Orange Caramel… Yummy or not?

I’ve been meaning to do this for awhile, but haven’t gotten around to it until now. I really wanted to start doing little reviews of some of the new KPOP artists that have been popping up lately, and this new group Orange Caramel is one of them.

The reason I wanted to put out my thoughts about this group is because I really love the group After School, which is headed by Pledis Entertainment. After School if you don’t know, is a popular all-girl eight-member KPOP group and their hip-hop and pop beats just keep you screaming for more (at least in my opinion). Their latest single “Bang!” is a favorite of mine for sure, and their past songs aren’t bad either. Go check them out here if you want to know more.

What’s interesting about this new group Orange Caramel is that it basically is a subdivision of After School. Pledis Entertainment thought that it would be a good idea to split up the After School members into different subgroups, each promoting a different image. For Orange Caramel, they took three After School members (Park Soo Young/Lizzy (박수영), Im Jin Ah/Nana (임진아), and Oh Hye Rin/Raina (오혜린) and put them into this division. Just recently, they released their MV “Magic Girl” and started performing on popular KPOP shows.

The members of After School

You might be able to garner from the pictures what the group’s image is. Basically, Orange Caramel seems to try to attain everybody’s attention with a new, fresh and absolutely adorable cute image. And when I say “absolutely adorable” I’m not necessarily saying that’s a good thing. If you’ve listened to the style of After School long enough, you’ll know they have a really interesting pop and hip-hop sound. For me, it’s pretty cool and the music that they sing is good to hear and it’s on my favorites list on my iPod. When you press play on your music player and Orange Caramel pops up you’re immediately thrust into a bubbly environment with high pitched girls voices and overly cute exaggerated tones.

When you start watching the video for their MV “Magic Girl” you’ll experience what I mean even more. The girls appear in cute dresses and bows in their hair amazed by a cute guy who passes by. While watching this video I couldn’t hear anything but the bubbly beat and the words “Ottoke, ottoke!” The dance moves are similarly bubbly and everything is totally pink!

Orange Caramel

Alright, alright, so you say, it’s because I’m a guy that I don’t appreciate these overly cute things. I have to give you that. I mean I do admit that this type of music isn’t exactly my cup of tea, but then again it’s not that horrible to hear either. So personal preferences aside, let me tell you what I’m really not a fan of with this group: the waste of main vocalist Raina’s voice.

If you listen to After School’s past hit songs including “Ah!” and “Bang!” you’ll notice what a powerful voice one of the members has. Raina, who is a relatively young and new member of the group is one of the powerhouses of After School in terms of vocal ability. Don’t be fooled by her small size. The girl can belt out a tune like none other. What disappoints me about Orange Caramel the most is the waste of Raina’s amazing voice. Instead of utilizing her amazing and strong vocal abilities and range, they dial everything down and make her sing in a high pitch girly voice to fit into this group. Raina is amazingly talented and to see her have to do this just makes my heart sink a little.

Now I’m not sure what’s in store for the future of Orange Caramel. Maybe “Magic Girl” is just a one-time deal and then we’ll see some other good songs come out later. But just from this first song alone, I’ve given my thoughts. Orange Caramel seems to be targeted towards a few key audiences, mostly guys and girls who like cute and bubbly pop music. And like I said, it’s not exactly my cup of tea in terms of ear candy, but it could be worse I suppose.

Let’s see what Pledis has in store for our girls next time. Let me know what you think about this group. I’d like to know what you think!

“BANG!” Goes After School!

So a lot of new videos are coming out this month of March 2009 and they’re really hot. Especially for girl group After School, with their new release of their new single, BANG! After School is an eight-member girl group managed by Pledis Entertainment. The group debuted in 2008 alongside Son Dam Bi, who happens to be their label mate. Now famous member UEE joined shortly after their debut. Through the last two years, there were many changes and additions to the group members, as member SoYoung left the group in the Fall of 2009 to pursue other interests, leading to the addition of both Raina and Nana. For their new song release, they have also featured new member Lizzie, who has been preparing to debut with the group for some time now.

New songs and Korean girl groups are pretty common nowadays, with everyone trying to one-up each other. However, I believe After School has done an amazing job in keeping the bar high with their new song, BANG! Check out their comeback videos below:

Let’s do it!

BANG!

