[July 2, 2010] KBS Music Bank Highlights + Commentary

YES, I'M BACK! It's been a long time since my last music show recap and I think I've almost forgotten how to do one of these posts, so cut me some slack today, will you? A lot has happened, I know, and the dynamics of the music shows have changed a lot since I last wrote a recap. Ugh. Anyway.


All videos are from the brilliant UnknownCarrot120.

Miss A - Bad Girl
To be honest with you, I wasn't that impressed with Miss A when I saw the video yesterday - it lacked something. But when I saw their performances yesterday and today, I realized that they're more of a performance-dependent band - you have to watch them to see how good they are. For a rookie band, they're good, they're very practiced and behind all the breathlessness throughout the song (I kinda feel sorry for them) are 4 surprisingly good voices. They just need to get over the nerves and get used to singing while dancing. Now if only JYP would stop trying to make all his acts sing like him. An impossible feat, but for the greater good. LOL.

Infinite - Come Back Again (review)
It's like while all the other bands are getting better now that they're used to performing their singles, Infinite are going the other way - they're getting worse. Little by little, that is. They're probably one of my biggest disappointments - I put my support behind them when they just debuted, but the minute I saw their first performance I lost all hope. No one's singing, it looks like there are way too many guys on stage, and probably the only guy who can sing (at least he takes most of the vocal parts) is only good enough to be one of the better singers in 2PM. *sobs* I thought they were gooddddddd. Ugh. Although they are rather good performers individually or in smaller groups - they just need to work on their group dynamics and vocals.

Sistar - Push Push (review)
Those two girls still suck, that one girl can still sing well, the rapper still raps the same, and I still don't like the song. Sorry.

Orange Caramel - Magic Girl (review. kinda.)
I won't bother talking about the song itself because I need an entire review to be able to say everything and I don't have time or the sanity to write a full review on it yet so that'll have to wait. I'll talk about their vocals though. I was rather surprised when I first heard this song live, actually, because not only can Raina suddenly pull of a verse and new girl sing, NANA HAS A VOICE. It's not anything special, but it's a lot more decent than I thought it was and how it was portrayed on "regular" After School song. And this is not just on the recording, I'm talking about live performances. Holy crap.

D-NA - Stumble Stumble (review)
Even if I wasn't writing recaps when D-NA started promoting this, I still managed to spare some time to watch a few performances, especially their comeback. They've improved over the weeks, but they weren't any bad to start with. I think D-NA has the Micky Yoochun of the band aka the guy with the nice voice who goes wild during live performances - the blonde guy who takes the first bridge (don't know his name yet) went wild a bit during his part. D-NA have the ability to carry a performance on vocals alone, I'm convinced now. Second favorite boyband? Second favorite boyband, tied with BEAST then.

CN Blue - Love
It's like as time goes by, the drummer gets put farther and father from the rest of the band - THIS IS DISCRIMINATION I TELL YOU, DISCRIMINATION! What did the drummer ever do to you besides MAKING THE SONG THE WAY IT IS? LOL sorry. You know how sensitive I am to how people treat a drummer. But anyway. I was given a short crash course in CN Blue by a friend of mine, and I now realize the value of Yonghwa in the entire package - he's the songwriter. Whether I like it or not, I'm familiar with the dynamics of a band and the way things are supposed to be, so I think it's time I use them. In bands, the songwriter is God because frankly, without him/her the band won't sound how they do. So everything he does that annoys me or I don't like should be forgiven - he writes the songs, he rules. If he wants to sing, let him, he writes the songs after all. Now the other guy who sings, whose voice I like, is not the star because he doesn't write the songs. He does have a gorgeous voice though.

MBLAQ - Y
I'd think that after weeks of not seeing them perform, MBLAQ would have the decency to stop being pre-occupied with looking good on stage, or at least get stronger vocals, but noooooo, they didn't bother. But then again I guess that's how they really are, and some people like that. Their performance looks really practiced though, I'll give that to them.

4Minute - I My Me Mine
Aaaaaaand 4Minute are back to their Muzik days. I liked Huh, I really did, and just when I find a 4Minute song I can actually stand, they give me this autotuned wonderland of a song. Ugh. The vocals were sub-par today, but the rest of the performance was standard 4Minute - very lively, very tight and very focused. Not bad, but I don't like the song.

Super Junior - No Other
Leeteuk's smile freaked me out. Actually, the entire performance freaked me out. If I just listen to the performance, it's pretty bearable, but when I watch it I just feel like cringing throughout the entire thing. To a certain extent I think this single as a whole is more of fan service than actually making a "musical" song. But if DBSK ever did this for the same reason, I would be throwing up even more. I won't say anything about the song yet though, I'm waiting for the right time to write a review, and it hasn't come yet. My only consolation is that because the song doesn't really require a difficult dance routine, Donghae, Heechul and Leeteuk sound good.

IU & Seo InGuk - Nagging(WINNER)
I was watching some older performances of this, when it was still IU and Seulong and compared to them, IU's vocals were much better. Not that she ever sucked. IU's fine since this is her song, but filling in for 2AM's Seulong, Seo In Guk sounded like an absolute train wreck today. Really. The song's too high for the guy that he ends up screaming for half the song - it's painful. I mean I've heard some of his own material and he isn't half bad, he actually has a nice voice, but this has "exposed" an issue I never really paid attention to until today - the value of the Korean training system. I mean, here you have a guy who won Superstar K, Korea's answer to the Idol franchise, and he has decent vocals, but you put him out of his "comfort zone" and he fails. In comparison so Seulong, this guy is inferior. Not only does Seulong have a nice voice to start with, he has the training and not just any kind, training from a big 3 company. It really makes a difference.