This is My World, Mairim's World!! From music, tv series, Korean culture (kpop, kdramas, Korean Wave), geography, and to just what I love. My thoughts about what I like and don't like. Hope you enjoy it ^.^ ♥
For this edition, I'm going to do
something different. I had a little trouble to find tracks that really got me
going, that's why I decided to take 5 songs for the month of February and 5 songs
from the month of March. I hope you like it, and check them out!
1.Henry: Monster
Super Junior M member, Henry, released a new track on
February of 2018. This song was release in Korean, Chinese, and English, with
MV for the English and Chinese versions. The track is an alternative R&B
song with a bit of a rock vibe, which talks about the struggle with the end of
a relationship.
2.Hyolyn: To Do List
After leaving Starship Entertainment and the disbandment of
SISTAR, Hyolyn decided to go on her own. She stablished her own agency called
bird3. "To Do List" is the first song that she produced herself. An
acoustic ballad with lyrics about someone delaying a breakup and the struggle
to part away. The track is one of a three single project called "Set Up
Time". She decided to not appear on broadcast for her comeback, just
communicate with fan through music.
3.Suzy: SObeR
Suzy has released a new album title "Faces of
Love", with seven tracks. The song "SObeR" is the one that got
me, with some retro nods and an upbeat sound with a great chorus. The lyrics of
the song were writing by her, and talks about wanting to know someone's true
feelings.
4.Red Velvet ft Hitch Hiker: I Just
The group Red Velvet released their song "I Just" in
November, but it was 'till February that they released the MV for the track.
Filmed on a van, gives us the vibe of a road trip. It was a one take shot with
minimal effects, like animations and colors. The song help us to hear each member’s
unique vocals.
5.Ailee: Rewrite If I Can
This new track is part of the web drama OST, "This
Flower Ending". The song can be describe as Ailee's comeback as the
"OST Queen". As the title describes, the track talks about rewriting
the history to get back to that loved one.
6.Got7: One and Only You
The JYP boy band made their comeback with the album
"Eyes On You" which has seven tracks. "One and Only You" is
a pre-release of the album and title track "Eyes On You". The track
that I selected for the list is a collaboration song with Hyolyn, "One and
Only You" it's a playful track with different melodies. The album
"Eyes On You" topped various music charts all over the World.
7.Mamamoo: Starry Night
The group has release the title song "Starry
Night" from their mini album "Yellow Flower". The track talks
about a romance happening under a starry night. The member Moon Byul was part
of the lyricists of the track. On the MV you could see beautiful scenarios from
New Zealand.
8.iKON: Rubber Band
On March, the group announced the addition of the track
"Rubber Band" to their promotions. The group made their comeback on
January with the album "Return", and positioned themselves at #4 on
Billboard's World Albums. The label shared a dance practice video of the group
on March 7. BI and WINNER’s Song Mino made the writing and composing of the
song. The track describes the stage that comes right before a break up.
9.J-Hope: Daydream
The most anticipated project from one of BTS rappers was
release this past March. The mixtape from member J-Hope was named by fans
"Hixtape" but it's official title is "Hope World". It has
seven tracks, from which two MV's where release. The first one was
"Daydream", which has a psychedelic layback vibe with a 90's tune.
Meanwhile, the second MV, "Airplane" is a poetic outburst of his
youthful dreams of flying around the world on a plane and achieving it thanks
to his work and success.
10.Heize: MAINHAE (Sorry)
The new album from R&B artist, Heize, has finally come
out on March. "Wish & Wind" has seven tracks, and two MV release,
"Jenga" ft. Gaeko, which is the title track, and "MAINHAE
(Sorry)". Even though the latter is not the title track, you can be easily
drown by its retro-modern R&B tune and jazzy vibe with an incredible hook
of the word "mainhae" along the song.
Well, this is for now. Hope you like
the new format and comeback for the next post. Like and share!!!!!!^.~
Hello everyone!
Since a few people like my last post about top Korean news, I'm going to share
with you 5 news that made headlines for the months of January and February
2018. Hope you like it and come back for more next time.
1. Taeyang and Min HyoRin Tied
the Knot
All the rights of the images goes to their respected owners
After
almost four years dating, Young Bae a.k.a. Taeyang and Eun Ran a.k.a. Min
HyoRin, got married at the begging of February. The couple came out to the
public on June of 2015, after already been together for almost a year and a
half. Both parties accepted the news of their relationship and said that they
never were cautious about it, they went on dates on the public but never were
photographed. Min HyoRin was Taeyang's love interest at the MV of the song
"1 AM", she was also the inspiration for the track "Eye, Nose,
Lips".
