OK, girl!

Let me begin to catch up on April's big news with an introduction to 5 member boy band B1A4. *happy sigh* Signed with WM entertainment, they have been in training for 2 years and were first revealed via a webtoon last month. It seems that this is the first instance of this kind of introduction in the K-pop world, and I was relieved when the real photographic images finally appeared, my mind having wandered all over asking questions as to why they would withhold their faces for so long..?! But I guess it is nice to be a little less shallow for once (though I am sure it is just as contrived, but whatever, we are talking mainstream pop here). So from the 'toon' we were able to get to know them a little, which is nice. It is clear that CNU likes basketball and he needs his glasses to write. But Sandeul is clumsy and may also wear glasses? Jinyoung plays guitar or bass. Baro is a freshman i.e. young, and is constantly "rapping a verse", awesome! It seems like at least some of these traits passed over into the OK video.

But before get ahead of ourselves, it's good to take a good look at the member profiles, just to be on the 'safe' side, and also explain that title. So, according to my sources, and you may have already guessed it, there is one B type (blood) member, and the rest are all A's, hence the numerics. And you may or may not know that I am an A type, woo! So it means that four of the five members are my 'ideal type', yay! Thanks WME.

Anyway, members:

Jinyoung Real Name: Jung Jin Young (정진영) is leader.
He is the lead vocal and wrote a song on the album, titled Bling Girl.
Born in 18 November 1991, he is one of the 4 A's.
178cm, 59kg

His skills: Songwriting, singing and acting. Also good at cooking.

He has three facebook pages dedicated to him! AND he has his own fuckyeah tumblr.

Want to see him as a girl? Evidently someone did..
He's so cool he's even had an outfit match with MBLAQ's Lee Joon already. He's so lovely I am finding it had to pick any one picture!

--------------------------

Baro Real Name: Cha Sun Woo (차선우) is the rapper - we already know how much he loves rhyming verses.

He is the B! Ha, great! He is my joint last favourite. Born 5 September 1992 - second youngest.
178cm, 63kg

He is apparently good at beat boxing and voice imitations. And, "unlike his cute looks, Baro actually has a charismatic rap tone." Well, at least he is talented.... 'Baro' is on facebook too.

--------------------------

Hi, Gongchan! Real Name: Gong Chan Shik (공찬식). He is the maknae of the group, uh oh.

Another A type, his birthday is 14 August 1993.
181cm, 60kg How so tall and so young!?

The word on the street is that he seems cool but has a lot of aegyo (cuteness). Some consider that he is a lookalike to actor Hyun Woo, but I would rather he isn't - thanks, but no thanks! He is an actor though, so I do hope to see him treading similar footsteps to U-KISS's maknae Dongho soon, and appearing in a high school drama of some sort.
Please look at lots of pictures of him.

--------------------------

Lovey Sandeul Real Name: Lee Jung Hwan (이정환) is the main vocal (apparently you can have a lead and a main).

Born 20 March 1992, he is the third A.
178cm, 62kg

He is good at cooking like his hyung, and is "always smiling, so he makes people feel happy". I think I agree with this - his face makes me very happy!
Back in the day, here he is practicing with a bit of K.Will balladsville, a strict much older hyung shouting directions over the top, and also a school festival performance, bless him. He really can belt it out when it suits him! I think I prefer the slightly lower key B1A4 style though.

--------------------------

CNU (Shin Woo) - he has two stage names? Real Name: Shin Dong Woo (신동우) is general vocals and rap.
He is the final A and was born 16 June 1991.
182cm, 64kg he's tall I guess...but height alone is not enough.

WME claim that he is a "health enthusiast. He’s an impressive member with talent in both singing and rapping. CNU’s masculine and a bit on the quiet side, but has a charming smile that captures the hearts of women.” I'm not sure if I am wholly in agreement with this, but we will see. It's nice to know he is healthy if nothing else. But he did get lumbered with the long hair look which is rarely pulled off, poor kid. I can't really help placing him in the same mentally sealed off category as C.N. Blue's Jungshin, sorry.

