It's all about bright sunshine or heavy rain here, all year long. I probably never get a real summer since I live in tropical country... but I still love to boost the hype of every season.
After a year going around for Blue Moon World Tour, CNBLUE finally made a comeback and released their 5th mini album last week. The title track Can't Stop is written, composed, produced by the multi-talented musician (and also the band leader), Jung Yong Hwa. This mini album consists of 6 songs, Yong Hwa contributed in 5 songs and guitarist Jong Hyun dropped one of his self composed song.
If you listened to their music since 4 years ago, you might would have the same experience as I am right now. Yes, they've grown up. Can't Stop is so fresh, well-making, surprisingly sweet with catchy lyrics and melody. I'll give you my 7 things I love about this song and mini album.
1) Twisted surprise
"Don't judge a book by its cover", we heard that popular quote a lot didn't we? To describe Can't Stop I prefer to say: "Don't judge a song by its first verse". It's a perfect song for welcoming bright and colorful spring after a stormy snowy gloomy winter.
2) Bridge part
As I mentioned earlier, Can't Stop is a twisted song. It begins with a mellow weepy lyrics and melody, but once it hits the chorus you can feel how energized this song is. That's why I love the bridge part, as the drum's beat along with strings instruments are increasing the tempo gradually.
3) Self composed
I have no reason to not to love Yong Hwa's self composed songs. Especially his love songs.
4) Once in a while front line drummer
The drummer, Kang Min Hyuk, is my fav member from this band. As the drummer he's always hidden far away on the back. But now he finally has a chance to switch spot and become the front liner of the band (or at least has his own upper stage). YEAY!
5) Live interactions
Just a week before the release date, all of the members went public with their own Twitter account. They've been used @CNBLUE_4 together, now it feels more lively once they post an update from their own account. Even following, retweeting or reply a comment from their seniors or colleagues. They also held a guerilla Q&A with fans recently! #CantStop tweeting about #CNBLUE huh?
6) CN in suits
For this comeback promo, the boys look so dashingly handsome in a clean cut suit. It always be my fav concept. Even though I raised one of my eyebrows when they wore the mango-peach color suits on the first part of their music video. More over, sometimes I closed one of my eyes when I saw they're dressed in a pattern suits for their "Before Midnight in NY" teaser pictures. Other than that... you can see my eyes shining :)
7) Well executed marketing
At first I thought this mini-album would have a weak concept because it's so silly when their company already released a statement that they would comeback at the end of February but they're not shoot the music video yet. It feels like the company racing over something. The first and second pictures they took in NY doesn't seem related with the music video teaser which released a week after. So it's so hard to guess the main concept. But once the music video and the whole album package came out, I don't even give a damn about the concept. They has wrapped up their tour in America at the end of January, so they got a chance to be featured in a documentary show in Mnet America and promoting their new album on the west side. They just finished a successful world tour for a year, so they has gained a lot of new listeners around the world. They teamed up with SBS for an exclusive all live comeback show and appeared as a special guest in a popular variety show "Running Man"(plus win the race!). They asked another famous artists to listen to their pre-released songs and gave comments about the songs. Even though now they're competing with two big girls group (Girls' Generation & 2NE1) while promoting their new songs, I still believe they will have a shot.
"This album is for spring season. Cold winter has finally ended and we're welcoming blossoming spring." -GO! CNBLUE by Mnet America
If you curious to listen the whole album, please buy Can't Stop on iTunes Store.
I #CantStop spamming about #CNBLUE. My bad, sorry ^^
It's Monday. I do need a pick me up song to surf the day.
I just realized that Glee will be coming back this week and they'll have 2 episodes premiere singing The Beatles! Gleeatles! But there's still a grief inside, because at one point it's hard to accept that there'll be no more Finn Hudson on this series :(
Oh well, Glee is just another reason to skip my d-d-d-d-days until Friday.
Once in a while... "super woman" kind of music still can't get me off the ground. That's why I need something loud.
And this kind of music is always sounded thousand times better on a live show. Jumping, head banging, singing or screaming? The atmosphere that can't be beat.
