BigBang The 4th Mini Album CD Review

V.I.Ps, and kpop fans alike, rejoiced when it was revealed that BigBang would return once again to the korean music scene. aside from solo projects and numerous cellphone ads, the 5-member group had virtually disappeared from korea for a long 2 years and 3 months. instead, they turned their attentions to an overseas market, releasing several jpop mini albums. because of this long absence, fans [like myself] were ecstatic about their comeback...counting down the days until the mini album's release date: february 24.

way back in 2008, BigBang released "remember"--an album that was practically perfect in every way. [and my personal favorite BigBang CD.] but since then, the kpop market has changed with the emergence of many new super popular boy bands [2PM, b2st, etc etc etc]. however, i believe that BigBang's 4th mini album--while being reminiscent of old BigBang--also shows that they have grown and matured as a group. it shows that they've still got "it"--the ability to dazzle audiences and dominate music charts.

like previous BigBang albums, the 4th mini album showcases their unique talents and abilities. and that's the primary reason why i like BigBang so much--they stand out against other kpop boy bands. because they [well, g-dragon...] write their own music, they are able to create unique, meaningful lyrics. additionally, they have shown both the unwillingness to compromise their creative integrity and the refusal to conform in a notoriously cookie cutter industry. [don't get me wrong, i LOVE me some kpop...but these days, they've been deputing so many new bands in a relatively small time frame, that everyone begins to look and sound the same...]

that being said...i was somewhat disappointed when i discovered that the new BigBang album would be just a mini album containing only 6 songs [one of which is an intro track]. i am impatient...greedy for more BigBang--NOW. however, the cd definitely lived up to my standards...and the hype that was created for it.

the album:

ok, so the cover art is a silver, metallic skull wearing headphones. umm, it's kind of creepy, not gonna lie. except for the sparkly-ness, i'm not sure that it exactly fits with their image...i mean, it's more like something i'd expect to see on a death-metal cd, not kpop. but, whatever.

the actual cd booklet, on the other hand, is super colorful. love it. the bright designs break up the monotony of the black/silver exterior, and their fashions are bold and unique.

the songs:

intro (thank you and you): even though this is only a short intro track, i really love it. the beat is super dance-y...it makes me excited to listen to the rest of the cd. which is kind of the point of an intro track anyways.

however, the hook--"i'm fine, thank you and you?"--is pretty much the entire english repertoire of most korean students [in my experience]. so thank you, BigBang; i now get to spend the rest of my esl teaching career listening to students sing this at me every time i ask "how are you?". [also, i'm pretty sure that the majority of my students only know kpop english...they can only recite the days of the week to the tune of "mazeltov" by ze:a, and any time they try to apoogize for something it's either sung as "sorry sorry sorry sorry" ("sorry sorry" by super junior) or "i'm so sorry but i love you" ("거짓말"--"lies" by bigbang). but i digress...]

hands up: this song was previously released on one of their japanese mini albums [last fall, i believe]. at the time, i didn't particularly care for the song...but i fell in love with it after hearing it performed live at the YG Family concert in december. other than the obvious fact that the language is different, the korean version on this mini album doesn't sound very different. it has a classic BigBang feel to it music-wise. the biggest difference that i noticed [between the japanese and korean versions] is in T.O.P's rap--which sounds better in the korean version--because he does a different thing to his voice; it's super hott.

tonight: this is the main title track from the album, and it is brilliant. the musical part is pop-y and dance-y, but at the same time it has a more mature, darker feel to it. they blend the contrasting tones of each of their 5 voices to create a uniquely beautiful song. the highlight of the song is towards the end--the music climaxes and suddenly stops, leaving a lone acoustic guitar playing the haunting melody, accompanied by vocals. i really love the use of falsetto during the chorus; it fits perfectly with the mood of the song.