--------------------------

As a group, they consider g.o.d. as their mentors. I can't say they are one of my fav original 90s K-pop bands, but that's ok. More excitingly, in their free time, B4A1 like to play speed games, whatever they are, and bingo together. I can almost see them now, sat around in a circle of luminescent dungarees with felt tip pens in hand as a manager hyung calls the numbers!! Bless their cotton socks.

Actually, their bright clothes are one of the reasons I adore them. And I love that dungarees are part of the uniform for the leader!



Lovely boys in lovely fun colourful clothes. I like the thought that they dress themselves in the dark every morning. Or each other.

Apparently, according to leader, they have garnered some interesting nicknames: “Thanks to our unique group name, fans have given us unique nicknames like ‘paper idols’ and ‘blood idols.’ Apparently, ‘paper idols’ comes from the fact that our name reminds them of A4 papers" Paper dolls or blood dolls - which is better?? I think I'd rather think up a new name.



The facts so far haven't been to mind blowing I know, and I haven't really revealed much of exceptional interest, bar pictures, but that is because what drove me to write this post was primarily their music! I love their mini-album, love love love it, love it so much that I want everyone to get to know them and give it a go.
It's kind of a standard rock pop combo thing, much more pop than rock obviously, in fact, the posing with instruments may be the only rock bit. But still, it's great. They debuted on 21 April 2011 with the song OK. Here is the video:

I don't know why it makes me so happy, but it does. The MV intro gives you a hint of all the other songs, which gets me super excited now I know them all, and then it gets cracking with OK. We are hiding out in their B1A4 secret hangout. It cuts between them singing and dancing and playing with toys - it's all so chirpy! Luckily the words 'OK girl' flash up, which is kind of essential because otherwise I would definitely be singing 'OK Go!' Oh, and the bit where they move their finger around has a name you know, it's the 'finger windbreeze dance' - catchy, no? I love you-ou you-ou you-ou... Blue PVC/foil dungarees! It has it all. The live debut on MBC's Music Core was also really good too, even with the MR backing track removed. I think they really can sing and dance. And they seem to change their outfits for every performance, so it's not worth missing any of them!

And the whole record is actually fantastic if you ask me. After OK is Remember. The rap on here is so catchy and I like the low tones a lot. And there are plenty of English bits to sing along to too.
못된 것만 배워서 (Only learned bad things) - this is the only slightly snoozy song that is a bit nothingy. But it's certainly not bad, and it kind of reminds me of some of the album tracks on SHINee's first album. You listen, it passes, and the next song is great.
Bling Girl sounds a bit OK-like but then we are told we look beautiful and there's some group "Oh"-ing. Through the second half of the verse the beat builds up and then we get the "Oh baby ma bling girl" chorus. Even if it sounds like "Green girl" I don't care. It's so damn catchy and I get it stuck in my head for half the day.
The last track before the instrumental is Only One. It's a ballad and yet I love it. I don't even know if I can say why - I hate ballads. However this one has the perfect harmonies and the "I pray no tears in your dreams / I know you’ll fly high in your life" is just so lovely. Sandeul sings it so well.

It's not often that a mini-album comes out with five complete songs and only one instrumental - it's usually three of each. And first records are rarely so well done that you can listen all the way though I would say. Hence I am very happy with these boys, very pleased indeed. Hopefully they will start getting involved in some variety TV and get a bit more interesting - I think they have the potential to do well...


*******************************************************************************************

Bonus:

Their Twitters have also been offering up some gems - and this polka dot duo is one of my favs so far. It seems that Jinyoung is a Beatles fan? I'm English, how about I play him some LPs and show him some Beatles B-sides?

Or a post-/pre-bathing selca? Go on then.

If their Twitters are not enough, here is their fuckyeah Tumblr link, enjoy!

