Has Rock music suddenly taken over Pop as the most popular Music Genre in Korea?
After 4 years in exile, Seo Taiji (36) makes his official comeback in to the Korean Music scene on the 15th of August. Similarly, after 2 years of promotions in Japan, DBSK are headlining the SMTOWN LIVE 08 on the same day.
In the media its been seen as a battle of the generations. Seo Taiji being an idol star of the 20th century and DBSK the 21st Century idol stars.
ETPFest is an annual festival held by Seo Taijis company where plenty of World Stars participating on an annual basis. It started in 2001 and past acts have been Tommy Lee from Motley Crue, and Hide from X-Japan. After 2005 it was cancelled, to commemmorate Seo Taijis comeback its back and better than ever. Check out the headliners:
SMTOWNLIVE is not an annual event organised by SM Entertainment, instead its supposed to be a treat for fans, since there was no ‘Summer SMTown Album’ this year. All their popular artists are meant to perform (with some exceptions). This years show lineup is as follows:
On paper and judging by the Korean Music Scene, one would assume that because of the crazy youth fandom in South Korea, SMTOWNLIVE would be the packed concert, winning the so-called ‘Battle of the generations’.
Apparently not.
Let me educate you on this matter. Both concerts will be held in ‘Jamsil’ stadiums. ETPFest in the ‘Jamsil Baseball Stadium’ and SMTOWNLIVE in the ‘Jamsil Olympic Stadium’. Tickets for both have long been available, but only one is SOLD OUT.
Yes, ETPFEST is sold out. While only 70% of SMTOWNLIVE ticket sales have been issued. The problem also isnt in price. ETPFest tickets all sell for a pretty hefty amount of 132,000 KRWs (around $133), while the most expensive for SMTOWNLIVE is 66k. The sales for the latter predict it will be sold out, but the significance in its availability is obvious.
What has happened to all those crazy fangirls/fanboys? Is it possible that they’re Seo Taiji fans too? And his comeback is more valuable to them?
Only Heaven knows We only have our theories.
As an afterthought, It was ridiculous for SM to organize their concert on the same day. Why? I think the sales figures can answer that question.
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Full Credit When Posted Elsewhere
Source: MyDaily, Wikipedia, etpfest.com, smtown.com
Credit for ShenYuePop.com: noonoo_shoo
Ok, so I enjoyed my last newscast, and I thought it’s best to go that way from now on. So you don’t see the difference between this structure and my first? Well… whatever, I just like to type my thoughts out for the world to see. And it makes it looks like I have more than seven readers when I talk out directly.
Let’s get cracking with this weeks news:
Hallyu Hunk off the market
Gorgeous man that is Kwon SangWoo has officially spoken out via press conference that he is set to be married late this September. I think it’s time to start sobbing in to those hankies ajummas, and I say it fondly because I’m going to join you. Sexy SangWoo is set to marry Miss Korea second runner up Son TaeYoung. Apparently not many people are pleased. Not just with the fact that he’ll be off the market (not that many people had a realistic chance), but with whom he will be marrying. Netizens went nuts and started anti-ing up Ms. TaeYoung. SangWoo obviously hurt by their remarks spoke out to those people directly. “I, Kwon Sang Woo am not in love and getting married with a Miss Korea. I am really in love and getting married with a woman.” Now after the initial shock, I genuinely felt really happy for him. Ok, it was sudden, and it came with a very random person, but if that means happiness in the cold sad world of showbiz, I support it 100%. You with me ajummas? Afterall, this news wont change his position in our dreams.
KARA Comeback
Kara are coming back within days, the 24th if I’m gonna get specific. As a lot of people know they’re back with two members to the one they lost. The 5 member idol group format is known and most successful, so I was all nodding and interested at their upcoming debut until I saw their new members. Now, call me a cynic, because that’s what I am, but damn. One of their new members is like a child and the other is 17. What happened to the days where we used to look up at idol group members and wish were a little older so we could date them. Now that’s when I was 12-14. Now that I’m 21 and could date all the guys I used to have a crush on, but have since reconsidered since now theyre all weird, gay, married, insanely promiscuous and/or crazy. Anyhoo, back to the topic at hand, the girls are Gu Hara (1991) and Kang Jiyoung (1994).