somebody to love: this track was also a previously released jpop song [i think it was on the same mini album as "hands up"]. i loved it when i first heard it in japanese, and i still love it now. this song also has a classic BigBang feel to it. it's dance-y, pop-y, exciting, and fun. the chorus is essentially them declaring that they "want somebody to love", which i'm pretty certain has every girl screaming "I'M RIGHT HEREEEEE--LOVE ME!!" [or, maybe that's just me...]

what is right: this song reminds me of something that i'd listen to while driving in my car on a warm summer day with the windows down. it's a cute, fun song. it's not brilliant, and BigBang has certainly released better tracks [umm, "하루하루", "거짓말", "마자막 인사"..."day by day", "lies", "last farewell"...]. but it definitely gets your foot tapping, and it is legitimately fun to listen to.

cafe: ok. so this is probably my favorite song on the entire mini album. the very appropriately named "cafe" begins with a jazzy-sounding piano, accompanied by T.O.P's deeply sexy voice 13 seconds in. [i've literally listened to that part probably a million times...for optimum listening experience, i recommend earbuds, not speakers...it sounds like he's speaking right into your ears. not gonna lie, i died a little bit...] this song features silky smooth vocals from all 5 members--definitely showcasing their undeniable talent. taeyang's and g-dragon's falsetto parts do not disappoint, and they sound amazing together. daesung's voice sounds raw and passionate when he declares "you don't need me anymore". and seung ri's voice has a pure, yet mature quality to it [after all, he is only 20...]. i'm pretty sure this song has made me fall head-over-heels in love with all 5 of them. and it also gives me a craving for caramel machiattos...

my overall assessment of BigBang's The 4th Mini Album is that it is a great cd. i would definitely recommend it for both diehard V.I.P's and casual kpop fans. it features a great mix of old and new BigBang sounds. each track is different, and presents different emotions. both the music and the lyrics show how the boys have grown up and matured since the release of "remember", yet they still remain true to the unique style that made them famous to begin with.

good job, BigBang...your newest mini album definitely does not disappoint!!

[as an added bonus, here is "cafe" from the new mini album...listen to it, fall in love with them, and you'll understand what i was talking about...]

BIGBANG Big Show 2011

yesterday, i had the privilege of seeing the 1st of the 3 Big Show concerts. [the other two are today and tomorrow.] due to luck and my sheer amazingness at acquiring excellent concert tickets, i was able to secure standing spots on the first floor, by the side stage. unfortunately, i was unable to take any illegal creeper pictures//fancams due to the fact that i was unable to move my arms during the majority of the concert, and i was in plain view of a security guard. [this is because i ended up being right against the gate by the stage due to will power and determination--and unnaturally sharp elbows.]

the concert was every bit as amazing as i had expected. bigbang definitely knows how to please their fans and excite a crowd--their performances never disappoint.

i went to the concert with my friend, jen. [our friendship and shared love for bigbang works because i'm in love with T.O.P, and she's in love with G-Dragon.] we arrived at the venue really early because we wanted to check out the concert merch. which was a fail because the line was super long and we didn't want to wait. however, our early-ness definitely paid off, because we were interviewed on tv!! the camera guy just wanted us to say a few things in korean; so we said that we loved bigbang and were excited about the concert. and then we pulled out the signs that we had worked so hard to make [jen's for GD and mine for T.O.P~~obvi], and i said that i loved T.O.P because he was handsome, and the camera guy laughed. SCORE.

after braving the semi-coldness outside, and the crazy middle school fangirls inside, it was finally time for the concert to start!! the lights dimmed, and on the big screens, they showed the premiere of GDTOP's music video for "집에 가지마" [don't go home]...omygosh. best music video everrrr. after the video, it got really dark...music started playing and the crowd rushed forward towards the stage. bigbang was coming! they opened with "hands up", one of the songs off of their new mini album. it was sooo much fun being on the floor--everyone was jumping and screaming from pure excitement.

seung ri was the first to perform his solo stage, singing his new songs "V.V.I.P" and "어쩌라고" [what can i do]. i think he's always really entertaining to watch because he has a lot of confidence and charisma while performing.

