IT'S COMING

What's coming? All of it, all of us probably. GTOP 11 track album, BIG BANG album, Digital Single from "that other guy", potentially a return to form from Nuna's when were are actually compelled to write about k-pop music and not hair cut misdemeanors and shameless neverending crush confessions... what am I talking about? crushing IS Nunas at is best so ignore that last part.

Anyway, today we all witnessed it, Taeyang, G Dragon, TOP in gunplay action. GTOP in matching pimped out medallion wearing glory doing "The Perculator". 2PM in a beautiful creative dream homage to the art of mime. 2PM dance dance revolution breakdown with light up boots and FULL TEAM shirt ripping. 2NE1 giving us enough pointed shoulder envy to last all year and obligatory eyesight test as I squinted desperately through low quality dark intro to hunt for the insanely hot backing dancer. Yes it was the 2010 MAMA awards. Otherwise known as "the YG and JYP win everything because SM hates MNET and no one else bothered to show up awards". I am speedily skimming over what was one of the most exciting days for a k-pop fan since the Turn It Up MV came out, but I have to keep it brief for the sake of my health, I can't even make my self link up the videos, i'll lose it all over again. A full report, screecaps, GIFs and all, would most likely kill a mere mortal like me. I know you understand. I'm going to work on stamina and hope I'm a little stronger in time for the Gayo Daejun (New Years Specials).

HWAITING!

- BUNNY

Finally, I am ready for Solar

It has taken a while, but I am back by Taeyang's side with a smile on my face. For someone who claims to adore Taeyang as much as I (often platonically), you may be wondering why there has been a total lack of reaction to the fact that he has just released his first solo full length album, Solar. If so, you and me both. I thought the release would send me wild a la T.O.P, have me typing to the point where I was almost sick down myself from my joyful garggles. But this didn't happen. I'm still not sure why. Maybe this was always going to be the case. I mean, if I insist on listening to songs like Where U At and Wedding Dress on constant repeat then these songs being on the album is hardly going to blow my mind in the same way hearing/seeing the songs the first time round did, and other songs are always going to have a fight to stand up to them. Essentially, I just was not blown away. I think I wanted something rap-ier, harder, not so much of the love songs which I ended up with.

And the single I need a girl wasn't quite what I was craving either, even with the GD rap. The original MV is nice, lots of Taeyang and Dara (2NE1) and GD in bowtie and comb over and later a lepeoard print shirt...
but it still wasn't what I was looking for. Taeyang didn't even change his hairstyle or loose the frontal shave, though he claims that that (and the terrible facial hair) are down to him being too busy and not caring enough about what he looks like. I'm not sure that I believe him, but I'll agree to it to save myself the upset that his style intuition is not quite that of T.O.P's.
The live stages too, I could take or leave really (sorry!).

But then I started to listen to the album properly, not just the advance release teaser tracks, and it began to grow on me. Albums are put into a certain order because they work well in that way, and this is definately true for Solar I believe. The intro works great (I've blocked the few seconds of creepy children), asking me if I'm ready for solar, as it actively prepares me; it calms my rushing k-popped pulse rate a little, which is good for me I know, and takes it down a notch or two for what is to come.
Superstar, track two, didn't thrill me at first, but it's a real grower that has taken root. Then there's I need a girl. Once you get past the nervous, hungry and desperate title, his voice is lovely, and it is a nice song. Remember he also plays the piano. I like to imagine him playing along, rather than dancing around with the creepy stubble beard. And again, GD gambling and rolling around the floor in the video helps.

I like the harp at the start of Just a feeling and, again, it is a really lovely song. Very summery.
Next up, You're my. At first I didn't like this, mostly because of the (terrible)English lines. "You're my chocolate, my sweetest chocolate, I really wanna have you-u". A little suspect if you ask me - ignorance is bliss in such cases, had it been in Korean I would have had no qualms. But his voice IS that of velvety chocolate. Get past the dodgy English shock to the system and you'll learn to love it.

Now it starts getting good, with good ol' Teddy (1TYM) let out of his cage, "this is for the ladies!"
I'm actually obessesed with this song, Move. Not a banger in the conventional sense, but fantastic. And Teddy's lyrics KILL me:

...and your body is my wonderland,
I could play all night,
(so just move move, baby don't stop it)
I cock it and I load it,
call me mister big rocket,
you so precious, face shinin' like crystals,
I'm so vicious like Sid with my Sex Pistols...

...Niagra falls, baby I got you wetter than...

Go Ted. So sexual, so punk. I never expected so much from him. God knows what the live performance will end up sounding like though. If you've heard him on GD's Shine a light Leaders you'll know what I'm getting at - over excited child at a party.