Nam GyuRi leaves SeeYa funny her debut movie is a horror flick…
To be honest, Nam GyuRi kinda scares me, I mean I would never like to meet her in a dark alley or see her in the dark. Her smile and her “doll” image freaks me out a little. Nevertheless, shockingly to me she has gotten most of the attention out of the singing trio that is SeeYa. And her acting in their music video was mediocre, but people loved it nonetheless. I have no understanding of how they think, but it seems to have blown up her head a little (you’d think she’d be more humble after her ‘wardrobe malfunction’). Anyhow, she’s left SeeYa to pursue an acting career and a solo singing career. I don’t think her voice is ear-pleasing enough to go solo, but I will be looking forward to her new single. What will happen to the group now? Hmm… Mnet?
Is Elly still Sexy?!
Elly is Seo In Young if you didn’t know. Constantly a part of the gossip mills, Ms. Inyoung is going back to her solo singing for a wee while. Though she seems to have plenty of people hating on her (as we previously covered this week), she is funnily enough a seriously in-demand entertainer. Now I have a little confession to make, it doesn’t happen so often, but I would watch a show just because Seo In Young is in it. I wouldnt watch an ad though. She is entertaining and her joining ‘Ya Shim Man Man’ is proof enough of peoples interest in her. I hate her hair, hate it, hate it, hate it, with an unbelievable passion, her new mini-album is called “Elly is Cinderella”, so perhaps Fairy God Mother can give her a hairstyle worthy of CrownPrinceJ.
Here’s an ‘officially’ released teaser for a refreshing change.
Credit: jaeurazn
Lee Hyori Like how I mentioned her right after the officially released teaser??
Little Miss Lee HyoRi, has made everyone crazy about the Hyorish. Her music is inferior in my opinion to Uhm JungHwas(yes I must mention them together), but goodness is she really leveling the playing fields. I didn’t like ‘U Go GRRL’ to begin with, or the other leaked songs as much as JungHwas mini-album, but after her comeback I’m getting second thoughts. With performance after performance I keep watching and that bloody “GRRL” keeps playing over and over in my head. That song is a grower and HyoRis awesome stage presence and performing abilities livens up the song so much more. I must admit I prefer her debut performance at Music Bank than the rest, but I still continue to tune in. Though I am a part of the “Dress women up and undress men” Kpop movement, I must concede this one and say, enjoy it guys. I also am, but not for the same reasons. I for one will be rooting for both the sexy divas, just because it’s refreshing seeing such great performances on stage. Viva la entertainment! I’m finally getting seriously entertained. How’s about you?
Well, not yours or mine but talent agencies. And he bloody well deserves it. Mr. Kang Ho Dong and his crazy laugh have been entertaining people for ages. He’s come a heck of a long way from his wrestler days, he’s lost weight, got hitched and has scored successful shows on all major television networks. As well as of course winning awards, so now that his contract with Phantom Entertainment has ended, everyone wants a piece of him. Word has it he can ask for and get 2 Billion Won (a cool 2 million US). Wow, I wonder if he’s up for adopting any young adults….
No post is complete without shameless plugging of ones favourite idol….
Seo Taiji goes classical
Yes, with his comeback slowly reaching us, we get news that Mr. TaiJi is going to be going classical. On the 27th of September (a day before Kwon SangWoos wedding), “2008 Seo Tae-ji Symphony” will take place. How about that for experimentation? Well, ok classical music has always been used in various genres, but it’s exciting to see how Seo TaiJi is going to incorporate it to his music. He’s flying in classical conductor and composer Tolga Kashif, who once conducted the Royal Philharmonic and London Philharmonic orchestras, both critically acclaimed and admirable in the world of Classical Music. Come on guys, tell me you love him too?? Say it now before he’s officially back and everyone mindlessly joins the TaiJi troupe….
