Kim Jeong-uk, a South Korean singer-songwriter and rapper, began his music career when he debuted as a member of a boy group, 24K, back in 2012. After a relatively successful career with the group, the artist decided to pursue a solo career. In 2019, Jeong-uk released his first EP called #down which brought a new…
Category: K-pop
CL Brings Immense Energy to London’s Village Underground
Who is CL? It is hard to describe her in one word – to the majority, she is a queen of K-pop, to some she is the ultimate Korean Hip-Hop gem. I don’t think I want to put her in any sort of category as CL tends to be versatile when it comes to her…
Get Up and Dance: “Take me where the rhythm is racy / Let me be a dancin’ fool” – BTS’ “Permission to Dance” Single Review
Permission to Dance is BTS’ third English language single. It follows last year’s hugely successful Dynamite and this year’s follow-up Butter which topped the Billboard 100 for seven weeks in succession (17 July 2021), surpassing the achievements of Dynamite in so doing. And at the time of writing, Butter has passed the baton to Permission…
BTS Take Japan: “BTS, The Best” – Japan Album Review
BTS debuted in Japan on 12 June 2014 with the single album No More Dream. Their first full Japanese Album, Wake Up, was released on Christmas Day of the same year. Since then, the group has released 9 further single albums and 3 additional studio albums. The single albums contain Japanese versions of lead singles…
Smooth Like Butter: Boys Just Want to Have Fun – BTS’ “Butter” Single Review
Butter is BTS’ second English language single, following their 2020 smash hit Dynamite. It is written by Jenna Andrews (who is also credited on Dynamite), Alex Bilowitz, Sebastian Garcia, Rob Grimaldi, Stephen Kirk, Ron Perry (the chairman of Columbia Records) and RM. Vocal production is by Jenna Andrews and Stephen Kirk, while vocal arrangement is…
“I Want to Renew My Resolve and View the Present as My Second Beginning” – In Conversation with Singer-Songwriter Kim Yeong Geun
2016 was a turning point for Kim Young Geun when he won the talent show Superstar K [an equivalent of Britain’s Got Talent and American Idol]. The singer impressed the judges with his cover of Sam Smith’s Lay Me Down, which later led to more exciting performances on the show. A year after winning the…
“I Want to Be the Artist Who Gives Hope with Music That Brings Comfort.” – In Conversation with Singer Lim Jisoo
Lim Jisoo, an emerging South Korean singer, came to light in 2019 when she won Vocal Play, a variety show where the singers had to sing without instrumental accompaniment at times. With her powerful and unique voice, Jisoo blew the judges away with the cover of Imagine Dragons’ Radioactive. After winning the show, Jisoo was…
Music for Healing: BTS MTV Unplugged Review
MTV Unplugged is a flagship MTV programme which was launched on 26th November 1989 with performances by Elliot Easton (The Cars), Syd Straw and Squeeze. With acoustic sets and stripped back, pared down. performances, Unplugged featured iconic sets by some of the most famous musicians of the time including Aerosmith, Elton John, Annie Lennox, George…
The Unbearable Lightness of Being: BTS’ “BE” Album Review
BE is BTS’ fourth (Korean) studio album and follows the record-breaking Map of the Soul: 7 from earlier in the year (February 21). Released on the 20th November, six months after the later, BE is a project album that is best understood as a personal response to COVID-19. BE is grounded in reality; while the…
In Conversation with DONGKIZ, a South Korean Idol Group
“I was drawn to how I can express my own thoughts and emotions through the lyrics or the melody”, says Jaechan, a 19-year-old member of a South Korean group, DONGKIZ, when asked if music was his future. While not all of the members thought of starting their adult lives as a part of a K-pop…
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