Kpop: Best of 2014 - Part 2 (Groups)
This was not a good year for kpop and part of it was The Exodus 2014, so named after Exo members who left the group. Two members, Kris and Luhan, left Exo, Jessica left SNSD (or was told to leave),and MBLAQ? Recently both Thunder and Lee Joon left MBLAQ. Life goes on, but groups like MBLAQ? Who knows?.
Outside of the massive amount of scandals, musically speaking, this was YG's year to shine. They came out with a series of near perfect albums from 2ne1, Epik High, and Winner. While I didn't appreciate Taeyang or Akdong Musician's albums as much, they still had some great music on them.
Click to viewIn contrast, I can't really say the same of SM. Exo's latest mini album Overdose didn't live up to last year's album by any stretch of the imagination, while other popular groups like SNSD and Super Junior put out very forgettable music. JYP's efforts were better, with Got7 and Ha:tfelt, and I hope SM can come back strong next year.
And YG? Keep those hits flowing!
FEMALE GROUPS - In order to be more fair, I previewed a number of songs by many female groups, including AOA, Mamamoo, Red Velvet, T-ara, Spica, Kara, EXID, Orange Caramel, A Pink, Girls' Day, f(x), Sistar, SNSD, and 2ne1. And I came to this conclusion. There is 2ne1 and then there are the others, whose songs, mvs mostly revolve either cutesy or sexy concepts. Take your pick.
SM groups like f(x) (and JYP's do produce music and dances that are different from the cookie cutter blah of most groups, but the rest of the groups outside of the big three are absmally mediocre in music, song, and dance, occasionally they do come up with something (hehe) a little better like Girls' Day “Something.”
Rise and Fall - Girls' Day climbed the charts this year with their title track “Something,” which I enjoyed a lot as well. A Pink also did well, along with Sistar, 4minute, and f(x) and SNSD had their usual fans coming out to buy their albums. Thanks to a video that went viral, EXID enjoyed a surge of popularity of their song "Up and Down" too
Both 2ne1 and SNSD had comebacks, but they were almost completely overshadowed by scandals. In 2ne1's case, an old incident of Park Bom came to light about her bringing (allegedly smuggling) prescribed medication into the country. With SNSD, several members' dating was confirmed, and one member left the group as well.
T-ara's lack of love with the public was apparent, although T-ara's solo acts did enjoy some success. Two of Kara's members left the group, and they got a new member, but I'm not sure how many people cared by then.
Finally, there were a number of rookie groups debuting in 2014 of course, but the only rookies I've heard are Mamamoo, and Red Velvet.
Best Song - (Nominees are “Something,” "Up & Down," “If I Were You,”) I like them all, but the lives of “If I Were You” swayed me to vote for it.
Best Dance - Girls' Day “Something.” Elegant dresses, sexy moves without going overboard, and shows off the group to the best advantage.
Best Music Video - Nothing I really loved here. Orange Caramel's "Cataliena" was... different, as was EXID's "Up and Down," and I liked 2ne1's “Gotta Be You,” "Happy," and "Come Back Home." But I didn't really love any of them.
Best Rookies - (Red Velvet, Mamamoo) Mamamoo. I don't like the dance for their song “Mr. Amiguous,” but I do think they're the most talented group, they seem like they can actually sing and the song's okay. As for Red Velvet, I don't like what they did in their first mv, which was very offensive, but I do like their song “Be Natural.”
Epik High's "Born Hater"
MALE GROUPS - So contrary to expectations, boy groups are alive and well. Big Bang and Shinhwa didn't make an appearance this year, although various members of each group released solo efforts. Other popular groups like Block B, Teen Top, Bangtan Boys, VIXX, Exo, Super Junior, DBSK, JYJ, and 2pm all put out new material, but none of made it to my favorites list. And some were very mediocre (Exo, Block B, 2pm, JYJ, really? That's the best you could do?)
Instead I preferred Epik High (they're kpop, right?), B1A4's “Solo Day”, MBLAQ's “Be a Man”, Beast had a good year, with “12:30” and “Good Luck”, and then there were the rookies Got7, JJCC, Legend, and Winner who each had at least one winning song according to moi. And let's not forget Big Byung.
