GD&TOP CD review

after eagerly waiting for what seemed like an eternity, GDTOP's album was finally dropped on christmas eve [as a special music treat for V.I.Ps//music lovers//people with ears//women everywhere]. i snatched it up the second that i found it, put it on my iPod approximately 5 minutes later, and haven't stopped listening to it ever since. [seriously, this album is the perfect soundtrack for: walking, sleeping, eating, putting on makeup, planning lessons, studying korean, taking the subway, working out, doing laundry, cooking, etc. etc. etc.]

now, before i start with my review i feel compelled to state that i absolutely adore bigbang and each of it's 5 members. but G-Dragon and T.O.P have always been my favorites. i think that everything GD does is fireeee: he's a talented singer/rapper/songwriter. i mean, i'll occasionally question his fashion choices [umm, GD, what's with the black skirt you're wearing in the heartbreaker video? and seriously, what's with the new hair? you look like "my little pony". for real.] nonetheless, i'd still consider him to be a fashionista and all-around cool guy. and then there's T.O.P. sigh. i freaking love him. i mean, i'd buy tickets to an event called "T.O.P standing on stage doing absolutely nothing for 3 hours". oh yeah. and if he did a song called "T.O.P singing the phone book", i'd more than likely think it was the awesomest thing ever. seriously. i want to marry this guy.

okay. all that being said, there is absolutely no way in the world that i can write a review completely devoid of personal bias. but i will definitely try my hardest, dear readers^^

***

i liked the cd before i even opened it. [based on purely aesthetic reasons, obvi.] it's black and simple, with a gold/paisley "playboy bunny" on the front. [i've also seen pink and silver bunny cases.] it's sleek, classy, simple--while at the same time being ostentatious and blingblingy. it's like GD&T.O.P are saying "hey, we're bad boys...but look how cool and smooth we are." it seems to fit their image quite well. the cd itself is really pretty and colorful-->like. and the album art...i really can't comment on this without being biased: i like anything that's a picture of GD or T.O.P, regardless of the crazy outfits/makeup they are wearing. [and there are some fashion disasters in these pictures...mostly just the weird fur stuff...it makes GD look like a woman.] ps~~the cd also came with a poster. it's pretty much the hottest thing ever.

ok, now on to the music!

intro: the cd starts off with an engaging old school beat with a deep voice shouting "brothers and sisters!" it gets me pumped up and excited everytime. in the first verse, GD sings about how awesome he is [literally, the lyrics are about how everyone wants/loves him], and in the second verse, T.O.P takes over to rap about how he's much different from what people think of him [classic bad boy...sigh]. and then at the end, GD introduces all of the songs in a really cute way. [ps~~when you're as smoking hott as GD and T.O.P, you can totally get away with singing songs about being awesome. it's not cocky if it's truth.]

high high: this song has been rocking the korean airwaves since it's release on the digital single two weeks ago. it has a super dancey feel to it; the chorus is especially addicting. everytime i hear it [regardless of where i am] i just can't resist doing the dance to it. [seriously, i'm listening to it right now, and i even stopped typing just so i could dance.] anyways, the song is great. GD and T.O.P really compliment each other, vocally and stylistically [is that even a word??]. it's so great to finally hear them as a bigbang sub-unit. also, i have no idea what "ghetto electro" means, but i fully intend on using it in daily conversation.

oh yeah: this song features 박봄 [park bom] from 2NE1. her voice is so beautiful on this song. the 3 of them blend so well together--the chorus sounds amazing. definitely no complaints about this song.

집에 가지마 [don't go home]: this song has a total 80s pop-ish feel to it. T.O.P's rap works really well when paired with GD's high, melodic voice during the chorus.

baby good night: everything about this song is sexy. it starts with a girl's voice, speaking in french. [and it confirmed my sneaking suspicion that GD is totally in to french girlsㅋㅋ] GD's voice sounds really good on this track. especially on the chorus--his high voice singing "baby good night" against T.O.P's husky "don't wanna say goodbye"--wow. just wow. and then the song ends with the same girl speaking in french. the whole track is just...sexy.

