Talking a walk...

Another Nine Muses content! Should I revive this blog or what?

Former Muses Moon Hyuna and Pyo Hyemi are going to release their first (or should I say one-off?) single "Walking" tomorrow, May 10 2020. Since leaving Nine Muses in 2016 (for Hyuna) and 2019 (for Hyemi), Hyuna has released a duet single with another former Muse Euaerin (real name Lee Hyemin) in 2017 as well as guest-starring in the concert of yet another former Muse Ryu Sera in 2018. All these and the up-coming single are conducted by her own agency, Daynite Records. I'm still counting on her to bring a full-fledged Nine Muses reunion (with all 13 former Muses if necessary, not the just the 2013 line-up) hopefully in the near future. 

A sneak peak at "Walking"...

Looks like it will be a city pop tune? I'm still in need of a remedy for....

This. Whatever this is. I'm not saying the song's bad, it's just not my cup of tea. Some people wouldn't even categorize this as a proper song and I don't blame them, as it's more suitable as background music of a travel documentary or something like that. By the way, the official video somehow isn't available for linking on Blogger. 

Another premonition (sort of) coming true

Alive and well, guys. Still in the same job. Just surviving for now, can't complain.

Remember an entry I posted on November 19 2016 about Moon Hyuna leaving Nine Muses and setting up her own label called Moongom House? I mused in that entry that Hyuna should bring together all the ex-members of Namyu under her agency.

Since her departure, Hyuna has released four singles including the very latest one on August 11 2017 with fellow ex Muse Euaerin (real name Lee Hyemin) called "Doong Doong", under Daynite Records. Now I can't prove that Daynite Records and Moongom House are one and the same, since some sources mention that Daynite Records is partially owned by the 30-year-old, but the fact that she's teaming up with Euaerin now sparks hope that she'll bring along more ex Muses on board. I personally hope it's gonna be Ryu Sera, whose music style post Nine Muses is actually starkly different from Hyuna's.


Celebrating freedom from uniform stage costumes and synchronized choreography...

On the possible resurrection of Nine Muses

Earlier last month, Star Empire announced that Nine Muses member Moon Hyuna had officially left the group, making her the third member to depart this year following Park Minha and Euaerin (real name Lee Hyemin.) Hyuna was one of the group's main vocalists alongside Pyo Hyemi, Lee Keumjo and Park Kyungri.

Hyuna's departure only added fuel to the already on-going rumours that the girl group was disbanding, now that there are only five members left, four of whom are in a sub-unit called Nine Muses A which released an mini album titled "Muses Diary" back in August.

It's been three months since the release of "Muses Diary" and no one really knows the fate of Son Sungah, the only remaining member not included in the sub-unit. Hearsay has it that Sungah's contract will expire next year and she has already decided not to renew it. If it's true, disbandment is very likely inevitable, after six years of seven mini albums, one full album, a concert and a sub-unit album.

In a turn of events, just this week Hyuna announced the launch of her entertainment company, Moongom House, and that the company will release Hyuna's photobook (titled "Sweet Remedy") and a mini album of self-composed songs. Mines everywhere rejoiced over the news, mostly hoping that Hyuna will recruit the former muses especially Ryu Sera, who's started to gain wide recognition as an indie artist (although in my humble opinion it's unlikely that Sera would want to do that, and neither would Minha who's debuted as an actress under J-Wide Company) In other words, fans are hoping that the golden line-up of Nine Muses will reunite under Moongom House, even if they don't get to use the name "Nine Muses."

While entertaining these hopes, one is reminded that even with such an underrated girl group that's never won a single award there's a chance they would be able to pull a Shinhwa. For those uninitiated, Shinhwa is the epitome of K-pop longevity, debuting under SM Entertainment in 1998 and since 2011 has released albums and appearances under their very own company named after themselves.

Nine Muses in the analogy of Infinite

I've been playing that song for five days straight, since its release on November 24 2015.


"Ticket", the second Nine Muses song that got me hooked on the band after "Figaro", which I've already put on this blog twice. If you happen to be Indonesian and remember the '90s Indonesia, don't you think it sounds a little bit like the disco dangdut genre that was popular at that time?


