Reviewing this week's k-pop music releases [ENG/ESP]
Hello Hive and Music Community !
This week has been quite busy in k-pop, some of the most popular groups and soloists have returned, and as a good fan of this musical "genre" I have been aware of everything and today I will share my opinion from the releases that surprised me to those that I expected more.
1) Cignature –Boyfriend
Cignature is a 7-member girl group managed by J9 Entertainment. Since their debut they received attention for having that quite bright, flashy and somewhat "noisy" sound characteristic of kpop, but this time, for their first comeback in 2021 after a change in the group's lineup, they presented us with a calmer, feminine side and with rhythms more similar to what we would be used to find in an American artist.
Among some kpop fans we get used to call this kind of music "a western song" referring to how uncommon it is to hear this kind of rhythms in, at least, the title tracks of albums or EP's. With a more minimalist concept and less pretentious than their past releases, Boyfriend is a song that I could imagine myself playing in a movie scene, in a breakup or strong sentimental part, despite having a clean, smooth, and simple rhythm, it does not become boring as it allows you to fall into that state of relaxation in which we only exist with the song, or well, that's how I feel listening to it the truth; A drastic change of musical and artistic concept, perhaps not necessary, but more than welcome and will surely be in my final list of favorites of this 2021.
Calificación / Rating
8.5/10
2) Everglow –Pirate
“Cause i’m a pirate yeah yeah, a pirate yeah yeah, so let me introduce my self” –Probablemente, la línea más ridícula, pero adictiva que escuche estos últimos meses, lo siento aespa y su “my naevis we love you”, lo siento itzy y su “oasis for this kitty” creo que everglow les gano esta vez
"Cause i'm a pirate yeah yeah yeah, a pirate yeah yeah, so let me introduce my self" -Probably the most ridiculous, but addictive line I've heard these last months, sorry aespa and his "my naevis we love you", sorry itzy and his "oasis for this kitty" I think everglow beat them this time.
Everglow returns after months since a last release, but unlike their previous song "First", Pirate stole my heart and mind as soon as I heard it. Taking advantage of the heyday of bringing back old musical styles and reforming them, Everglow makes his comeback with Pirate, a song quite familiar to the edm style that kpop exploded during 2010-2015 and that made groups like T-ara, 2ne1, and solo artists like PSY, gain great popularity both domestically and internationally.
I loved the song, and along with boyfriend by cignature, they are probably one of my favorite releases this year. Everglow fits the girl-crush style quite well and despite not being a big fan of it, the girls managed to captivate me and let me enjoy most of the song. Talking about what I liked least is probably the rap, it feels so soft and weak and out of place -in my opinion- that it just goes unnoticed by my brain, the lyrics on their side are somewhat questionable but that's the least of it since I don't understand, well, 60% of it. Pirate amazed me, with the synth sound and boisterous melody characteristic of EDM, it was a style I already missed these days.
Calificación / Rating
8.5/10
3) Stray Kids- Christmas Evel
Stray kids les entrega a sus fans un regalo de navidad anticipado con un mini álbum especial para la navidad, continuando con el estilo por el que cada vez se están haciendo más reconocido nos presentan Christmas Evel, la versión personal del grupo de una canción navideña
Stray kids give their fans an early Christmas present with a special Christmas mini-album, continuing in the style for which they are becoming increasingly recognized, they present Christmas Evel, the group's personal version of a Christmas song.
I'm not a fan of Stray kids, but they have a few songs that I enjoy, and surprisingly, Christmas Evel ended up liking me more than I expected. This time around the song follows a formula that the guys have used before and at this point has become a classic for their releases, we continue with the hip-hop/trap beat and, the signature siren/alarm sound that the guys have used before, and the fun detail of the bells throughout the song that is, charming to me? I don't even know how to describe it but I thoroughly enjoyed it, the chorus part, and the ending where they wish us the classic "merry christmas" were probably my favorites, it just all worked better than I expected it to.
Christmas Evel is far from the typical Christmas song but that's what makes it most unique, its longevity as a song is not that much as it is focused on the Christmas season, clearly, but it will be a nice addition to my Christmas playlist.
Calificación / Rating
8/10
4) Chungha –Killing me
Siguiendo con el tema de un concepto “extranjero” dentro del kpop, Chungha es una solista bastante conocida por tener un estilo musical más similar a lo que encontraríamos en un artista dedicado al mercado americano que a lo que comúnmente suelen preferir los coreanos musicalmente, pero aun así esto no la ha hecho menos exitosa, de hecho, tanto dentro como fuera de corea es bien reconocida por su gran agilidad en el baile y su hermosa voz, y como no, su concepto que parece quedarle como anillo al dedo
Continuing with the theme of a "foreign" concept within kpop, Chungha is a soloist well known for having a musical style more similar to what we would find in an artist dedicated to the American market than what Koreans usually prefer musically, but even so this has not made her less successful, in fact, both inside and outside Korea she is well known for her great agility in dancing and her beautiful voice, and of course, her concept that seems to fit her like a glove.
