A disco polo hit and its K-pop equivalence...

Hi guys!

I'm kind of crazy about disco polo lately! For those not in the know, disco polo is a genre from Poland which translates simply into "village disco." People wouldn't admit to liking it, but they play disco polo music at weddings and other merry activities - kind of like our own dangdut. This is why several disco polo songs are actually big hits, like this one...


I like the Ivan Komarenko version better...

When a friend showed me "Zono Moja" ("My Wife") for the first time, it reminded me right away of "Nal Bwa Gwuisoon" by Kang Daesung, a member of Korean boy group Big Bang. "Nal Bwa Gwuisoon" ("Look At Me, Gwuisoon") is Daesung's first solo single, out in 2008 and it's in the trot genre. Unlike disco polo, Koreans don't shy away from admitting they like trot. If anything, trot is merely considered old (in fact, many consider trot "the original K-pop") and this shows in the fact that the K-drama "Trot Lovers", starring A-Pink's Jung Eunji, is a big hit.


Please note that this is NOT a remake of an old song. "Nal Bwa Gwuisoon" really is Daesung's first solo single, written by - surprise surprise - his fellow band member G-Dragon!

Look up the entire translation of "Zono Moja" and you'll see why I think "Nal Bwa Gwuisoon" is its K-pop/trot equivalence, apart from a tinge of similarities in the melody!

Particular hoobaes to Big Mama...

I'm currently crazy about "Quecera Cera" (yes believe your eyes, that's exactly how the song is titled) by Bay.B, a three-member girl group under Can Entertainment. Check out the video below.


That's such a half-hearted bathtub scene. No one takes a dip in their underwear.

If you've been into K-pop longer than the kids in SM Rookies have been alive, I'm sure the girlband's sound reminds you of the greatness that was Big Mama. For those who missed out on Big Mama...


So far, no recent K-pop groups have ever done justice to this song. Spica covered "Break Away" well but they still lacked the oomph factor, and Sistar was just hopeless...

I'm not trying to claim that Bay.B is the new Big Mama, but the "Break Away" video to me is like a sign that in the near future there will a girl group that's about as talented. And that girl group will consist of slim yeojas. I'm sure that even though Can Entertainment has never blatantly marketed Bay.B as the next Big Mama, they strive to be taken as seriously as people took their legendary sunbaes. Check out this video of Bay.B practicing before their debut in May 2014, covering Big Mama's "Woman" and "Nevermind."


Too bad the video is edited so we can't see which parts of the songs Bay.B might be lacking in. Can they pull Big Mama songs off? You be the judge.

My favourite is Seola, the visual, not only because she has a nice voice (although she's not the main vocalist), looks unique compared to the other two who could be mistaken for any random girl group member, but also because she's a Taurean (haha yeah me and my penchant for fellow Taureans.) She's the one wearing a white top while singing the second song in the practice video, showing a Taurean trait of dressing with flair.

EDIT (8/30/14): Looks like the girls' popularity is growing, as I've just found a Bay.B forum where a Spanish-speaking fan figures out what the girls' stage names might mean: leader Miho's name is likely to be pronounced like "mio" which in Spanish means "mine", "Seola" is pronounced "sola" which means "alone" and maknae Miel's name means "honey" in French. Pure genius. I've also found one of the girls' real name, which I won't publish here in case she might want to go anonymous and attack me...like some model did.

For someone's milestone...

Happy birthday RHS!
A warm welcome to the club!
Things went sour
We grew apart
Some call it growing up
But the beautiful memories we shared stay in my heart
Always have
Always will

Second hello from Oxford!

Hey you.
I'm glad we met during the conference.
Even if we don't end up together.
Even if we won't ever see each other again.
We'll keep these three days of the 2014 Oxford summer in our hearts and minds.
Forever.

Hello from Oxford!

Yes, here's hoping this isn't going to be my only entry from Oxford, England. I'm currently staying at Mansfield College, which is under Oxford University, to attend a seminar called "Celebrity: Exploring Critical Issues." The seminar runs from July 21 to July 23, and it explores the celebrity realm from many angles. I had the liberty to write a paper on the possibility of Kim Myungsoo's 2013 dating scandals being a publicity stunt to sell products (a much longer version of this entry, really), said paper got selected and will be presented on the last day of the conference in its "Fan(t)asia" section. Also presented in the "Fan(t)asia" section are papers by Renata Iwicka called "There Will Be Blood: A Darker Side of K-pop Fandom" and "Parodic Participation as Consumption of Celebrity Products: The Case of Gangnam Style" by Mingyi Hou.

My paper, titled "The Use of Publicity Stunts in Korean Pop." Feel free to read it and don't forget to give me feedback!