STIYR

Hi guys, sorry it's been so long. Nino has been prepping for a potential year-long exchange to Korea, and I've been vigorously job-hunting. However, while Nino is shifting her priorities, I'm still very eager to share more reviews and recommendations. The reason for my hesitation is that I'm not sure which format is the best in which to share this information with you guys. Before we were following a strict formula of what to review, but sometimes that can be stifling or boring... I've come to this conclusion because I've been trying to write a review for a movie and drama series for some time now, but couldn't find a similar formula in which to write without it feeling restricting. So we may be a bit more loose in our reviews, and due to time constraints there may not be as many macros. I've decided that for my first Drama/Movie review, I will be tackling るろうに剣心 (Rurouni Kenshin) the 2012 movie.

I had heard about this movie adaptation back when it was in talks, but hadn’t yet been made. I can’t remember what prompted me to look for it, but I found it recently and watched it with Nino. And we’ve watched it at least 5 or 10 times after. I wish I could dust my hands and say that alone should be sufficient enough to tell you how good this movie is, but that would just be silly. Instead, I’ll attempt to outline both the good and bad things about this movie. I’m going to forgo formal formatting in the hopes of giving a shorter and more fluid review. Let me know what you guys think. It’s my first time reviewing a movie, so please be gentle. ;D

JEI

Song: 60초 (60 Seconds) Album: Another Me Year: 2012 Artist: Kim Sung Kyu (Hangul: 김성규) of INFINITE Label: Woollim Entertainment Live Performance

Alright! Let me start off by saying that yes, I know INFINITE has done this song as a group, but I want to focus on Kim Sung Kyu/Gyu’s version because it’s his song, the music video is for his version, and I personally think this version is better. SO! Moving forward!

To put it bluntly, if you don’t get shivers after listening to this song for the first time, you should get your feels checked, because this song is freaking amazing. It’s a song that has a lot going on with it, but it maintains a solid flow, and builds into something epic by the end. But I think the one thing that I love the most about this song, is that regardless of whether or not you understand what’s being sung, there’s a sense that there’s a story that’s being told, rather than it just being a general love song. That was the feeling I got when I first listened to it.

(Though srsly this girl has the most amazing smile I have ever seen.)

The lyrics suit the song perfectly and coincide with my gut-feeling of this song being like a story.  The first verse and chorus talk about how it only takes 60 seconds to fall in love, and illustrates the feelings that come with it. The second verse and chorus beautifully illustrates the exact opposite feelings that come with the impending end of a relationship and his feelings on the subject (which stab me in the feels every time I read them: “I didn’t hold you back...I don’t need any reasons. You clearly sent it. You said you were hurting and I let you go.”). The bridge, both the music and the lyrics work together to show the conflicting feelings he’s having. Then finally at the end he comes to terms with it and moves on. Simply put, the song talks about how it only takes 60 seconds to fall in and/or out of love.

Both Nino and I were a little confused with what actually happens in this music video. But please don’t let that deter you from watching it, because however you interpret it, the music video is still gorgeous and will probably make a bit of liquid leak out of your eye. I also want to point out that Sung Kyu/Gyu looked freaking AMAZING in this music video, and I love how they kept the scenes with him and his band separate from the rest of the MV.

My first instinct after watching the video was that L was herping around and happened across this beautiful lady, and thought he ought to casually make his way to her workplace with the hopes of getting to interact with her. While he’s waiting on her to bring him his drink, he starts to fantasize about what their lives could be like together… and also how it could fall to shambles, in which he gives up and leaves out of fear.

The second time I watched the video, I figured it could also be sort of like the movie Momento where the timeline is jostled all over the place. It starts out with L meeting the girl, but when he goes into the cafe, it’s actually the present, and he’s reflecting on their past relationship, and at the end of the video he gives her the ring saying that he’s either gotten over her, or he still hasn’t gotten over her. I’m still not clear on that. This is a prime example of a music video that could have been EPIC had the editing been a bit more precise.

HA! The trick is on you because THERE IS NO DANCE! So instead I'll be critiquing the live performance:

I feel like I shouldn’t even have to write anything here, because with such an epic song that ha a lot of solid rockin’ moments in it, you just know that it’s going to be amazing live. And, of course, it is (in my opinion). This song does a lot to show Sung Kyu/Gyu’s vocal abilities in terms of starting out soft and becoming super strong. There’s a lot of control and emotion that goes in that body. Ummph. I think that he could have loosened up a little and rocked out a little more. There are also a few moments in some of the live versions where he doesn't sing for larger parts of the song. Not sure what his reasons for that were, but it's certainly an intense song to do by yourself.