Thanks to Mr. Edward1849 of Soompi for the weekly charts Weekly Music Chart - 3rd Week - July
1. Brown Eyes - 가지마 가지마 (Don’t Leave Don’t Leave)
2. Wonder Girls - So Hot
3. Mighty Mouth (feat. Sun Ye) - 에너지 (Energy)
4. Sung Si Kyung - 안녕 나의 사랑 (Goodbye My Love)
5. Shinee - 누난 너무 예뻐 (Noona’s Pretty (Replay))
6. Alex - 그대라면 (If It’s You)
7. V.O.S - Beautiful Life
8. Tae Yang - 나만 바라봐 (Watching Only You)
9. Ok Ju Hyun - Honey
10. Super Junior Happy - 요리왕 (Cooking? Cooking!)
Sorry for the late post loyal readers, unfortunately I had technical difficulties yesterday and couldn’t post this weeks segment on time.
Nevertheless we have a lot of updating to do, so let’s get down to business. Firstly I need to mention that the ‘news’ this week doesn’t need much elaboration so I’ve decided to give you guys a lot of news with not so much commenting. So, here goes the ShenYuePop K-Entertainment newscast:
Seo-InYoung boosts Maybelline’s Popularity
That’s right, little miss mushroom head Seo InYoung has impressively boosted Maybelline’s Internet sales a decent 10% ever since she signed on as a Spokesperson. Now, who needs Godly beauty for a makeup ad, personality is what really shines. (that and an extremely popular reality show)
Epik High promotes Subliminal Messaging
Well, not really. Apparently some have discovered that when you play Epik High’s album track “비(Be)” backwards the word “Jesus” can be made out. It’s called ‘Backward Masking’ and it is usually associated with devil worship and subliminal messaging, but um…. what the hell? It’s purely coincidental and whoever discovered this seriously has too much time on their hands.
Faceless star Zia, causes a stir
I’m pretty sure she’s no longer faceless and she’s revealed her face (hands up to whoever actually was anxious to see who she was), but apparently Zia also been bitten by the ‘plagiarism’ bug and her album poster looks a little too much like the new ‘Sex and The City’ movie poster.
Ohhh Lee Hyori and Mnet
This poor girl has so much drama thrown her way. Miss Lee HyoRi apparently needs as much attention as humanly possible to be successful with her new album. Get this, she’s dropped out of hosting popular variety show ‘Sang Sang Plus’ to concentrate on her new album, has had more songs off her album leaked, and has been accused of plagiarism for both her album cover and new video. Phew… that’s quite a lot of drama for just one album, and anyone who knows the Biz can tell how stupid Mnet is looking by purposely leaking it. YES, Mnet we weren’t born yesterday, we can tell you leaked 5 whole songs off her album yourselves and are announcing it so people can listen to it. Keep insisting your hunting the guy down that leaked it, where’s the dude that released the teaser then?
Not Another Girl Band?!
Apparently the music scene isn’t bombarded enough with girl bands and boy bands debuting, but they’re also not young enough either. Check out the music video of new girl group “Sweety“, whose youngest member is 7 and the oldest is 14 (korean age). Warning, this is going to keep playing in your head no matter how bad you think it is.
Ryu SiWon, talented and Honorable
Ryu SiWon has been making ajummas in Japan swoon for years now, and it’s obvious that he is a big time HallYu star. Now, he is a ‘Hallyu Star with a Heart’ and he’s been awarded for it. Mr. Ryu, was awarded a Japanese Emperor’s Medal of Honor last Tuesday at Niikata Prefecture for his large donations to the region. To those of you who didn’t know, Niikata was hit with a bad earthquake last year and Mr. Ryu contributed quite a hefty donation as well as holding a concert there. So nice.
Super Junior hit no.4 in Japan My apologies, I couldn’t be bothered to find a picture of all of them.
I personally had no idea they were releasing any single, what with half of them in China and half being Happy, but word has it that Super Juniors’ Japanese version of ‘U’ has reached the fourth spot in the Oricon Daily Chart. Good for them, maybe when they all get back together and they go to actually promote their singles, they may in fact do better. It’s a good time to be a Korean Artist in Japan.