Ah, Breakdown, more like let down. It sounds like it's going to be epic, for the first few seconds at least, some proper hard rap, and then it just gets a bit.....jokey, for want of a better adjective. But even this is growing on me, or I'm softening. Either way.

After you fall asleep, in translation, is the next track, and it totally has me. Repeat worthy and all. I can assure you that I will be doing some more research into this Swings fellow.

So yes, after that is Where U At andWedding Dress(both prior digital releases) and Prayer and another off the mini album released last year. As afore mentioned, no surprises but all super songs.

And last, certainly not least of all, Take it slow. Don't laugh, but it reminds of my childhood and Annie Lenox whilst actually making me feel mid-coital activity. I don't understand it either. And maybe too much, sorry, but it really does. It's so beautiful, but it's almost too much. So slow but with the capacity to have my heart race like some of the best club bangers.

Anyway, I'm sorry. No more.
But I guess what really consolidated all this was LISTENING TO THE LIMITED DELUXE EDITION on repeat in my car all weekend. Yes, you read right. Bless Tower Records.

I don't know how much I like the T-shirt itself, but really, just to have it and know it's mine. GD blates has one, and does T.O.P for sure. If it's good enough for them...

Oh yeah, and the YG FAMILY card! I'm so happy/proud/excited to have this in my wallet. All I need now is an A.N.Jell/You're Beautiful one and I'll be off.

I don't really know what the card or serial number means. But I will be researching this too. And the one of however many photos I got was the one with leather gloved hand to mouth, and "God Bless You" 'hand written' in the corner. How sweet.

It's times like this when my imminent departure from Japan breaks my heart.

Angels of death

I'm sure that everyone (who is anyone) is well aware of the smoking hot bad boy images that many of our faviourite K-poppers love to intermitently perpetrate; these being sandwiched amongst and inbetween between their super cute aigo personas that are equally often played out.

One of my favourite inter-band bad boy fighter images to date could be the fight scene between T.O.P and GD at the start of Haru Haru. Possibly the most homoerotic and fantasizeable one I have come across to date.

I swear GD's lips make contact. I'm sure of it!

Of course there is also that rivalry between the angel faced balladeers 2AM in I did wrong. I never thought I'd be lucky enough to get a rukus from them, but what a wonderful gift it was.

What you see here is Seulong, pre-Jinswoon punch poise.

Then there is the between band rivals, that I've often fantasized a little, or a whole lot, about. And though it is always rather epic in my mind, of course none of the baby-faced beauties are harmed in any way. It seems that such perfect scenarios don't only have to exist within my head though - they have actually been played out for me, and so charmingly too. Thank you MBLAQ and BEAST:

This was certainly one of the 2009 SBS Gayo Daejun moments that sent me spinning.

It seems that of late this bad boy image has been hotting up more and more, almost to the point of popping (I mean this is many, many ways). It's as if the 'black' image, under which the likes of MBLAQ and various other debuted, was not quite down and dirty enough.

Without You (2PM) seemed to be building up to something darker and more daring, with the 'black' rain that starts pouring mid video; it's almost as if it was a warning of darker things soon to come on the K-pop scene.

Indeed, barely a week later G Dragon's She's Gone got its release. It really is quite the video, with a stalking Jack the Ripper-esque period GD calmly trapsing morbidly though a maze, knife swinging confidently in hand, in pursuit of his victim.

I love that there was a big problem made out of the infamous 'bed' scene, but not this video? I'm pretty sure that this is the one he screened at his concert.. And it's so Macbeth, with the blood on his hands. Hot damn.

But, from knives to guns it developed. Look at K-pop go! (Do you get this badass in Europop I wonder?) The new Big Bang video for Tell me goodbye knocked me for six in more ways than one. Not only is it a fully fledged film noir mise-en-scened, appropriately costumed of course, masterpiece, but it may be the most bad assed I have ever seen T.O.P in a music video.

It's so Bonnie and Clyde that it near on blows my mind. In fact, upon watching again for the nth time, it well and truly has. Cigars and vintage phones, mounted stag taxidermy and tailored to perfection suits throughout. I was in no way expecting this! But there's more: graveyards, leather gloves, pathetic fallacy, steaming sewers, leather bound books, bloody noses, whiskey bring pouring - need I go on!
And I know T.O.P loves to be badass and I have already seen him with guns, as in parts of Iris etc., but there is something about this vintage pistache that really seals the deal for me. I don't know about Taeyang being Bonnie and Teddy (1TYM) being Clyde (as is rapped out oh so smoothly by Teddy in Taeyang's Prayer) - I hand these roles over to GD and T.O.P after this onslaught - with T.O.P crusing around bloody faced in a shot out car, and GD collasing in a heap after pouring whiskey all over the shop - I think they deserve these titles most.

