Lately it’s been nothing but nonstop BTS talk hasn’t it? Well don’t worry. I’ve noticed how I’ve been getting ahead of myself. Which is why in a solid attempt to remind you peeps that I DO in fact listen to more artists,seriously it’s true 😋, I thought it’d  be fun to share some other songs on my playlist. Others that have been getting equally repeat listens to from me these days. I picked out 5 such songs I strongly recommend you at least give a try.

I think you’ll find this is a good assortment of songs because of the variety. 🙂

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5 Songs I’ve Been Listening To

 

To begin I think I’ll start with was is bound to be the most different of all the songs I choose. Not because it’s a genre I rarely cover because I actually do cover it often. Spoiler alert it’s more rap. 😎🎤 But because unlike the usual Korean artists I rep here this one happens to be Chinese. Her name is VAVA.

Now I’ve heard many Chinese songs prior but thinking back about it  I’d never really gotten myself fully immersed into the hip hop culture from there. Although I’ve been hearing it’s really booming. Maybe this girl will be my gateway into it? Who knows. All I do know is that I stumbled on her Rap Star MV one day because I couldn’t help but notice how in the thumbnail she kinda looked like a chola(like those latina gangsters I use to see here in L.A. back in the early 2000s). lol

So yeah I clicked for such a dumb reason, but I stayed mostly for the carefree vibes. That mixed with her wavy flow of course. Eventually this lead me down the rabbit whole as you would expect. Jumping from one song to the other. Before I knew it I stopped on the one I’d like to recommend to you today called My New Swag. From what I can see it’s her most popular on YouTube and I can certainly see why it’s like that. It combines two things I love seeing combined.

You see My New Swag manages to beautifully mix modern hip-hop with some traditional style melodies from China. Combining the new with the old is always cool in my book. Now I know it sounds kind of weird to hear of those two things being mixed at first but trust me it works so well for the song. Not only from the music itself but the way it makes it into the fashion is cool too. Makes it stand out from all the typical rap songs we get nowadays. One of the freshest things I’ve stumbled on in awhile.

VAVA – 我的新衣 My New Swag (Feat. Ty. & 王倩倩) (華納 Official HD 官方MV)

 

Next up I wanna talk about what should be a familiar face. Her name is Hyo but she’s better as Hyoyeon from Girls Generation. As you may or may not know she’s been slowly making some strides to be recognized as a solo artist these days. And in my honest opinion, I personally think she’s gonna make it there. Specially after this latest song of hers. It’s one of the quirkiest and ultimately most positive MVs I’ve had the pleasure of checking out.

Her song is called Sober and let me tell you it’s an interesting one to talk about. Why? Because it has 3 versions!!! The standard version, english version, and a pop version even. What’s crazy though is how each manage to have it’s own feel. The pop version is like a more upbeat version of the Korean one as you’d probs expect. However the craziest thing is how the lyrics are actually different between Korean to English.

Normally you would think when doing an English cover you would try to capture the essence by translating the lyrics as close as possible to the original right? But here instead, and it’s my interpretation, it feels like a continuation. The way I saw the original, it was about a girl who use to be drunk on love but now has “sobered” up to the reality that the relationship she was in was no good. and thus more a song about picking oneself up after. Meanwhile from the English version, I got more of a sense of how you then look forward. Not needing to rush into another relationship after and if you do get into one, not letting yourself make the same mistake twice.

Interesting stuff and I haven’t even brought the MV yet. The footage is another layer that brings this up for me by a bunch MORE points. If you watch it it’s fairly obvious the point being made is to empower you and get you to accept yourself. It tackles body image issues and such. Which I think strikes an even bigger punch if you’ve been a fan of hers from the beginning and remember some of the mean things people would say about her in the past. Like how was the ugliest of the group, a bad vocalist, not interesting, etc. So the girl knows what she’s talking about from experience.

There are so many many reasons to enjoy this. I could probs make a whole thesis on this MV. 😛 So yeah please check this one out.

HYO ‘Sober (Feat. Ummet Ozcan)’ MV

 

Moving on we get to a collab I had promised I’d get to eventually. I’m talking about the 2 song  collab between Flowsik and Jessi. I knew I’d get to it at some point because I’m not lying when I say that among rappers the two of them are at the top for me. Both are undeniably and tremendously charismatic. Flowsik due to his deep voice given to him by the rap gods and Jessi because of what I can only describe as a “give no f*cks” attitude. The thought I’d see both of them together made me giddy with joy. I was like this shizz is going to be soooooo dirtay. haha

Now the question is, “was it like I expected?” Surprisingly it was a both yes AND No.

First let’s talk about the surprise that was All I Need. I gotta start with this because not only was it a surprise it was like the exact opposite of what I wanted. lol I mean I expected dirtay like I said and with this I got a happy times/sunshine vibes romance song? Like what!? Still liked it tho but in a way it was kinda funny to watch these hard people being all soft and cuddly all of a sudden. I think the thing that through me for a loop the most  though was how down to earth it felt. The MV looked like a bunch of home movies stitched together. It made it feel REAL and at points it even got me shipping them together. O.O

The biggest thing to set the tone was adding the behind the scenes moment at the start. Adding that genuine moment humanized them in the music video in away I hadn’t seen done before. Very creative MV.

and then we get to WET… I did  say I wanted DIRTAY didn’t I? Well this was the one to give it to me. and oh boy did it give it to me strong. Flowsik‘s lyrics in this are definitely NOT for the kids and neither are Jessi‘s for that matter. They both say some naughty things and bring up the intensity. But by far what I liked most was how both got to be badasses and how it was pretty fairly balanced between the two throughout.

I worried that maybe Jessi might play second fiddle or not get as much of a part. Glad to see it not be like that. For as much as he got it. She got hers too. Evan surrounded herself by a bunch of barely clothed guys which is a nice play from the usual guy surrounded by barely clothed women.

[MV] Flowsik(플로우식) _ All I Need (Collab. Jessi(제시))

[MV] Flowsik(플로우식) x Jessi(제시) _Wet(젖어’S)

 

Lastly I wanna bring up Mamamoo‘s Starry Night. This one is a bit different because while I think for the most part you could enjoy the other songs without the MV, for this one the MV itself is kind of the main draw. I say it because so far I don’t think I have listened to it much without watching it. The things I enjoy the most are definitely the aesthetics. The beautiful scenery, the editing, the amazing outfits, etc. I like to joke it has better cinematography than even The Avengers. 😛 lmao

But don’t get me wrong the vocals are definitely good too because this is Mamamoo we’re talking about after all. In my honest opinion they are like the best vocalist in Kpop right now. I know people like to say “this” group is the vocal queens or “that” group are the vocal queens. In my eyes it’s actually Mamamoo because I love their mature voices and find something soulful about all of them.

Another reason you may wanna check this and their other stuff too is because in addition to those soulful voices their is a graceful elegance about the members. They have a mature look I feel you don’t see often enough in Kpop. Plus Hwasa is my Goddess so I’d like for you to get to know her in particular. I think she has the most powerful vocals. 😉

[MV] MAMAMOO(마마무) _ Starry Night(별이 빛나는 밤)

 

And that’s that. I hope you enjoy the songs I selected. If you did let me know. I also hope you enjoyed the little commentary I attached. See you peeps next time. 😊