kpopoftheweek

Every Sunday I look back at the preceding week in Kpop and pick out a music video or performance that I have particularly liked. This week I have chosen VIVIZ – Love or Die – 2025 New Legacy Tour -- Montreal.

https://youtu.be/Pm-5Kmmbkns?si=W77CAsxT9KSnUEym

I like the RnB with Latin touches song, I like the Kany choreography, and I like the outfits too, so when all three came together in this stage in Montreal – a city I like – my choice for #KpopOfTheWeek was easy.

#Kpop #KpopOfTheWeek #VIVIZ #LoveOrDie #NewLegacy

@kpop @kpop@a.gup.pe

Every Sunday I look back at the preceding week in Kpop and pick out a music video or performance that I have particularly liked. This week I have chosen Sunmi – Blue! – It’s Live.

When this came out, I enjoyed the song but felt unwilling to post the MV, since cockroaches plague the part of Texas where I live and I am at war with them.

The indie rock style of the song seems ideal for live performance. But is “It’s Live” live? Any attempt to answer that question leads into a labyrinth,so I will resist temptation, take the label at face value, and just enjoy the performance while noting how pretty - as always - Sunmi looks.

https://youtu.be/CgAdp2F9h2E?si=P14EQe9WeroMVVzO
#Kpop #KpopOfTheWeek #Sunmi #Blue! #ItsLive

@kpop @kpop@a.gup.pe

Every Sunday I look back at the preceding week in Kpop and pick out a music video or performance that I have particularly liked. This week I have chosen RESCENE -- the Fillin' Live.

https://youtu.be/nQSBOVxs_YY?si=zaW0MIo6D2LkYT_c

Here are one of my favourite girl groups doing a half hour "It's Live" mini concert.

I've liked this group ever since they first appeared on the scene with "Yo Yo". Their singing appeals to me, they have good material, and they perform well.

I enjoyed hearing them perform the live band versions of their songs.

Left to right: Liv, May, Zena, Woni, and Minami.

#Kpop #KpopOfTheWeek #RESCENE #ItsLive #GirlGroups

@kpop @kpop@a.gup.pe

Every Sunday I look back at the preceding week in Kpop and pick out a music video or performance that I have particularly liked. This week I have chosen Hearts2Hearts – Pretty Please.

This prerelease was a nice surprise to have before the comeback proper in October. I liked the song itself, so very SM girl group in its sound, and particularly enjoyed the singing of Yuha, Carmen, and Ye-on. Although the first rap fitted in so well, the second did not, or at least not to my ears. I was also slightly disappointed that the production for this cute song did not have smooth purity heard in “The Chase”; what was that male voice doing? I’ve heard that effect before, although I can’t remember where exactly. Probably somebody who knows more about music production than I do can say more about this.

I chose this stage because I like seeing the full choreography and the stylist did not incorporate those hideous overalls that have disfigured other “Pretty Please” stages. A-na looked especially pretty in the celadon top and with her hair up.

https://youtu.be/ErRXOBByYPM?si=srJSTbNXxzASeys9
#Kpop #KpopOfTheWeek #Heart2Hearts #PrettyPlease #KpopStyling #GirlGroups

@kpop @kpop@a.gup.pe

Every Sunday I look back at the preceding week in Kpop and pick out a music video or performance that I have particularly liked. This week I have chosen NMIXX – Spinnin' on it.

There's enough going on with the music here to make it a fixture for relistening. I loved the striking but restrained use of colour in the MV. Other aspects of this intense three minutes and twenty six seconds have left me with unsettling questions about my passion for kpop.

https://youtu.be/RblIsNFR1j4?si=hW-bPvLkRKhHiDH5

#Kpop #KpopOfTheWeek #NMIXX #SpinninOnIt #GirlGroups

@kpop @kpop@a.gup.pe

Every Sunday I look back at the preceding week in Kpop and pick out a music video or performance that I have particularly liked. This week I have chosen NMIXX -- SPINNIN’ ON IT -- Performance video.

This must count as one of the best performance videos I have ever seen. Both the black and white and the editing complement the music to produce that wonderful synthesis of the visual and the aural that is Kpop at its unique best.

This video demonstrates the power of a well executed performance video to pull me away from a fixed narrative or any straightforward representations, allowing me instead to become absorbed in the performance’s tensions and resolutions and the concomitant recognition of those tensions and resolutions within myself.

https://youtu.be/NGV2vnOx2Ps?si=C7zX-nFgRZmL6LzV

#Kpop #KpopOfTheWeek #NMIXX #SpinninOnIt #PerformanceVideos #GirlGroups #Aesthetics

@kpop @kpop@a.gup.pe

🧵 1/2
Every Sunday I look back at the preceding week in Kpop and pick out a music video or performance that I have particularly liked. This week I have chosen Hearts2Hearts – Focus.