Rise and Fall - B1A4 caught my attention this year, with their song “Solo Day.” Beast had solid songs,but I really want to talk about Big Byung! From three different boy groups, Big Byung was created as part of the Hitmaker tv show and came up with a song and mv “Stress Come On.” It's fun and games and cute. Yeah!!!
Er, anyway, as for groups who didn't live up to the hype, Hmm, there's nothing I can really point to. Most groups that do well continued to do well, like EXO, other long lived groups may be falling slightly, but that's understandable.
I'm not going to include Epik High in any of these categories as they would probably win every single one for best song, album of the year. Every song on their album is platinum (or at least gold), and the lyrics by Tablo have to be hands down the best in kpop right now. Look at their songs from Shoebox album such as “We Fight Ourselves,” “Lesson 5,” and “Amor Fati” to name a few.
Best Song - (Nominees are “Different,” “Tonight,”“Confession,” “Stress Come On,” “Solo Day,”) Winner's “Tonight” is my new bestie, but I'll go with Winner's “Different.” From the moment I heard it, it was a fav of mine and that hasn't changed.
Best Dance - This year was rather odd in that I didn't find any dance that caught my eye. I'll go with MBLAQ's “Be a Man.” The steps go well with the song, it's certainly not a hard dance, but there is a certain dignity to it all. Strike that, I think "Good Boy" is the winner. The dance is easy, but it works well with the music.
Best Music Video (Nominees are ???) - I didn't see any music videos this year that caught my attention, in a good or bad way, but I enjoyed Big Byung's "Stress Come On" video the most.
Best Rookies - (Nominees are Winner, JJCC, Legend, Got7, Big Byung) Winner. Winner. Winner. I've only listened to Winner's complete album (over and over again), and not any of the others if they even have albums (I listened to Got7's mini? I think it was. Mediocre). But Winner's complete album was LOVE! Flaw free. They set an impossibly hard standard for YG's new rookie group iKON to follow.
DUOS - I have to add in this section because duos, duets was such a big thing this year. Mostly of mixed pairings, there was also Taeyang and GD's "Good Boy."
SoYou from girl group Sistar had a number of hits this year with different male partners, such as "Some" with JunggiGo which topped charts as the number one song for long time.
Best of the BEST
Song of the Year - (Nominees are “Melted,” “Metronome,”“NaNa” “If I Were You,”“Something,” “Different” every Epik High song) Winner is... “NaNa.” These are my awards, so I'll give them as I please. I don't even know the lyrics, which probably aren't great, but if I'm not giving it to Epik High, I'll give it to the song I can listen on repeat without getting tired of it. Jay's voice makes this song.
Album of the Year - (Nominees are: 2ne1, Winner, Epik High) All of them!!! Honestly, I loved every song on each of these albums, there wasn't a single song I wished to kaput into space. If I don't give it to Epik High, I'll give it to 2ne1. I think 2ne1 had a better variety of music on their album. Winner's songs are mostly low key, ballads, pop.
Rookie of the Year - (Red Velvet, Winner, JJCC, Legend, Mamamoo, Akdong Musician) I listened to a number of Akdong Musician's songs and watched their mvs, but the only one that stood out to me was “Melted” which was excellent. Winner, on the other hand, put out such a strong debut album, several songs were excellent, and the rest fell in the good to great area. Awesome debut. Winner wins (couldn't resist).
In the Year 2015 - iKON's debut. I watched Mix n Match and now I want to see if iKON can deliver. Even if they can't, I believe Bobby (iKON rapper) would be able to stand on his on two feet anywhere, he's good. Very good. Sooo good. He's got it all. Fierce charisma, major stage presence and the rapping skills to back it all up with.
What else? Umm, Big Bang's comeback? I was again correct in my prediction last year about SNSD. So I want to see if more groups hemorrhage members. And looking forward to more Hitmaker songs, I think they'll really start becoming popular with groups like Big Byung, and the show started ariing again in December 2014.
This year, as I predicted, had a number of mixed duos collaborations that struck it big. Expect more of the same, I would imagine. I also expect to see more groups debut from the Big Three.
Lastly, who'll be the next star on the rise? Top Dogg? M.I.B.? Or BtoB? EXID? 5urpise? Or... Big Byung?