F.T. Island

For the past few days, I've been thinking about which artist to review this week. I've been trying to find a new artist that I really like, but haven't found any that has come to my liking. So, in light of their recent comeback, I decided to do a review on F.T. Island. The thing is, I've known about F.T. Island for a pretty long time, but I never got to really know them as a band. They released some songs that I really liked, but that was all. Therefore, I will do my best to introduce you guys to F.T. Island, while familiarizing myself with them as well.

Unlike most K-Pop groups of their time, F.T. Island is essentially a rock band, complete with a drummer, bassist, two guitarists, and main vocalist. The name stands for "Five Treasure Island," referring to the five members, each of whom is a "treasure." Despite the fact that they're not your usual K-Pop boy band with catchy songs and dances, they're very popular in Korea, and even considered mainstream K-Pop by most fans. As a band, they're more similar to their K-Pop counterparts in terms of management and structure, but when you look at their music, F.T. Island's sound is very similar to that of a pop rock band.

F.T. Island made their debut in the summer of 2007 with the release of their first album, "Cheerful Sensibility." They soon rose to fame with their title song "Lovesick," which topped the charts for eight consecutive weeks. The album became the sixth best-selling album of 2007, and since then, the band has released a total of 7 full albums and 6 mini albums. F.T. Island is now a name-brand artist in the K-Pop industry.

A week ago, F.T. Island made their most recent comeback with their album, "Five Treasure Box." With all the hype surrounding the comeback, I couldn't not check it out. I was able to listen to the whole album during these past few days, and I have to say, I was thoroughly pleased. Although the songs didn't come to me right away, I fell in love with the refreshing sound of pop rock. I love their title song "I Wish," which has been stuck in my head for the past two days. I especially like how there's a sort of latin feel to it, and the saxophone in the background. It's really worth checking out:

"I Wish"


This led me to check out the rest of F.T. Island's albums, and I instantly fell in love with their music. I'm still in the middle of listening to some of their older albums, but so far, I'm totally impressed. This was what I needed. Although I love some of them, every other K-Pop song out there is always the same. F.T. Island's music is a refresher and eye-opener to another genre of K-Pop. I feel like my heart has been given a whole new breath of life; it's that refreshing. So far, my most favorite F.T. Island album (probably bound to change) is the one they released before "Five Treasure Box," called "Grown Up." It has only five songs, but every one of them has sealed themselves into my heart. So, all music lovers, you should really check out F.T. Island. They're a (somewhat) real rock band that plays real pop rock music. What better thing could you expect from K-Pop?

Here's the full tracklist of "Grown Up":

1. Severely
2. I Even Lost A Friend
3. I'm A Stupid Person
4. A Grown Up Man...
5. Please Be My Girlfriend

Intro Post!

It's kind of late, but for those of you who are new to this blog, let me give you a proper introduction. So, as you may have noticed, this is an entire blog dedicated to K-Pop, aka Korean pop music. Most of you have probably heard something about it, either because of our utterly famous Asian Media Club here at Uni, or maybe on the Internet. For those of you who haven't, well, I will do all my best to introduce you to one of my favorite genres of music.

As an expert (if I do say so myself) on K-Pop and a long-time fan of Korean music, I decided to create this blog as a way to explore the various depths of the vast and growing world of K-Pop. I've always been exposed to only mainstream K-Pop, and never got the chance to check out those less well-known artists of K-Pop. Therefore, my main goal for this blog is to cover a wide range of Korean artists, and make them more well-known in the general Korean music scene.

I will try to post every other week, with a new artist and review of their music. Since many of you are unfamiliar with K-Pop, I will try to be more specific and maybe, just maybe, I will have time to create a page introducing you guys to K-Pop. To those of you who've never listened to K-Pop a day in your life, do try it! Click on one of the audio clips shared by me in my posts, and actually try listening to some of the songs. It really doesn't matter if you end up hating it or loving it. The main purpose of this blog is to introduce more people to a whole different genre of music, so I hope you guys find it interesting!

