Cher Lloyd "I Wish" (feat. T.I)

If people are still whining about "Swagger Jagger" after two years, it's time for people to build a bridge and get over it. Cher Lloyd has been pumping out the jams (minus "Oath" which was nothing short of a mistake) since getting that X-Factor UK contract back in 2011. She's preparing to tour and release a second album sometime down the road and the lead single "I Wish" has leaked. Cher has taken heed of the throwback wave that has been sweeping the charts and filled the song with horns and Mariah Carey-esque R&B/pop and has enlisted King of The South T.I. to assist her. You know you wanna listen...

Conor Maynard "R U Crazy"

After the mercilessness onslaught of teasers, Conor Maynard has released the first single for his upcoming sophomore effort. "R U Crazy" was produced by Labrinth and we hear Mr. Maynard being a little more brash with his girl, saying how he should he should have hooked up with her sister and is giving her the middle finger. Please Conor, you're way classier than that. You don't need act like a bad boy and be a try hard like all these other pop stars to show how talented you are. But I will say this again, if you have to strain to reach falsetto, please don't try. Still a banger, just no ear-splitting faux-setto please.

Graded Song:Teen Top "Rocking"

Teen Top is back! AWHOOOOOO!!! Now that's out of the way, "Miss Right" wasn't the best song in the world and I didn't bother with their other song because I think I was busy listening to "Expectation" over and over and over and over...(and over).  Now the boys are back with "Rocking".
The song is their equivalent to BIGBANG's "Fantastic Baby", except that it is you know, good. It's meant to be an enjoyable dance song with no major highlights and super addictive. But again, it could be better. I'm still waiting on "No More Perfume on You" part 2 tbh.
Graded Song:C+
The music video...hmmm what to say about the video They all looked good, especially Chunji and Cap (ESPECIALLY Cap). There was really no point of the scenes with the girl, beach and them beating the shit out of each other. And that dance is something else. I feel like someone would injure themselves trying to do that for fun.

Daft Punk "Lose Yourself To Dance" Music Video

Since 'Get Lucky' was such a success, why not keep it going. It was announced earlier this month that the second Pharrell collaboration on Daft Punk's "Random Access Memories" was getting the single treatment, now we have a music video to support the claims. It looks just like the promotional video for "Get Lucky" but there are other people (club-goers I'm guessing) dancing around the staircase where the group and Nile Rodgers are performing. I still want "Doin' It Right" as a single during the winter, but I can get down to "Lose Yourself To Dance" for now.

Stromae's "Papaoutai" is The Best Foreign Language Tune of The Year

Being caught up the whimsical world of K-Pop has kept my ears preoccupied from songs the other foreign language countries. Belgian singer Stromae has on my to listen list for a while and I just got around to listening to his single "Papaoutai". The song was released in June It starts off with an endearing piano intro, transformed to a slight 90s riff that ultimately fuses with muted military drums, electric guitar and trumpet like synthwork. This is a choreographer's wet dream right here and that is best exhibited in the songs music, where there are krumpers, ballet dancers and contortionists giving some serious life. I'm guessing I'm not the only one who feels this way as the video has over 34 million views on YouTube! I would love if Stromae re-recorded this in English and brought his creepy ass stone faced choreography to the English speaking markets. People are eating up this alt-pop/dance stuff now with Avicii, Lana Del Rey and Lorde charting all over the place. Why can't he get a slice of that pie too?

2013 MTV Video Music Awards: The Performances and Winners

Some people don't like watching all the unnecessary fluff that comes with awards shows, that's why you can watch all the performances from last night's Moonman ceremony, including Justin Timberlake's epic mini-concert and Robin Thicke's and Miley Cyrus's celebrity sex show act.  Also check out the list of winners afterwards.