뻑이가요 [knock out]: this is easily my favorite track on the entire cd. the rap is tight. and the beat...holy crap, the beat. it's just sounds so raw and fresh. this song perfectly suits T.O.P's deep voice, and it's amazing. the only thing more amazing than listening to it on the cd is seeing it performed live. the song is so fun, and the bass is so tight during the live performance. everything about this song is absolute fire.

oh mom [T.O.P solo]: this song is a huge change from 뻑이가요 so it's kind of strange that it follows that on the cd. anyways, i was kind of worried when i heard that T.O.P would be singing a song. he always only raps or speaks during bigbang songs. i think he's sung like 30 seconds total. but, for a man whose voice so perfectly fits the very essence of rap music, he's actually quite good at singing rock. his deep, husky voice sounds really good on this song [but the lyrics are really sad].

악몽 [obsession//GD solo]: this is probably my 2nd favorite song on the cd. the chorus is so addicting, and i really love the beat and rhythm. it makes me wanna get up and dance! my only complaint: GD, you have a great voice~~why so much autotune?!?!

오늘따라 [today of all days//T.O.P solo]: gahhh, T.O.P's voice. enough said. [ps~~i love the part where he sings "i can do dat" ㅋㅋ]

어쩌란 말이냐? [what do you mean?//GD solo]: ok, not gonna lie. i absolutely did not like this song the first time i heard it. but, the more i listen, the more it has grown on me. it sounds like a hoedown. if i ever see this performed live, i fully expect GD to be wearing full cowboy get-up while square dancing around the stage. the best part is towards the end when GD says "가지마! [don't go!]" in a whiny voice--it's cute.

turn it up [T.O.P solo]: this song was officially released along with it's music video this past summer. so everyone's already heard it and knows that it's fire. and also that it has the greatest music video of all time--three and a half minutes of T.O.P looking super fine and doing things like: sitting in a giant coffee cup, playing piano on a girl's back, holding a gun, and doing the "baby bird" dance.

***

i definitely recommend purchasing this cd [support the artist]!!

opinions?? what do you think of the cd??

GHETTO ELECTRO

christmas eve was the tsocial party, which i had eagerly been anticipating all week. the dress code was blingbling [excitement!! because my whole life is blingbling], so i bought a fabulous strapless red dress, with bling-tastic accessories, black glitterly heels, and i wore silver-sparkly eye makeup.

for some reason, i had expected the party to be a lot more like the party from GDTOP's "high high" music video and a lot less like a concert. [actually, i think that was the original intention...or for people to at least dance or something...def not what ended up happening...]

anyways, i brought my friend jen as my guest and we both looked spectacular. we arrived in gangnam [about 1 hour from where i live] around 5:30 so we decided to grab a quick dinner. [we should have headed straight to the club.] the party was at club heaven [which, according to the internet, is supposed to be the hottest club in seoul.] we arrived at the club at 7 [the time the website said people would be let in], and the line was supersuper long. we waited in the freezing cold for foreverrr. and when we were finally let in, there was already a kazillion people in there, crowded on the dance floor in front of the the stage. def NOT what i had expected.

anyways, the event started at 8pm with some djs that i'd never heard of before. people started rushing the stage like crazy fangirls and fanboys. [ok, so i can be just as fangirly as the next person, but there is a time and a place for this behavior. in my opinion, at a club for a christmas party is just not the place for this...] also, apparently jen and i were some of the few who actually took the dress code seriously. most people wore jeans and sweatshirts. not very much blingbling. disappointment.

maybe around 8:45, 360 SOUNDS hit the stage. at this point, i think people were supposed to be dancing...but people just stood there. pushing. and shoving. it was ridiculous.

next was leesang...i'm familiar with a few of their songs, and they were fun to watch. but i'm not a huge fan.

