Grrrrrowllll

So apparently this happened. 

I am not going to try to be unbiased right now and admit I'm extremely excited for two reasons.
1) it's EXO and I am an EXO-tic and I have every album they have released so far (which is not saying much; I mean there are only two albums but there are 2 versions of each, so I have all 4 and what the fuck do you even care? Moving on, man) tldr; I am an EXO whore
2) It sounds good. Really. And I am saying this as a bystander; I personally think it sounds good. Which is a relief after the Wolf teaser where I sat in my seat blinking at the screen thinking da fuq I jss watch.
There are actual singing parts, the dancing (honestly with EXO, dancing has never been a let down) is great and none of the members look god awful (seriously, though, corn rows? that dumbass bowl cut that went out in like...2008?)

The thing that bugs me is that SM is having a Repackaged Album put on the market. I don't care because I'm not going to be buying the same basic thing I already have with a few minor adjustments. 
The album is the same as the original XOXO but it has like, what? 6 different versions of Growl (why? why is that necessary?) and this is where my heart breaks, Time Control and Beautiful are going to be on it.
Fuck you, SM, fuck you to the depths of hell where people like Yang Hyun Suk and Kim Kwang Soo give you infinite blow jobs. (ew, fuck, threw up in my mouth a little)
I have been waiting for fucking Time Control to be a full song and don't get me started on Beautiful, now I really do want to buy this thing. 

Urgh, whatever. Illegal downloading exists and I'm already spending money on the Chicago OST, which I think is a bit more worth it. (fuck yeah) and, a little less worth it, f(x)'s Pink Tape album, more so for an embellishment for my room because that thing looks fucking cool.

Aw yeah.

But sometimes I like to think I'm not SM's bitch and then they tug at the choker around my neck and bleed me dry for material items I probably won't use but be still my heart I want so badly. 
Fuck you SM. Fuck you very much.

Modern Pop Music; The Disjointed Era (Kpop)

Is it just me, or are most popular Kpop group these days coming out with songs with 160 different beats in them? I'm going to focus on the literal powerhouse of Kpop music, the almight SM Entertainment, because they, in my opinion, are the most notorious fuckers when it comes to this.

Let's start, well, where it began to get really weird. 
Well, hold on.
Starting in June, SM's radically fashioned f(x) released a song, E-e-electric Shock. This song stuck with one flow and slowed down and sped up accordingly, it was one song and it stayed one song throughout (although, SM? Couldn't you have made the group concept as clean and neat as the song? Seriously, I feel like if Alexander McQueen was Heaven's leader and Liberacci was Hell's emperor, that the forever inbetween Fashion limbo would be where f(x) were. Seriously, GG, SJ, even your new and fresh meat EXO all have certain styles. Why is f(x) in a permanent experimental phase?)
Then after being stuck in obscurity after the, honestly for lack of a better word, weird-sounding Mr.Simple, our good old boys decide to dominate the scene once more with Sexy, Free and Single; not a favorite. At all. But still, the point of it being was that it sounds like one song. The beats are still there and it doesn't sound like you went from Will.I.Am to Florence & the Machine in a split second. It sounds like one concept.

This is where I take issue. Soon after they released Sexy, Free and Single, the album (if that isn't what it's called, whatever) SPY was their follow up...
and there is where things just started going....I don't know.
SPY was a supposedly catchy song, according to it's teaser, with the snazzy trumpets and James Bond concept; I'll admit, being a moderate ELF, I was excited as hell for it.

I didn't get it. Not one bit. They took the one good part of the song, shoved it into a teaser and then released the whole music video of dull 'er-er-er's and sudden Doo-Wop'y, cutie pie bits with that one piece of gold, that sassy, noir sound stuffed in the middle to try and redeem itself.