So that was what yesterday bought. And this morning, oh this morning. What I would have done to skip work and have this on repeat... You know what I'm talking about: Y. Oh MBLAQ, boy oh boy did you deliver! You gave me one of the things I love most - inter-band fights. Without further ado:

Now take a deepth breath, re-focus, and let's try to break this down together. For time purposes, and in an attempt to keep to the point, I will only discuss the fight scene, that perfect plot line, between Joon and Seungho. So, until three-quarters of the way through the video you have no idea, not even an incling, and then BAM - a smoking hot Seungho close up 'on set', not in UV day glo dance get up. Why is this you wonder - oh yes, that's why, BECAUSE HE IS IN THE STORY LINE! Soon enough Joon appears, in an attempt to drag the girl away from Seungho's clutches (good luck!) - and so it starts. Seungho administering the first shove, follwed by a very quick of the bat punch from Joon. They cut back the the dancing after this, to remind us all to breathe again i'd say at a guess. You've barely recovered, and Seungho retaliates. It may be short, and on shaky handycam and all that, but it is enough for me, job done. And as if this is not enough for one MV, why not add in an assumed gun-point murder by Joon, just for good measure.

Finally, before I come off as a total creep, there is one more thing i'd like to add, something which is almost equally as exciting as all these testosterone driven fisty cuffs: the 'hysterical' Lee Jung Hyun. It seems it's not just the boys whom are up to no good. Look at her go:

I wasn't even really aware of her before, and I certainly was not expecting this, even from an over 19's branded video, when I pressed play. We now not only have guns and murder, but lesbian thematics too? Back alley bars, ventilation tunnels and underground bathroom stalls - it makes Big Bang's Tell me goodbye look tame! Same sex toilet cubicle multiple rape scenes, K-pop really does have it all covered. I never would have predicted this when I first started out down the K-pop road, watching SHINee's Nuna nomu yeppo:

This was no indication of the lengths that K-pop was soon to go to --- just look at them.

The moral of this post is not that I totally get off on violence and to say that this is all I want to see from K - as this is just a part of it - it is just a happy memoir of some of the risque action I've been enjoying of late.

And maybe instead of just slating Big Bang's Shouting Reds, I should have paid a little attention to the song. The violent and gun totting crazed behaviour that I so far have been basking in even it made it into this national sporting anthem:

We’re the Red Killers, everyone step aside,

Light the bright fire of victory, Red soldiers,

Man I told ya, Cock and load, aim and shoot,

We never miss miss, you better kiss these killer boys.

Yikes! As well as that, there are just so many conflicting messages for me in this GD lyric alone: "Cock and load, aim and shoot". The double entendres are eating me alive.
And then telling me, ordering me, to kiss these 'killer boys' in the next line - wow. Killer boys they are, for sure, and, given the chance, kiss them I will! Permission has been officially granted. I wholeheartedly take back some of the Europop abuse. Boys, punish me as you like.

How is it exactly that you slipped through my hands?

I address this to Taeyang, for two reasons.

One of these reasons is based on the fact that he used to be my ichiban (favourite) Big Bang member and these days he no longer is. I feign to guess that it's rather obvious, T.O.P my dearest, who is my definitive number 1. This Taeyang love went to the ends of the earth, so I thought, so much so that I had a photo taken "with" Big Bang and I was so preoccupied with Taeyang adoration that I cared not of the T.O.P obstruction!


What was I thinking, how could I have ever not cared?! Sometimes I don't even recognise my own self (and this I mean on so many levels).

I think it was Wedding Dress that really captured my heart in its entirety. It was Taeyang and his dove dives to be exact:

This screen capture doesn't give a great idea. But hopefully when you (re)watch for yourself you will know exactly which move I mean. This move is performed as he simultaneously hollers "BA-BY!" from the bottom of his heart.

I'm sure there are many reasons why Taeyang fell from grace, and surely none of them are his fault. I'll put it down to my inconsistent superficiality. Needless to say, I still have a soft spot for him. The same way that I have one for SHINee's Minho. The kindled flame will never really go out.


So, to my second reason, and the more pressing of the two. How did Where you at escape my eagle eyes?? I pawed over so many Taeyang videos, or so I thought, but this never made it into my radar, or not memorably at least. And I don't know that I really would have watched it and not taken note of it's brilliance - prime time Taeyang if you ask me. I want to never forget about this or miss this ever again, which is why it must have a whole post dedicated to it's favour.

Please accept this as an apology Taeyang, on both counts.
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