"Forever Yours" by Key (ft. Soyoo) Monday, February 1, 2021

Last week when I blogged about BTS, I talked about my gateway drugs into K-pop. Shinee was one of them. The first song I heard from them was "Everybody" which oddly made me think of industrial rock. Later I heard their song "Stand By Me" when I started to watch the drama Boys Over Flowers. I'm sure I'll talk about my love-hate relationship with Korean dramas later. If you listen to "Stand By Me," don't you hear hints of Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up"? Then in 2015 one of the biggest songs in Korea was Shinee's song "View." Some of the genius in Shinee's producers is making hit songs that sound vaguely familiar. Sometimes you can pin a pop song comparison, other times you're left racking your brain wondering where you heard that song before. 

FOREVER YOURS. Key (born Kim Ki-bum) is one of the vocalists of Shinee. As the group's career started winding down, Key started acting and becoming a TV personality on Korean reality shows. His talents stretch beyond music into fashion and philanthropy. In 2018 he released his first solo single, "Forever Yours" featuring former member of the girl group Sista's Soyoo. Key stuck to Shinee convention keeping the music semi-familiar yet fresh. Yet, starting out with the guest vocalist rather than the main singer is an interesting choice. And failing to feature Soyoo on the screen in the music video makes it seem a little lonely and incomplete. Speaking of the music video, if the song doesn't give you early '90s vibes, the video will remind you of a big budget music video from the year 2000. This is not to knock the song in anyway. In fact if you take the lyrics and translate them into English and watch the music video without listening to the music, it would too cheesy. Fortunately there's the salty cracker that is the music.

YOU LOOK LIKE YOU'RE INDIFFERENT TO EVERYTHING. Friends, this month is dedicated to love. I will share more love songs than normal. My goal is to write 13 days of love songs and one breakup as we welcome in the Year of the Ox and break up with the year of the Rat. But it might be a "social distanced" love song oe two. We will celebrate Cities day on February 20th. I wish everyone a happy "love month." I wish that if you have love you'll keep love and if you haven't found it, the pandemic will end soon!




 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

“Teenage Dream” by Katy Perry (reworked post), Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Image
When I was a Christian teenager, a book started circulating in my church youth group. Joshua Harris wrote about youth with wisdom and authority that seemed logical and categorical for every situation to the young women who read I Kissed Dating Goodbye . The book’s thesis argued that dating was a worldly alternative to the more purposeful Christian concept of courtship. Dating fueled erotic passions, which must be saved for a heterosexual marriage. Dating is casual, even preteens dates. Courtship was about vetting a marriage partner and would happen in the late teen years or early adulthood.  YOU THINK I'M PRETTY WITHOUT ANY MAKEUP ON .  Josh Harris’s I Kissed Dating Goodbye was part of a movement I’ve written about a lot: purity culture. How much this movement influenced young Katy Hudson, a pastor’s daughter in Southern California, touring with a slew of Christian rockers on the heels of her debut, self-titled album , I can only speculate what went through the 17-year-old star’s
Read more

“A Voice in the Violence” by Wolves at the Gate, Tuesday, May 14, 2024

Image
On April 8th, people from around the world crowded the path of a rare total solar eclipse that spanned from central Mexico to Newfoundland. The celestial event lasted at most 4 minutes and 28 seconds. In the eclipse's direct path, businesses charged excessive rates for tourists to stay, dine, and enjoy themselves before and after the short main event. Many recall the 2017 total eclipse when then-President Trump looked directly at the sun without protective glasses, leaving experts aghast. As the 2017 and 2024 total solar eclipses were less than seven years apart, why the hype and international travel? While the two solar eclipses happened only seven years apart, the last total eclipse before 2017 in the contiguous fifty states was on March 7, 1970, and the next total solar eclipse after 2024 is not until 2044, but only be visible in the north-midwestern states around sunset. I SEE THE NIGHT SLIPPING OVER. The cosmic phenomenon of the sun being blocked by the sun’s light being block
Read more

"My Secrets Have Secrets Too" by Search the City, Sunday, August 1, 2021

Image
Capitalizing on the pop-punk sound of the time Tooth & Nail signed Search the City , and they released their first album A Fire So Big the Heavens Can See It in 2008.   The band played at Tooth & Nail Day at Cornerstone that year and produced several radio singles from the radio-friendly album. Tongue-in-cheek lyrics in songs like " Son of a Gun " and " Ambulance Chaser " lyrically could connect this Detroit-based band with the likes of a clean-lyriced Blink-182 , Angels or Airwaves , or Relient K . Five years after Fire , the band reformed with a new drummer, bassist, and vocalist, 21-year-old Travis Bobier , who was much younger than the other band members. The 2012 album Flight  was very similar to Fire, with   Bobier's vocal performance on the album of high-register, energetic emo sound like original singer Josh Frost .  YOU HAVE A PLACE TO CALL YOUR OWN THAT NO ONE CAN EVERY TAKE FROM YOU. The opening track of Flight , " My Secrets Have Secr
Read more