Also, as a lady and as a bassist, I just want to point out how freaking AWESOME it is that there is a female bassist in this group, and that the band that's featured in the MV is also the actual band that performs with him live. I'm seriously hoping to see more of this!

There’s only a couple of English words in the song: story, time, and with “U”. Everything is pronounced properly, but I’ve gotta wonder why the heck they couldn’t bother spelling “you” properly. Nothing else is stylized and it looks lazy and awkward. 

Watch the music video and listen to Kim Sung Kyu/Gyu’s solo album if you haven’t already. The entire thing is phenomenal. To give you a taste, check out the music video for the intro song. All I can say is that Henry Lau better watch himself!

This review was brought to you by the letter

I have been watching Simon and Martina’s videos for many years and I have always been a huge fan of all of their videos; not just K-Pop Music Monday but also their TL;DRs, W.A.N.K.S, F.A.P. F.A.P.S and so on. I have always admired their ability to make critical videos while adding in funny twists. Their videos, to me, have always been engaging and fun to watch!

Recently, as most NASTIES and others have seen, they posted a video called BTS vs. B.A.P vs. BTOB which has stirred up a crack load of controversy. I thought I’d give my input in an attempt to look at and share both perspectives.

First of all, Simon and Martina are not professional reviewers, nor have they ever claimed to be professionals. They’re just a couple of lucky people that got to make their hobby their job! Props to them! And they’re good at it. I also give props to them for being able to say, “This is our opinion... so deal with it!” Though despite this, a part of me is confused with Simon and Martina because they know fandoms, they know netziens and how they tend to overreact to certain things. It was pretty ballsy of them to make this video, and I think they would be completely lying if they said that they didn’t expect this kind of explosion. KPOP/HALLYU has some of the most loyal, intense, passionate and craziest fans in the world (in my opinion). So I think Simon and Martina should have at least been expecting some sort of negative reaction with the comments that they made.

Mind you, that does not mean that fan groups should be taking this so personally. I’ve been looking around on tumblr, and people are starting to make rather rude and unrelated comments about Eat Your Kimchi. I don’t think Simon and Martina intended to hurt anyone's feelings; they were just having fun (and perhaps took it a little too far). But I think some of the things that commenters are saying in response to this video are going a little far in themselves. Saying that Simon and Martina haven’t shown any interest in integrating into the Korean culture and only bash it, and that they can't/don't speak Korean is a blatant lie. They don't bash Korea at all. If they hated Korea, they wouldn’t have stayed there for 5+ years! They have made plenty of videos that praise Korean culture, food and music. And why would they need to use Korean in their videos when they're trying to appeal to foreigner/English audiences? I think people are just experiencing tunnel vision and are focusing on the recent negatives rather than remembering the positives.

Second, from a reviewer perspective, I didn’t find this Kpop Music Monday to be much of a review. There wasn't any constructive critique, but instead was just constant stream of jokes. The jokes, as everyone has said, were rather harsh. I understand that Simon and Martina have their own opinions and they are definitely entitled to them. But I know that neither of them hate B.A.P or BTS. I think they could have sailed on safer waters if they had made at least a couple of positive notes about the videos they were reviewing. I can see this video being very overwhelming to fans. I was overwhelmed at first since I am a HUGE fan of BTS (as I have mentioned in previous posts), and I have loved B.A.P for a long time as well. So I admit that I found those jokes a little hard to swallow myself, but it didn't enrage me. I also found it rather strange that they bothered to mention BTOB. I didn’t think it was very necessary. Instead of saying “this video was boring so we didn’t bother to review it” they could have said why it was boring, or throw in a couple of jokes or a skit about why they didn't want to review it would have sufficed and perhaps wouldn’t have gotten all of the BTOB fans all worked up. (JEI: And really, guys/gals, it's not worth the rage that some of you are expressing. It's not like they said that the music video was the worst one they had ever seen. They just didn't want to review it.)

This video lacked what I always enjoyed about their old reviews: focus on the dance, music, video and the English. What about looking at the lyrics of the songs? I think I can recall them doing something similar in the past. (JEI: granted, the lyrics for BTS's song doesn't reflect the lyrical quality of the rest of their music. But again, that's something that could have been touched on in the video.) Both B.A.P and BTS have fantastic dances in their videos, yet the only thing that had any real attention given to it was the raunchy thrusting in B.A.P’s video (JEI: followed by a skit that overkilled the humour they had intended...寒い). I can understand that Simon and Martina wanted to do something different, but I just don’t think that this video was executed as well as it could have been. Rather than making so many negative comments and complaints about the videos, they could have balanced it out with constructive criticism or less brutal and repetitive humour.