after that was SE7EN [who i loveee]. people really started freaking when he hit the stage. it was completely ridiculous. jen and i ended up getting shoved closer to the stage [i mean, i'm not complaining that i got a closer spot. but seriously, people were just being stupid about it]. people were hitting, pulling hair, knocking people onto the ground...chaos. at one point, my feet weren't even on the ground. and then some girl stomped on my foot and i'm pretty sure i broke my toe.

finally it was time for the V.I.P. guest: GD&TOP. i got shoved super close to the stage...about 8 feet away. the opening beats for "heartbreaker" flooded the room, and suddenly G-Dragon appeared on the stage [wearing a super fabulous pink mcm leather jacket, by the way]. he was awesome, as always. after his song was over, he disappeared and the lights dimmed. a new beat filled the room, followed by a husky "yeah yeah". the stage lights flashed wildly and T.O.P coolly walked onto the stage, rapping "turn it up". [i freaking LOVE this song.] hottest performance ever? perhaps...

then, G-Dragon joined T.O.P on the stage and they sang 3 of their new songs: high high, oh yeah, and 뻑이가요 [knock out]. they were so fun to watch; they just looked like they were having fun performing, and the duo really knows how to interact with an audience and get them hyped up. i kept getting pushed and shoved, but i didn't mind. i was completely mesmerized by the performance.

ohh, also T.O.P and i def made eye contact. at which point he most certianly thought, "holy crap. that's my future wife right there." or else, "holy crap. i've seen that crazy white girl 18 times in the past 2 weeks."

ooooo, and on christmas eve GDTOP's highly anticipated album was released in it's entirety. obviously, i snatched it up the second i found it, and you can expect a full review up here probably by tomorrow. [spoiler alert: the album is FIREEEE.]

pictures:

happy miranda is happy.

so i'm pretty sure that i'm the happiest person on the planet right now and that today is the greatest day of my life ever.

well, until today is one-upped by friday.

which is going to be FIRE.

except that they just now posted the dress code [we had to vote last week: red vs. bling bling vs. white and silver]. bling bling won. but my dress is red.

oh well. looks like i'm getting new shoes ^______^

prepare to be SUPER jealous~

i'm literally dying here. my thoughts are completely incoherent, and i'm shaking...

with EXCITEMENT!!

all last week, there was this contest that i competed in like a crazy psycho maniac. it was on facebook, and basically you had to follow the fan page of the sponsoring korean cell phone company, like all of their posts during the week, and comment on them.

of course, i'm all about trying to be impressive so i only commented in korean:

저는 외국인니기때문에 가족과 함께 크리스마스 보낼 수 없어요ㅜ_ㅜ그래서 슬퍼요ㅠ_ㅠ파티에 너무너무 싶어요~~티켓좀 주시면 아될까요??>_<
"because i am a foreigner i can't spend Christmas with my familyㅜ_ㅜso sadㅠ_ㅠi really really want to go to the party~~can't i please have a ticket??>_<"

지디앤탑와 함께 파티에 가고 싶은데요!
"i want to go to a party with GD and T.O.P!"

저를 꼭 선택해주세요~!!>_<
"please choose me~!!>_<"

anyways, my comments were pretty popular on the forum [a crap ton of random people were liking them]. i really didn't think i was going to win, but i decided to give it a shot.

anyways, today the guest list was posted.

and.

I'M FREAKING ON IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh yeah, did i mention that freaking G-DRAGON ANNDDD T.O.P are also guests at this party????

