me included) to chew on. The other track don't live up to the catchiness of Where I Belong at all. They're just ballads that fan girls in Taiwan want to hear him sing because he looks good doing so. I gained more of a liking for 最久的瞬間 after I watched the MV. How superficial does that sound? Very superficial, I guess....

   Aaron is a good singer for the pop rock music that he does. I like his voice but he isn't the best singer in Taiwan. He's a pretty boy that sings in falsetto for all the girls to swoon over him. He knows what he has to do and gets the job done. Pretty boy vocals all the way…..

    Where I Belong is a nice little reminder that Aaron Yan's voice isn't dead. I'm not sure if he will be releasing a full album soon or not. Whatever he decides to do, I'm here for it.

Ghost Month Chinese Novel Thoughts

   I made a post about Ed Lin's other novel called Incensed which was the second novel in his Taipei night market series. The two books won't be talked about in correct order because I didn't read Ghost Month first like I should have. Instead I chose which novel to read based off of the story synopsis and Incensed seemed more exciting to me at the time. Go back and read my thoughts on Incensed to know my in-depth feelings about the book. Ghost Month's pages tells the beginnings of Jing nan before the events of Incensed. The second novel makes several references to the events that happened in Ghost Month but both book could stand alone in my opinion. Ghost Month does however, come across more as a thriller than it's follow up novel. There's not a lot of wiggle room for Lin to add a dozen of foot notes about Taiwan and Chinese culture in this book. The plot itself is a bit too deep to spare any details about a man that is trying to find out the truth behind the death of a women that was going to be his wife to be. Most of the book takes it's time filling the pages with background information of Jing Nan. You learn about his life growing up and how he became a huge fan of late seventies post punk English rock band, Joy Division. Information about Chinese culture is included in this type of storytelling without adding too much attention to the notion. Unlike Incensed, Lin's desire to teach readers about Taiwan flows with the plot so Ghost month doesn't come off like the reader is studying a history book. I was really interested in the tradition of Ghost Month where Chinese people are extra superstitious causing them to got to temples to worship different Gods. Also information about the different Chinese gangs was fun learning about through reading Ghost Month's pages(Loved the reference to the gangster film Monga.).

   The plot just seems more well thought out for Ghost Month. Jing Nan goes from one exciting action to another while meeting people from his past and people keeping him from knowing the truth. I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue reading novels written by Ed Lin but I might. He has other books that seem interesting for those who want to support Asian authors and writers.

FLOWER FLOWER -スポットライト(Spotlight) Album Thoughts(J-rock)

01. 命
02. パワフル
03. コーヒー
04. あなたと太陽
05. 地図
06. 塵
07. アイス
08. 踊り
09. 産声
10. 時計
11. 小さな窓
12. 日常
13. 冬 -Live at Ebisu The Garden Hall-
14. マネキン -Live at Ebisu The Garden Hall-
15. 炎 -Live at Ebisu The Garden Hall-

   Flower Flower is a band that was founded by solo singer Yui after her retirement. Yui's career gave her huge fame in Japan from the early 2000s to 2012 with most of her releases charting in the top ten on the Oricon Charts. She decided to take a break because she wasn't happy behind the scenes so Flower Flower was a way for her to continue making music in her own way. The band has saw success due to Yui and has continued to release music. Spotlight is the band's newest album after Yui gave birth to twins a little while ago.

  Spotlight excels in all the ways that the other albums by Flower Flower did not. I can remember listening to the other albums just because I'm a fan of Yui and feeling like the albums fell short somehow. Music on these albums left like their wasn't enough of Yui's music creator abilities in these albums tracks or the band was still getting a feel for each other's groove. All the bumps must have been sorted out of the band's chemistry according to the way Spotlight comes for listener's attention from the first guitar chord played in the album's opener. What can defiantly be said about Spotlight mostly is that the tracks sound like they came from Yui herself even more this time around. If you know of her albums, you know that all of her albums are solid in good musical content. A listener can listen to one of her albums from front to back without skipping songs thanks to the magic her artistry demands. Spotlight lives in this same space but adds a new school edge to what Yui might not have been able to do as a solo singer. The tracks use a electronically rock style based on Keyboard arrangements that are placed around the playing of the guitar and drums. Base guitar brings in a stable undertone for the bass guitar to get lively. If you listen, the guitar playing is moving all over the place using edgy solos and held out chords. Yui's vocals seem to have become one of a mother as they project so strongly that they echo. Even trumpets are placed in a track just to show that Flower Flower has more than a few tricks up their sleeves for future albums. I would also say that the album is trying to move toward the Ganki style during certain parts of Spotlight but it works for the new direction of their sound. The album as a whole is a lot better than their past albums. More than a few of the tracks sound a bit like what I imagine Yui's music would have sounded like if she had continued a solo career which makes me satisfied with Spotlight overall.

   Yui comes back full of energy here. I didn't have high expectations for this album but she was more than ready to be the front women that Flower Flower needs. It seems to me like she has more freedom to play around with her music than she did as a solo singer. This can be heard in the different  methods used in Spotlight. One method that I really liked was how she sings in a whisper and talks as the band plays through the instrumental. It adds a dark vibe to Flower Flower's music. Her voice might not be for everyone though. I have heard people complain that her voice is too high for their taste and I respect that. She can get a to be a bit high pitched but never squeaky in my opinion.

    Flower Flower is creating their own presence away from Yui's legacy while also continuing to use it. I enjoyed listening to Spotlight more than the other albums. The other albums only had one, maybe two songs that I really liked.

MONSTA X(몬스타엑스) - THE CONNECT: DEJAVU Album Thoughts(K-pop)

    Monsta X wouldn't qualify as a rookie group anymore. Well, these boy's were rookies when I first heard about them. I didn't think too much of them. They were like the other ends amount of boy groups but one performance that I saw changed my opinion about them a little bit. Their performance of their song Drama Rama at one of those K-con events got my attention. Drama Rama is a catchy song that doesn't sound like the other Kpop boybands's releases. Monsta X also scored their first win on a music show for the song which was very emotional for them and for everyone who witnessed it. They have continued to grow from this win as they have gained a strong fanbase in Korea and Japan. The Connect: Dejavu is their newest release in a collection of mini albums.

Track List:
01. Jealousy
02. Destroyer
03. 폭우
04. 미쳤으니까
05. Lost in the Dream
06. If Only
07. Special

 

   While Monsta X did make me like the new generation of Kpop, It was only for a short time. The reason being that Dejavu made me realize again the reasons that I stopped loving Kpop hardcore. Kpop's same old musical style is tired. What I mean by tired is that they use the same old production to make songs over and over again. Tracks call upon horns(That old time Hip hop sound), base beats, and techno music to try to liven up this album but it doesn't connect to an old time Kpop fan like me. This album would be a BTS album if you took away the vocals, then remix the instrumentals. Good aspects of DEJAVU is that Jealousy isn't a song to easily skip over. Jealousy has a sixties RnB sound that stands strong following in the shadow of Drama Rama. The track isn't as good as Drama but it has enough sass to get you grabbing for the bed sheets.

   Their vocals sound like typical Kpop male idol voices. Nothing more, nothing less.  I will say that their rappers are good though. The rappers's voice indiction feels to me like they are defying someone or something. It's pretty cool to listen to the rapping because they don't come off as rappers that are trying too hard to be tuff. They rap with natural confidence.

   Fangirls won't miss a beat diving into Monsta X's new songs. My head honestly hurts right now as I type this post. I won't be so mean as to say that it's Monsta X's music but thinking about Kpop fandom does make me want to log out of life sometimes.