Su comeback más reciente se titula “Killing me” aquí Chungha nos canta sobre la perdida de una relación y los sentimientos negativos que consumen su corazón, la canción se siente un poco más genérica que sus lanzamientos anteriores con un uso de un beat eléctrico algo común, pero no me malinterpreten, no por ello es algo negativo, pero no es algo que haga a la canción en sí muy destacable, siento que más que la propia canción la protagonista es Chungha, su encanto en el escenario y para la actuación en sus vídeo y su, vuelvo y repito, hermosa voz, son más llamativos que incluso la propia composición de la canción, es un lanzamiento bueno, pero honestamente, no de sus mejores.
Her most recent comeback is titled "Killing me" here Chungha sings to us about the loss of a relationship and the negative feelings that consume her heart, the song feels a little more generic than her previous releases with a use of a somewhat common electric beat, but don't get me wrong, that's not a negative thing, but it's not something that makes the song itself very outstanding, I feel that more than the song itself the protagonist is Chungha, her charm on stage and for the performance in her videos and her, I come back and repeat, beautiful voice, are more striking than even the songwriting itself, it's a good release, but honestly, not one of her best.
Calificación / Rating
7.2/10
5) IVE –Eleven
IVE es uno de los pocos debuts relevantes en el kpop este 2021, que gano atención al tener 2 miembros del grupo proyecto IZ*ONE, un grupo que gano bastantes fans en su momento por su concepto único y elegante, en este caso para IVE su primera canción lleva por nombre “ELEVEN” y nos habla de la emoción de tener sentimientos antes desconocidos al caer enamorados
IVE is one of the few relevant debuts in kpop this 2021, which gained attention by having 2 members of the project group IZ*ONE, a group that gained quite a few fans at the time for its unique and elegant concept, in this case for IVE their first song is called "ELEVEN" and tells us about the excitement of having previously unknown feelings when falling in love.
Seré sincera el grupo no me llamo la atención y tenía la ligera impresión de que su canción sería un total éxito, o se irían por un sonido más genérico y/o poco “impresionante”, en pocas palabras, o seria una muy buena canción, o simplemente seria de esos lanzamientos que se pierden rápidamente, y lo cierto es que ELEVEN entra en una categoría intermedio. No es el mejor debut que he escuchado y probablemente de los menos icónicos para mi gusto musical con el kpop, pero aun así tiene detalles que si me gustaron bastantes y que probablemente serán los responsables de que vuelva a escucha esta canción más de una vez
Con elementos musicales característicos del medio oriente, ELEVEN ofrece una melodía poco común dentro del kpop, lo cual fue, ciertamente, refrescante, es una canción que no varía mucho en la manera que esta estructura pero su pre-coro, o el pre-coro por dios, probablemente de lo mejor que he escuchado, no se ustedes pero me entusiasma cuando juegan con la melodía y el ritmo y en este caso para ELEVEN en la parte antes del coro, el ritmo se desacelera de una manera que no te lo esperas y es un detalle que ame totalmente, aunque cuando caemos en el coro creo que se siente un poco forzado, casi como si no pegara del todo, pero luego de escuchar un par de vez es algo a lo que te acostumbras y en general, es una linda canción y un buen debut
I'll be honest the group didn't catch my attention and I had the slight impression that their song would be a total success, or they would go for a more generic sound and / or little "impressive", in short, either it would be a very good song, or simply be one of those releases that are lost quickly, and the truth is that ELEVEN falls into a category in between. It's not the best debut I've heard and probably one of the least iconic for my musical taste with kpop, but it still has details that I liked a lot and that will probably be responsible for me to listen to this song again more than once.
With musical elements characteristic of the middle east, ELEVEN offers an uncommon melody within kpop, which was certainly refreshing, it's a song that doesn't vary much in the way it's structured but its pre-chorus, or pre-chorus for god's sake, probably one of the best I've heard, I don't know about you but I get excited when they play with melody and rhythm and in this case for ELEVEN in the part before the chorus, the rhythm slows down in a way you don't expect it to and it's a detail I totally loved, although when we drop into the chorus I think it feels a bit forced, almost like it doesn't quite hit, but after listening a couple of times it's something you get used to and overall, it's a nice song and a good debut.
Calificación / Rating
7.5/10
Muchas gracias por leer! cualquier consejo es más que bienvenido.
So yes, these were the music releases for this week within k-pop that I paid the most attention to, if you are excited about this particular genre or are one of those who listen to music regardless of their language I encourage you to check out any of these songs on your own.
Thank you very much for reading! any advice is more than welcome.
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