All the rights of the images goes to their respected owners
On
December 18 of 2017 the couple announced that they decided to spend the rest of
their lives together, this through an Instagram post made by Taeyang. A few
hours later an official post from both agencies confirmed. The ceremony was
speculated to be on February, before his mandatory military service enlistment.
To the wedding were invited a great number of artists, from the Big Bang
members, to singers, actors, comedians, and a bunch of entertainment
personalities.
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The
wedding took place on February 3 of 2018 on a church with close acquaintance,
friends and family, follow by a reception at Paradise City in Incheon. The
officiant of the wedding was actor Ki Tae Young, husband of artist Eugene, who
Taeyang got close to on church and previously sang the congratulatory song on
the actor's wedding. For the congratulatory song, the R&B/ hip hop singer,
Zion T., gave the couple that gift. One of the things the media has been
talking about is that the couple did not wanted any monetary gifts from the
guest, like is the costume, they just wanted to share this moment with the
people close to them (even though some guest give it to them). The couple did
not went abroad for their honeymoon, because of their schedule.
2. PyeongChang Winter Olympics
2018
All the rights of the images goes to their respected owners
All the rights of the images goes to their respected owners
The
XXII Olympic Winter Games were held on PyeongChang, Gangwon Providence, South
Korea from February 9 to 25 of 2018. The election of the host of the Winter
Olympics was decided on July of 2011, since then South Korea has been arranging
the area for the games, and is the third Asian city to host them. The events
were held in Pyeongchang, aside from ice events, which were held in the
neighboring city of Gangneung, also downhill, super-G, and combined were on the
neighboring county of Jeongseon. The focus of the 2018 Winter Olympics was the
Alpensia Resort in Daegwallyeong-Myeon, Pyeongchang, at this area was the
Olympic Stadium, Ski Jumping Stadium, Biathlon Center, Cross-Country Center,
Sliding Center, Olympic Village and Alpine Center.Aside from these venues, the Winter Olympic
had the stand-alone ones, which were Bongwang Phoenix Park in Bongpyeong-Myeon
at Pyeongchang, were the freestyle skiing and snowboard games were held, the
Jeongseon Alpine Center at Jeongseon, were alpine skiing, downhill, super-G and
combinde were held. The venues that were at the neighborhood city of Gangneung
were Hockey Center, Curling Center, Gangneung Oval, Ice Arena, and an additional
venue was located at the Catholic Kwandong University for the ice hockey
women's competition.
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There
are 15 sports at the Winter Olympics which featured 102 events, this would be a
total of 102 medals for the first time in the history of the Winter Olympics.
The games for the Winter Olympics are: alpine skiing, biathlon, bobsleigh,
cross-country skiing, curling, figure skating, freestyle skiing, ice hockey,
luge, Nordic combined, short track speed skating, skeleton, ski jumping,
snowboarding, and speed skating. For this games, six new sport were introduced
to the Olympics: men's and women's bog air snowboarding, mixed doubles curling,
men's and women's mass start speed skating, and mixed tem alpine skiing. A
total of 92 teams participated at Winter Olympics of 2018, with six nations
making their debut (Ecuador, Eritrea, Kosovo, Malaysia, Nigeria and Singapore).
One of the most meaningful moments of the Winter Olympics was the unification
of South and North Korea at the opening ceremony, marching under the Korean
Unification Flag, and a unified Korean team for women's ice hockey tournament
under the country code COR. Both countries also participated separately. The
rank for the medal table goes as follow (only the top 5 will be shown): Norway,
14 gold, 14 silver and 11 bronze, with a total of 39; Germany, 14 gold, 10
silver, 7 bronze, with a total of 31; Canada, 11 gold, 8 silver, 10 bronze,
with a total of 29; United States, 9 gold, 8 silver, 10 bronze, with a total of
23; Netherlands, 8 gold, 6 silver, 6 bronze, with a total of 20. For the host
country, they won 17 medals in total, 5 golds, 8 silver and 4 bronze, making it
to the seventh place.
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The
PyeongChang Winter Olympics 2018 has been emphasizing on the children and
peace. Since the opening ceremony, children have been a key part of the event,
and at the closing ceremony 12-year-oldYang Tae-hwan made a great impression with the electric-guitar
presentation, aside from 11-year-old boy, Oh Yeon-joon, who had won the South
Korean version of The Voice, who performed the Olympic anthem. Children also
accompanied Jang SaIk for South Korea's national anthem. The artistic
performance at the closing ceremony was on the hands of KPOP with singer CL and
boy band EXO, as well the audience could see the interactions between the
Korean history and the current Korean culture. As for the International Olympic
Committee (IOC), they thanked the athletes for their "spirit and fair
play" and Thomas Bach, the president of the IOC, made the remarks before
the closing ceremony that on this Winter Olympics, "We have seen here how
sport can make the world a better place."