Let's start from the beginning.
The song starts with Donghae, singing a cutesy "Naega Saranghaneun S.P.Y~!". I don't remember the video very well, but this makes me think of the "Cooking, Cooking" concept more than the James Bond one that I remember is continuously, and non-stoppingly prevalent in the SPY M/V. 
Then the song goes into a 'do-do-do-doooooo', snazzy, jazzy and all around mysterious beat (the one I sadly fell for) and they go into this finger gun phase, I love it, love it, love it, but still, my mind is racing, why is the beginning so...different from this? Why is this even here? Why does the beginning sound like a Disney dance-along and this sound so sexy and smooth? What is going on?
Then the beats all thud to a stop and we hear the main vocalists... not vocalizing... 
Just murmuring and vocal frying. and Kyuhyun's "Hai-Eul-Lai-Teu" was honestly the most interesting part out of all of this. 

You see that? 3 different beats. Why? You could've placed every single beat into one song and it would've been fabulous. Well maybe not the monotonous "highlight" bit but the other beats on their own would've fended for themselves out there in the pop universe, why shove so many things into one song? It sounds distasteful, incohesive, undesirable, rejected. Why treat your number on like this SM? Why?

I would've been happy with the jazzy, James Bond theme personally, but the cutie sound has been done before and I loved it (I don't know if No Other was considered a flop, but I liked the consistency. You have to cater to the masses somehow and I think SuJu did this well).
Urgh. Moving on.

SNSD's "I Got A Boy"

You saw this coming. Saying you didn't would be a lie among lies and I am not the religious type but you have just uttered a blasphemy and need your mouth washed out with holy water and acid.

This. Is. Unneccesary.
This song has legitimately four different beats, give or take. After releasing the ever-failing the Boys, which still to it's credit is ONE SONG, you'd think SM would give their #1 girl group a friggin' off the wall, crazy incredible concept, but no. I don't know why. When did the idea of simplicity become obsolete? Why do they need to wear all those gross and over-bearingly colorful outfits? I know it's Kpop but, again, to the Boys' credit, the outfits were chic and pretty, containable and stuff perhaps that you'd wear on a fancy night out. This genuinely looks like the designers found random fabrics sewed them together, raided every Adidas store and party favor shop and stuffed them all into a case, sprayed it with pink glitter and shook it vehemently until everything was all jumbled and mixed, threw it to the floor and let the girls battle it out, tugging and snatching until everyone had inevitably found their outfit.

Let's start with the noise, though. This is my main point.
"AYO GG~!" with a slight latina twinge for some reason from our resident tall drink of water, SooYoung. It goes into a rapping sequence with little to no beat, albeit a beat-boxing sound is continuous,  the moment is mainly owned by the rapping, so the general background music is not what we should be paying attention to. This, personally, is not my favorite part but I digress.

Then goes the bombastic sound, where Tiffany graces us with a warning that trouble is near and a succession of 'Oh's are heard. I'll admit though, this part will have you tapping your foot when listening to it but it ends almost as soon as it starts, so now we move on to beat number 3.

This sounds suspiciously like the first bit, but the beat I assure you it is different. There's more rapping; why? when have Girl's Generation ever given anyone the idea that there is an assigned rapper in the group? Throughout the years, they've found no need to use any other titles other than vocal, sub vocal and dancer. Why all the sudden to rap? Throughout this rap-singing bit there are "Maldo Andwae"s peppered throughout, played with the 2nd beat. Then Seohyun...raps? Then Sunny...raps? WHY
This bit is one I find infuriating, it's like being done up the butt with a banana. I don't know why, it just is. The next bit is a succession of more Oh's with singing, but I've talked about it already so let's head to beat number 4.

Number 4 is a very electronic sound, used merely for the purpose of executing a couple body waves in sync, but it comes to life when the girl's finally sing the strange chorus, "I got a boy." and few tidbits here and there, lasting a good while with some...*sighs* rapping on Yoona and Hyoyeon's parts, before going into another succession of "Oh"s and you start to think, okay *nods head to beat* this is getting consistent...? No. No it is not.

There is another beat that last legitimately around 15 seconds, a little trickly piano sound that you'd teach your novice 12 year old, where, of course, the girl's have to act cute with eye smiles, fists to chins, and "oppa" compilations. But it ends as soon as it begins before being launched into another mess of  "Oh"s. Atleast you're familiar now, right? Unfortunately not my soul brother and by now I am laughing at your pained expression as we launch into  another new beat. 