All in all, I think everyone needs to take a deep breath. Eat Your Kimchi isn’t out to get your biases and destroy them, nor are they out to destroy Korea.

Now, let’s all just touch Spudgy’s tummy and be friends again.  

Thoughts on the flames by

Song: Nobody (Korean Ver.) Album: Nobody Single Year: 2008 Artist: Wonder Girls (Hangul: 원더걸스) Label: JYP Entertainment

For our first female group to review, I thought I would review a group that I’m particularly fond of! Not to mention everyone would likely know this song. And I mean, this video is too freaking perfect, who WOULDN’T love it? And if you’re wondering why I like it…

Can anybody whisper me a “JYP?”

Okay. This video is a gem and a half. Why? The beginning kills me! First of all, I think JYP is one of the funniest men alive. I really appreciate how involved he gets with his artists; making appearances in their videos, and having fun with them. I give him kudos. Not to mention he’s talented and freaking hilarious! I loved his song at the beginning (with the Wonder Girls as his backup dancers), and I was killing myself in laughter with the whole toilet-paper conundrum. He’s so freaking hilarious. Oh man. JYP, are you real? You’re the best CEO ever. Glory.

I loved the feel of the video overall. I like the vintage old-school feel, and how the Wondergirls end up singing the song. The costumes were cute, and it was a very different style from most girl groups during this time. It’s sexy without being, like… trashy, you know? And it’s not ageyo, which I appreciate. Long story short, I didn’t feel like ripping my skin off from watching them, nor did I feel dirty watching them like I do with some girl groups. I thought the video was cute in how it kind of depicts the Wonder Girls ‘debuting’ and growing in the industry. It was really fun and well done.

Did anyone choke in laughter when JYP only has one piece of toilet paper in the end? Oh goodness. JYP, you’re the best.

OH, there is ALSO an English Version of this song. OH. MY. GOSH. The DUBBING FOR THE SPEAKING ROLES KILLS ME! Oh my gosh. I cried. I cried in laughter so hard. I don’t think the English voice matches the guy speaking—too high, too boyish, and a poor attempt at sounding…New-Yorkish? Oh goodness…JYP speaking English. Everything. I cried. So hard.

The song is super catchy! I like it a lot, actually. I honestly think that the singers in Wonder Girls are all really talented. The rapping is pretty sick too, although, I feel like it kind of ends the song abruptly and kind of awkwardly. I feel like there should have been some kind of build-up and then do the chorus again one more time with some extra UMPH. Otherwise, it was pretty good. But I mean…it was missing…one thing…

*Whispers* “JYP”

Honestly, one of the best things I can say about this dance is that I didn’t feel dirty watching it. I don’t know, perhaps this is one of the reasons why I don’t really like girl groups, but whenever I watch certain girl groups dance I just feel…dirty…and that I’m doing something wrong? I don’t like it. I get uncomfortable and I shudder at the massive ageyo in skanky outfits, or just…too sexual of dances? I don’t know. But with this video, I didn’t feel dirty. It was sexy, but not to the point where it’s like “WHOA GURL! CALM YO SELF! And put on some PANTS!”

The dance is pretty easy too! The chorus is simple enough that anyone could dance along to it—perfect song for norebang if you ask me!

The English in the Korean Version is flawless. I expected as much since some of them are Americans.  Since I’m ‘marking’ the Kor. Ver., they did a great job J

As for the English version, I’m actually REALLY impressed. The English is flawless, it makes sense and the pronunciation is great!

Overall, I really liked this song and video. JYP can make ANY video X1000000000 better—especially if he whispers in it. Hahaha. What a great classic KPOP song for our first girl group of our blog!

This review has been whispered by JYP

P.S. Sorry for the lack of macros and graphics these last few posts. This will hopefully be rectified in the near future. - JEI

When I found out that Junhyung was finally going to do a solo album, all I could do was whip my feels to the ground and exclaim “IT’S ABOUT FREAKING TIME!”. Junhyung has always (to me) felt like the awkward duckling in the B2ST group. I have this sense that he has a genuine hip-hop monster inside of him that wants to come out and just rap-sing his Homie-G-Feels, but is instead stuck in a circle of singers that kind of seem to wiggle their way to the front while he’s stuck being their background rapper. I’ve been waiting to witness this opportunity to see Junhyung stretch his stumpy wings and flap his way to those bright blue skies he’s dreamed of for a long time. But I digress. It’s finally here! And now I’m going to talk about it.

I admit, when I saw the trailer for the Flower music video, it was not at all what I had expected… not that I really knew what to expect. Just not a bodiless Junhyung surrounded by a wreath of flowers on a plate. But you know what? It was surprisingly good! But I’ll save the MV review for another post.