the next solo stage was taeyang, who sang "where u at" and "i'll be there". amazing, as always. my only complaint was that he did not rip off his shirt and reveal his famous rock hard abs.

daesung performed a brand new song for his solo performance, "baby don't cry". omygosh. i CANNOT wait for his solo album to be released!! the song was probably one of my favorites during the concert. the performance was simple, but that just allowed to audience to focus on daesung's amazing vocals all the more. the song had a pop-rock feel to it, which suited his voice perfectly.

finally, it was GD&T.O.P's turn. they began with an amazing performance of my personal favorite, "뻑이가요" [knock out]. i had seen this song performed live 3 times previously, and this was most definitely my favorite. their outfits were amazing, the dancers were great, and the audience interaction was perfect. the duo came out on segways [GD rolled right past where i was standing!], and they even had an army tank on the stage...just like in the music video. next, they sang "oh yeah" with 박봄 [park bom] from 2NE1, and finally, "high high". all of bigbang joined them on the stage for their last song.

about halfway through the concert, bigbang showed the parody they had made of the incredibly popular kdrama, "secret garden". [it was seriously the best show of all time.] the parody was absolutely hilarious.

bigbang sang a lot of old favorites, including the acoustic version of "하루하루" [day by day]--which is my favorite version of my favorite korean song [which just so happens to be the song that got me hooked on bigbang]. they also performed all of the songs from their new mini album, which was released on thursday. i particularly enjoyed the performance of "cafe", because the song is super hot and [almost] everything about the performance was super hot as well. [the song showcases T.O.P's deep, sexy voice. ummheckyess.] the only thing that confused/bewildered me about the performances of their new songs were the outfits...seung ri and G-Dragon were wearing [wait for it]...

...SKIRTS. i mean, WHAT THE HECK?!?!??!?!?!? i have no idea what they were thinking when they decided that this would be a good idea. seung ri wore a freaking pleated black mini skirt over his jeans. [i read in an article online that they were trying to copy the fashions from the movie "300". it did not work out too well for them.] however, GD was wearing a straight up, legit skirt. like, it fell just below his knee. and it was gold. and sparkly. G-DRAGON THIS IS NOT OKAY!!!!!!!!! T.O.P was wearing some strange half skirt thing [it was literally half of a skirt. it covered only one leg...actually, it looked more like a weird apron]. i mean, at least he wasn't trying to rock a skirt-skirt, but still. not ok. at least daesung and taeyang resisted--they wore pants. like men.

i wasn't really surprised in GD's wardrobe choice [i mean, last year, he tried to rock a man skirt during the big show...at least this time he wore jeans underneath his skirt. last time, he was wearing what i can only assume were leggings]. however, i was surprised that he somehow managed into talking seung ri to go along with it. and that he was able to halfway convince T.O.P that it was a good idea.

fortunately for G-Dragon, he started playing a guitar halfway through the song "tonight", so i was willing to overlook and kind of forgive his fashion mis-hap. [this is because guys playing the guitar while singing are SUPER hott.]

the concert ended with the unveiling of bigbang's music video for their new song "tonight". and then the crowd began to chant: 사랑해! 사랑해! 사랑해! [we love you! we love you! we love you!] not gonna lie, i screamed my heart out with all those middle schoolers. after about five minutes of nonstop screaming, bigbang came back for the encore [that we all knew was coming]. they sang "always" and "볽은 노을" [sunset glow]. amazing. yet, at the same time sad...because it meant that the concert was ending.

my only disappointed with the show was the lack of T.O.P love that my side of the stage received. daesung and taeyang each came over once. seung ri came over a lot. and lingered. [and once again, saw me//waved...next time i'm making a sign for him haha] and GD rode by on his segway. but T.O.P didn't even come over once! [sad face ㅠㅠ] the only time he was kinda close was at the end, when all of bigbang came over to that side, but not on the side stage...they stayed on the main stage [it was during a part when they were talking]. they were probably 30 feet away from where i was standing, but i waved my sign around in the air anyways. i'm not sure if T.O.P saw it, although it's possible [i was the closest person to him with a sign]. sigh. oh well. there's always next time^^

after the concert, jen and i met up with allison, and the three of us were on tv...again!! the guy just wanted to know our thoughts on the concert, as well as which member was our favorite. once again, jen and i pulled out our signs...the camera guy seemed impressed//amused.

so basically, i'm kind of like a celebrity. or something like that...

today's the big day!