I would be shooting fire out of my eye sockets if  I didn't like this beat. Yes, I like this one. This one is basically a recycled version of the "Oh" beat with a slower tempo and a completely different singing style. While the original beat was used as medium to extract some bubbly sounding bits to the song, this has more of a broadway feel to it, with actual vocal work from Taeyeon and Tiffany. The orange wigs are going to pass without comment, I have no idea what anyone was thinking and I will hold my tongue. But this is a weird part to put in a song called I Got A Boy which is such an obvious mainstream pop tune, this sounds more like Christina Aguilera's later works, but, again, I digress. The beat abruptly stops with Jessica whispering "Don't Stop," while stopping the song...? "Let's bring it back to 140"

Then we go on with the Oh's and you think it's going to continue on as such with the girls mish mashing their voices as they dance to the beat, but then you remember not to assume anything and you stay quiet and sit back as I smirk at your relinquishing look. "You've got to be kidding me," you said and I nod grudgingly.

The next beat, which is by all standards meaningless to add, involves small "ooh"s in the backdrop with a subtle rapid drum beat only colored my Jessica's echoing voice and Seohyun's little add ons. An honestly useless, meaningless part of the song but hey, this time I promise you world, this is the last beat. 

The song ends with the I got a boy chorus line repeated over and over.

In conclusion, this song has 4 different beats (5 if you count the extremely altered broadway version of another one of the beats, which I will because it does sound different and is extremely misplaced in a song like this). Why do you need that many things mashed into a poor 5 minutes? It barely gives you time to breath in the vocals or the sounds because it jumps immediately into another tune just as you get used to the one you're listening to.
Although, here's the thing; this song somehow sounds better than SPY, I don't know how. I have a theory that SM is using this disjointed song thing experimentally with two of their cash cow groups because they know that no matter what the final product is, fans will immediately react in a good way because that's just the way pop music works. Although, some might disagree with the quality of the song, SM has improved with it's disjointment skills by a little with I Got A Boy. It wasn't even a fad before, it just popped out of the blue with SM. Are they trying to start some trend? I don't know, moving on.

EXO's Wolf

This song seems to be what SM was building up to; the ultimate fragmented song. Using SNSD and SUJU as your lab rats was some move, but I'm onto you Lee Soo Man.
No before we begin with this little review, if you'd call it, I will fully admit to being a fan of EXO. I have all their albums, posters of them in my room, some accessories; I am an EXO fan girl, but for the sake of a review, I will remain unbiased and point out the factuals in this song (even though it is a guilty pleasure of mine *cough*)
The first bit I should tell you about this song is that it is not disjointed in the sense of the background music, but the vocals. It goes from steady to rapid to slow to steady to fast again, with the beat only occasionally changing but it still sounds very separated. 

The first part of this song begins with a basic beat-box sound dropped, with heavy dubstep influence in it might I add. Stick around, you'll be noticing that a lot (I hate dubstep. I hate it. Very much so). A rap greets the song from resident 'why the fuck do you sound like that when you look like that' member that every idol group nowadays seems to have, Chanyeol. The beginning is unimpressive, it starts off slow and with all the hype this group has, it really has an effect on the music as a bystander who noticed EXO's growing popularity. Not a good first impression.

The song immediately jumps to a rapid rap and as opposed to the slow and steady pace we were used to in the first 30 seconds, this one sounds like the continuous beat in Missy Elliot's 'Lose Control'. I do like this part and I enjoy the rapping bit as it descends and ascends in octave, but then we get knocked out of our seats with a sudden,
"HEEEEEEY!"

This is the third tempo change. It is slow, controlled, a bit like the first one except this is not a rap, it's more of a sing-talking thing, which really gets me because the whole of EXO is participating in this song, both the M and K members, why do you need parts like these when you have 4 vocal leaders and 3 sub vocalists, in total 7 members that can carry a note just fine?