3. Yonghwa (CNBlue) under
investigation and enlistment
All the rights of the images goes to their respected owners
On
January of 2018 there was rumors of an idol cheating his way to Graduate School
at Kyunhee University, South Korea, for the Applied Arts Doctorate Program.
This idol was giving admission without completing all the requirements, and
even got top marks, despite not showing up for the mandatory interview. The
agency FNC Entertainment goes as follow: "Yonghwa was recommended multiple
times by the school and applied to Kyunhee University's Applied Arts Graduate
Doctorate Program in January of 2017 during the additional accepted round.
Popular celebrities such as idols have their schedules planned by the label
since they are busy due to concerts and other things, and celebrities more
according to that schedule. Similarly the label took care of Yonghwa's
application including filling out his forms, submitting them, and contacting
the school. Both the label and Yonghwa believed that he was undergoing the
normal application process until the situation became problematic. Yonghwa
believed that the individual interview was the regular process, and attended
the interview as the label scheduled." During the Statement the label also
mentioned that Yonghwa was denied admission for the master program on fall of
2016, but a professor from the program said that they needed more students and
there was no competition, that is why he applied for the followed year. Both,
the label and Yonghwa, though there was no breaking the school's laws during
the process, for which they felt sorry and he was going to take a break from
school.
All the rights of the images goes to their respected owners
After
all this controversy, Yonghwa enlisted for his mandatory service on March 5 of
2018, right after his last fan meeting in Hong Kong. On March was announced
that the label and professors of the University were charged for obstruction of
business. A common though on the internet is that he intentionally was delaying
his mandatory service with this graduate program process. For now, Yonghwa is
going to be serving until December of 2019.
All the rights of the images goes to their respected owners
4. South Korea Hospital Fire
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On
January 26 it was reported a fire on a small hospital without sprinkler system,
killing 37 people. Sejong Hospital is situated at the city of Miryang, which
has an elderly center with 94 patients, the ones that were successfully
evacuated. The hospital had a total of six floors, from which the first and
second floors had the most amount of victims. The officials stated that the
fire started on the emergency room. 34 of the dead's were women, and 26 were in
their eighties or older, and there was a total of 140 injured victims. This
event is the country's deadliest blaze in about a decade. Before this accident,
a fire on December of 2017 was the deadliest, a building located in central
South Korea was caught on fire killing 29 people.
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5. An Olympian Visits South
Korea's Dog Farm
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We
know that different cultures have different diets, and some cultures eat things
that you would never imagine could be eaten. When a United States' freestyle
skier (Gus Kenworthy) went to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics this past
February, he went to the dog farm near of the venues. But this dog farm is not
one that raise dogs to later find a good home for them, this dog farm is to
maintain the dogs to later sale as cooking meat. For western culture this can
be outrageous, but it is a practice of centuries at oriental cultures.
All the rights of the images goes to their respected owners
All the rights of the images goes to their respected owners
Dog
trade in South Korea generated around $2 billion yearly, this according to the
International Aid for Korean Animals (IAKA). The athlete made the point that he
did not wanted to impose with his ideals, but the way the dogs were living in
small spaces and the malnourished evident to his eyes, was "completely
inhumane". He decided to adopt one of the dogs there, and hopes to raise
awareness about the topic. It was reported on a census carried by Korea's
Statistics Information Services, that there is over 100,000 farms holding
892,820 dogs, which makes millions of dogs slaughtered yearly. The practice of
dog eating is neither legal nor illegal in South Korea, from which the Korean
Association for Animal Protection demanded the prohibition of it.
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This
story has many people supporting the shutting down of dogs farms around South
Korea. A CNN reporter said on an article that her dog was a rescue dog from one
of those "farms", rescued two years ago. Other athletes also had made
their voices heard upon this issue, even the President of South Korea, Moon
Jae-In, has adopted a shelter rescued from a meat farm and adopted one of the
dogs there. But further action hasn't been done by the government there. The
Humane Society has been doing a great task, by shutting down 10 dog farms which
rescued more than 1,200 dogs, and they are also working to make the practice
illegal by signing petitions around the Asian country.
All the sources from the articles are the following:
It's the first Top 10 of the year!!!
