SS501 are one of those boybands in Korea that aren't insanely popular to the point of legendary like 2PM, DBSK, Super Junior and Big Bang but they've had moderate success in Korea and Japan - tickets to a date in their Asian tour were sold out in half an hour. They also happen come from the same talent agency that made Korea's biggest late 90's to early 2000's girl group - Fin.K.L. where Lee Hyori came from. Not too shabby, eh? Their leader(I still don't get why boybands and girl groups need 'leaders') is more famous for being the mysterious musical guy in the Korean F4 - this insanely rich and bratty group of guys then the cold and even more insanely rich leader falls in love with this poor girl. It's been remade as a TV series in Taiwan, Japan and Korea - talk about repetitive but when I was a little kid I adored the Taiwanese version even if I didn't know what the crap was happening in the story and now it's extremely lame.
Even if they got a 'sub-unit' - a bunch of guys who took the band name and promoted a new single while the original members were out earning way more money and becoming really popular on their own in 2008, the original group does have some brilliantly made pop songs under its belt. They came back this year with a new Japanese album filled with quite good songs and the title track was a capella - it's honestly not as bad as I thought it would be. Not as good as Westlife, I have yet to find a boyband who can do it better than them but SS501 singing a capella is pretty good, I'd love to hear what they sound like live.
4 Chance is one of those songs that I don't like when I first hear it but because it's a pop song I kinda force myself to like it and it works, sort of like Girls Aloud. Of course my first impressions on these songs are always wrong because once I actually like the song I get the album and curse myself for not hearing it earlier. Me and my stubbornness.
It took me some time to notice this but it has become a rarity over the past few weeks - THERE IS NO RAP PART. Rejoice! My ears are thanking these guys. haha. The melody is less repetitive but extremely catchy - the type that makes you want to hum along by the end of the song.
The structure of this song has been driving me to insanity ever since I first heard it. So you have your standard verse-chorus-verse-chorus-dance break-middle 8-dance break(One is enough for heaven's sake! Unless you're Rain and you NEED more than one dance break to properly do yourself justice.) structure for the first 2 and a half minutes or so but then what sprouts out of nowhere after the second dance break? ANOTHER VERSE. What the effin' crap was that? First the song has two dance breaks and now this?
Even if they got a 'sub-unit' - a bunch of guys who took the band name and promoted a new single while the original members were out earning way more money and becoming really popular on their own in 2008, the original group does have some brilliantly made pop songs under its belt. They came back this year with a new Japanese album filled with quite good songs and the title track was a capella - it's honestly not as bad as I thought it would be. Not as good as Westlife, I have yet to find a boyband who can do it better than them but SS501 singing a capella is pretty good, I'd love to hear what they sound like live.
4 Chance is one of those songs that I don't like when I first hear it but because it's a pop song I kinda force myself to like it and it works, sort of like Girls Aloud. Of course my first impressions on these songs are always wrong because once I actually like the song I get the album and curse myself for not hearing it earlier. Me and my stubbornness.
It took me some time to notice this but it has become a rarity over the past few weeks - THERE IS NO RAP PART. Rejoice! My ears are thanking these guys. haha. The melody is less repetitive but extremely catchy - the type that makes you want to hum along by the end of the song.
The structure of this song has been driving me to insanity ever since I first heard it. So you have your standard verse-chorus-verse-chorus-dance break-middle 8-dance break(One is enough for heaven's sake! Unless you're Rain and you NEED more than one dance break to properly do yourself justice.) structure for the first 2 and a half minutes or so but then what sprouts out of nowhere after the second dance break? ANOTHER VERSE. What the effin' crap was that? First the song has two dance breaks and now this?
I'm going nuts trying to figure out why the songwriter put another verse at the friggin' end of the song. It could be to accommodate 5 solos but you can make the verses 2 stanzas long(which he/she already did), split them between two members and make a different guy sing the middle 8 - it's been done but noooooooo, the third verse HAD to put in AT THE END so the 'leader' gets 2 stanzas worth of solos on the song. Makes no sense.
Oh but I do love the melody. Hahah.
All the music videos of the song on YouTube can't be embedded so this is a live performance. If you want to see the video, it's here.4.2/5
I'm very concerned that boy bands and girl groups have "leaders" - i think i may have subconsciously stolen this idea for my upcoming boy band novel :/ Ssssh, let's just keep it between us :P
ReplyDeleteHAHAHAH. Secret's safe with me - and everyone who reads the comments section.
ReplyDeleteLOVE SS501! They're one of the most underrated groups in Korea. They have 5 talented singers with distinctive and attractive personalities (reason why I fell in love with SS501 in the first place) but need to be promoted better.
ReplyDeletethe ss501 "sub-group" you mention isn't really a sub group with different guys. it's still three of the original members of ss501,(kyujong, youngsaeng, and hyungjun) who decided to release a mini album while 2 of the other members were off doing other projects (hyunjoong was filming boys over flowers, and jungmin was starring in a musical).
ReplyDeleteYeah - I found out after I wrote the review. Thanks for the clarification though! hahah.
ReplyDelete