The chorus begins with the infamous "Kure OOLF! Naega OOLF! AWOOO!" Oh my dear god jesus mary in heaven, I prayed but just when I thought things were bad, "Ah Sa-Rang-Hae-Yo!" in a god-awful witchy voice that you could probably hear from a Disney witch. Think Snow White. Why is that there? It adds nothing, I repeat nothing to the song. It's ugly and unfulfilling and even die hard fans were wondering what the hell was going through SM's head when this was added. 

After the chorus, a singing part, a very slow singing part is added. It's more sing-yelling. Notice how nothing so far has been just singing. The vocals have to be embellished with too little or too much decoration, why not just let the vocalists VOCALIZE. Bo-Ka-Lai-Jeu. I'm sorry for that. 

The music then slows after a long note from Baekhyun (yes an actual note), leaving it a bit silent, echo-ish perhaps, before, and this pisses me off unimaginably, one of the sub vocalists, I repeat, SUB. VO.CA.LIST has a part. Yay! Singing! No. More vocal fry talking reminiscent of how Kyuhyun's vocal talent was wasted with Highlight in SPY. The dude is easy to dismiss because his part only lasts a legitimate 7 seconds before we get a "whisper-sing" from one the lead vocalists. I'm going to shoot myself.

And then we build up( I guess it's a build up) to another rapid bout of rapping. The background beat getting noticeable at this point as it loudens a bit and the rythm becomes more coherent. This is good, in my opinion, because people shouldn't dismiss the actual music, this part of the song (and I will admit, I do like this part for whatever god given reason) really gives the power to the music and vice versa, although it is, like all the other parts, unexpected and it throws you off. If you like music that gives you whip lash, fine, this just leaves me breathing heavily from all the sharp turns.

The part ends as we get another taste of sing talking HEEEEEY! that follows behind the... other chorus.
This song actually has like 3 choruses and I don't like that. There is supposed to be at least a bit of build up to the chorus, there should be preparation, some distinctive bits you know that aren't part of the chorus. It's reminsicent of SISTAR's "Alone" where the entirety of the song was basically one big chorus. I will admit Alone is a great song but EXO seems to have redeemed themselves in comparison with some parts that will stick with you that aren't part of the long line of choruses they have. Moving on.

The song suddenly fizzles into a soft piano build up with harsh whispers and actual vocals (tears of joy) and adlibs. There are rap bits and singing bits and why isn't the song built around this part? This part is good, this part gives the members equal chances to fit as many crappy rap sequences they want while not soiling the singing. I will say one thing though, about Baekhyun. I personally find him to be a good singer but the kid has no control over his voice, it is all over the place. It shouldn't be a hit or miss on a note when it comes to being a lead vocalist, you need to train yourself to hit them dead on. His voice is sometimes grating and it can get cringe-worthy with it straining your ears when you listen to it on an iPod or something. He hits notes he can't sometimes and he needs a bit of work around the edges.
And, I say with tears in the corners of my eyes, a long, effort-consuming note was made to end this part. A NOTE! A NOTE THAT HAD TO BE HELD! A NOTE THAT TOOK EFFORT!

The sing-yelling part begins again with noticeably more adlibs and longer notes(I think the song took note of my distate towards and is using the opportunity to metaphorically wipe my tears by giving me a singer who sings) 
But oh my gosh, I will just out and say it, the next part had me keening.
After all the stupid rap sequences from people who should've been singing, after all the talk, yelling, whisper singing, we have one of the most marvelous notes from our two vocalists Chen & Baekhyun.
The music abruptly stops at this part, most likely because any add-ons to this part would just ruin it. The voices in themselves are music and there is no dubstep noise heard anyway, just a pause in the background as we inhale this bit of redemption in a song so far gone. The point of this part is to listen to their voices, to breath them in.
This small 5 second part can be repeated in itself and you'd never get bored. Legit, I have replayed this part on my iPod every single time I listen to the song, sometimes I even fast forward to listen to it.
Chen's voice stretches on with some "yeah"s and "oh"s making me even forget about the obnoxious "Ah Saranghaeyo!" part as the song continues through the chorus and I rest my muscles from the intense eargasm I've just had thanks to Chen & Baekhyun.