The overall album didn’t really blow me away, but I don’t think it was meant to. The overall vibe of the album is fairly calm and chill, but with this underlying sense of urgency that compliments the lyrics that talk about insecurities of being in a relationship, or having ended/lost your relationship. I was also surprised to hear Junhyun actually singing, considering it’s fairly rare for rappers from K-POP groups to want to sing on their own outside of their group. Junhyung manages to pull off both rapping and singing with great success (such rap, much sing. so success. wow).

I checked out the English translations to these songs, and while the lyrical quality was fairly simple at best, the story that he tells through them is really quite interesting.

Nothing Is Forever sets the tone for the album as the lyrics very plainly illustrate how he’s blindly fallen into love, but he doesn’t get his happy ending. The humming in the beginning was a pleasant surprise, and made me excited to hear more of it in the other songs. The English, on the other hand, felt incredibly elementary and awkward. I could have gone without it, but I suppose for the sake of “coolness” and possibly for the sake of rhyme, I was willing to push past it. Especially since the song is only 1:18 long.

Flower had a very B2ST vibe to it. Parts of it reminded me of The Fact when I first heard it. But the song has a distinct enough sound of it’s own that to bother me too terribly much (unlike U-KISS’있을 때 잘해 줄 걸 and 잠깐만). Again, Junhyung surprised me with actually singing the chorus, and from as far as I could tell there were no auto-tune devices used to distort his voice or make it sound “better”. The lyrics are a little unclear to me. I’m not sure if it’s about a woman who’s kind of toying with him, or if he’s talking about a love he used to have but lost. Either way, the song is incredibly catchy and makes for a good single.

Anything Featuring G.NA is probably my favourite song, lyrically speaking. The song talks from both the man and woman’s perspective in an unstable relationship and how they sort of try to work it out and earn each other’s trust. The guy is offering himself to the girl, to be anything she needs him to be. Meanwhile the girl is insecure in herself “because the deeper it gets, the more it’ll hurt” and asks the guy to “show… [his] heart a little more so [she] can trust [him]”. As the song goes on, Junhyung starts to reveal more of his feelings for the girl and encourages her that they can “take it slow”. By the end of the song the girl has gained enough confidence and at the end of the song says “show me your heart so I won’t hurt when we get deeper” and can relax knowing his true feelings. This could also be foreshadowing to her move towards a break-up. Musically speaking, the song is simple and catchy. G.NA adds a lot to the song, obviously, given as she sings from the girl’s POV. Junhyung’s rapping is fine, but his English, again, kind of makes things awkward with the use of “yelleh/yellow” and “tetwriss/tetris”… it doesn’t ruin the song, but it kind of takes away from the song a little during the first few listens.

Slow is a pleasant song where Junhyung continues with the theme of taking their relationship slow and taking time to savour everything. Again, super simple, but a great beat with solid rapping and singing.

Caffeine (Piano Ver.), eh. I’m not a huge fan of this song, but I liked Junhyung’s rapping in this version. I usually skip this song simply based on the fact that it feels as though it was slapped in just to have that extra song on the album. There isn’t anything in that song that musically connects with the rest of the album aside from Junhyung’s voice being in it.

One thing that I really enjoyed about this album was the clever order of the tracks. The intro song— really an outro— tells us that he doesn’t get his happy ending, and that he wished he could have seen the outcome of his relationship, but “Who reads a book starting with the end?” Flower illustrates this girl he (presumably had), but eventually loses. Anything is them trying to work out the insecurities that are starting to bloom in their relationship. Slow is about him having the girl, and encouraging her to let them take things slow, because they have all the time in the world to spend together, and Caffeine (more or less) introduces the girl and illustrates how she has become a new addiction. If you listen to the songs in the reverse order, you’ll also notice how that “urgency” I talked about in the songs actually picks up a bit, too.

These clever things you miss when you don’t read the lyrics, kids! (I’ll also save that rant for another blog post)

On the whole, I would give this album a 4/5. I found myself constantly surprised as I was going through it, but there were parts that fell a bit short (English, some lyrics, Caffeine being on the album). If you’re into more chill pop music (not quite as chill as Tablo’s ‘열꽃, Part 1+2’ but in that same general area) I would definitely give it a listen.

This review was brought to you by the letter

G'day all! So, after some discussion, Nino and I have both agreed that in order to keep STIYR running, we're going to need to take a couple of steps back due to our busy schedules and our crappy internet situation. Rather than suddenly changing things once the new year roles around, I thought it might be nice to let you know what kind of changes you guys can expect to see around here. MV/MUSIC REVIEWS: Yes, we're still keeping this! We'll still be reviewing old and new music, both Korean and Japanese, and will still be doing the silly macros, but we'll be more or less reviewing when we want to/actually have the time to rather than sticking to a strict schedule like what we had tried to do.