8 hours and counting until the bigbang concert!!

i can't freaking wait^_______^

their new cd is banging, and if the concert is anything like last year's big show, then it's for sure going to be the greatest concert of my life~~EEKKKKK!!!!!!!!!

BIGBANG IS BACK!!

[most definitely incredible. hey, move.]

b to the i to the g [bang bang]

today, after having made V.I.Ps wait for 2 years and 3 months, BIGBANG has finally made their korean comeback *^_____________^*

i'm listening to their new mini-album now, while making my sign for tomorrow's concert [to be unveiled to the public later]. best day ever.

well, until tomorrow...because i get to see my boys up close and personal [1st floor standing tickets HECKYESS!!], and tomorrow is the official release date of their new cd [in hard copy form...today was the digital release date].

omygosh i'm going to be so close to this hottness, i might dieeeeeeee~~

ALMOSTALMOSTALMOST!!

bigbang's comeback...it's almost hereeeeeee^_____________^

also, on friday, i'm going to the bigbang big show 2011~~and i can't freaking wait!!
i'm gonna be among the first to hear NEW bigbang liveeeeee~~excitement!!*^^*

the new teacher

since the new school year officially begins next wednesday [2 march], all of the new [and old]teachers are at school today, moving into and out of classrooms, redecorating, etc etc etc.

also, today i met my new coteacher.

my first impression of her was: "holy crap, she strongly resembles yzma from the emperor's new groove". however, i was unwilling to let my initial prejudice against the woman effect my judgment of her character, teaching abilities, etc.

and then, i met her.

it's probably not a good sign when the FIRST thing your english coteacher says to you is: "englishee. no." while making a giant X with her arms.

she then proceeded to give me a double thumbs up and say: "you. me. BEST...[insert long pause here] together."

i can already tell that it's going to be a terrific year.

BIGBANG IS BACK...almost

YG has been teasing V.I.Ps for months regarding BIGBANG's comeback album [as a group, they've been missing from the korean music scene for about 2 years...although they have released quite a few japanese singles, plus g-dragon, taeyang, gdtop, and seung-ri have released successful albums/mini-albums during bigbang's korean hiatus].

after pushing back the official release date just enough times to drive fans absolutely crazy, the official word is that bigbang's 4th mini-album will be dropped next thursday.

earlier this week, they teased us with the offical tracklist.

and today, concept photos!! YAYYYYYY!!

T.O.P's new hair looks kinda...fugly. but whatever, he's T.O.P and therefore will always be supersupersexy regardless of his hairstyle. also, HOLYCRAPDAESUNG. he looks...ahh-may-zing.

[승리//seung-ri]

[태양//taeyang]

[대성//daesung]

[지드래곤//g-dragon]

[탑//T.O.P]

[빅뱅 화이팅!!]

graduation

today, my precious little 6th graders graduate and move on to middle schoolㅠㅠ

it just hit me today that this is actually happening, and--not surprisingly--i'm really sad about it...

these students have been my favorites ever since i first started teaching at buwon--back when they were in fifth grade. i mean, they were just really, really good students. they were fun, smart, and they always tried hard and seemed interested in my classes [ok, so maybe they weren't really interested, but they sure did a good job acting like it].

anyways, i'm really bad at saying goodbye. like, horrifically bad. usually, my m.o. is just to leave--no goodbyes necessary. but today, i'm obligated to attend the graduation, and say goodbye to my 300 favorite students.

and now i'm wondering why i wanted to be a teacherㅠㅠ
this sucks.

oops...

i totally forgot that yesterday was valentine's day, lovely readers.

oops.


since i live in korea, and koreans are obsessed with stupid lovey-dovey holidays, they celebrate it much differently people do back home in america.



in korea on valentine's day, the girl should buy candy or chocolates to confess her love to her husband//boyfriend//crush//whatever. blahhhh. [yes, i'm bitter...]



in case you're wondering who i gave chocolates to this year, the answer is...