The song fizzles back into the main chorus, "Kure Wolf, Naega Wolf" bit until it quiets down with a small wolf howl and stops sharply, cutting everything off.

In conclusion, this song just sounds like the composers didn't know whether they wanted another 'MAMA' or use a new approach entirely. The beat stays the same and if they went with it the song could've been harmonious, but the fucking vocals. Rap, screaming, yelling, whispering, high notes, soft notes, rap, dubstep, what the fuck is even going on?

People were seizing on their living room floors after the leaked version came out and it sounded so stupid. The cleaned up version sounds better at least, but it's too indecisive. Did you want to be a hardcore baroque-pop sort of song or were you looking to break out into a complete hip hop image? What genre is this song even in?



I believe that every weird disjointed song from Suju to GG was to make way for this, get the fans used to hearing weird shit so it wouldn't so weird coming from their precious rookie group. But why? There is no point of abusing so many beats like this, you could just make normals songs. For fuck sake, BoA's Shadow and Only One were wonderful, near perfect, in fact, if you had SNSD perform Shadow instead of IGAB there wouldn't be an issue and people would still like it (Because BoA had sadly become irrelevant to the tweens and newcomers. I'm sorry BoA) . Why are you promoting something so annoying and unnecessary?

In order of quality, and I am being completely unbiased, I would rank them as such:
1) Wolf
2) I Got A Boy
3) SPY
Because this is ultimately what SM was trying to do. SPY was the first stage of experimentation, trying something completely new and failing badly at making it work whereas IGAB was a bit more bearable, in essence, more catchy I'd say but still unfamiliar and weird-sounding. Wolf was the final product of SM's lab project where the beat was seldom changing but the indecisive vocal tempos were the ones responsible for the songs fragmented feel; I think though that in all honesty with a few listens, this song works in it's own way. The things that work, work and the things that don't, don't fail miserably but still are worthy of mention.

Is this going to continue on into a trend or is SM going to save the millions of beats used in one song for poor souls like f(x) with the ever uninteresting Rum Pum Pum Pum. Seriously though, where was the build up, climax and...virtually anything in that song?
Idk, food for thought


good night. I am tired. 

So, here I am.

I think Georgia is a nicer font than Times New Roman. it seems less formal but still neat and tidy.
I haven't used the word tidy since the 3rd grade.
Anyways.
I started this blog because I want to sing but it's not a blog to showcase any of my abilities but more of a place where I can just talk and share my feelings.
I don't have anyone that supports my goal, or anyone that knows about it. I'm quite a cynic and I apparently get that from the rest of my family because they'd laugh their asses off if they knew.
So anyways, I started this blog to talk about my singing and my improvement.
I'm on a three week vacation and I'm planning on taking up a bunch of hobbies.
I want to learn basic ballet, lose weight, get flexible, play guitar and hopefully improve my thinking skills with a regime I have become a part of.
I'm also learning a new language.
I won't only talk about all that though.
I read books and watch movies, I'll talk about those to.
I'm a Haruki Murakami/Tim Burton fan. you?

Don't bother to knock

My first Marilyn movie out of the next 15, so 14 more to go.
I expected this movie to be just some romantic comedy, I didn't really read the summary but it really says something about how talented she was honestly.
By chance I switched the channels on my TV last night to the 2011 biographical movie My Week With Marilyn (Eddie Redmayne is basically the cutest thing I've ever seen. What is it with brit boys?) and just now I kind of got the urge to start on my Marilyn movie thing.
She breaths more than talks but hey she's an international sex symbol so who the fuck cares?
The movie was more serious and Marilyn played a deranged babysitter. I wonder if it'll go more dumb blonde-ish from here on out? 
I personally liked the woman who played Lyn Lesley played by an Anne something, I thought she was gorgeous and those eyebrows.
It was really weird how Jedd had such a swift changed of heart as soon as he saw Nell, I don't if that was some emotional thing because of how pretty and vulnerable she was or because they really didn't want to go over 73 minutes. Either way, I liked it.
Anyways, I just figured out that this was her first leading role. Her first major film appearance was actually Ladies of the Chorus, but I'll save that for last because next is Niagara where she plays Rose Loomis. 
Go Marilyn Monroe. 

Voice

My voice has gotten better, I sing easier in the mix than I did before with all the crackling. I have so much more work to do with it, but hey, it's gotten better. I have time, time's my best friend.
You know, I've been thinking. If I ever have my dream come true, I always wanted to write in my biography that I "packed up and left my former life for New York" or whatever city I love.
It seems like such a dream.
I've been having some trouble with confidence lately.
I see so many singers and so many other celebrities that say "I just couldn't see myself having an office job." and to be honest, I dislike that statement.
I see myself in an office working, I see myself as working in so many areas, it's not that hard to picture. The thing is that that isn't the point, whether you think you're suitable or not.
It's about doing what you love and what you worked so hard for. Office jobs are not always mundane to the people that have them, just because your life is so glamorous doesn't mean you have to look down on the supposed lowly office workers. Some of them may be doing what they love, working hard for good causes.
Singing is a dream to me, something I hope to make a reality. I want to stand on stage, but I will not insult those who consider their stages to be a cubicle, and office, a museum, a hospital or any others, because in the end, singing isn't everyone's dream.

Nico Touches The Walls

That is probably the weirdest damn band name I ever heard. It's Japanese though, which makes it understandable ( the odd name I mean)
I don't know if they're pop or not, I think they're more rock but I first heard one of their songs as an ending theme song to Naruto: Shippuuden.
It was called 'Broken Youth' and the song gives me shivers, I like it so much. Not only that but the video is amazing too.

I don't know, but the air between Sasuke and Naruto in this video was just wow. Like they weren't even paying attention to each other obviously, just the frog or supposed enemy. But then they walk off and that made me sad.
Actually, seeing them in those outfits made me want to see a spinoff manga.
lol, how would it even work I wonder? I got inspiration from the video and song and drew a bunch of new characters for a story right after seeing it (I draw, btw)
And I'm usually not one for ending themes, I just skip them.
I've seen the actual Music Video but now I can't find it anywhere on YouTube, just live performances and covers. Either way, I think you should check it out.
I believe the lead singer got married or something recently? Kudos. 

Musical History

I re-discovered Natasha Bedingfield and I'm extremely happy that I did.
I started looking through songs I listened to when I was younger, which weren't really found by my efforts, I listened to whatever my mom and sister listened to which happened to be a lot of Natasha, Eminem and 50 cent(which I never particularly enjoyed, but hey), Nelly Furtado and things like Avril Lavigne, Bowling for Soup, Coheed & Cambria, Panic At the Disco and Me First & the Gimme Gimmes on my older sister's end. 
It was basically what I loved while growing up before I started discovering music on my own which began when I was about 12 or 13. I got into Slipknot (sort of, two or three songs really) and Cradle of Filth (extremely into, whole albums and such), metal music and such. It was funny then because I absconded from listening to any R&B or literally anything besides metal, seriously forcing myself away, it was hilarious.
I still love CoF, but afterwards came Tokio Hotel (an obsession) which led to discovering Nena's 99 Luft Ballons (a million tears, I love this song even now). 
Then my best friend introduced me to a bunch of strange musicians, so from then I started listening to a lot of Kimya Dawson and Garfunkel & Oates. Especially Kimya, god bless her fucking lyrics.
I found a couple songs by the Beatles I liked being Eleanor Rigby and For No One. I think I'll make a point to find more songs by them that appeal to me. 
Then came my love for Kpop which takes up the majority of space in my iPod, but otherwise the musical inspirations of mine would probably lean more toward the Soloists and Westerners. 
Anyways, I re-discovered the song These Words by Natasha and I haven't been this intent on learning a song in ages. I forgot how good it was.

(I'm aware the gif isn't from these words. There are no nice Natasha gifs, dunno why.)
Cheers, Nat.