How about some type of kick boxing exercise? Baro, Infinite's Hoya and Norazo's Lee Hyuk. Baro certainly goes for it! Or Gongchan taking on ZE:A's Kwanghee and Teen Top's Chunji as some type of contact hopping knock out?


- Jessica Jane

An open letter to BEAST

Dear BEAST,

I would like to congratulate you on all the hard work you've put into your Japanese debut this year. I have been so happy at the thought of having your faces plastered all over the windows and displays of Tower Records just in time for my relocation back to Japan this Autumn - surely you will be popular enough for all that by then. Or will you. I have a bone to pick with you. Why on earth is it that you are promoting 'Bad Girl' as your follow up Japanese single to 'Shock'??? What are you thinking? I know the Japanese pop scene can leave a lot to be desired at times, but really, this single was a flop the first time around! The thought of hearing 'Bad Girl' being played over and over in shops and what not terrifies me. I like to be loud and proud about loving K-pop, but not that song! As UKISS Eli and Kevin would say, ewwwwwww.

I re-watched the original video, reluctantly, in preparation and tried to like it more.

But it didn't work. You can keep these new school sounds to yourself thanks very much. I think maybe that the only good thing about it is Junhyung's hair? The clothes are ugly, the dance is fair but the song is super cheesy - it's not a patch on your follow up singles 'Shock', or 'Soom', or 'Fiction' for that matter! BUT, I was willing to try to keep an open mind in preparation for the Japanese version - maybe everything will be different this time around I thought. Is it?

Not different enough in my humble opinion. Yes all of you (bar one) look totally dreamy. I particularly love your bomber jacket Junhyung, and Doojoon the interesting kyudo-esque (Japanese archery) breast pad thing you are sporting is really great. But it can't always be merely on pretty faces that things are judged now, can it? And the question that keeps really plaguing me - how can you be promoting this at the same time as 'Fiction', which is a work of art??? I guess you will just not let me have my cake and eat it.

Anyways, to round this letter off, I want to tell you that I still love you all (bar Yoseob) dearly and will simply focus on the end of 'Bad Girl' promotions, listening over and over to 'Fiction' in the meantime, and pray that it doesn't damage your cool Japanese debut image too much. Keep working hard and being diligent and we will put this behind us already, no more said of it, yes?

Forever yours,


Jessica Jane

What happens when...?

Q. What happens when you mix FT Island's Lee HongKi and F.Cuz's Yejun?

A. You get N-Train's Jung Jung Kyun?


As I watched the N-Train teaser this morning I got the shock of my life - I genuinely believed I was watching Yejun in a new (balladeering) band! I was thinking...not only have they taken away my precious most coveted LeeU (see Bunny's post), but they have smuggled Yejun away and are forcing him to stand around and barely dance whilst he sings snoozy ballads, choking back the tears resulting from the awful loss of his most adored hyung. No no no, do not want, that would never do! But alas, thank goodness, this is entirely not the case. It seems that actually we just have a severe case of doppelganger trickery on our hands! As I took screen shots in order to confirm this, however, I realised that there was another face I began seeing too - that of Lee Hongki. Having intently looked at numerous pages of Google image searches over breakfast I'm pretty sure that I am not just saying this because of the blond hair - it really is in the eyes, noses and mouths. I wonder, is this one member enough to make me fall in love with N-Train? I doubt it, but I won't rule them out. Maybe they will turn out to be variety show golddust of the calibur of MBLAQ say, who knows. I think have a crush on Jung Jung Kyun already after all. In the meantime, there are handy member profiles here for anyone who is interested and a Tumblr.

I'm a bit worried that they may be a full on Monet - like a painting, see? From far away, it's OK, but up close, it's a big old mess!

Lee U leaves F.Cuz - the world is possibly ending.

So we all think we survived the 'rapture', today we should rejoice that the world didn't end and we're all still here, right?

