Top 5 Recommended Music Videos

"How Do I Look?" by Beenzino
I like Beenzino. He's probably not in the top of my favorite Korean rappers list, but I think he's alright. So, I heard this song through a friend's KCON 2014 video and thought it was pretty smooth. I guess this was a supplementary or promotional song for Korea's Next Top Model: Guys & Girls. For some reason, I find it amusing they're following this silly decision from the American version. Anyway, it has a very simplistic beat with Beenzino casually rapping over it while he somewhat interacts with the models and scenery. I'm not sure if these people are actual contestants or just there for this video, but I like the bold choices of having them interact with each other both playfully and flirtatious no matter the gender, then letting Beenzino somewhat react to it. It's pretty simple track to nod along to and the video is kinda amusing.



"Can You Hear Me?" by Lucky J
Honestly, I thought that Lucky J was some male duo featuring Ailee, but upon closer look (and some research) that that is not the case. Similar to hip-hop trios CLOVER and MFBTY, we have two males and a female in a group delivering some flaw free music to break up the monotony of kpop. This is a beautiful balance of beauty and sorrow. Between Jessi and J-Yo's vocals, they present a great deal of tone and emotion to emphasis the message and dreary setting of the video and song. It's very impressive and definitely draws me in to listen more. J'Kyun's portions don't take away from that at all. It just adds a little more spice to a song that could seem like any other song of its kind. I like the simple environment of the group is in with a few special effects and more dependence on lighting and subtle dramatic acting with the singers. I look forward to hearing more from Lucky J in the future and hope they don't fade away any time soon.



"FALLEN iDOLS" by SiM
For some reason "GUNSHOTS" cannot be viewed in our country, although it is a pretty awesome PV. Perhaps I'll add it to the list later when I find an available version of it. Nonetheless, this music video is just as pleasing as "GUNSHOTS". A somewhat similar concept to Acid Black Cherry's dual badass and dorky personas, we have this video of the innocent, dorky newcomers SiM and the already established, dark badass SiM interacting and competing with each other. It's amusing and pretty entertaining. It fits the lyrics and stays with their established style of playful badassness, but somewhat laid back style of rock that can also make you move on your feet and flat out headbang to the roar of MAH. Really looking forward to listening to their new mini album!



"You Lie" by coldrain
Similar to SiM, I'm always pumped to hear and see new things from coldrain and hope that they come to America in the near future. It's surprising the approach they went with this video. It goes between a story with some western actors having a conflict among each other and the band performing the song to us. The story is interesting and is emphasized by the powerful music and shouts from Masato. The bass really hits the ear, the guitar keeps the pace going with some added emotion, and the drums are quick and complement the basslines. I'm greatly looking forward to their follow up from their last album, The Revelation.



"Alive" by The Dirty Youth
Hearing the news of some of my little known female fronted bands touring in my area has me extra pumped to see a couple of them updating their Facebook pages with new material, this is one of them, although they're not touring anywhere near me. It's a simple band centric video some creative uses for camera movements: pans, zooms, a bit of shakiness, and rocky motions. The song and Danni's delivery of the lyrics help keep the video from being too boring. This is a little different from their first album, but a great growth in an exciting potential direction to come in their new releases.