MBLAQ's Blaq Style: A Look Inside!

Okay okay so I kinda cheated on the whole buying Korean stuff because I knew someone who was going to Korea--and because of my restraint for my own self, I only asked for one thing...MBLAQ's firsl full-length album, BLAQ STYLE!

The thing I love most about this k-pop group is that they're so demn hardworking (I meant to spell it that way btw)! Plus the songs they released so far (Stay and Cry) made me want to buy this album even more, so on to the contents:

Album looks so cool but that "M" part is pretty fragile.

The album contains the actual CD, a small photobook, plus photo cards of the members.

1. "Sad Memories (Intro)" Composed by MBLAQ's Seungho.
Arranged by Park Se Hyun 1:40
2. "Stay" Rado, Jean, Won Taek and Gilmi Composed by Rado, Jin and Won Taek
Arranged by Rado 3:20
3. "Cry" E-Tribe Composed by E-Tribe
Arranged by E-Tribe & Lee Chi Woo 3:47
4. "그대여 (Darling)" Rain Composed by Rain, Bae Jin Ryul
Arranged by Bae Jin Ryul 3:13
5. "버린다 (Throw Away)" Bae Jin Ryul Composed by Bae Jin Ryul & Choi Ji Yeong
Arranged by Bae Jin Ryul 3:25
6. "녹 (Rust)" Jean & Won Taek Composed by Jean & Won Taek
Arranged by Jean 3:54
7. "Tonight" Bae Jin Ryul Composed by Lee Jae Yeong
Arranged by Lee Jae Yeong & Jo Sung Kwang 3:53
8. "이러지 않았으면 해 (Wish You Hadn't)" Bae Jin Ryul Composed by Bae Jin Ryul & Choi Ji Yeong
Arranged by Bae Jin Ryul & Choi Ji Yeong 3:25
9. "You're My +" Rado, Jean, Won Taek, MBLAQ's Mir Composed by Rado, Jean & Won Taek
Arranged by Rado & Jean 3:51
10. "Rolling U" Bae Jin Ryul Composed by Bae Jin Ryul
Arranged by Bae Jin Ryul 3:30
11. "Oh Yeah (C-Luv & Blue Magic Remix)" Rain Composed by Rain, Kim Tae Hwan, Jang Jae Min 4:41
12. "Y (JR GROOVE Remix)" Rain Composed by Rain, Bae Jin Ryul 3:29
13. "또다른 시작 (A Different Beginning) (Outro)" Bae Jin Ryul Composed by Bae Jin Ryul 0:41

A close-up of that CD:

Their album concept is all about that wet look--rain cascading on them and even on the CD! (Rain on the MBLAQ cd? Get it?)

Plus the mini-photobook:

 underwater group shot

 Seungho and his blonde hair

 G.O looking all gorgeous and manly (my fave shot out of the five!)

 Mireu, my favorite maknae rapper

Lee Joon--very charismatic as always

Doongie all blonde (I prefer him being non-blonde) 

It contains a lot more photos than these but I just took a shot for the individual members so you have a general idea of how it looks like.

I have to be perfectly honest, I like the concept of the Y mini-album better than this. The guys on motorbikes are so much better than them in water. Also the Y mini-album is actually bigger and packs more on what's inside than Blaq Style.

But Blaq Style has been receiving a lot of love in sales!

Photo cards also inserted in the album:

These are GORGEOUUUUS, especially those of G.O and Mir. I literally just drooled on the floor while looking at these. Wet look concept worked for me right here!

A minor complaint on the packaging is that its so hard to put everything back into that M! :((

The good news (for you guys, definitely not for me grrr) is that MBLAQ is repackaging Blaq Style with 3 new songs so if you haven't gotten yourself a copy, wait it out and just buy the repackaged one.

As for the songs, I do listen to this album all the way through, compared with the Y mini-album. My favorite has to be Stay, which immediately caught my ears on the first listen, as well as 그대여 (Darling), a song that's actually written by Rain for the boys. Cry took me a while to like it, but now I can't stop listening to it. Tonight is also a favorite of mine!

Love this album, extra points for no auto-tune!

Got the MBLAQ Blaq Style for 15,000won, or around P600 in a OK! in Myeongdong Underground Shopping Center.
Also available in YesAsia HERE.


Note: MBLAQ always repackages their albums which I hate the most.

Read More

SNSD's Hoot 3rd Mini-Album: A Look Inside!

This might be the last of my "look inside" entries for awhile, because I have officially banned myself from buying any more Korean-related goodies because I'm becoming so addicted!
Anyway this album isn't even mine, I borrowed it from a friend and wanted to show those who are interested:

Here is So Nyuh Shi Dae's (or Girls' Generation) 3rd mini-album, Hoot! Its packaged in a paper cover--about as thick as a cardboard which you just flip open.