...no one!! [surprise, surprise]



ohh, and in the spirit of valentine's day, here's a picture of T.O.P wearing pink*^^*

i'd give chocolates to him...

vacay: in pictures

jen and me...soooo ready for vacation!!

[and yes, we are wearing sunglasses...in an airport...]

intramuros [manila]

dancing on the wall at intramuros

[because i'm just that awesome.]

manila [as seen from intramuros]

the old spanish prison [manila]

cebu city

bluewater beach [mactan island]

we're on a boat!

[island hopping adventure^^]

the absolutely gorgeous beach at costabella

[mactan island]

the resort we stayed at for the last 3 days of vacay

[and we absolutely LOVED it]

haters gonna hate~

today, i managed to acquire first floor standing tickets to a sold out big bang concert [big show 2011].

yeahhhh. i'm that good.

so, imma be real close to the stage.

which means imma be real close to this hottness:

and also this:

aw snap.

vacay: filipino style^^

even though school is technically out for winter vacation, i only get 9 days off [sadness]. this year, i decided to go to the philippines with my friend jen, basically because it's warm and i'd never been there before. in hindsight, our vacation should have been more heavily researched [meaning: researched] prior to leaving korea. oops.

manila:
our vacation got off to an amazingly wonderful start. the lady at the ticket check-in counter was taking foreverrr to check us in, and we were starting to worry [i don't trust "e-tickets" haha]. as it turns out, it took so long because she had upgraded us to first class--probably because she thought we were pretty awesome. neither jen nor i had ever flown first class before, and it was quite possibly the greatest experience of my life. the seats are soooo big that i was able to curl up into a ball and sleep. also, the food is...edible. i don't think i can ever fly economy again.

after maybe 4 hours of flying, we landed in manila. the weather was hot and wonderful, and we were still pretty excited about our vacation. so, we hopped into a taxi and 30 minutes later the driver stops in sketchville and gets out of the car. we have arrived at our hotel. excellent...

our hotel was literally in the middle of what appeared to be a crime-ridden slum area. [i say this because it looked like a picture of the great depression-era hoovervilles that you see in history books, and there were people sitting on the sidewalks flipping knives.] also, i'm pretty sure we were the only guests staying in the hotel, and the workers definitely lived there. so that was kinda weird.

as it turned out, our hotel was a 2-mile walk from a big, nice shopping area, which is where we spent most of our time.

on our second day in manila, we decided to go sightseeing. luckily, we got the world's nicest cab driver, who [for a very small fee] played the role of tourguide for the day. he drove us around for about 6 hours, taking us to all of the interesting/historical places in manila. we started at intramuros, which was the old spanish fort/prison. it was really cool; you could climb the walls surrounding the fort and it offered a pretty good view of the city. from there we went to the gardens [conveniently located at another old spanish prison], the cathedral, chinatown [the oldest chinatown in the world...allegedly], and the U.S. WWII memorial. pretty interesting stuff.

oh yeah, i was also on tv. in the philippines. so, i'm kind of like an international superstar. [of tourism shows...i've also been on tv in korea twice, both times on tourism shows for the kpop segmentㅋㅋㅋ] at intramuros, a camera crew was set up, so i told jen to "casually" lurk in the background, and luckily my plan worked because the reporter came up to us and asked us to be on her show. jen didn't want to talk, so i did...just answering questions about tourism in the philippines [where we were from, why we were there, etc. etc. etc.]

cebu:
when the time came for us to leave manila [we were there for only 4 days], we weren't really sad at all...we were wayyyy too excited about going to the beach!! too bad we didn't know...

...that our hotel was lies.

ok, so before we went to the philippines we wanted to book our hotels to avoid hassle at the airport. so we researched the cheaply priced hotels we found using kayak.com [an excellent travel search engine], and we found one that we thought fit our standards. it claimed that it was merely 0.9miles from the beach and 3miles from the airport.

LIES.

it was 45 minutes from the airport and 1 hour from the beach. by taxi. pretty much it was the worst hotel ever. EVERRRRR. it was located in the middle of freaking nowhere. in an even worse area than our hotel in manila. [for real. we were awakened every night to the sound of sirens, and there were homeless people and hookers everywhere outside of our hotel. not okay.] even worse, our room was literally infested with ants and cockroaches. we told the people at the front desk about this problem...they looked at us like we were stupid, and they refused to let us change rooms.

also, the guard at the door seemed intent on trying to rip us off on cab fares. we had checked with the travel agent next to our hotel, and they told us what metered cabs would cost to get to various locations. they circled a nice beach on a map, and told us that the guard's job was to ensure that guests are not ripped off.

well, our first full day in cebu, we wanted to go to the beach. we showed the guard our map, and then he attempts to charge us 5 times what the metered fare should be. we argued with him for a while, and finally were able to bring it down to a more fair price. because of this, the cab driver starts off in an extremely pissed off mood. [which possibly explains what happens next...] the guy drives past the beach we had circled on a map and down a long unpaved side-street, overgrown with trees and bushes. we ended up in the middle of what appeared to be a run-down, abandoned resort. he pulled up the the beach area, stopped the car, and asked us to get out. when we refused, he actually got out of the cab and forced us out! then, he sped away, leaving us completely stranded. suddenly, about 10 guys came out from the abandoned hotel rooms [evidently, they lived there]. they started calling out at us, and i looked at jen and told her we absolutely had to get away. NOW. i remembered that there was a big resort nearby, and that if we could make it back to the main road, then we would probably be ok.

luckily, we walk fast and were able to make an escape. honestly, i've never been more frightened in my life [and i don't scare very easily...i mean, i've been followed at night and robbed at gunpoint. soo yeah, being frightened by this experience is saying a lot.]

apparently, there are no public beaches in cebu, and you have to pay to use any resort's beach area for the day. we were able to find one within our price range, and while we were there we asked the [thankfully] kind and helpful staff about public beaches. the lady said there was one, but that it wasn't safe, especially since we were white women travelling alone. her exact words were "getting kidnapped is probably something that would happen to you, as white women." awesome. she also indicated that it was in the direction that we had come from. more than likely it was were psycho cabbie had dropped us off.

the next day, to avoid the hotel and it's staff we spent the day island hopping. jen was mostly happy about being on a boat, and i was happy about snorkeling. it was awesome!! we collected sand dollars, saw blue starfish [they reminded me of papua new guinea!], and we got attacked by the same "ninja" fishㅋㅋㅋ

after one more miserable day at hotel hell-hole, we decided we could take no more. we decided to take the [monetary] loss and book a resort on the beach. luckily, i found a sweet deal online [$73 a night for a room that usually runs at $200/night--UMMHECKYESS], so we spent the last 3 days of our vacation blissfully sleeping on the beach. our resort was called costabella [i absolutely recommend it], and everything about it was beautiful, it had 2 pools, and a super clean beach area--white sand and clear water. sigh.

even though the vacation ended well, i think we were both ready to head back home to korea.

to our shock and surprise, we got upgraded...again!! for freeeee!! [happiness and joy!!]
sigh. i freaking love business class^^

all-in-all, an interesting vacation...with equal parts good and bad [and the good was VERY good...while the bad was also VERY bad]. not sure that i would ever go back, but then again, even if it was the world's most amazing vacation i still probably wouldn't go back...i'm far too interested in seeing things that i've never seen before, and going places that i've never been. [i have a list of 30 more countries that i want to visit...]