HECKYESSSSSSS.

best Christmas ever?? why yes, yes it is.

grade 6~~

today was my last day teaching my 6th graders, which is legitimately sad.

the korean school calendar is set up much differently than that in the united states. the school year begins in march, has a 5 week summer vacation from july-august, and then a long winter break beginning after christmas and lasting until february. the students then return for a week and a half of school before going on a 2 week spring break [crazy, i know]. even though there are still about 2 weeks left of the school year, my 6th graders have already finished their english books and taken their final exams so they won't have english class any more until they reach middle school.

anyways, i've been a little sad about it all week because i really love teaching my grade 6 students. honestly, there's not a single student or class that i don't like. [they were my favorites last year as 5th graders, so it's no surprise that they're still my favs.]

last year, my 6th graders were like little holy terrors. probably because i came in halfway through the year and they'd never had a foreign english teacher before. and also probably because my coteacher couldn't speak english. i literally hated 90% of them. but my 5th graders were like a breath of fresh air. they were always excited when i'd walk in to their classroom, and they were always prepared for class and ready to learn. they actually paid attention.

i was worried that my precious fifth graders would magically change when they moved on into the 6th grade. but, they didn't--for the most part. they still act so excited to see me [even though they've been seeing me for the past year and a half], and even when we don't play games or even do anything fun, they still listen and pay attention. it's amazing.

that being said, i'm really going to miss my students. they've been really awesome all year, and my 6th graders were actually part of the reason why i decided to stay at my school for another year instead of moving elsewhere. when i wasn't feeling well, or was having a bad day they'd always cheer me up--coming to visit me in my office or bringing me small presents [pictures of bigbang!!]; the boys would always sing "hello" by g-dragon or "hello" by shinee when they'd see me in the hall [not entirely appropriate, but funny nonetheless]. and then of course there were the puns on my name [a mispronunciation of my name sounds like "i don't know" in korean]. ahh, i will miss it!!

so to whoever gets my 6th graders as grade 1 in middle school: i envy you. these kids are awesome.

recently...

...i discovered that a sewage treatment plan is located directly behind my school. [you can see part of it on the lawn outside the lunch room window.]

so yeah.

that explains a lot.

GDTOP

yesterday was the official world premiere press conference for GDTOP [the name for the collab unit of BIGBANG'S G-Dragon and T.O.P]. they gave a sneak peak of their album which is pretty much going to be the greatest thing ever in the history of things.

today, the duo released their first digital single, which includes two songs off of their yet-to-be-released cd. additionally, they have released their first music video as a sub-unit.

both songs are incredibly catchy~~i'm listening to them right now. at work. [i should add that i'm also dancing to them. at my desk. people are staring.] i'm not sure that i can pick a favorite just yet, but i might be tempted to favor "oh yeah" because park bom's voice sounds incredible mixed with theirs in the chorus. [park bom is an incredibly talented singer from 2NE1].

i'm not sure how i feel about the music video for "high high". i like the song; it's really catchy and it makes me wanna dance and jump around the room. [ps i like anything that has T.O.P's voice in it. sigh.] but, there's entirely too many white chicks trying to dance up on him and that kinda sorta a lot makes me jealous. why was i not invited to this event?????? ㅠ.ㅠ [but, i really like that they say "aiight" because that is pretty much my favorite word^^ and also they spell the word "ghetto" which is awesomeㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

ps i freaking love T.O.P's hair. especially the way he had it styled yesterday for the press conference.

for your listening and viewing pleasure:

concert pictures

for those of you who care/are interested, i've finally gotten around to posting some of my pictures from the YG Family Concert [most are from day 1].

with coleen~~my "official" concert buddy^^

annddd, this is probably the closest i'll ever get to taking a picture "with" BIGBANG.

ahh~~check out T.O.P's hair~!

YG Family~!

day 2: with my "world famous" sign

T.O.P! i can be your english teacher!

ps~ at 5pm, G-Dragon and T.O.P [GDTOP] will be having a live "conference" thing on youtube for their upcoming album. they're supposed to sing some of the new songs, talk about them, and reveal their new music video for "high high". EXCITEMENT!!