Thank you for rockin' my world \m/
All video credits to the channel owner on youtube ;)
Whoaaa it's been a month since my last post. I guess my life has become messier these days >.< haha..
But let me tell you my source of patronus charm for this past month :)
I was going to my first K-Pop concert: SM Town!
Shouting and jumping with another thousands of fans was exciting! My seating zone was near DBSK (TVXQ)'s fan and they're unite on their red clothes, big flag, balloons, and of course the famous light stick.
It felt so weird when I was surrounding by TVXQ, Super Junior, EXO, and even Shinee's fan, but I'm the only woman who's cheering happily when SNSD came up haha ;p
But even though I saw them from hundred feet away, with some help from my mini binocular and 3 big screens on stage, I can judge that they're so gorgeous! Seo Hyun is sooooo pretty! #gogumalegacy #yongseospirit ;)
Another week after that, James Morrison performance on Java Soulnation 2012 blew my mind..
He's voice is indescribable! With a guitar on his hand, he made hundreds of people singing and dancing inside the stadium. Unfortunately, the show started about a half an hour behind the schedule, so Mr. Morrison wrapped his show in a rush.
On my way to Java Soulnation, my friend who's just returned from Garut, gave me a special chocolate as a joke. He knew my love life story very well.. Haha.. I took it as a blessing from a good friend ;)
Currently, I'm working at a national plus school located in South Jakarta. We're planning to held a big event on early December this year and collaborating with WWF for their Rhinocare program. Do you know that there are only 50 rhino (java species) at Ujung Kulon right now? They're almost extinct! :( You can join the program to save our rhino buy adopting them with 250k IDR as a donation. WWF will give you a rhino doll or t-shirt as a bonus.
Every Friday, the students at my school held a performance in front of their friends and parents. Everyone burst into laughter when these Year 1 students showed up with their Gangnam Style dance :D
5 Year students also held a science exhibition last week. They're brilliant! How come a little girl, who's just 11 years old, was able to explain that the combination of lemon, zinc, metal, and wire can replace the battery function to turn on a digital watch? :O
While I was spending my time waiting for a friend at Aksara book store weeks ago, I found a very interesting book..
I guess I need this kind of book :) But lately I'm curious, when I bravely ask to hundred of people "Do you like your job?", how many persons will have "yes" as their answer?
Beside that, last week I just finished another inspiring book..
You shouldn't have let anyone tell you what you have to do.. It's your life and you're the owner of your own steps.. Make your life easier and happier with doing something that you like just because you want to :) You're the one who know yourself better than others, right?
Last but sooo not least, right now I'm addicted with Kang Maru! haha.. I'm currently watching Song Joong Ki new drama called "The Innocent Man" or "Nice Guy". The story is about a man who betrayed by his past lover and now seeking for a revenge! Kang Maru, who played by Song Joong Ki, is the main character of this drama. If you're a K-drama lovers, I totally recommend you to watch this drama. But.. be prepare to be caught on Kang Maru "fever" ;p
Lee Gwang Soo, who play as Jae Gil (Kang Maru loyal friend), has made the cold drama become warmer by his quirky gestures and silly act :)
It's currently airing on KBS2 every Wednesday & Thursday, and planned to be aired for 20 episodes. I can't wait to watch its 13th episode next week!
The official release date for CNBLUE new single on Japan is still 3 days away (01.08.2012), but this morning I've got the leaked link to listen to their new single (3 songs) in advance ^^
*I guess the word "long" on "I long to be close to you" refers to "belong"*
It's quite funny to hear Yong Hwa's pronunciation of "miracle" haha.. Sometimes I found the english lyrics are strange to be heard as a sentence, but I know Yong Hwa already make a huge effort to write the song and he's still learning to improve his english :)
Somehow I feel their music on Japan slightly a bit different than their Korean songs. The appearance is darker and the music is louder in Japan, while in Korea the boys images are softer and warmer. Those are just my opinion though, but I guess their adapt to the market preference.