FRIDAY FIXES: Of course we're going to keep this as well. We will be using this to share what we're interested in at the time, or will be sharing things that are worth checking out. Everything from music, dramas, movies, and even food!

IMHO (In My Honest Opinion): This is something that I started to do on my personal K-POP/J-POP (geu-namja) tumblr, and initially wanted to have as an original part of this blog, but with the schedule we had set for ourselves, it was just way too much work. This section may be considered a bit more "serious" and lengthy. We'll be blogging about whatever tickles our fancy or gets our knickers in an unwanted twist. For examples of what you can expect, check out my IMHO tag on my personal tumblr, or check out these specific IMHOs that I've done: U-KISS’ MUSICAL IDENTIY IN JAPAN VS KOREA RE: B FREE’S FRANK QUESTIONS TOWARDS BTS

If there are any topics you would like to see us cover, bands you think we should do more reviews of, or simply just want to drop us a random note, we would love to hear from you! Thanks for your support and understanding as we go through this change! We hope to continue to bring you fun and interesting stuff!

Meanwhile, we both wish a merry Christmas to all of you lovely people and a great holiday season!

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Hi guys, I mentioned on twitter earlier this month that we've come across some technical difficulties and aren't able to do reviews. Our internet is really, really bad to the point where we can't even load a 20 second music video, and my computer recently had to be reformatted so I lost all of my programs that I use to make screencaps and graphics for our posts. I won't be back with a solid computer until sometime after the new year.

This isn't the end of STYIR- it's just a temporary setback until we can get things rolling again. If you have music videos that you would like us to review, don't hesitate to send them our way so that we can watch them once our internet situation is resolved.

Until then, I have started a seperate tumblr account called 그 남자 (Geu Namja/That Man) where I reblog some nice pictures of Korean and Japanese celebrities, as well as doing small IMHO (In My Honest Opinion) blog posts on things that are happening in the industry. My first blog post is related to the recent B Free vs BTS issue that has been circulating on the internet. Feel free to check it out and let me know what you think.

Until then, I hope you guys stay well and hope to see you again sometime in the new year!

This post has been brought to you by

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Song: I'll Be Back Album: I'll Be Back (Single) Year: 2013 Artist: Da-iCE (Kana: ダイス) Label: Avex Dance Version

Hey guys! Sorry this week’s Turn It Up is a little late. Unfortunately I don’t have Photoshop right now to make all of the screenshots that I usually do, so for now enjoy this text-based post and I’ll update it with pictures as soon as possible.

The overall song doesn’t really have a whole lot going for it that makes it stand out amongst other songs. The lyrics aren’t really all that moving either, as it talks about breaking up and how he’ll be back. Or you’ll want him back? Or something.

I’ll be baa- OOPS.

I do like this song, though. It’s not something you’d find most people dancing along to or anything, but it’s a great song for upbeat background noise. I can see myself listening to this song a lot while working and not finding the beat or lyrics distracting. I find most male Japanese artists sound a bit nasally when they sing, but this is a prime example of how it’s totally possible to avoid all of that! Thank you Da-iCE. Thank you so much.

This is a very simple and typical dance-focused/member-portrait-focus music video. A lot of people would find it boring, probably. I, however, freaking LOVE IT. The simplicity of it is actually what makes it so good, similar to Lead’s Upturn music video-- only less cheesy and more epic. They didn’t make things awkward with random appearances of a useless female figure being pursued by the members. They instead focused on artistic compositions and focusing on strong contrast lighting to provide a very serious and mature tone to the music video, which works well with the song. Yeah, I could artsie-fart this music video to bits. I actually love it so much. I’m surprised that tumblr didn’t explode with gifs when this music video came out. The only thing I wasn’t so fussy on was the random faded portrait of Yudai when they said “I’ll Be Back” at around 1:50…. srsly… why’d you do that? You were doing so well up until that point! The dancing-in-the-sprinkler-made-rain-in-a-studio-setting could’ve been implemented in other parts of the song in my opinion. I dunno. It was a little awkward and a little unnecessary. Though I guess it harkens back to the ripple effect with that drop of water that doesn’t know if it wants to drop or reverse time and space and get sucked back up to wherever it came from.

It’s the one that will be back! Now it all makes sense. Watch out for water. Someone call the Doctor...