So like I said, new groups like SNSD, KARA and T-ARA are doing their best to keep up with the forever changing Korean pop music scene with new concepts for their videos and new types of music. However, After School has done a great job in their newest single BANG! with their concept of a marching band with a hip-hop style. I have to say, I never thought in a million years that girls in a marching band could be so hot. But I guess now, After School has proved me wrong. :P

There’s such a powerful style emanating from the group, especially from members Kahi and Bekah. Bekah’s rap is amazing and Kahi has just a strong feeling behind her when she’s dancing and singing. The rest of the group members are not to be forgotten however, as without them this video would not be so addicting to listen to with their looks and vocals. Oh, and also who can forget Raina… my God girl, when you bought that note all the way down and brought it all the way up again I got goosebumps. Seriously. <3

Unfortunately though, UEE will not be participating in the promotions of this new album except for the live comeback stages. Once those are done, new member Lizzie will be filling in UEE’s place for the time being, since UEE’s drama filming schedule conflicts with her music duties at the moment. If you notice in the Let’s do it video, there are only seven After School members participating instead of eight. You’ll find that UEE is not participating in those performances either. So good luck to UEE in her drama filming and the other members of After School in their new promotions!

Every girl group in South Korea right now should be on their toes. After School has just raised the bar a little higher. I expect these girl to be winning some awards soon when they start performing their new hit

Girls’ Generation Says “Run Devil Run”!

In the midst of studying, I’ve decided to take a break.  So I’m going to be talking about some KPOP related news.  So let’s get started, shall we? :D

This will be my first post about So Nyuh Shi Dae (SNSD), better known as Girls’ Generation. The 9-person singing and dancing girl group was premiered in July 2007 by SM Entertainment, the same people who have spun out artists such as BoA, Super Junior, and Shinee.

The girls have been doing well for themselves on the KPOP charts, attaining many #1 hits. In the last two months they released a video called “Oh!” which was a big hit amongst the Korean crowd, as well as many KPOP fans around the world. With the girls donning cheerleading outfits and acting all cutesy, the girls won the hearts of many fans. Toward the end of the video however, the 9-member group gets confronted by a new, rival group decked out in black. And so we come to their newest music video (MV) release, Run Devil Run. What’s interesting here is that SNSD, who has for the most part been using their cute girly image to gain adoration has decided to move away from that concept and become more mature and sexy.

If you want to see the video, you can check it out for yourself:

There has been a little controversy over the song lately, as it was found out that American artist Ke$ha had sang this song as a demo long before SNSD released it. But according to an article by AsiaKyungJae:

…Busbee(USA), Alex James(UK), Kalle Engstrom(Sweden), and other composers from around the world collaborated to create this song. There may be some confusion about the song due to American popstar, Ke$ha, recording a “guide version” of the song before her debut around August 2008. Since it was only used as a demo and was never released, the song’s official first release is by SNSD.

So it’s pretty interesting to hear this bit of news. I do believe that KPOP has always had American influences, and this pretty much confirms it. If you’re curious, you can hear Ke$ha’s version of the song here.

While the song has been officially released by SNSD, I do like the Ke$ha version too. They both have their strong points, and while it’s basically the same song, I know that SNSD fans (or Soshis as they are sometimes called) will support the 9-member troupe with anything they come up with. However, after watching the video for the first time I have to say that this MV’s concept isn’t totally original. Actually as a Wonder Girls fan, I noticed some striking similarities between the Wonder Girls’ remake of FIN.K.L’s “Now” MV which was released on April 9, 2009.

Here it is if you want to take a look for yourself:

The skinny black outfits? That suddenly turn to white outfits in the middle? If you think about it, KARA also followed this trend with their newest song LUPIN, which I posted about earlier. There seems to be a slight trend going on and I think it’s a little funny how things work out. I bet that when SNSD saw KARA’s new debut single they were probably like, “Oh fudge! They stole our idea!”

Also, I noticed that there’s a lot of running going on in KPOP these days. When I think of the trend of “running” in KPOP, songs like 2PM’s Again & Again, KARA’s Lupin (the “emergency exit dance”) and now SNSD’s Run Devil Run come to mind. Just something I thought I would share.

SNSD will most definitely be hitting the top parts of the charts now and you know what? They’re probably at the top of some charts as I speak. Girls’ Generation will always be a group that fans adore, but the question of originality still stands. But then again, no idol group in Korea is ever really original if you think about it. But I do think it is interesting to see the cycle of trends pass by within those groups every once in awhile.

Alright, so I better go back to studying. I hope you have enjoyed my little tidbit about Girls’ Generation.  But do check out their new video Run Devil Run and tell me what you think about it! :D