Artist of the Week: TRAX

Posted on March 7, 2012 by fly

Here is the Artist of the Week! Posted on Wednesdays as something to get you through the rest of the week~

This week’s artist is…

TRAX

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Artist of the Week: CN Blue

Posted on January 25, 2012 by fly

Here is the Artist of the Week! Posted on Wednesdays as something to get you through the rest of the week~

This week’s artist is…

CN Blue

CN Blue is a fairly unique name. The “CN” stands for “Code Name“, and the BLUE is an abbreviation for each of the member’s characteristics; “Burning“, “Lovely“, “Untouchable” and “Emotional“. (Scroll down to the “members” section to see which characteristic is for which member of the group). One of the things that stands out about this group is the catchy beats in their music. It’s easy to get their songs stuck in your head.

CN Blue is from the same company as FT Island. They’re both pop rock groups where the members play instruments instead of dance. It has been said that FT Island was an “experiment” that led to CN Blue. This may be true, but it’s not a negative thing as the company didn’t abandon FT Island when CN Blue came around. The two groups are friends and there’s no negative feelings about it between them.

This group’s debut was interesting. They first wandered around Japan, playing in the streets as an indie band. After about half a year of that, they released a Korean album. In Korea, their debut song reached the top of the charts, ensuring their success.

I think I should also note that in the first 3 months of CN Blue’s debut, they had a different bassist. Kwon Kwang Jin left for unknown reasons after their first album failed to reach the Oricon chart and he was replaced by Lee Jung Shin.

Just like Hongki of FT Island, Yonghwa of CN Blue got a big role in the super popular drama “You’re Beautiful” as well. And just like FT Island gaining international fans from it, so did CN Blue. Because of the success Yonghwa brought from this role, and because he became so widely recognized by it, he became the new leader of the group.

Soon, Yonghwa landed another role in the drama “Heartstrings”. This time, CN Blue bandmate Min Hyuk joined the casting. I can’t tell if it affected CN Blue further, but it certainly helped Min Hyuk gain recognition among fans.

Members:

Jung Yong Hwa ‘Emotional’
Leader, Rhythm Guitarist, Lead Vocalist, Main Rapper
June 22, 1989

Lee Jong Hyun ‘Burning’
Lead Guitarist, Vocalist
May 15, 1990

Kang Min Hyuk ‘Lovely’
Drummer, Backing Vocalist
June 28, 1991

Lee Jung Shin ‘Untouchable’
Bassist, Rapper, Backing Vocalist
September 15, 1991

Trivia/Info

OFFICIAL LINKS:
Facebook | Twitter | Youtube
Website | Official Twitter Fanclub

NOTABLE FAN PAGES:
CNBlueStorm | CNBlue4U | Color Me CNBlue

MORE INFO:

TRIVIA:

They have their own variety show called “CNBLUETORY.”
Yonghwa was on Season Two of “We Got Married” with Seohyun of SNSD.
They were also on 1N2D.

Videos/Music:

Artist of the Week: FT Island

Posted on January 18, 2012 by fly

Here is the Artist of the Week! Posted on Wednesdays as something to get you through the rest of the week~

This week’s artist is…

FT Island

FT Island stands for “Five Treasure Island” and is an idol band that makes rock-type music. They’re in the pop-rock category, however, since the band was formed by a company that makes music for them… the same way pop groups are formed (though reportedly they did have a say in naming the band). Even though that was how the band was created, and how their music is written, they do play the music completely on their own, (though they just pretend for TV concerts. Something about the live sound is too difficult to film). No outsiders play the instruments for them or anything.

One of the things that makes them stand out is the lead vocalist, Lee Hongki. His powerful voice is full of emotion that’s not very usual for someone his age. Hongki also allowed more foreigners to know FT Island by landing a big role in the popular drama “You’re Beautiful“. Even though his role was generally kind of goofy, there was a serious scene where his acting really shined. He acquired many new overseas fans which led to more fans for FT Island as well. This may have been the reason they were so successful when they debuted in Japan.

Actually, Hongki started out as an actor, but when he was 13 he sang a song for the soundtrack of a drama he was starring in. So many people were impressed by his voice, he was quickly snatched up and began training for FT Island.

FT Island has a kind of sub-group called FT Triple (used to be called A3). It consists of Choi Jonghun, Choi Minhwan, and Lee Jaejin. The purpose of this sub-group is to play kind of intermission songs so Hongki can rest his voice during concerts.

There is a former member of this band that you may want to know about if you’re new to FT Island. Oh Won Bin left with no hard feelings in 2009. Supposedly it was due to a conflict in music differences, but I personally think it’s just because he wanted to go solo. He was a co-lead vocalist and guitarist.

Another interesting thing about this band is some of their music videos are two-part dramas. Here’s one of them “A Man’s First and Only One”:

Members:

Choi Jong Hun
Leader/Pianist/Vocalist
March 7, 1990

Lee Hongki
Main Vocalist/Visual
March 2, 1990

Lee Jae Jin
Bassist/Vocalist
December 17, 1991

Song Seung Hyun
Rhythm Guitarist/Rapper
August 21, 1992

Choi Min Hwan
Drummer/Vocalist
November 11, 1992

Videos:

Artist of the Week: Seo Taiji

Posted on October 26, 2011 by fly

Here is the Artist of the Week! Posted on Wednesdays as something to get you through the rest of the week~

This week’s artist is…

Seo Taiji

Seo Taiji is THE legend of Kpop.

He started off as a 14-year-old school dropout that was in a few rock groups. At 17 he created the stage name he’s now known for and was recruited into a metal band called Sinawe. After that broke up, he started the dance group Seo Taiji and Boys in 1991, when he was about 19 years old.

People call him a musical genius. He basically found and experimented with midi technology to make new things that hadn’t been heard before… at least not in his country. Seo Taiji loves to experiment with new sounds and is not concerned with whether people like it or not. He wasn’t even planning to debut Seo Taiji and Boys, but it got insanely popular anyway.

If it wasn’t for his success, pop music in Korea would probably be a lot different from what we know today. He created the sound of dance mixed with rap that is so prevalent now.

But, even with his fame and success, he stayed true to himself. Soon, Seo Taiji and Boys progressed to a rock sound. Then, because Seo Taiji does what he wants, they ran into controversies when he made music about whatever he felt strongly about… for example, how he believes schools brainwash the youth.

After a few years of this, even though they were still super popular, Seo Taiji broke up the group and retired in the United States… (where it was later found that he had gotten married secretly. After 14 years they divorced, but nobody knew for years).

Anyway, after 2 years in America, he suddenly came back as a solo artist. Even without any promotion, his comeback album sold over a million copies!

He’s been currently working on a film that appears to be a compilation of some sorts of his previous artistic music videos. You can keep up with him on his Official Youtube Channel.

So there you have it. Seo Taiji is mysterious, does what he wants, and is super successful. (He’ll always be my main idol!)

I’ll leave you with a few of his music videos, though it’s hard for me to pick favorites :D (If you like metal, you might like Tank. It has no video, so I’m just putting it as a link :D)

Here’s one of his newer ones: