You are currently browsing the daily archive for March 12, 2009.
I’m not sure if I can update tomorrow. I’ll be home late. It will be my Seniors’ Night. So there, I’ll update if I can. ^^
Last year, Super Junior started their activities in China with the sub-group Super Junior M and they has evaluated themselves in the Chinese music market and received many “Best Chinese group award” at important music awards.
“In Chinese, the promotion of one album is often more than a year. We debuted in April last year so normally we’ll promote at least until April this year but we have to came back because of Super Junior’s 3rd album. But we still miss all the Chinese fans” (Ryeowook)
They received love from Chinese people at all the ages and become “National idol”.
“Chinese fans are variety. Once we were in the airport with the bodyguards who was protecting us but suddenly they turned their head and took photos of us” (KyuHyun)
“Last year, it seemed that we performed at all the music award shows’ ending. In fact we are still newbie in Chinese so we should perform the opening stage, but the sponsors worried that the audiences might be leave so they told us to perform at the end. If we dont, there might be some music award show had to be canceled” (Shiwon)
The highlight is HanKyung had chosen to be one of the torch deliverer in 2008 Beijing Olympic. “I felt very strange. And I felt honored. I didnt cry (laugh)” (HanKyung)
Super Junior M’s active effort makes Super Junior’s popularity higher. The recent Super show in Chengdu attracted about 10,000 fans.
source: SJ-World
credit: sjmarket
translated by: evanesco@sj-world
Super Junior is a outstanding idol group in which 13 members each fit their own individual style. Kangin, Ryeowook, Sungmin, Yesung, Eeteuk, Kyuhyun, Donghae, Hankyung, who are strong in vocals, alongside with Eunhyuk, Heechul, Shiwon, Shindong, Kibum, who are strong in dance and rap, was about to show us an amazing performance along with singing live perfectly. Last February, Heechul shared an intense kiss on the lips with the male drummer at their Thailand concert. His sudden behavior became the topic of conversation. About Heechul’s actions, Super Junior’s leader Eeteuk explained jokingly “Please look at it as a form of performance. Heechulie just wanted to raise himself up so I think that’s why he came up with this idea.”. Yesung and Ryeowook added “Heechulie hyung prepares several performances ahead of time for each performance we hold. We think that the kiss performance came from the fact that he like Japanese music.” At the time, in an interview with Heechul by a Thai reporter, he addressed the question about his ‘kiss performance’. Heechul explained “I’m not a homosexual at all. I just attempted a new kind of performance.” Shiwon and Donghae nodded their heads slantwise while saying “We playfully pull each other in for hugs and say ‘I love you’ often but was there a misunderstanding among the fans?” Shindong and Ryeowook as well as other members showed their confidence when they said “After performing in China for a year, a repertory, that would be able to perfectly accept the 3 hour time span, has been appeared. All the members have their own talents and so no matter what kind of bad situation or unexpected outburst happens, we’ll be able to handle it well. Even if there is a strong wind instead of firecrackers, we will smile naturally.”
source: SJ-World
credit: JoongAng + IS Plus
translated by: Jihee@Sj-world
After much acclaim for her R&B cover of SNSD’s “Gee”, 27-year-old Natalie White has been flown to Korea and has expressed her love for Korean music.
Natalie, born in Indiana, is currently an amateur singer and music producer. Koreans, who have always been envious of the global success of American music, have flocked to praise a talented American musician who is supportive of their own culture. The papers have praised her for her perceptiveness for commenting that K-Pop has “energy” and makes people want to dance along.
White had apparently been exposed to K-pop for the first time through television ten years ago while attending university. Even though the television in her dorm showed only three channels, one of them happened to be a dedicated channel for Koreans. From watching K-dramas, she became interested in the music too. This is a rather familiar path for a lot of us, no?
She had first become fascinated by Shinhwa, before starting to cover songs by BoA, DBSK, SNSD, Wondergirls, SS501 and May Doni. As you all know, Natalie likes to put her own unique twist to each of the K-pop songs and upload them on YouTube under the username “Pumashock”. Her videos of R&B cover of “Gee” and WonderGirls “Nobody” have amassed over 2.6 million views and is certainly getting K-pop fans around the world excited. Netizens have embraced her videos not withholding praise, saying “she’s the best” and “refreshing”.
White has told Korean press that she wants to debut as a singer in Korea and help the musical exchange between K-Pop the States. She said that she doesn’t want to look special just because she is an African-American singing Korean songs, that she wanted to transcend nationalities and be recognized as a musician. This is unlikely – it is doubtful that an average Korean girl singing a remix Gee on YouTube would have caused such a media maelstrom.
Let’s face it, we the Koreans are looking for validation of our pop culture and that a seemingly-talented American has taken the effort to learn this song and is showering us with compliments is just massaging our bruised egos (after the damp squibs we call Se7en and BoA). Natalie’s been famous for less than a month, and she’s already featured in official government pages from Korea.net to the front page of Dynamic-Korea.com
Even JYP, who brought us the likes of Rain and the Wonder Girls for whom it should be in his interest to promote K-Pop, doubted the existence of the “Hallyu” (the Korean cultural wave), saying last year that if something is good enough to be global, then it’s good enough to be global, it doesn’t have to be Korean. Try telling that to the public who want to believe Rain and “Coffee Prince” are popular in America.
Natalie has fulfilled a small dream that she has cherished for ten years though. On SBS Star King, she managed to meet Andy of Shinhwa in person. She was obviously pleased with the opportunity to perform with him.
Upon hearing her renditions of “Nobody” and “MollaIng”, Yoon Il Sang (former music producer for Kim Beom-Soo, Lee Jung Hyung, COOL, Kim Jong Kook etc) kept praising her: “Natalie has the emotions and singing power unique to black people and has the ability to easily change the feeling of any Korean song at her will… with a little specialist vocal training before debuting, she could become a leading star in Korean music”
If anyone has been waiting for the March 7th edition of Star King! to watch Pumashock in action, you probably already know that it has been postponed because of Korea and Japan waving
sticks and throwing leather lumps (ie baseball) being aired on SBS in Star King!’s slot, so it will apparently air this Saturday instead.
source: seoulbeats
Jang Ja Yeon’s family have started speaking out at the frenzied speculation about her death. Several days ago, Jang Ja Yeon’s family asked for the media to cease publication of speculative articles on the suicide.
“We are thankful for everyone’s attention and support; thanks to everyone we were able to hold a respectable funeral. However, the rumours about Ja Yeon’s death pains us greatly and so I have penned this to ask you all to stop.
“She always had pride in what she did from her debut in 2006. She had a bright personality and loved her work… Especially because of Boys over Flowers since she managed to connect with other actors and television audiences. She always had a bright smile on her face [because of BoF].
“I hope that speculators will now stop spreading rumors about Ja Yeon. We speak especially to her management agency… who have a lot of weight on their words… who have hurt the family so much.
“Whatever issues the agency has, secret testaments or whatever, it doesn’t change the fact that our Ja Yeon has left this world… I beg you, please, don’t take your speculation and rumors to darken Ja Yeon’s memory”
Now her sister has waded into the argument. She has now asked the police not to reopen the investigation into her death. A police spokesman for the case confirmed that on the evening of the 10th, “the victim’s sister did call the station and asked why the police would want to re investigate the circumstances of someone who has already passed on” and said that the plan “honor whatever requests the family has” as much as they can.
However, when asked about the now infamous “hidden testament” revealed by Ja Yeon’s manager, the police have not ruled out re investigating her death if such a document is brought to them.
“We have tried to confirm the existence of the document by attempting to contact the current holder, Yoo Mo, but he is currently not taking any phone calls from us. We will have to assume that the incident was indeed suicide and we plan decide on how to proceed early next week.
source: seoulbeats
Not for a holiday, mind you. Rain a.k.a Jung Ji-hoon will be testifying in a civil trial against him in the US District Court.
The 27-year-old and his producers are being sued for the abrupt cancellation of his June 2007 concert in Honolulu.
Hawaii-based Click Entertainment Inc. alleges in the suit that Rain and his producers defrauded it of more than US$500,00 paid in licensing fees. It is also seeking additional compensation for the cost of staging the event including rental of Aloha Stadium, stage production, travel, hotel accommodations, merchandising and advertising.
Rain will be arriving in Honolulu on March 15 at about 8.40am. He will be on Korean Air flight #KE-051.
Hawaiian Clouds (Rain’s fans) are all set to give the South Korean superstar a warm welcome at the airport, as well as show their support for him when he appears for court the following day.
Sources: K-popped! reader Gerrie Nakamura & The Korea Times
TVXQ / DBSK / Tohoshinki has enjoyed first place on the Oricon Charts for their releases over the past year but this wasn’t the case this time. With stiff competition, TVXQ placed 3rd on the Oricion Daily Sales chart. TVXQ’s single “Survivor” had a total sales of 54,243 while KAT-TUN almost tripled this amount for their single “Rescue” with 143,941 sales.
Although TVXQ has been quite popular in Japan, they still have some way to go before they can compete with the Arashi’s and KAT-TUN’s of the world. But we know they can do it, continue to support them everyone! Thanks to Lady Tee for the tip.
source: allkpop
PERSONAL OPINION: Honestly, I like Survivor more than Rescue and about Arahi’s newest single, I must find tim to hear it. (urgh! what kind of Arashi fan am I? lol)