Well for some of us the world may as well have ended, the news is out that Lee U is leaving F.Cuz.

LOOK AT HIM.

WHY CRUEL WORLD? WHY??

Ok, i'm being just ever so slightly over dramatic, but really, WHY?

This is horrible news. No one likes this kind of thing, it was upsetting to have Xander and Kibum leave U-KISS and that was 2 out of 7 (and not even favs...) but this is 1 of 4. A quarter of F.Cuz as we know and love them, gone forever! and a fairly integral part, pretty much the glue that holds those Fuckerz (its an affectionate name...) together, the glue that sings the majority of the songs, the glue that takes some of the finest selcas in k-pop history, the glue that is half of such a perfect duo of glossy haired perfection (with Yejun), the glue that plays an integral part in getting F.Cuz to dress up as women or touch each other inappropriately (or go that extra step in the greatest kissing based game)...

WE NEED LEE U. F.CUZ NEED LEE U.

How on earth do they dare to mention that they will try and replace him??

YOU CAN'T REPLACE PERFECTION.

Let's take a moment to recite some F.cuz poetry, the fitting lyrics from "No One" (seemed more appropriate than "Jiggy jiggy jiggy daddy" or "Jin Jin Jiiiin") convey how I feel about this:

"Love also, there is no more. no one no one no one no one no love (ha)
I don’t need my tattered chest (yeah) Love has no feeling

My tattered heart cannot fall in love again
There is still love within m heart, love with go on

no body no one
Someone call 911, it seems this gloomy world only wants to reverse reality. 

nobody nobody no one

one one one one one one one

no more no one no one no one no one no one
Love also, there is no more. no one no one no one no one no love (ha)
No more no one no one no one no one no one (clap)"

They should have carried on with the Japan promotions, if SHU-I can stick it out this long then Fuckerz sure as hell could have. 

What will the future hold? this new member has some dazzlingly brilliant boots to fill...

We'll wait and see what they come up with (we're usually pretty easily swayed..) and of course, the remaining trio *sobs* have my full support...

and as for Lee U's future? apparently a solo career. Of course he has the ability and the charm to go solo but I hold little hope for the direction this is going in, the facts are these: Lee U's dad is a famous old school trot singer who probably wants his son to be a little bit more respected, yanking him out of a somewhat failed boyband attempt and trying to dress him up in a suit and show of his vocal legacy seems like the obvious answer,  however 95% of male solo artists are a complete snooze fest and most importantly I think Lee U is possibly just too adorable and dare I say camp to be believable as a solo act... for heavens sake put him back with some cute boys where he belongs!!! He seemed so happy!

Unless they come up with some fantastic new pop/trot hybrid infectious joy that takes the nation by storm then I don't see how Lee U solo can possibly hope to exceed F.Cuz's meager (but respectable) level of success / non recognition. 

The only way from here is down, and pretty soon, before you know it, you wind up down some back alley washing dishes with Kim Kibum.... oh .... wait....

DON'T LET THIS BE REALITY.  PUT LEE U BACK INTO F.CUZ. NOW.

Beginners need F.Cuz help? try Jessica's epic introductory post.

- BUNNY

MBLAQ in Japan

Originally posted at my personal blog Bunny Bissoux. so the tone might not be at full on NunasKnowBest intensity and only beginners level k-pop comprehension needed.

The time that I was in Japan just so happened to be the same time that one of my most beloved Korean groups were having their Japanese debut.  My k-pop trained eye spotted advertisements and promotions in a few places and I had a heartwarming holy MBLAQ moment in the AM/PM convenience store when I heard a familiar song playing but I couldn't remember who it was, I was thinking "oh this song is really great... who is it again... it sounds like a Johnny's song but... better... a really good Johnny's song... its not NEWS is it??... who can it be?... i've heard it before... wait ... a .... minute... it's MBLAQ, yes! j-pop MBLAQ ! yes!" and then I realised I had been stood static with a creepy smile on my face and chocolate biscuit snack in hand for the duration of the song. Its possible I was swaying, who knows.

