NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

Singer and guitarist Oh Hyuk (오혁) was raised in Northern China to parents who worked as professors. His dream was to be a musician, which was vehemently opposed by his parents. In his teens, he tried out for the three major labels in South Korea, but turned them down, citing musical differences. Oh Hyuk felt more aligned with indie rockers and listened to The Beatles and German-Norwegian band The Whitest Boy Alive . The young musician would go on to write vague lyrics as social commentary and about history, topics commercially unviable in the Korean pop scene. Moving to back to South Korea for college and dropping out, Oh's parents stopped supporting him. He was Bob Dylan's Rolling Stone--the birth of all good rockers: penniless and full of passion for music itself. WHEN YOU'RE NAKED (I'LL BE COMING THROUGH) . Like most indie music in Korea, Hyukoh started in Hongdae, the hip-college down located between several major private universities in Seoul. Oh Hyuk started as a

D.O. is a member of one of the biggest acts in K-Pop, EXO, a group that debuted in 2012. The Korean pop group has members from China and South Korea, and from the start of their career, recorded in their hits both in Mandarin and Korean. The group originally consisted of eleven members, but several of three members have left the group. In the span of their nine-year career, members have gone on hiatus to perform compulsory military service for South Korea, while some of the Chinese members have had legal disputes with the group's record label. In South Korean pop music, male groups often are more successful than solo male singers. Still, male artists often diversify their careers with acting in dramas or films and solo careers. This can be essential for artists who are waiting for group members to finish military service. In these solo careers, the pop start is often able to create music much different from their main gig. I MIGHT NOT HAVE A FANCY CAR, BUT I FANCY YOU. Doh Kyeong-s

George (in Hangeul pronunciation  Gyu-jee ) debuted in 2017 as a solo R&B singer in South Korea. Before his solo career, he was a featured singer on several Korean hip-hop tracks. My first introduction to George was a track he sang on an Adoy record. Like many indie singers in George's particular K-pop sub-genre, George sings many of his songs in English, a topic I discussed with my students a few weeks ago. Whether it is a strategic plan to crossover in other countries or simply an artistic choice, these days non-Korean speakers can more easily delve into the indie music scene in Korea. Last year George teamed up with producer Cosmic Boy to release the EP Love in Summer . The title track evokes the nostalgia for summer days when love is really the only thing that matters, and this was the kind of song we needed to take our mind off of the pandemic. I GOT A DUMB THING TO SAY . There's this fairy tale we're told in Christian school. You're going to grow up one day a

In 2012, a Korean rapper taught everyone around the world about K pop by talking about the wealth in a particular neighborhood in Seoul. That rapper was Psy and that neighborhood was Gangnam. However, Korean Hip Hop has not been the bread and butter of the K-pop industry. Sure, hip-hop certainly is featured in the K-pop that gets popular. While BTS has rappers, they fit into the genre of teen pop music. Korean Hip Hop; however, teaches you all the bad words in Korean and will often contain some English profanity too. These days it's especially popular among high school and college-aged boys. WHEN YOU FEEL ME TWICE. Korean Hip Hop dates back to the late '80s when the government loosened its censorship laws. In early Korean Hip Hop, artists often talked about daily life and Korean virtues. It was not widely performed at first. DJs produced music and the scene was quite underground. But in the mid-90s Hip Hop emerged in Hongdae, one of Korea's most hopping college towns in Seo

Advanced is a South Korean DJ and producer duo. The original song is sung by singer-songwriter Shaun , whose success referenced in this song, brought him to prominence in Korea and internationally. The English version is sung by Norwegian Singer Songwriter Julie Bergan . The track is remixed and the lyrics are not an exact translation. Shaun's recording of the track is much better vocally and musically. It also has a richer lyrical content in the original Korean. This is not to say that the English version isn't any good. "My Bad" is a kind of behind the music surrounding the rise of Shaun's success, telling the story of a young musician honing his craft as a DJ. I REMEMBER WHEN I CALLED YOU AND SAID I HAD A #1. In February, I talked about the rise and controversy related to Shaun's breakout hit " Way Back Home. " Shaun built his career in the music industry as an electronic musician in rock, pop, and EDM. His high vocal range and ability to make mu

The whirlwind career of Wonder Girls is an interesting read. They were the first South Korean pop group to chart on Billboard 's Hot 100  and toured with the Jonas Brothers ; their career looked like it would be quite promising. But the members wouldn't stick around. The band originally had 4Minute member Hyuna, but her solo career would pull the singer in another direction. Then there was Sunmi, the singer who turned to K-pop to make support her family after her father died of complications of tuberculosis. But just when the group was blowing up in 2009, she left to focus on her academics. The group went on hiatus after Sunye got married and moved with her husband to Haiti to be missionaries and Sohee left to focus on acting. That was 2013. WHEN I'M ALONE, I FEEL YOUR TOUCH. Korean summer is much like summer in North Carolina and Tennessee with a few key differences. The temperature climbs steadily throughout the spring. April can be pleasant, but my first year in Chunche

I n 2017 Season 2 of the highly successful Produce 101 , a reality show to make a Kpop group, premiered on South Korean broadcasting channel Mnet. Music competition shows have been popular for ages, but only on rare occasions does the group or artist translate to real-world success. Season One of Produce 101 took 101 female contestants and whiddled the candidates down to eleven group members of the highly successful girl group I.O.I. For the second season, the concept changed. This time 101 male Kpop trainees would compete to be part of Wanna One. The result was not only a more successful season two but the creation of the third most successful Kpop act of the 2010s and the band only lasted for 2 years.  THE MOMENT OUR EYES MATCH, UNBELIEVABLE THINGS HAPPEN. One of the stipulations of Wanna One’s contract was that the band would record for a year and a half and play shows for two years. In January of 2019, Wanna One played their final show, freeing all 11 members from their exclusive o