Wow, what a year it was, 2017. However, New Year means more new music, and
hopefully, great music. This Top 10 was a difficult one, so many release on the
New Year and great ones. Here are my favorites, hope you like it and leave a
comment if you please.
1.MAMAMOO: Paint Me
The vocal performance from Solar and Hwasa are just out of
this World on this new single called "Paint Me". Moonbyul surprised
us singing on the track, since we are used to her unbelievable rapping skills.
Of course, Wheein doesn't stays back with her parts of the song. To our
enjoyment, all the members have incredible vocal skills and don’t disappoint us
with their work. Instead of their previous jazzy work, "Paint Me" is
a ballad full of emotions and incredible tune.
2.Amber X Luna [Station]: Lower
At the begging of the year, SM released their first SM
Station track of the year with f(x) members, Amber and Luna. The house track is
a powerful song about finding our place to be free. For this project, Amber has
taken once more the position of director, being the MV of "All Mine"
with the group f(x) her first with the members.
3.Soyou: Grown up
We can always be satisfied with the great work of Soyou since
her days with SISTAR. The new solist has started the year with the song
"Grow Up", a gift to her fans. Yoo Jong Shin, singer / songwriter,
and talks about departing from someone after learning more about herself
produced the song. The track is a bonus one from her mini album "Re:
Born".
4.Sunmi: Heroine
Sunmi has made us go crazy once again with the great track
"Heroine". Teddy, who previously produced “Gashina”, her latest
successful project, produced this song. The bass is the key attraction of the
melody of this song, and the lyrics are just great for what Sunmi has shown us
among her career. She has shown us her unconventional side, which has a
positive effect on her music career and projects.
5.Davichi: Days Without Yoou
The ballad duo is celebrating their 10 year anniversary with
the new studio album "&10". The MV of their track has a movie
like vibe and has Wanna One's Kang Daniel as the main character. This song
talks about the emptiness that one felt after a break up. "Days Without
You" is full of emotions, and the orchestral melody goes great with their
voices. Lee Haeri and Kang Minkyung had made a statement as the ultimate ballad
duo on the kpop scene.
6.Jonghyun: Shinin'
On January 23 we got the surprise of Jonghyun's second and
last LP release, "Poet|Artist". The album is a posthumous gift to
fans, and it takes us through his career with similar melodies of previous
projects with SHINee and his poetic reflection through his lyrics. The mix of
sentiment and dance pop is the best way for Jonghyun say good-bye to his fans,
and leave a mark on the kpop industry. The MV on "Shinin'" was filmed
before his dead that shows his dance moves to a trap song mixed with tropical
vibes.
7.Suzy: I'm In Love With Someone Else
Suzy made a pre-release with the track "I'm In Love
With Someone Else" on January 22. The song topped the real time charts on
South Korea, making it the second pre-release of the artist to do so, with the
song "Pretend" the first one. Armadillo, a JYP producer/songwriter,
wrote both tracks. The track is part of her second album, "Faces of
Love", which would be her first project after MissA made official their
disbandment. The song talks about a break up and the reason about been her
falling for another person.
8.iKON: Love Scenario
After almost two years, iKON has made their proper comeback
with the album "Return", which has 12 songs. The title track for
their project is "Love Scenario", which is different from their usual
party and fun vibe. The song is mellow break up son but an upbeat sound that
goes great with the choreography. The MV of the song show us the great dance
formation of the group, along with their incredible style. Besides "Love
Scenario", the group is promoting the track "Beautiful", which
can be placed as a traditional pop song.
9.Red Velvet: Bad Boy
Red Velvet has made their comeback with the track "Bad
Boy", after their success with Peek-A-Boo" and the album
"Perfect Velvet" the past November. For the begging of the year the
group has re-release their previous album with three new tracks and the new
title "The Perfect Red Velvet". "Bad Boy" is a song with a
groovy strong bass that talks about being attracted to a bad boy. The girls use
a more mature style for this project, along with a "sexy"
choreography.
10.BoA: Nega Dola
The ultimate "Kpop Queen" has made her comeback
with the track "Nega Dola" The track talks about the hard times of a
girl with an obsessive guy, the sound of it is more like hip-hop with Latin
vibes. BoA is an all-around artist, from acting in Hollywood projects, been the
first Korean to jump to the Japanese market, and owning stocks from SM Company,
which made her part of the board since 2014 as a Creative Director.
This is all for now people, I hope
you all like it and comeback next time. Keep on listening to new music from
around the globe; it's always good to learn about other cultures through music.
'Till later, and thank you guys!!! ^.~
*****All the rights to their respected owners*****