Lady Gaga-Applause

Get More: 2013 VMA, Artists.MTV, Music, Lady Gaga

Miley Cyrus-We Can't Stop|Robin Thicke-Blurred Lines/Give It 2 U (feat. 2 Chainz and Kendrick Lamar

Get More: 2013 VMA, Artists.MTV, Music, Miley Cyrus

Kanye West-Blood on The Leaves

Get More: 2013 VMA, Artists.MTV, Music, Kanye West

Justin Timberlake-Highlight Medley W/N'Sync

Get More: 2013 VMA, Artists.MTV, Music, Justin Timberlake

Drake-Hold On,We're Going Home/Started From the Bottom

Get More: 2013 VMA, Artists.MTV, Music, Drake

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis-Same Love w/Mary Lambert & Jennifer Hudson

Get More: 2013 VMA, Artists.MTV, Music, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

Bruno Mars-Gorilla

Get More: 2013 VMA, Artists.MTV, Music, Bruno Mars

Katy Perry-Roar

Get More: 2013 VMA, Artists.MTV, Music, Katy Perry

Video of The Year Justin Timberlake-Mirrors  
Best Male Video Bruno Mars-Locked Out of Heaven  
Best Female Video Taylor Swift-I Knew You Were Trouble
Artist to Watch Austin Mahone-What About Love  
Best Pop Video Selena Gomez-Come and Get It  
Best Rock Video 30 Seconds To Mars-Up In The Air  
Best Hip-Hop Video Macklemore & Ryan Lewis-Can't Hold Us (feat.Ray Dalton)  
Best Collaboration Pink-Just Give Me a Reason (feat. Nate Ruess of fun.)  
Best Direction Justin Timberlake-Suit and Tie (feat.Jay Z)  
Best Choreography Bruno Mars-Treasure  
Best Visual Effects Capital Cities-Safe and Sound  
Best Art Direction Janelle Monae-Q.U.E.E.N (feat.Erykah Badu)  
Best Editing Justin Timberlake-Mirrors  
Best Cinematography Macklemore & Ryan Lewis-Can't Hold Us (feat.Ray Dalton)
Best Video with a Social Message Macklemore & Ryan Lewis-Same Love (feat.Mary Lambert)  
Best Song of the Summer One Direction-Best Song Ever  
Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award Justin Timberlake

Miley Cyrus "Wrecking Ball"

Miley may just win me back over this era. Her Kreayshawn style rap on Mike Will Made It's "23" is actually decent and after revealing the 80s styled cover for her upcoming "urban" album "Bangerz" she has offered up the next single from the album, "Wrecking Ball". This has to be like the fifth time this year where the lead single was atrocious as fuck and the follow-up was so good, you wonder who was dropped on their head when single choices were made. Miley emulates Katy Perry over Dr.Luke's twinkly 80s instrumental that reminds me of Cyndi Lauper and "Wide Awake". This is the music that Miley should have been serving up in the first place and not the shock value, drug-referencing "I Should Stop"  "We Can't Stop"

Graded Song:Nu'Est "Sleep Talking"

Nu'Est is slowly winning me over as my favourite male idol group with their catchy songs, hilarious members and Ren's feminine charms (Jo Kwon is still my favourite fem K-Pop star though). While "Hello" was a nice midtempo ballad, I was left longing for another uptempo banger like "Face" to twerk to when I'm shopping at Wal-Mart. The rookie group have teamed up with Duble Sidekick ('Countryside Life') for the title track for their third mini album, "Sleep Talking," which intoduces us to the "mystic fantasy" genre of music... Another comeback disappointment. The song is schizophrenic and had the potential to be like some of the best releases this year, but the melodies don't sound too developed. I feel like they should have followed the instrumentation of the chorus and built the song around that and made it a straightforward dance song. And the genre of the song is more like electronic-pop, it's nothing new people! You tried though...
Final Grade:C-
The music video looks like a cross between the Japanese music video of B1A4's "Beautiful Target" and Infinite H's "Special Girl" and follows the plotlines of SHINee's "Dream Girl" and A-Jax's "Insane". The boys are all asleep, but are stalking a girl in the dream world with their real world selves reacting to it. I do not like what they did with Baekho's hair. Cut entirely too short and it's pink!!! If you're gonna dye anyone's hair pink, you should go with Ren since he already looks like a gorgeous babe and the fangirls would eat it up.