Psy

Oppa, gangnam style! You guys probably know what I'm talking about. In a matter of a little more than a month, Psy's "Gangnam Style" music video has garnered more than 100 million views on YouTube. What's really amazing is that it has managed to reach Uni, where only a few enlightened fans of K-Pop reside. Although several K-Pop artists' music videos have managed to bring in millions of views, Psy's video is probably the only one that's gotten as popular with the international audience, particularly in the U.S. This, my friends, is the true power of the Internet.

Despite Psy's oh-so-popular video, what really got me to write this post is his most recent album, "Psy's Best Sixth." I have to admit, if it wasn't for his video, I wouldn't have gotten the motivation to actually download his album and listen to his songs. I try to be open to all kinds of music, but there's something about K-Pop that has you worshiping only one or two artists at a time, at all times. For those of you who aren't very familiar with K-Pop (Korean pop music, if you didn't already guess), Psy isn't your typical artist in the K-Pop world. Nowadays, you will see that most K-Pop artists are mainly groups formed of 5-7 members, that are more image-based (as in, pretty) than focused on their music. Of course, there are some K-Pop artists out there who don't fall into this category, and a very few who succeed in both looks and music, but that's the way it is mainly in the modern K-Pop world.

Psy, as you have seen in his music video, is a fairly chubby (some may say fat) Korean man in his mid-30s. He is not your average K-Pop artist, and therefore, he didn't catch my interest before. Psy (real name Park Jae Sang) was born in Korea, but received most of his post-secondary education in the U.S., attending Boston University and later, the Berklee College of Music. He officially debuted in 2001, with the release of his first album, "Psy...From the Psycho World." Known mainly as a rapper and hip-hop singer, most of his albums have been subject to criticism from the Korean public for its "inappropriate content." Many of his songs are about "scandalous" topics like sex and drinking, and therefore have been banned from selling to the younger audience, people under the age of 19.

Despite this, he is very well-known in the K-Pop industry, and has a huge following of fans in Korea. Unlike many K-Pop artists of his time, Psy composes almost all of his songs, some of which have become great hits. He's also known for his many collaborations with other famous Korean artists, such as Lee Jae Hoon and Brown Eyed Soul's Jung Yeop. 

Upon listening to his sixth album, I instantly fell in love with all of his songs. It's kind of weird, because I usually don't like this kind of music, but as soon as they came into my ears, they stuck, and buried themselves into my heart. That's how good his music is.

"Year of '77"


If I had to pick a favorite, I would say "Year of '77" stuck in my head the most. Psy was born on the very last day of 1977 (December 31st), and therefore the song is about back in the days, in the good old '70s and '80s. The song features singer Kim Jin Pyo and hip hop duo, Leessang, who were also born around the same time. It has a catchy chorus phrase, "do you remember," which basically states the nostalgic theme of the song. Along with a bittersweet melody, most of the song is rap, courtesy of Psy and Leessang members Gary and Gil. The lyrics really stuck to me - they basically tell of how it was back in the days, when they were only high schoolers, looking for love and still finding their place in the world. Of course, as a high schooler (and soon-to-be college student), I could just relate.

I'm still in the middle of exploring more of Psy's music, as this is the sixth album that he's released. As you probably noticed, I'm in love with his music. I'm so glad I tried a hand at a genre of K-Pop that I didn't know existed, or was so good. I really recommend trying out his music, even if you're not a fan of K-Pop. Who knows, you might be the one getting sucked into Gangnam Fever...

Here's the full tracklist for the album:


1. Blue Frog (ft. G-Dragon)
2. Passionate Goodbye (ft. Sung Si Kyung)
3. Gangnam Style
4. Year Of '77 (ft. Kim Jin Pyo, Leessang)
5. What Could Have Been (ft. Park Jung Hyun)

6. Never Say Goodbye (ft. Yoon Do Hyun)