YG Family Concert Videos

here are some fancams my friend reallywally [thnx^^] took from the Sunday night YG Family Concert [the only one i didn't go to...] i didn't take any videos, but i did take some illegal creeper pictures [cameras technically weren't allowed], but i may or may not ever get around to posting my pics on here seeing as how i haven't even had time to put them on my computer yet ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

the first video is BigBang and 2NE1 singing "lollipop" [2NE1's debut song from a cellphone ad], next is SE7EN and BigBang performing together in the first encore song, and finally all of YG Family singing "we are the world". [holy crap, i LOVEEE T.O.P's voice in this song~~]

2010 YG Family Concert

i will readily admit that i'm kind of like a crazy person--or maybe i should say passionate. i'm passionate about kpop. and, of course, bigbang.

since i'm so passionate about kpop and such, i went to two of the three performances for the 2010 YG Family Concert at olympic park stadium in seoul. for those of you who aren't familiar with YG family, it's a korean record label [officially called YGEntertainment, but oftentimes record labels are referred to as "families"]. YG is known for creating unique talents, and the current, active musicians with YG are BIGBANG, 2NE1, psy, SE7EN, and gummy.

the first concert i attended was on saturday night at 7pm, and the second show was on sunday at 2pm. each concert was slightly different: some song order changes and different clothes/hairstyles/etc. the biggest difference between the two was that at the sunday afternoon performance, all of YG family performed psy's song "champion" as a collab effort. it was amazing.

saturday, 4 december:
col and i got there really early, around 4pm, because we were kinda nervous about lines and stuff [the website said standing sections would like up 1 hour before, but sometimes the concert staff don't always follow what the site says...] we got there too late for merch, unfortunately. but we did have plenty of time to walk around, eat dinner, take pics, etc.

once we got in, we were really excited about how great our spots were. we spent the entire evening being about 3 feet away from the stage, and our section was located right in between the main stage and 2 side stages. perfectttt. also, before the concert, we were photographed by an official concert photographer. heckyess.

ohh, i was also filmed on tv.

we waited for what seemed like an eternity while whoever was in charge of the commercials tortured us with g-dragon's "g-market party" cf at least 15 times. [seriously, "welcome to the g-mar-ket, i'm captian g" is only entertaining the 1st time you hear it.] anyways, finally the lights dimmed and the band started playing the opening music. suddently, the curtain lifted, the beat picked up, and 2NE1 appeared on the stage, starting the concert off with an incredible performance of "fire". it was the perfect song to kick-start an amazing concert.

they sang two more songs, and then it was SE7EN's turn to engage the audience with a truly awesome performance. gummy followed SE7EN. of all the YG artists, she's probably the one that i am the least familiar with, mostly because her songs are more ballady, while the other artists usually perform more upbeat/pop/dancey songs. but i will say that gummy is a truly talented vocalist and pianist.

bigbang was next. the audience went wild as soon as the lights dimmed and the opening beats for "gara gara go!" were dropped. everything about their performance was great. sososososososo great. sigh.

psy was the next artist to wow the audience. holy crap, he is an amazing performer. he kept the audience jumping and dancing the entire time.

after psy, there were a bunch of collab songs between various YG artists, and a sort-of tribute to the older/nonactive YG singers 1TYM and jinusean. one of my fav tribute performances was G-Dragon and T.O.P's rendition of jinusean's "전화번호" [phone number]. they came out wearing long fur coats, and it was hilarious. immediately following, taeyang and SE7EN joined GD and T.O.P on stage to sing 1TYM's "hot 뜨거", which was also tight.

for me, the highlight performance of the night was definitely when GD and T.O.P performed their new, yet-to-be-released song 뻑이가요. OH.MY.GOSH. i mean, i'd heard the song before because they sang it at the 2010 MAMAs. but holy crap it is BANGIN' live. i cannot wait for their whole cd to be released so i can put it on my iPod and listen to it everyday. [ps this song is currently stuck in my head.] if this song is any indication of what the rest of the album is going to be like, then holy crap, it's going to be.....i can't even think of an adjective good enough to describe the awesomeness that this album will be.

another highlight performance for me was when bigbang sang the acoustic version of "하루하루" [day by day]. this is most definitely my favorite bigbang song, and i always love hearing it live. plus, the acoustic version suits the lyrics of the song so perfectly. sigh.