I had been looking forward to this comeback and have been playing it frequently since its release, enjoying as I do disco inspired Kpop.

Nevertheless, I do think those who have sounded a critical note about the chorus have a point; would a more melodic, more “sung” chorus have been better? Could the conclusion of the song have been helped by adlibs?

On the other hand, I disagree with those calling the MV visually boring and monotonous. The development of the range of colour over the course of the MV struck me as masterful, especially when the temptation to move to an eye popping intensity in the concluding section of the MV was resisted, as such a shift would have clashed too much with the preceding sections.

All the girls looked beautiful, of course; vocally, Ye-on stood out to me.

My favourite stage so far has been….

https://youtu.be/Ur7aK4FvK-U?si=bJ9Fr5i6eJnLCgWS
#Kpop #KpopOfTheWeek #Hearts2Hearts #Focus #GirlGroups

@kpop @kpop@a.gup.pe

🧵 1/2

Every Sunday I look back at the preceding week in Kpop and pick out a music video or performance that I have particularly liked. This week I have chosen izna – Racecar.

A difficult choice this week, but I finally settled on this “Racecar” stage.

The song does not have a fully sung chorus, but I am not one of those who make it an inflexible rule to damn the “empty chorus” The prechorus works very well, and I like the vocals. I do wish the song had been extended.

I chose this stage because a restrained use of colour achieved that “unity without uniformity” look which I find so appealing. Kpop does not have to be all eyepopping colour and more of everything.

Look at the reply I am appending to this post to compare this stage with ….

https://youtu.be/BOgAW1c9rYQ?si=qfM23608YggKcN2p
#Kpop #KpopOfTheWeek #izna #Racecar #GirlGroups #KpopStyling

@kpop @kpop@a.gup.pe

Every Sunday I look back at the preceding week in Kpop and pick out a music video or performance that I have particularly liked. This week I have chosen NMIXX – Reality Hurts.

Another striking video from NMIXX. Starting from a low base at their debut, my esteem for this group has grown so much.

https://youtu.be/y4LlcShv9xs?si=THkmOT4AS_H33Hlk

#Kpop #KpopOfTheWeek #NMIXX #RealityHurts #GirlGroups

@kpop @kpop@a.gup.pe

Every Sunday I look back at the preceding week in kpop and pick out a music video or performance that I have particularly liked. This week I have chosen H1-KEY -- SEOUL (Such a Beautiful City).

I was so pleased when this popped up on my YouTube. It's a great song, which Yel, Hwiseo, Seoi, and Riina look so happy to be performing here.

They were videoed at one of the many festivals that take place at this time of year. I'm not clear how one gets admitted to these events. Presumably the ones at universities grant preferential admission to members of their respective academic communities, but this stage took place at a "youth festival". How pricy are the tickets for such an event?

https://youtu.be/JMdeZkymoHU?si=lYWRIAKd2pzGTPZk

#Kpop #KpopOfTheWeek #H1Key #SeoulSuchaBeautifulCity #GirlGroups #KpopFestivals
@kpop @kpop@a.gup.pe

Every Sunday I look back at the preceding week in Kpop and pick out a music video or performance that I have particularly liked. This week I have chosen VIVIZ – La La Love Me –Studio Choom.

I liked “La La Love Me” the first time I heard it, and the song has grown on me more and more ever since. Consequently, I was especially happy to see that there was to be a Studio Choom of the song, as that channel, with its high standards of videography and freedom from visual clutter, provides me with Kpop in a form I adore.

This Studio Choom did not disappoint me. The song only gets better as we watch the dance; I particularly appreciate the changes made to the choreography in each chorus. The black outfits, co-ordinated but not uniform, both suit the dance and display the physical beauty of the group without vulgarity. I also thought the hairstyling and accessories complemented the outfits so well, and even found myself reconciled to Eunha’s platforms. Kudos to the stylist!

I love this video. Watching it confirms my passion for Kpop!

https://youtu.be/WJ_EJM5NT6E?si=KYiq_Err67BcOSW7

#Kpop #KpopOfTheWeek #VIVIZ #LaLaLoveMe #StudioChoom #Choreography #PerformanceVideos #KpopStyling #GirlGroups

@kpop @kpop@a.gup.pe