If you're a Nine Muses fan (henceforth a "Mine") who also happens to be an Inspirit, you should notice by now that Park Minha is like the Lee Sungyeol of Nine Muses. Both are considered the "dead weight" of their respective groups, not as talented as the rest of the group in terms of singing and dancing. While some fans argue that Minha is the visual member of Nine Muses just like some Inspirits consider Sungyeol Infinite's visual member, there's no denying that Park Kyungri is the most famous member of the eight-member girl group. In other words, whether or not Kyungri was meant from the start to be the visual member just like Kim Myungsoo was set to be so for Infinite, she attracts people into Nine Muses just like Myungsoo lures girls to become Inspirits. And let's not forget the fact that both Kyungri and Myungsoo are pretty decent vocalists with more lines than Sungyeol and Minha combined.

And after the departure of Ryu Sera, who is herself a legit all-rounder (a super gorgeous multi-instrumentalist who writes songs, danced well (though not as well as Park Eunji, also a former Muse) and served as one of the main vocalists), a lot of Mines have stated that they stay because of Moon Hyuna. Hyuna is another main vocalist who's turning 29 in January 2016 (international age) and one of those bonafide 'vampire idols' alongside 2NE1's Sandara Park and Super Junior's Choi Siwon. In short, she's the Kim Sunggyu of Nine Muses.

A 'dead weight' member is totally nothing new in K-pop bands. Almost each band in the genre has one such member, another example is Juliane Alfieri of the now-defunct girlband Chocolat. As with the history of all girlbands and boybands anywhere in the world, K-pop bands are formed mostly, if not entirely, for commercial purposes. Visual members are there to attract people to their bands, a duty they share to varying degrees with the main dancers, while main vocalists are usually those that make fans stay. All in all, each member has their own reasons to shine and each has more or less equal amount of chance to become favourites among fans. But what about the dead weight members? Do they serve other purposes besides backing vocalists? Are they there to...make young teenage fans with low self esteem feel as if they have someone to relate to? You tell me.

The best scenario...

This is the best self-penned songs by Ryu Sera so far.

Long story short, Sera left Nine Muses in June 2014 and actually since before her departure became known she's been releasing cover songs and self-penned ones on her YouTube channel, Ryutube. However, if Wikipedia is to be trusted (I have yet to find more credible sites that back this up), Sera hasn't left Star Empire, Nine Muses' recording label.

Nine Muses, as any K-pop enthusiast is aware, is known for their sexy image from day one. As you can see in the video, Sera seems to be channelling her inner Morticia Addams - wearing a black mini dress and a choker, hair down and minimal make-up. She's almost a far cry of her Nine Muses self - skin-revealing clothes, full make-up and hairstyle always changing with each comeback. And needless to say she's also free to experiment with her song writing and mixing skills.

The best scenario for her career would be staying with Star Empire (the day this is confirmed would be one of the best in my life), which allows her free time until she finds her own signature sound. Once she's ready, she's set to come back as a solo artist, with a mini album full of six songs that she composes herself. Or better still, she can mix her signature sound with that of Sweet Tune or one of those Swedish songwriters...Star Empire really needs a solo artist on its roster, and one already with a fanbase is perfect to fill that void.

On Nine Muses' comeback...

After much anticipation, Nine Muses is finally back, having hibernated for one year due to the painful loss of three members: Lee 'Leesem' Hyunjoo, Park Eunji and Ryu Sera. That's rapper, main dancer and main singer respectively. And they're back with two new members: Jo Sojin, who previously appeared in the sub-unit Nasty Nasty with another Nine Muses member Park Kyungri and ZE:A member Kevin Kim, and Lee Keumjo.

It took me a long time to decide what to focus on regarding Nine Muses and their comeback, but I finally decided to focus on their new single "Drama" and Sera's decision to continue her showbiz career apparently as indie musician.

In light of their comeback in mid-2003 with the single "Wild", Sera released a cover of Joss Stone's "Karma." It was professionally shot though it was very low-budget, filmed on the set of "Wild" music video. It kept Mines on the edges of their seats, as promises of her solo career seemed to be looming.



Sera released a couple more cover videos courtesy of Star Empire, but no actual solo career materialised, until news broke that she 'graduated' from Nine Muses.

Now fast forward to January 23 2015 when Nine Muses released a new single titled "Drama." Take a look.



Eldest member Moon Hyuna just celebrated her 28th birthday on January 19. Yes that's her international age, which means in Korean age she's 29 years old. Anyone with any real musical talent and self respect would want to stop prancing around pulling aegyo and looking every bit manufactured past the age of 25. Since her departure, Sera has been very active on her own YouTube channel that she calls RyuTube, releasing cover songs and songs that she writes herself. I guess it was the same reason for Jessica Jung, who left Girls' Generation in October 2014 to focus on her fashion line, Blanc & Eclare.