SHINHWA(신화) - TWENTY SPECIAL 'HEART' Album Thoughts(Kpop)

   Shinhwa is that group of men that will continue to be everlasting. They are the longest ever surviving idol boyband in South Korea and all of the members have had successful solo careers. All of them except for for the group's leader Eric, that is. He did more than make up for that with his acting career though. This album is apart of Shinhwa's twentieth anniversary which seems like it's comes around hundred times over every damn year. None of them seem to age in physical appearance but their music changes spontaneously. Well, expect for the wrinkles around Kim Dong Wan's eyes when he smiles…. [INSERT ME LAUGHING!] (He's still a handsome guy.)

Track List:
01. In The Air (with YOON MI RAE)
02. Kiss Me Like That 
03. LEVEL
04. HERE I COME
05. L.U.V
06. 떠나가지 마요

   Shinhwa still exhibits a essence of youth in their releases. You would never believe that Shinhwa was singing when many of the newer boyband idols were in primary school. They still prove that their music can keep up with all the newer generation of groups. Sometimes without even trying to be on top of the Kpop competition. Heart unfolds using methods of ease that's so smooth you wonder why they got your heart feeling all these emotions. The album was a bit more mid tempo than their release prior. Kiss Me Like That has a vibe etched in simplicity because the leading track isn't big on being a powerhouse song to feature pop beats or flashy rap bars. It's a track thats just a RnB tracks with acoustic and catchy rhythmic motion that makes the song rememberable to listeners. In The Air opens the album that features Korea's rap Queen, Yoon Mi Rae. Shinhwa blends both their vocals and Mi Rae's vocals together effortlessly, yet  in a quiet dominance. Most of this mini album slides between two genres of slow RnB jams then dance pop. A lot of new pop sounds are in the album, such as the dance pop dance breaks that makes up most Korean pop songs. These moments on the album don't feel like Shinhwa is trying to be young. Instead this is their way of becoming familiar to the new generation. Heart's first two tracks are my favorite tracks on the album.

   Heart was more of a rap centered album than their other albums. Listeners get to hear a bit more of Eric and Andy have bars in the tracks. Rap parts are a little longer than normal. I loved this fact since I've always been a fan of Eric's "no effort" sounding style of rapping. Andy keeps getting better and better on his goal of being a legit rapper. His flow had major improvements here. Shin Hye Sung's voice shines bright in the middle of the rap parts as lead vocals. The others support Hye Sung during their own solos and harmonized sections in the music. Shinhwa still seems to be in top form musically.

   Heart's a cute album. I was satisfied as a long time fan of Shinhwa. It would be really cool if Shinhwa did something different outside of pop. Maybe a pop rock album would be nice.

Miss Devil(Missデビル 人事の悪魔・椿眞子) Japanese Drama Thoughts

    Miss Devil is a Japanese drama that used to air on Saturdays from April to June in Japan. The drama stars Nanao in her first lead role after so many costarring roles, along side, Sato Shori from idol group Sexy Zone, Kimura Yushino, Funakoshi Eiichiro, Nishida Toshiyuki, Wada Masato, and, Shiraishi Sei. Sakuma Noriyoshi directed the drama while Yamaura Mashahiro wrote the script.

     A female HR consultant that works for a big company is said to be like a devil from hell. She had a demeanor cold as ice with a gorgeous face and long legs. She helps the company solve problems that effect the different departments in the company. She also has a motive of her own!

   This drama starts off draped in a certain kind of darkness that makes you believe that the story will be a winner takes all kind of situation.  People go to try and get a job at a company only to find that the means to get a job are not ordinary. Then on top of that a character is introduced that is full of mysteries that not even the character herself seems to be able to uncover. Each character's back story adds a new layer to the plot. Even the ones that aren't as interesting as Miss Devil. The winner takes all situation only last for about one episode before the drama enters into a totally new ark. Yeah, it was kind of funny how one sole episode could feel like a whole ark. Somehow the first episodes script did. There's plenty how emotional infused action that deals with power harassment and bullying. Viewers get a better feel for the characters before creating more questions for the heroine(?) of this drama. Events following the first episode deal with the common issues that exist in a company workplace. Two of the leads find themselves with a whole department that's job is to fire people from the company. Firing people in each episode has a certain formula that happens in the action. People who look like need to get fired are never the people that are suppose to get fired. More lays under that surface that takes more effort to see so you start to just wait to see who needs to get fired instead of trying to guess beforehand. Enough time is also organized around the conflict to give development of the characters time to actually happen. I was surprised that so many secrets expanded in the drama pass the office into families and the past of Miss Devil. A lot of the issues talked about in Miss Devil have to do with issues in the workplace that Japan fights about on a daily basis. Subjects such as long work hours, pregnancy, and corruption inside companies. Miss Devil handles these subjects with ease when the script could have easily become really preachy to get to it's point across. Comedic flare makes a constant solid appearance even though there's such a dark mysterious subject matter. Miss Devil does multitasking better than most asian dramas's scripts. Having a wonderful mysterious female character at the core of a good script makes for good drama.

   Nanao makes this drama without a question. Every time she's in a scene, the show becomes the most interesting piece of storytelling ever. No, it's not because she is drop dead gorgeous because is but the woman has wanted to be the lead for a long time. Her huger shows in her performance and she is perfect for a role like this. Especially if you look at her previous projects that had her playing intimidating characters. She's very tall which helped her look the part of the character even more. What I really loved about her acting is that she gave the character room to have emotion has a character that was stone cold. Her facial expressions could show no emotion who still having an emotional signal into what she was feeling. Then the times that she actually shows a full out emotion, the action feels like such a release for viewers because you see more inside the character. Sato was the wimpiest male lead i have ever seen in a J drama. Both characters have a big contrast in each other that you can't imagine them having a romantic relationship. His character spends more time being intimidating by her than anything else. They're scenes together make up most of the comedy as well.  Those high kicks are classic and Sato bubbling around the whole damn show was amusing. Both actor and actress bring out the best performances in each other. Other characters that work in the company are acted out well enough just to add more depth to the script. Yoshino's character was in the way. The character started out as a rival to Miss Devil. It was just annoying to see her stepping in Miss Devil's path even if she meant well in her actions.

   Miss Devil left enough breathing room for a season 2. I would like to see the story continue. More could be expanded on. Lets keep our fingers crossed everyone!