In 2006, Family Force 5 debuted with their brand of 'crunk,' rap-rock punk that was comical, dancey, awkward, and overall unique. You'd be hard-pressed to find much Christian Rock on  Business Up Front/Party in the Back . Most of the songs are about dancing in the club and falling in love. While pretty innocent, it was one of the first times a Christian Rock band invited its listeners to the club. Known for their outrageous live shows and touring with the likes of Cobra Starship , 30h!3 , Cash Cash , Breathe Carolina , and The Secret Handshake , the band took a stylistic left turn when they released their sophomore record on Tooth & Nail Records in 2008. Dance or Die has much less crunk, more singing, and fewer joke songs. The band started taking themselves seriously on this record, but looking back, I wonder who it was for? THEY TRY TO TAKE OUR LIVES, BUT WE WILL SURVIVE . Family Force 5 is a rock band, but in their live shows they functioned as a boyband. In 2006-

K-pop listeners have watched the once teen star IU grow up. Debuting at the age of 15, the star is turning 30 this year. The soprano singer has been called Korea's little sister, and her (mostly) squeaky clean image has propelled her to lasting success in Korea's music scene. Flowers and spring are no unfamiliar topic to this singer, and her sweet, yet powerful voice is perfect for a spring day. My first exposure to the singer was her song " The Meaning of You " (너의 의미)  and her feature on HIGH4 's " Not Spring, Love, or Cherry Blossoms " (봄 사랑 벚꽃 말고) and she's constantly played in Korea whenever the mood calls for easy listening. IT'S LIKE THE FALLING PETALS, OUR IVORY COLORED SPRING CLIMAX. Choosing this song marks the end of a week of dreary album covers. IU's Lilac album is a pretty spring album. And it's no secret I'm a sucker for a good saxophone part in a pop song. Growing up in central New York, I always considered lilacs t

Pop quiz: How many Asian American pop singers do you know? Bonus if you can name one with a Billboard Hot 100 hit. BTS does not count because they are Korean, not American. Give up? I can think of two. First a hip-hop group called Far East Movement garnered a lot of love in LA's Koreatown and eventually topped the charts with the song "Like a G6." And you could have also said Linkin Park 's Mike Shinoda. Otherwise, pre-BTS, the American music industry was quite underrepresented by Asian musicians. With that in mind, the Atlanta, Georgia-born Eric Nam returned to the country of his parents to pursue a career he felt wasn't likely in America.  In Korea, Nam has become not only a popular musician, but also a go-to interviewer whenever movie or pop stars visit Korea. His K-pop is more influenced by singer-songwriters and U.S. pop singers than the girl and boy groups of his high school years. His unique take on K-pop has made him multi-nationally famous. Honestly, Ame

  In 2018, South Korean indie rock band The Koxx ’s keyboardist, Shaun , debuted with a solo single that immediately went to number 1 on the K-pop charts.  Obsessed with chart numbers, K-pop fans cried foul. But were the charts manipulated? How could a relatively unknown singer-songwriter blow up the charts? The world of K-pop is rather cutthroat when it comes to fans and from my research it seems that the matter hasn't been settled to anyone's liking. Still, how can an artist or record company manipulate the charts? The Korea Herald explains . Once the song had topped the charts, it was everywhere in Korea and even made waves in other countries. Shaun worked with English singer-songwriter Connor Maynard to produce an English version. This version has been misappropriated by Justin Bieber online. MY LONG, LONG JOURNEY ENDS NOW. The Mandela Effect is a situation that people (often large groups of people) misremember the facts of something that happened in the past. The situatio

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 be

If you have been in a cave for a few years, you may not know about this South Korean boyband. There's usually a glass ceiling for how popular K-pop can get in America. But this group constantly shatters that ceiling. Number 1 on Billboard's Hot 100? Today, I recommend the song "Fake Love," by BTS, particularly the "Rocking Vibe Mix" which replaces some of the keyboards and electronic music with guitars. They did a similar remix with their hit "DNA," but we can save that song for another day. Because this is the first of what I assume will be several K-pop recommendations, I figured I'd start with my history of how I became K-pop listener, a genre I barely knew existed before landing in South Korea in late August, 2012, which you may recall was the time when a certain 40 year old rapper blew up the internet talking about his hometown in the wealthy neighborhood of Gangnam. A FAKE FAN. Please Internet and K-pop fans be kind. Please rock people he

From the Airport is a South Korean electronic rock duo, consisting of vocalist Milo and guitarist Zee. About 90% of their songs are in English. They have two full-length records and they seemed to have disappeared after the release of 2017's The Boy Who Jumped .   Drawing a comparison of this band is difficult. They definitely have pop influences. The keys and the guitar production is atmospheric, causing a pensive nature in the songs, yet Milo's lyrics, while often simple, are positive and combined with his vocal pattern and high-range vocals keep the songs light and optimistic. It's like if Falling Up were less moody and poppier.  WISDOM SHALL SHOW.  I picked this song for a few reasons. First, it struck me as I was walking home today. I like to pick a song for the day that I listened to authentically, like it came up naturally on shuffle; however, that doesn't always happen. Another reason was that I wanted to write about this band and introduce them. But the bigges