You see i'm very happy with MBLAQ's tactic for debuting on Japanese shores, all the previous K-pop groups to head further East either release a Japanese version of their big K-pop hits like Kara-Mister, Girls Generation - Gee etc (which is fine, it just means no new songs) or they try to 'tone down' the K-pop and conform to some of the less wonderful traits of J-pop such as watery ballad pop, awful synth use, all white outfits in a white space and unnecessary twinkling sounds (for example that horrible ZE:A song, the majority of Tohoshinki/JYJ, and most recently SHU-I...).

MBLAQ have gone for a new option, adapting their own 'chic-dol' dance style for J-pop but actually having a good song and keeping to the fundamental success and appeal of their group dynamic. One negative thing of note is that it seems that wherever MBLAQ go, then can never escape some disappointing satin stage clothes. The subtle use of a vampire gimmick is also appreciated, there just aren't enough concept looks in South Korea right now, everyone is trying so hard to look flawlessly pretty they're completely overlooking the opportunity for themed pirate/sailor/cowboy/farmhand/whatever promotions.

MBLAQ even had some kind of meet and greet handshake event in Osaka right when I was in Osaka! Obviously I would love to tell you that I was there, and that I held Seungho's hand for an extraordinarily long time whilst we stared into each others eyes and fell uncontrollably in love, or a variation of that story with Joon, G.O or Mir... (in order of preference) sadly not, I was somewhere else in Osaka oblivious to the relative proximity of MBLAQ. I found out about the event a day too late, and in fact I also got the date of release wrong and strolled up to Tower Records to buy the CD only to find it SOLD OUT from the day before (they later restocked and put up the special promotional header - see above), and then they made it to number 2 on the Oricon Chart! which is a pretty big deal in Japan so well done MBLAQ, well done indeed.

Now i'm back to my usual K-pop stalking internet access and I've been watching them promote on Japanese TV shows, which I could have been watching live, if only I knew! Although if I had it would have undoubtedly spoiled the latter part of my trip and the wonderful hospitality of a dear friend when I refused all social interaction and demanded to stay home commandeering the television set. So, its probably all for the best really. Just like its probably for the best that I found out too late to do anything about getting tickets to go and see 2PM perform in Osaka whilst I was there... or Big Bang even... probably for the best,  that's what I keep on telling myself.   Y_Y

Here's MBLAQ on breakfast TV with a short version of "Your Luv" and some struggling Japanese. I know i'm biased in my continued dislike of Thunder, but really, Thunder fans, tell me if i'm wrong but that haircut was a TERRIBLE decision. So much awkward bowing でも、かっこいですね！！

- BUNNY

おかえりなさい バニーちゃん！

May I please offer my absolute apologies for the absence of Bunny and I over the last 3 weeks or so. You may or may not know, depending on whether you read Bunny's personal spectacular blog, that we have been holidaying in Japan (I think she mentioned it, if briefly), the (other) land of dreams, (though it is often not talked about here). Actually, I got back last week, but Bunny only arrived home today. Bunny-chan, おかえりなさい!

I hope we haven't made you all too mad in the meantime!!

Please forgive us, for we still love K-pop just as much as we ever did, and maybe even a little bit more!

In fact, we spent half of the holiday in Korea towns (Tokyo's Shin-Okubo and Osaka's Tsuruhashi) carrying out field study, or doing prime research into Tower Records' K-pop displays and CD selections, or investigating the representation of Koreans on KBS world or other channels on Japanese television. I assure you there was no slacking.
In our absence though, there has been a whole plethora of happenings in need of comment, not least of all B1A4,

and Block B!


But please bear with us whilst we find our feet again. For Bunny especially, I think the recent reverse culture shock in returning from SE Asia may require a 'back hug' to make things just a little easier.

♥