Seo TaiJi making hearts beat faster
Maybe it’s just my heart, but I seriously cannot wait for Seo TaiJi’s comeback album. This man is not only Music Legend in Korea, but a Musical Genius. His company has released the date for his Mini-Album and people write it down in your diaries, July 29th shall be the day we see true creative music get back in to K-Entertainment. Ok, I know there’s great music out there already, but it’s so few and far between… *sigh* I just love me some Seo TaiJi…
JinuSean comeback?
JinuSean recently graced the stage with sexy diva Uhm JungHwa on the great show “Yoon DoHyuns Love Letter” and there’s been cries of comeback for the duo. It’s about time if you ask me, come back JinuSean and make our ears scream happy please!
Baby VoX is back!
No sweetheart, just the name. There are no names left in the Universe, old ones must be recycled, it’s good for the environment. Well, not really, but Baby VoX ReV have come back with two new members and have decided to drop the ‘Rev’ part in their name. Collectively, the ‘Baby VoX’ name has seen 11 female members to this day, if my calculations are correct. I dont understand why this is necessary, nonetheless I have lost interest already, how bout you?
Well, so much for not commenting… Anyhow here is the top 10 of last week, and as ever thanks to Edward1849 of Soompi…
Weekly Music Chart - 2nd Week - July
1. Brown Eyes - 가지마 가지마 (Don’t Leave Don’t Leave)
2. Tae Yang - 나만 바라봐 (Watching Only You)
3. Wonder Girls - So Hot
4. Shinee - 누난 너무 예뻐 (Noona’s Pretty (Replay))
5. Alex - 그대라면 (If It’s You)
6. V.O.S - Beautiful Life
7. Ok Ju Hyun - Honey
8. Sung Si Kyung - 안녕 나의 사랑 (Goodbye My Love)
9. Super Junior Happy - 요리왕 (Cooking? Cooking!)
10. Mighty Mouth (feat. Sun Ye) - 에너지 (Energy)
Back again this week with an update on the past weeks’ news, events and gossip. This week in terms of news was somewhat slow, but keeps us anticipated for what’s to come. Check out our own news compilation:
Kim JangHoon still in Hospital
The gold hearted legend that is Kim JangHoon, has been admitted to hospital and is there to this day. On the 28th he was performing in his “SoHaean Festival” which was in support of the West Coast Oil Spill residents in Taean, which is till plaguing them to this day. While performing in the middle of the stage, it started to rain and Mr. JangHoon slipped. He couldn’t get up again, and it was later revealed that he had fainted and was sent to the emergency room in a nearby hospital. Kim JangHoon has been in the business for years, donating a percentage of his profits through out his career to innumerable charities and graced the stage with plenty of the new generations best loved stars. We hope he gets better and takes a good rest.
It’s starting to get frustrating the amount of celebrities weekly being admitted to hospital due to exhaustion. He joins this weeks other exhauastee Micky Yoochun of DBSK. I’m thinking of dedicating an entire section of this weekly segment just for this. It is after all a recurring theme. However, I think these incidents might have been prevented if these celebrities engaged in yoga and other relaxation activities.
WonderBang
A lot of this week’s news surrounds teen idol groups, Wonder Girls and Big Bang.
Two of the Wonder Girls girls are proving that they can multi task like no other. As well as promoting their own group Single “So Hot”, SunYe and YeEun are featuring on Mighty Mouth’s “Energy” and OneTwos “Bad Girl” respectively. They’re also riding high in the charts, in their 4th consecutive week as Number 1. JYP must be dancing the “Tell Me” in celebration. Here’s the Singles Chart for this week. Credits go to edward1849 of Soompi.
-June Week 4-
1. Wonder Girls - So Hot.
2. Tae Yang - 나만 바라봐 (Watching Only You)
3. SHINee - 누난 너무 예뻐 (Noona’s Pretty (Replay))
4. V.O.S - Beautiful Life
5. SG Wannabe - 라라라 (LaLaLa)
6. Gavy NJ - Lie
7. Jewelry - 모두 다 쉿! (Everybody Shhh!)
8. MC Mong - 서커스 (Circus)
9. Kim Jong Wook - 그대만이 (My Only)
10.Super Junior Happy - 요리왕 (Cooking? Cooking!)