Graded Song:Iggy Azalea "Change Your Life" (feat. T.I.)

Since it looks like Azealia Banks is too busy changing the colour of her weave every five minutes, I'm anticipating Australian raptress Iggy Azeala's debut, which will actually be released this year. Iggy has a surprising hit with her debut mainstream effort "Work" and followed up with the poppier "Bounce" and now she's on single #3 of her "The New Classic" crusade and has enlisted American rapper T.I. for "Change Your Life"
The female version of T.I.'s "Whatever You Like" updated for the 10's, directly marketed to the UK's urban market. A dub and drum and bass driven backbeat where Iggy tells how she can upgrade you and T.I comes from my dream car's life (Honda Civic). It doesn't isolate the people who knew her during her "Pu$$y" days and should bring in more fans of the ponytail whipping vixen.
Final Grade:B-

Little Mix "Wings" (Korean Version)

Little Mix are looking to conquer every music market available. With their first single "Wings" being a smash hit in Europe and a modest hit in America and Australia, the foursome are looking to Asia as their next target. A Korean version of the songs has hit the web and it's...not as bad as I thought. I'm pretty sure they don't know half of what they're saying (I listen to K-Pop and I don't even know what they're saying 99% of the time) but they don't sound like they are just reading from a page either. I especially enjoyed the breakdown part. Do you think we'll see the girls on "Inkigayo" any time soon?

Avril Lavigne "Rock N Roll" Music Video

Well, at least I know who to call when I have a bearshark problem. The mother-fuckin' princess Avril Lavigne has dropped the vid for her single that should have been the lead "Rock N' Roll". The action-comedy mini-film has Avril in a post-apocalyptic world where she fights with shank-wielding lobsters, makes out with hot girls and saves Billy Zane (of "Titanic" fame) from death. Yup, it's everything I expected and more.

Graded Song:Seungri "Gotta Talk To U"

While everyone is still whining that T.O.P still hasn't released a solo project, fanning themselves waiting on G-Dragon's or Taeyang's, or simply not caring that Daesung is promoting his in Japan I'm over here like #teamSeungribitch!!! He is the most underrated member of the group and his VVIP album has yet to be touched by any of his fellow BIGBANG peeps. After seeing the rated R trailer for his "Let's Talk About Love" mini, the first single had to be just as raunchy.
An interesting choice. I assumed that the single was going to be the track we heard in the trailer, but I was taken aback when I heard acoustic guitars mixed with European synths. The song is incredibly subdued and Seungri's vocals are restrained almost painfully, in comparison to the bombastic top forty dance production and overconfident performance showcased in my favourite solo song of his "What Can I Do". The hustlin' hustlin' part took me to Rick Ross' track of the same name. It's a slow burner, but it's just smoky enough to do the job.
Final Grade:C+

Ellie Goulding "Halcyon Days" Album Stream

Ellie finally got that #1 that she deserved a long time ago with her newest single "Burn" and with only a week to go before she re-releases her "Halcyon" album, the whole things leaks!!! Thanks to YouTube's handy playlist mode feature, you can now stream the whole thing here! The album includes all the tracks from the original release and ten additional tunes including "Burn", "You, My Everything", the previously exclusive Tesco track "Stay Awake", the flop. Nate Ruess penned "Goodness Gracious" and many more!

Lady Gaga "Applause" Music Video

If you were expecting a 15 minute Lady Gaga video, you better go back to "The Fame Monster" era. Mother Monster has released the much anticipated video for her single, "Applause", the first from her upcoming "ARTPOP" LP. The video is still bizarre (I mean that swan part tho...) and hopefully will bump her up a couple of spaces on the charts since the sales are decreasing day by day.

Zendaya "Replay" Music Video

With Zendaya already distancing herself from her Disney contemporaries with her debut single "Replay", she has decided to up the ante by releasing a killer music video to finish the job! Miss Coleman channels Cassie's "Me & U" with a hint of Ciara's "Promise" and a light dash of Aaliyah's "Are You That Somebody?" (all G-rated) as she breaks it down with a transparent male dancer then takes command of horde of them, mixed in with some fierce glamour shots with a teased curly do. Miley can keep the twerking, Zendaya can actually break it down!!!

