[May 22, 2010] MBC Music Core Highlights + Commentary

I can't believe this is only my second MuCore recap - fate has not allowed me more! Ugh. Today's show was packed with comebacks and performances galore so let's get right to business, shall we?

Sound-wise MuCore was pretty decent - except for a few slip-ups with the system all the other problems came from the idols themselves. So there.


Credit for all the videos goes to CrazyCarrot220@YT.

CN Blue - Love + Black Flower
In the comments section of my recap for yesterday's MuBank there was a discussion running about how the guitars aren't plugged in so only the drums are playing live but then somebody argued that there could've been transmitters. I see the rationality of both arguments, but personally I'd have to side with the "only the drums are live" argument because knowing TV producers, it'd be difficult to have a bunch of dudes going crazy with live guitars in an environment like that - at least they think it is. One thing I find rather strange about the song is that for like 5 seconds there it's like they turn into TRAX - I'm like what??, complete with eyebrow raise. Oh well.

MBLAQ - Y
*sigh* Lazy singers, VERY lazy singers. If they had weak vocals but knew how to perform or had presence I'd consider, but they don't so I won't. They're too concerned with trying to look good on stage when one, they don't have the power to carry a performance just by standing there and two, their song isn't even that good. Sorry MBLAQ but until you learn how to perform AND sing at the SAME TIME, you won't be Rain 2.0.

Secret - Magic
I liked Secret today - tight performance. The girl who sings second has gotten surprisingly good - it's like all of a sudden she got technique, which is good, I just hope she'll be able to sustain it. Right now the only problem in Secret is that blonde girl's vocals - they have potential but she's not working on them so they're still weak.

f(x) - NU ABO
Wow, the sound engineer today must really hate f(x) - the sound got crap about 1 minute into the performance. That and Luna's middle 8 was a semi-EPIC FAIL - sorry Luna, I know you did it really well yesterday but today you were back to how you were last week.

4Minute - Who's Next (with BEAST) + HUH
I gotta say it - 4Minute know how to sell a song. There were a few iffy parts vocally but the performance was rather good today. But tell me MBC, what's the use of having clothes with touches of neon IF YOU DON'T TURN THE STAGE LIGHTS OFF? I was waiting for the lights to go off on the dance break or something but they didn't - why'd you make them wear spots of neon green and pink then? Ugh.

The Wonder Girls - 2 Different Tears
I dunno, I was too distracted by some of the strange styling to care too much about the performance today. Vocals were a bit iffy as well, and the backing track is just stupid, but they were OK. Not the best ever, but competent.

Rain - Hip Song
I saw him do this on one of the morning music shows and he was in a suit - you know, decent clothing? It was good. I may sound a bit superficial for saying this but I'm dead serious - wardrobe and styling affect a performance. I'm not saying everyone should be wearing formal clothes all the time or anything, but they should at least be soothing to the eyes, not painful and annoying, because people will spend more time criticizing clothes than they will the actual performance - that includes me, sadly. The performance was typical Rain - end of story.

Hyori - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Until Hyori adds something new to her performances, I'm bored to death. I'm sorry and I know a lot of you like the song and all but I've heard it too much - no more, please.

Gummy - As A Man
I missed Gummy yesterday - she's a breath of fresh air in a sea of sub-par idol group vocals and badly written/produced material. Gorgeous, gorgeous voice both live and recorded and the song may be a little sappy or whatnot but it's nice and sweet - it's a pop song.

2PM - Without U
What's with all the glow-in-the-dark outfits today? 4Minute, f(x) and now 2PM? Surprisingly, their vocals are getting a bit better considering that I've never really thought highly of them in the vocal department. They're strong, at least the ones who aren't miming. WAIT WAIT WAIT - where's Junsu? OK ANYWAY.

Super Junior - Bonamana
Siwon was miming - I wonder why. Does the sound engineer not realize that the reason why backing tracks are called backing tracks is because they're supposed to be behind the live vocals - you know, SOFTER? UGH. You can hardly hear any of their live vocal's 'coz they're being drowned by the BACKing track. I find myself STILL playing this song even it's been weeks since it came out - that's a good thing.

I'll be out tomorrow night, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to write up a recap for SBS Inkigayo - I will, however, be home in the morning so I might put out a few reviews if I feel like it. The posts will come when they come.

4 comments:

  1. I think Siwon is lipsyncing because of his salivary glands surgery.
    I like SuJu's(as usual), Secret's and 4minute's perf today.
    I suddenly started liking Magic for some reason.
    4minute's perf seemeed quite energetic and I like the choreo.
    Super Junior made the song sound better and better everytime :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey! @_teekee here :) thanks for the recap! Only watched a few performances. I agree with your MBLAQ perf, man..

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  3. I just can't help but think if FnC Music just allowed Yong-hwa (the lead vocalist) to rest his voice for another week, his voice would sound much better than it has been for the last three performances. It's not awful, but it's clear he hasn't healed completely. I get it that he's their MVP for C.N. Blue right now, but, seriously, it seems like the guy didn't heal as fast as they claimed he did, IMHO.

    Personally, I liked that bridge. It's actually a nice intro for the audience into getting them used to a more harder kind of rock they're known to reject. C.N. Blue tends to get a lot more pop-py with their title songs in Korea, in order to get some mainstream love. Their second Korean EP is a lot more "pastel," to quote YH, in comparison to their previous EPs, but apparently, it's all a part of proving of diverse C.N. Blue can be as a band and their goal to become the gateway band that'll break through the Korean mainstream music scene. *shrugs* IDK, it makes sense how carefully FnC Music choose to market when it comes to genre.

    If C.N. Blue were to really go hard rock on Korea, their success would be as short-lived TRAX's lasted before the latter gave up and eventually turned ballad. At this point, I think C.N. Blue just trying to show Korea how diverse band music can be, clearing up misconceptions amongst the mainstream audience.

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  4. Junsu has been absent the past couple of performances because he had some issues with a knee injury for about 2 weeks now?

    ReplyDelete

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