The one thing I didn’t like about the music video was it’s abrupt ending. The least they could have done was fade to black after holding a pose or something. Instead we get cut off two seconds after what I’m assuming is supposed to be the last bit of choreo.

When I first saw this music video, I thought “OH MY GOSH A GROUP THAT DOES COOL DANCE ROUTINES LIKE K-POP ARTISTS.” I admit that I’ve been a bit out of the loop with regards to Japanese music, so seeing this was freaking awesome. It meant that Japan is finally taking a step away from their usual cheesy happy-go-lucky overexposed soft-lighting low-budget filmed music videos and are going for a more mature look with their pop music. I’m sure Exile was one of the pioneers for that kind of stuff… but I digress.

I watched the dance practice video and I love the complexity of this dance and how they’re able to actually do it well. They do, however lack unity when they dance together. There are some guys that don’t hit certain parts hard enough, don’t roll their shoulders as deep as the others, etc. However, despite all of this, everything looked fine in the music video. Nothing that stands out, anyways.

Everything is totally fine. The English is well integrated into the song and everything was well pronounced.

This was my introduction to Da-iCE, and it was a really great first impression. This song gives me hope for the J-Pop industry with regards to being able to produce higher quality videos, and a higher quality form of pop music. Overall, this song is great to listen to, and the music video is worth checking out for sure.

This review was brought to you by the letter

Song: I'll Be Back Album: 2010 Year: Still 02:00PM Artist: 2PM (Hangul: 투피엠) Label: JYP Entertainment

Live Performance

SUP KIDLETTES! This is Drunk Jei coming to you live from the internet. This song and video have really been on my heart this week, no idea why. But my friend Alrynnas thought it might be time to do this while in this state of mind. So . Let’s get down to business. To defeat the huns...

(SOBER JEI INSERT: That took about 10 mins to write without spelling errors. I gave up from this point on… so… just be warned...)

Guys this song is not only bad, it’s aweful. This was during their earlier phases wehre thhey just really couldn’t sing that well-- but oh my goooosh you guys. Chansung freaking MURDERED the “ahh ahahhhhh” part about 2 minutes in. Guys. I laugh. Every time.

BUt you know what? This is liek binguel binguel where you keep coming back to this song because it’s just so bad. You cna’t shake that feeling.

They’ll be back.

(SOBER JEI INSERT: I actually really don’t mind this song. The lyrics aren’t anything wonderful, and, yeah, the singing is really bad. I’m pretty sure the only redeeming quality is Nickhun’s rap, and even that wasn’t all that great. I somberly admit that this song, along with Heartbeat, are songs that you get a craving to watch the MV for and then laugh at-- then cry because it’s like “wtf happened?” Then you go watch A.D.T.O.Y and feel better...)

This really deserves a zero, because the music video is so bad. But let’s be real. The guys deserve some serious kudos for owning up to that bad makeup and those awkward costumes. Do you guys remember that time in high schoo lwhen kids were trying out makeup and just didn’t know how and it was too much and just… like this? yeah. That’s this. The performance version for sure is the best show of makeup madness I have ever seen. Srsl.y

my favourite part is how nickhun looks like a freaking anime character with his hair and frekaing sticks his thumb up in the air using his seecret technique of how he’l be back. Don’t mess with that. srsy bsns.

But oyu know what/ this musci video is som uch more magical after at least 2 beers. Especially the performance vid htat I’ll link to. guys. Their eyes glitter like faeries. It’s so beautiful, magical and wonderufl.

(SOBER JEI INSERT: …. Truth.)

This dance is so incredibly boring and awkward ot look at, but you know what? I sure as hell couldn’t do that much shufflin’ even if I workedo ut a quarter of the amount that those guys do... and forget even singing the song while doing that frekaing workout of a dance. So, they get half a point. but that’s it. For 2pm’s abilities, this was a teeerrrriiible excuse of a dance. BAD.

(SOBER JEI INSERT: …. also truth.)

I’ll be baaaaaaaaaaaack! nanananana ko yaa…. I’LLL BE BAAAACKKKKK…. NAAAA AHHH AHHHHHH!

(SOBER JEI INSERT: The english is fine)

THIS SONG DESERVES YOUR ATTENTION AT LEAST ONCe, BUt you need ot have htem usic video for the full effect. Then watch the performance because when you watch the mv you’re like “wtf that can’t get worsE” BUT THEN IT DOES. Being drunk and watching/dancing to it is the best thing in the whole world of ideas. Do it. Then binguel binguel and then other things like that. GUYS YOU AHVE TO KNOW THIS OSNG AT LEAST ONCe.

TEHY’LL BE BACK! I’ll be back. Sober. next time. Regretting this ;D

(SOBER JEI INSERT: Also truth.