Tracklist:
1. 훗 (Hoot)
2. Wake up
3. 단짝 (My Best Friend)
4. 내 잘못이죠 (Mistake)
5. 첫눈에…(Snowy Wish)

Contents of the album:

There's a discount coupon for WeSing (SM Entertainment's Karaoke Place in Korea), a trading card (Taeyeon) and a pack of stickers!

How the CD looks like:

And the album leaflet which features all the members:

 Tiffany in a short blonde wig

 L: Tiffany;; R: Jessica, who looks really hot in this photoshoot and her newly darkened hair

 L: Jessica; R: Seohyun

 L: Seohyun; R: Sunny who has this gorgeous purple outfit on!!!

 R: Sunny; L: Hyoyeon, who I think got overly edited by Photoshop because her face looks way weird here

 R: Hyoyeon (see how different her real face is from the one above!?); L: Taeyeon who looks oddly like Katrina Halili

 L: Taeyeon; R: Yoona

 L: Yoona; R: Yuri, hottest SNSD member in my opinion

 L: Yuri; R: Sooyoung wearing a wig

 L: Sooyoung; R: Taeyeon, Jessica, Sunny and Yuri

I had second thoughts about buying this album because it only had 5 songs, I thought I'd wait it out first to see if they will repackage it (which they usually do which I think is totally CHEATING).
Songs all in all were great, "Hoot", their title track is very catchy and bouncy. I like "Mistake" the best, which is a ballad and was written by Yuri!

SNSD's Hoot is available at Yesasia at $14.99.

Read More

2AM's Saint O'Clock Limited Edition: A Look Inside!

Ahhhh 2AM, where do I begin? I have been totally in love with this boyband for every album they release, and their latest did NOT disappoint me at all.

As I've previously mentioned before, I won in the GMarket Bloggers' Event and this was the first item I pre-ordered as a prize for myself. I tell you even though I didn't get this for free, I would've still spent for this limited edition.

Read More

MBLAQ's Y 2nd Single Album: A Look Inside!

Even though this album has been released for quite some time, I still received an e-mail or 2 from some A+'s requesting to see the contents of MBLAQ's Y album.

Before I start, here's a short background of the k-pop boy group:

MBLAQ (stands for Music Boys Live in Absolute Quality) is a boy band discovered by Korean world superstar Rain, and is composed of Seungho, G.O, Joon, Cheondung, and Mir. Cheondung is actually Dara's little bro who also lived here in the Philippines when he was younger! And yes he does speak in Filipino as well! I like them because they have a different sound, they're all very energetic and work hard at what they do. Plus the fact that they're good-looking is also a plus!

Now that you know the band, on to the insides!

Thought this was pretty clever!

Tracklist:
1. 4 Ya’ Stereo – Intro (feat Taewan aka C.Luv)
2. Y – [title track]
3. One Better Day
4. What U Want
5. Last Luv
6. Y (instrumental)
7. One Better Day (instrumental)

As with other k-pop CDs, also has a photobook attached to the album containing gorgeous photos of the boys as well as their solo shots:

 

I really liked this biker concept for them! 

But this photo of the black and blue--I have to say this really brought out their handsomeness!!!^^

 Yang Seungho

 Jung Byung Hee (G.O)

 Lee Chang Sun (Joon)

 Park Sang Hyun (Cheondung)

Bang Cheolyeong (Mir)

I honestly loved their single "Y" as well as "One Better Day", thought this was definitely better than their first single "Oh Yeah" (which I also have). Compared to the first single album, this one contains more songs. I honestly thought they should've made this into a mini-album instead.

Got this from YesAsia at $10.99 as a gift from my guy! He also got me the poster that comes along with this.
If you're still planning on buying this album at the said site, I suggest you just get the Taiwan version, which comes with a DVD of all their music videos that they previously released (imagine my exasperation when this came out a few weeks after mine was delivered).

But I also heard that they're releasing this album in the Philippines after Rain's Back to the Basic album, so maybe you can check out our local record stores to see if its already there!

Read More

2NE1's To Anyone Album: A Look Inside!

I received a few emails awhile back asking me if I could do posts on the k-pop albums I buy, and of course, I am more than happy to oblige! I hope these posts will encourage you to get a copy of their album as a sign of support for the artist.

For those who don't know, the Korean music industry puts a lot of effort into creating their albums--especially for the packaging! I don't have any Korean album that isn't elaborate and makes me go "wooooow so worth it!" just on the packaging alone.

So, without further ado, here's 2NE1's To Anyone album:

For Filipinos, 2NE1 is the girl group which Sandara Park is a part of.
2NE1 was the first Korean girl group I ever liked (first k-pop artists I liked? HAS TO BE RAAAAIN!), which is why I make it a point to always buy their albums. On to the contents!

Doesn't that CD design make you go ooooh and aaaaah? 

Read More