Big Bang has also been riding high in the news, not to be outdone by their female counterparts.
T.O.P is accepting acting gigs.
It seems he’s been cast in the Drama “I.R.I.S“, set in the states where T.O.P is an undercover detective hunting an assassin. Besides the plot being very ambitious and the production costs being over 20 million Dollars, it shocks me that they would cast such an inexperienced actor in a lead role. But it seems that talent is never really an issue nowadays. T.O.P was previously cast in the mini-drama ‘I am Sam‘ with Yang DongGun. His acting was somewhat bland in that, let’s hope he does a better job this time.
DaeSung cast in world famous musical.
‘Cats‘ the well loved musical has been translated in to Korean and will start its rounds in Seoul in September. DaeSung of Big Bang was cast as Rum Tum Tugger, the ladies man of ‘Cats’. For some reason I really doubt that DaeSung knew what he was getting in to. For one, he needs to wear LYCRA, get face painted to death and shake his pelvis like no other. If you guys don’t know the Rum Tum Tugger, check out this youtube clip and get well acquainted.
Credit:Cindyphantom
Now I cant wait to see that performance. I wonder if the V.I.Ps are eager to see it too.
You don’t have to be seen to be Number 1
Brown Eyes have made their comeback in the form of a new album. The management companies that use the “spread your artists around real thin” for publicity angle must be angry, since Brown Eyes are nowhere to be seen and their album sold a respectable 15,000 copies since its release the previous Thursday to the last. Its bizarre to me how a number 1 spot in singles goes to a group like the Wonder Girls and the album top spot goes to Brown Eyes, they just seem like polar opposites to me. The Korean Music Industry is ever surprising.
Tribute to Jewelry
Son DamBi, Bae SeulGi, Brown eyed girls’ GaIn and Joo
Besides this quartet being the most random group of all time, the ridiculousness doesn’t end there. They will be laying tribute to Jewelry this coming week on Music Bank. Why they’ve picked this particular four I do not know, but apparently the higher ups at Music Bank think Jewelry are more worthy of a cover than perhaps, Fin.K.L, Baby V.O.X (without the bloody ReV) and S.E.S. Worse yet, they’re covering “One More Time”. So please don’t make any plans this Friday, make sure you catch Music Bank, if you’re not wowed by the performances I’m sure you’ll be laughing. Son DamBi is getting busy lately with anything and everything under the sun, besides living up to her ‘Female Rain’ hype. She’s featuring on Sung SiKyung new music video as his love interest and heats it up with a kiss scene. A hard day’s work for Son DamBi.
Channel S
It’s difficult enough in South Korea to download music, search for pictures and view videos, and for that reason, the new technology saviours that are Channel SBSi and SM Entertainment have concocted a new revolutionary service called ‘Channel S’. Yes, of course this is not another ploy to get money; it’s a gift to the unresourceful public. I’m being sarcastic of course. This is a new system for mobile phone users that provides them with pictures, videos, ring tones, shows and all the other things you don’t need on your mobile, strictly SM and SBS related. The commencement ceremony took place on the 25th June and SHINee and Super Junior Happy were present. It’s available now and I’m sure it’s going to be insanely popular.
Dongducheon Rock Festival
We gave you news last week of the Seo Taiji’s comeback Rock festival, but now there seems to be competition. Dongducheon Rock Festival is taking place on August 15th to 17th, which is the same time ETPfest is supposed to be taking place; both are annual summer rock festivals. International as well as national stars will be contributing to this festival as well. The line-up includes artists such as Moon HeeJun, N.EX.T, Guyz, Crying Nut, Dr Core 911, Vanilla Unity, Cherry Filter, Boohwal, Transfixion, Maya, Super Kidd and many more. The only downside to this is picking which festival to attend.
We only have our theories.