And if you guys are interested, I found a cool dance/singing cover by 100%. Not only do these guys sing the song while doing the dance, their singing is a lot stronger and overall better sounding. There weren’t any moments where I thought “Oh Lord, please no” (Chansung, I’m looking at you.).

This post was brought to you by an inebriated

(Also a reminder to drink responsibly and that drinking alone isn't as fun...)

Song: Everybody Album: Everybody Year: 2013 Artist: SHINee (Hangul: 샤이니) Label: SM Entertainment

To reel us back into doing reviews, I thought it would be appropriate to review a song that EVERYBODY would know, EVERYBODY would like, and EVERY, EVERY BODY could dance to (Hehehe, see what I did there? Funny? Yes?...no? Okay…). I’m super stoked to review this song and video, and I know Jei was not surprised when I picked this song for Turn it Up Tuesday since I’ve been singing it non-stop for about five days now.

Oh goodness. At first, I thought the song was just hilarious; I didn’t take it seriously. The chorus made me laugh so hard, and I thought, oh SHINee, I’m sorry. I can’t say this is your best song and I can’t say that I like it. But then, perhaps, the little child in this video with the spark plug crawled into my ear in the night and plugged SHINee’s song in my head, because for the next several days all I could think of was ‘EVERYBODY, EVERYBODY, EVERY, EVERY BODY…WUB WUB WUB” That’s it! It was stuck in my head!

Jei can attest that during her visit with me at university I would sing that song every ten minutes as I made stupid, cheesy jokes with it. Not to mention I would laugh even harder as I would add the dance in. (JEI: It’s true. I would be on the cusp of falling asleep and then I would hear “hehe… everybooodehh everyybooodehh…. every every boodehh…” She even sleep-talked the song. No joke.)

What am I trying to say here? Well, this song is undoubtedly and inescapably catchy. I didn’t want to like this song, but I couldn’t help it. I sing it. Constantly. I even have it as my alarm to wake up in the morning! I mean, it says “everybody wake up, wake up,” don’t you think that’s applicable?! I’m just weird now? Yeah? Sorry.

SHINee sang beautifully in this long, Jonghyun and Taemin rocked all the long notes, and well, the others were just amazing. Wait—wait a minute, did…did Minho SING!? Oh yes, yes he did, and it sounded AWESOME! SM, you better make Minho sing more in the future! It was cute, and I thought he did a pretty fantastic job! (JEI: … but then I think of this video.)

The music video wasn’t anything particularly exciting—I mean, it’s a typical SM video—good looking people dancing in strangely lit rooms with strange objects. Um…Minho, I’m sorry, but Kevin from U-Kiss called, he wants his chess pieces back…oh, and so does every other KPOP group who’s used gigantic chess pieces in their MV. Ooh, and lets not skip Jonghyun who skillfully destroyed everything on a statue, except for the statues butt. That takes immense skill right there. (JEI: Not sure if that's skill or his extreme derp for missing the opportunity to smack dat ass... you can ever be too sure with Jonghyun...)

Or how could I forget the little sneaky-poo we get at Taemin. For a long time I was confused with Taemin since his stylist seems to have this thing for dressing him up very femininely (long hair, girly clothes), but we now see the man come out of him as he spins pretty much shirtless. Your manhood has been restored Taemin, your manhood has been restored.

One thing though, that I didn’t particularly like about this MV (or the whole concept for the album in general) is the amount of makeup they put on these poor young men. I noticed that with this MV (and in the album if you bought the physical CD’s and looked at the pictures…like me…) the amount of makeup these young men are wearing is too damn high! They don’t need all that makeup! Stylists, we need to have a chat, I don’t care if you’re trying to be artistic! They look ridiculous, especially when you start putting little sparkles and gems in the corner of their eyes…like, seriously Jonghyun? I feel sorry for you bro.

Goodness gracious. Oh man, guys. I freaking LOVE this dance. Do I think it’s as complex as some of their other dances, no—but that’s why I love it! I CAN DANCE ALONG WITH IT! I love their little wiggly fingers under their chins, and then the WUB WUB WUB arm thing. The amount of times I’ve done that dance in public now with Jei is too damn high, but I don’t care, because I think it’s hilarious.

I’ve noticed though, with the past few routines, that their choreographer likes to make these boys spin out in a line a lot. That was a common theme in Sherlock, and I’m also seeing it here. I hope they start to change that up…because as much as it is cool, it’s starting to get a little repetitive. I dunno, that’s just my opinion. Besides, they’re probably starting to get dizzy :P (JEI: I saw it as Taemin’s revenge for having to be the last person to spin out so many times during Sherlock XD)

I enjoyed the little interlude part as well, where everything goes classic grey scale and Minho ‘wakes up’ each of the members like toy soldiers. I absolutely loved that. Super creative and fun! Oh, and their little bouncy slide, that was super adorable too.