Recently, Jung Yong Hwa also composed a song for FNC's new group, AOA. The song title is "Love Is Only You". The group consists of 8 young women, bring a theme of "Angel's Story" for their debut. FNC already released several teaser videos of this group and planned to have their debut on July 30th. It was unfortunate for FNC that the song already leaked two (or three?) days ago, as a contrast it's a blessing in disguise for Yong Hwa fans ;)
I have a habit to listen to some music before sleep. Last night, my iTunes shuffled around through Lenka's and Sara Bareilles' songs. I just realized it has been a while since the last time I heard their voices, I guess I really drown and sink too deep into Korean Wave lately >.<
As a fan, I went to Sara's and Lenka's concert in Jakarta last year. I really really love Sara's performance! It was an intimate yet joyful concert because Sara loved to play around with the audience. When the audience asked Sara to sing one of her hits "Between The Lines" even though the song is not on her list, she still tried to sing it while trying to guess some of the song's keys on her piano. It's so funny when she made several mistakes because she hasn't practice to play it for a long time :) Sara was wearing a simple all black outfit, up do her hair, and the stage decoration is just an all black curtain too. It was so simple yet memorable. I wish I'll have a chance to watch her live performance again someday. When I opened Sara's official web, the homepage placed a big announcement about her new EP. I'm listening to her new songs at the moment ^^
Lenka's performance was also fun and enjoyable. She was on an early pregnancy when she held her concert in Jakarta last October. She has asked one of her fans to write some lyrics for "Everything At Once" and sang that new version while play the tunes on her keyboard :) She's wearing a simple batik dress that look so cute on her. The stage was small with a little decoration that match with her second album concept "Two". Everything's good except the choice of the concert venue. I went through to Lenka's official website and it hasn't been updated for a while, I guess Lenka is currently enjoying her new duty as a mother :)
There's something wrong with my internet connection since last week :( I've been longing to write something about The Glee Project. So, after my connection is back, finally here they are!
The Glee Project is a competition with an ultimate grand prize: a new role on Glee. In order to win, The Contenders should conquer the weekly theme (Individuality, Tenacity, Dance-ability, etc) and show their best performance to The Mentors (Nikki Anders - Vocal Arranger & Songwriter of Glee, Robert Ulrich - Casting Director of Glee, Zach Woodle - Choreographer of Glee) and Ryan Murphy as co-creator of Glee. For each episode, The Contenders have to nail their homework assignment, record a song and learn choreography for their big group number to create a music video, and wish they get call back.
The winners from the first season are Damian McGinty, Samuel Larson, Lindsay Pierce, and Alex Newell. Below there are some pictures of their appearance on Glee Season 3.
Damian McGinty as Rory Flanagan
Cr. gleekindonesia.com
Samuel Larson as Joe Hart
Cr. Tumblr
Lindsay Pearce as Harmony
Cr. glee.wikia.com
Alex Newell as Wade/Unique
Cr. wetpaint.com
The second season of The Glee Project is currently airing on Oxygen. Let's meet The Contenders!
1. Abraham Lim - The Asian boy
2. Ali - The cheerful girl on a wheelchair
3. Aylin - The most flirtatious one
4. Blake - The boy next door
5. Charlie - The boy who born to be a director
6. Dani - The boyish girl
7. Lily Mae - The most competitive one
8. Mario - The guy who sees the world from his heart
9. Maxfield - The newbie perfomer
10. Michael - The boy who loves math
11. Nellie - The girl who lack of confident
12. Shanna - The sweetest smiley girl
13. Taryn - The one who left the show voluntarily on eps 2
14. Tyler - The transgender boy
Which one is your favorite? My favorite are geeky Michael, quirky Nellie, and lovely Shanna :)
Last night, the 7th episode was aired and up until now 7 contenders have left the competition, while the rest are still struggling to reach their dream and get a special role on Glee Season 4.
The most famous and favorite contender from The Glee Project Season 1, Cameron Mithcell, has posted a new video on his youtube recently. I love his new hair! ;)
You can check out another Cameron's cool videos and awesome music from his youtube channel: cameronmitchellmusic. You should watch Stop This Train (John Mayer Cover) video, both Cameron's face and voice will melt you down..