Now is as good a time as any for my first post on your blog. I've been checking out your blog for a few years (found either through the old Singles Jukebox or an Ashlee Simpson search, can't remember), ignored all of your k-pop posts for about a year, finally checked out a k-pop radio station, and now I've been obsessed with k-pop for about 4 months. So, thank you for leading me to all this great music! There is so much to discover it's kind of overwhelming.
I'm glad to learn of this SNSD Japanese release. For the last few months I've been hooked on "Oh! The Second Album" and then was excited to see a US album a few weeks ago. That album is horribly disappointing, though. I have no idea why they think the direction they took on it would be successful here. This Japanese release is much better.
One question: where do you get your k-pop music, assuming you get it legally? I have tried a few sites but am not happy with any of them. Emusic has some stuff but the albums on there are often not official albums. I'd like to be able to purchase downloads but so far it's just easier to download .rar files. I'm also not interested in buying physical products.
Also just checked out the Mr. Collipark mixtape. Who knew crunk could sound fresh and fun again so soon? It's great! I'm thrilled to see the return of Bubba Sparxxx on the record, too! Next I'll check out Randy Montana, mostly because he's so cute. That worked for me for getting into Brad Paisley but didn't work so well for Luke Bryan.
http://kpop.soribada.com/En/ Some Korean sites cater to international customers, like this one. Selection isn't 1:1 and I haven't tried this site out lately so I don't know how good they are right now.
Big artists show up on itunes, from JYP, SM, YG, you can get your SNSD and 2NE1 on there. It's getting better, I'm surprised by how many of the artists I'm looking for are there.
Re: Thanksext_878085November 15 2011, 20:20:49 UTC
Thanks. I had tried Soribada but I really don't like their website. Or at least my computer does not like their website. Also, most of the items I'd want to download are not available in the US. Thanks for letting me know about iTunes. I'm not sure why I never thought to check there!
Thank you. Now I'm convinced that the hours and hours I put into listening to and posting about popular music (rather than, say, going out and earning money) are well spent! I really do sometimes wonder if more than two or three people ever read my livejournal.
Notice that we now have some Ashlee conversation upthread, between me and skyecaptain.
By the way, Dave Skyecaptain has written what is probably the best piece on Ashlee ever:
Re: Thanksext_878085November 15 2011, 20:41:50 UTC
I'm happy to reassure you that you aren't wasting your time! My boyfriend might think differently, though, since he has not embraced all the k-pop that is getting played in our house (with the exception of "Bubble Pop" and Mighty Mouth's "Tok Tok").
Thanks for the Ashlee link. That was very good and led me to listen to my 4 and 5 star Ashlee playlist yesterday. Is she working on new music? I saw her on America's Next Top Model as guest judge recently so I have hope that she's going to release something new. I love that there is this online world that takes Ashlee (and Paris Hilton) seriously. I was as surprised as anyone when I discovered I loved her first album and was very surprised that she was able to make 2 more great albums. I guess I shouldn't have underestimated her but my first knowledge of her was from her role on "7th Heaven" where she played the bobble headed Cecilia. That show had a special ability to bring out the worst from even the best actors but even taking that into account my expectations for Ashlee as a singer were very low.
This is what Wikipedia has to say about the next Ashlee Simpson album:
In an interview with Paper magazine, Simpson stated that her new album would have a "folk feel".[66] However, on June 23, 2011, Ryan Seacrest confirmed on On Air with Ryan Seacrest that Simpson had been having meetings with record executives along with previous collaborator, John Shanks, to figure out the exact direction of her next album. Simpson appeared on the second episode of The CW's America's Next Top Model, Cycle 17 as a guest judge. In the episode, she declared that she was still working on her new album. In October 2011, John Feldmann, who previously worked on 2 tracks on Autobiography, revealed via Twitter that he was recording with Simpson.
(Unless I'm missing something, or they're referring to a bonus track or outtake, the only Autobiography song featuring Feldmann is "Giving It All Away.")