Now, last but least…HOW COULD I NOT MENTION THE CROTCH TUNNEL!? Oh glory, Jei and I nearly died…no, we did die for a short while when that happened. Could you imagine filming that? The cameraman, “Um…excuse me guys…yeah…um…stay still…yup…okay…yeah…” So good. I heard Minho ripped his pants doing that move. That’s just glorious.

Everybody. Everybody. Every. Everybody. (wub wub wub). The guys did a great job for the little English in this song. It SOUNDS like they’re pronouncing the ‘v’ in everybody correctly; however, do they actually? Every time the music video does a close up on the boy’s faces when they say ‘everybody’ watch their lips.

Some of the members actually make a ‘b’ shaping with their lips instead of the ‘v’ (you can’t argue with me, I’m a linguist major :P). The perfect example is Minho at 0:47 seconds. You can’t tell me his lips would make a V sound! Ha!

I love this song. I didn’t want to, but I do, and I sing it constantly, and dance to it constantly. Although it’s not really…different from every other SM video, It was still fun! This is definitely a song that everybody, everybody, every, everybody can sing and dance to, and enjoy. Hehehe.

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Another quick update: I just installed Disqus onto our tumblr blog, so now you guys are able to leave comments and have discussions! We really do love hearing from you guys and get severely bummed out when we can't reply to your comments or reblogs. Hopefully this will open things up and get things rolling. We'd love for this to become an active community where Korean and Japanese entertainment enthusiasts can congregate to share all of the goodness. (NOTE: To actually access the comments you have to go to the direct post page.) That being said, I'm gonna toss some questions purely for fun. Feel free to reply if you'd like! We'll reblog some of the answers, so be sure to link us back to your blog when you answer! 1) What's your favourite song/album/artist? 2) If you had the chance to spend a day with 1 celebrity, who would it be and why? What would you do? 3) What artist(s)/song(s) would you like to see us review? 4) What do you like, or not like, about our blog? 5) Anything more you would like for us to do?

Hey guys! Holy crap, we've reached 20 followers! Nino and I want to thank you guys immensely for your interest and support as we continue to bring you new and fun stuff from the Korean and Japanese entertainment industries! We would love to hear any feedback that you guys may have about our process, musical selection, etc. Feel free to contact us through our ask, email or twitter accounts. We love hearing from you! I'm back from Japan and am sloooowly starting to readjust to things here. There has recently been a lot of changes and new responsibilities being thrown at me from every which angle, which is why I wasn't able to get my Friday Fix done for last week. Once I've gotten things caught up and straightened out we'll hopefully be back to our regular posting schedule. Until that time, thank you for you patience and we will do our best to pick up the slack! Despite this slight lull, we've still been checking out a bunch of new stuff in the entertainment industries, though mostly Korean focused at the current moment. I thought I'd compile some of these things for you guys to check out. NEW KPOP ALBUMS TO CHECK OUT:

Everybody - SHINEE If you haven't seen the music video for the single, you should watch it at least once to experience the crotch-tunnel. It's great. However, outside of the single, we'd encourage you to listen to the whole album if you're able. While Everybody is a great and fun song, the entire album is really fantastic and worth listening to.

Moments - U-KISS This album is freaking awesome! Mysterious Lady and 내 여자야 (she's mine) are AWESOME songs. The entire approach to this album is new and refreshing from U-KISS' usual style. I mean no disrespect, but after being absorbed in Leessang, Bangtan Sonyeondan, G-Dragon/TOP for most of my hip-hop needs, it's obvious that AJ and Eli kind of fall short in most of their songs. However, they have totally made up for that in this new mini album. I really felt as though AJ and Eli grew in terms of their rapping style (especially in She's Mine). If you haven't checked out the music video for whatever ungodly reason, check it out (even if you aren't a Kissme!). I admit, the first time I watched it, I wasn't fussy on it-- but it really grew on me... and I've been watching it at least 5 times a day since it's release... I will probably review it at some point, so I won't spoil it for you guys. Check it out!

Modern Times - IU I admit, I've never been a huge IU fan. I have a hard time appreciating female artists because, to me, they all sound the same. IU, of course, has always stood out and has amazing talent as a singer, but it wasn't until this album that I've really been impressed. This jazzy album is new and refreshing and really shows IU's growth as a young woman and as an artist.

That's all for now. Let us know what you guys think!