bigbang ended the concert, but the audience screamed for an encore [which we all knew was coming]. all of YG came onto the stage together to perform 3 final songs, first, the YG boys, then the girls, and for the final song, everyone sang together. [T.O.P's voice in the last song was particularly hot.]

it was pretty much the greatest concert. EVERRRR.

since i was so close, a few of the singers waved. AT ME!!!!! and because i was so close [literally 2-3 feet away], it's easy to tell when someone is looking/pointing/waving at you. first, minzy from 2NE1 waved, then SE7EN pointed at me, seung-ri [bigbang] waved, and gummy waved.

finally [and most importantly] T.O.P saw my sign. [and pointed//smiled]

which also means that

T.O.P

saw

MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[stage one: making T.O.P aware of my existence--COMPLETED.]
[initiating stage two: meet T.O.P]

sunday, 5 december:
this concert was essentially the same. and also equally amazing. col and i were one section back from where we stood the night before, so we were further from the main stage, but still sandwiched in between side stages.

we got there real early because we wanted to be sure to acquire merch. i bought an autographed taeyang cd, and col bought an autographed cd from 2NE1.

also before the concert [perks of being super early], col and i were filmed AGAIN by the same guy that had filmed us the night before. but this time, we were also interviewed!! it's for some program by the discovery channel that is doing a special on visiting korea, so we were interviewed for their kpop segment. i have no idea when it will air, but OHMYGOSH i'm going to be on tv!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! [maybe T.O.P will see it??ㅋㅋㅋ]

anyways, we ended up being about 2 feet from the side stage. a most perfect spot from which to view and be viewed. [which is exactly what happened.]

once again, i got waved at by minzy [2NE1]. then, SE7EN stopped right in front of me and col, pointed directly at us and waved. [col had the opportunity to meet him not long ago, so it's very possible that he recognized her. which would be tight.] daesung waved at me, too^^ and then, someting k-razy happened. seung-ri stopped right in front of me, we made eye contact, i smiled, and then he waved. and then on two more, very separate occasions, he came back to where i was standing to wave, each time making eye contact. the final time, he leaned forward and pointed [eye contact!] while he was singing, so i think it's not completely farfetched to assume that he was singing at me [making the kgirls around me glare enviously]. i've known for a while that i have kind of magical, cute, puppy dog eyes. but holy crap, i had no idea they'd work on someone like seung-ri.

also, T.O.P frequented my section, definitely saw my sign again, and this time we made very brief eye contact. it was the greatest .25 seconds of my life.

ps~ seung-ri might be moving his way up to my new second fav among bigbang members, mostly because of his attention during the concert.

pss~ i decided that i really love T.O.P's new hairstyle because up close in person it legit looks hot.

psss~ G-Dragon's new hair makes him look like a pony for real for real.

hello, december.

this december is definitely going to be the greatest month of my life so far. probably.

here's all the super exciting stuff that i have to look forward to:

saturday, 4 december: YG family concert. my tickets are for the floor section, stage right, in the front. i'm making a sign for T.O.P, and he will see it. ummheckyess.

sunday, 5 december: YG family concert. i'm going twice because i'm twice as awesome as normal people. or something like that...

wednesday, 15 december: T.O.P and GD's first digital single drops.

saturday, 18 december: C.N.Blue concert. yay-ness!!

friday, 24 december: this will be an especially exceptional day for two reasons. first, and most importantly, this is the day that T.O.P and GD's full-length cd will be released. EXCITEMENT!! second, this is the last day of school before my long-awaited and definitely well-deserved vacation. [and by "vacation" i mean, "not-vacation" since winter camps will starts the following monday. but, on the bright side i won't have to deal with certain...things.]

friday, 31 december: Rain's farewell concert. i also have floor seats for this concert, very close to the stage. since Rain will be joining the military for his mandatory 2-year service, this will be his last concert for a very long time. sadness.


i'm sure that december will hold other exciting things too, but these are definitely my best plans that i'm looking forward to!! this month will be a great way to send 2010 out with a bang~~