It's probably better now than it ever was, in terms of your requirements - for the longest time there was no way to get legal downloads of any Asian pop music from North America. Ask 10 kids who listen to Asian pop, and 9 of them will tell you they illegally downloaded everything they "owned". The uber-fans bought the official CDs, shipping and inflated prices and all (inflated because 1) that is what the market bears in Japan, the land of the price-is-no-object uber-fan, and 2) the Asian music industries have no choice but to cost in the price of rampant piracy), and to protect that market I think the labels prevented legal downloads more than they enabled them. You could buy Chinatown CDs/DVDs/VCDs, but those were pirated as well, of course. The last option was the fan second-hand market and/or going to Asia to teach English or visit relatives and stocking up there.
Re: Thanksext_878085November 15 2011, 20:48:30 UTC
Thanks. I will no longer feel bad downloading k-pop. I kind of doubt that the singers make much money off of the music, anyway. Emusic is actually starting to get a lot of it but there are weird things too. A few months ago I downloaded this but at the time it was listed as T-ara and HyunA. Now it's changed but it's still incorrect! K-pop has really messed up my already unorganized iTunes library!
I'm glad to learn of this SNSD Japanese release. For the last few months I've been hooked on "Oh! The Second Album" and then was excited to see a US album a few weeks ago. That album is horribly disappointing, though. I have no idea why they think the direction they took on it would be successful here. This Japanese release is much better.
One question: where do you get your k-pop music, assuming you get it legally? I have tried a few sites but am not happy with any of them. Emusic has some stuff but the albums on there are often not official albums. I'd like to be able to purchase downloads but so far it's just easier to download .rar files. I'm also not interested in buying physical products.
Also just checked out the Mr. Collipark mixtape. Who knew crunk could sound fresh and fun again so soon? It's great! I'm thrilled to see the return of Bubba Sparxxx on the record, too! Next I'll check out Randy Montana, mostly because he's so cute. That worked for me for getting into Brad Paisley but didn't work so well for Luke Bryan.
Thanks again!
Reply
Big artists show up on itunes, from JYP, SM, YG, you can get your SNSD and 2NE1 on there. It's getting better, I'm surprised by how many of the artists I'm looking for are there.
Reply
Reply
Notice that we now have some Ashlee conversation upthread, between me and skyecaptain.
By the way, Dave Skyecaptain has written what is probably the best piece on Ashlee ever:
"Kill Me, Kill Me, Kill Me: 001/964"
Reply
Thanks for the Ashlee link. That was very good and led me to listen to my 4 and 5 star Ashlee playlist yesterday. Is she working on new music? I saw her on America's Next Top Model as guest judge recently so I have hope that she's going to release something new. I love that there is this online world that takes Ashlee (and Paris Hilton) seriously. I was as surprised as anyone when I discovered I loved her first album and was very surprised that she was able to make 2 more great albums. I guess I shouldn't have underestimated her but my first knowledge of her was from her role on "7th Heaven" where she played the bobble headed Cecilia. That show had a special ability to bring out the worst from even the best actors but even taking that into account my expectations for Ashlee as a singer were very low.
Reply
In an interview with Paper magazine, Simpson stated that her new album would have a "folk feel".[66] However, on June 23, 2011, Ryan Seacrest confirmed on On Air with Ryan Seacrest that Simpson had been having meetings with record executives along with previous collaborator, John Shanks, to figure out the exact direction of her next album. Simpson appeared on the second episode of The CW's America's Next Top Model, Cycle 17 as a guest judge. In the episode, she declared that she was still working on her new album. In October 2011, John Feldmann, who previously worked on 2 tracks on Autobiography, revealed via Twitter that he was recording with Simpson.
(Unless I'm missing something, or they're referring to a bonus track or outtake, the only Autobiography song featuring Feldmann is "Giving It All Away.")
Reply
It's probably better now than it ever was, in terms of your requirements - for the longest time there was no way to get legal downloads of any Asian pop music from North America. Ask 10 kids who listen to Asian pop, and 9 of them will tell you they illegally downloaded everything they "owned". The uber-fans bought the official CDs, shipping and inflated prices and all (inflated because 1) that is what the market bears in Japan, the land of the price-is-no-object uber-fan, and 2) the Asian music industries have no choice but to cost in the price of rampant piracy), and to protect that market I think the labels prevented legal downloads more than they enabled them. You could buy Chinatown CDs/DVDs/VCDs, but those were pirated as well, of course. The last option was the fan second-hand market and/or going to Asia to teach English or visit relatives and stocking up there.
Reply
http://www.emusic.com/listen/#/album/Tara-Temptastic-MP3-Download/12871443.html:
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