Two Door Cinema Club "Changing of The Seasons"

Two Door Cinema Club just premiered their brand new single "Changing of The Seasons". While it sounds a lot like their other material, the song was produced by house music prodigy Madeon! You can hear instances of his signature glitchy synths and drum pattern intertwined in the indie pop song. Sounds like a winner (or a Phoenix song) to me!

Graded Song:Jesse McCartney "Back Together"

Before there was Justin Bieber, before there was Cody Simpson, before there was Austin Mahone and Isac Eliot, there was Jesse McCartney. The resident Disney Channel musician back in the mid-2000s released three albums that gave us unforgettable classics like "Beautiful Soul", "She's No You", "Right Where You Want Me" and "Leavin" before your faves made a YouTube channel. While "Shake" was a modest hit on radio back in 2010, McCartney's fourth LP, "Have It All" leaked after Hollywood Records failed to deliver it in a timely manner. He is back on the scene touring with the Backstreet Boys and one of the people from Jersey Shore with an independent label deal and a single, "Back Together".
Could this be the year that Jesse becomes a radio staple? "Back Together" goes right along with the trends that we have been hearing lately, with the throwback sound that could have been in Michael Jackson's earlier work and Justin Timberlake's recent stuff from The 20/20 Experience. The kickers here are the falsetto, which sounds like he practiced long and hard on and the pre-chorus
I reminisce with the stars tonight
And think of how we knew them all by name
But they don't shine half as bright
Ever since you walked aw 
I reminisce with the stars tonight
And I think of how we knew them all by name
But they don't shine half as bright
Ever since you walked away

Justin Bieber wishes he could...  
Final Grade:A-
He's also promoting the single! He recently performed the track live on "The Today Show" looking sharp and comfortable as ever! But with Katy Perry and Lady Gaga's singles clouding up the line of vision, I feel like this release be under the radar unless he can pull off some more high profile promotional opportunities. Then again, it wind up being a runaway success...

Stream King Krule's Debut Album a Week Before It's Released!

On Monday, King Krule snatched the wigs of Katy Perry and Lady Gaga by releasing his trip-hop song, "Neptune Estate" with no promo. On Tuesday, he continued the scalping by having his much-anticipated debut album leaked onto the internet, making many a hipster piss their pants in unison. Now "Six Feet Beneath The Moon" is available to stream almost a week before XL/True Panther officially release it on the 24th. A review for the album will be up on the site soon so keep your eyes peeled! For now, take a listen below.

2AM Club "Miley Cyrus"

Miss Miley Cyrus has become a thing on the hip-hop scene now. Jay-sans hypen Z name dropped her in "SomewhereinAmerica", Big Sean made her the starring lady in his "Fire" music video and Mike Will Made is giving her a feature on his debut studio album. But 2AM Club has upped the ante and dedicated a whole song to the former Disney Channel star turned faux-ratchet poster child for cultural appropriation and not just mentioning her as a code name for cocaine. A mix Drake style R&B with 90s Jay Z instrumentation, the song is new territory for the band and conquer it flawlessly.  While the song has her name as a title, the song could be applied to any person attempting to shed one image for another contrived one. Now I have one question, when's album #2 coming?

Haim "The Wire" Music Video

The Haim sisters seem to be taking notes from Electra Heart on how to be a heartbreaker, as the girls let go of their boyfriends and leave them bawling like babies in "The Wire" video. And yes, that is Jorma Taccone, one of non-hilarious but best looking one from comedy musician trio The Lonely Island.

King Krule "Neptune Estate"

Archy Marshall's album is shaping up to be my favourite of the year, and it hasn't even been released! The singer also known as King Krule has released another track from his debut in the form of "Neptune Estate". "Neptune Estate" is less rock influenced than first single "Easy Easy" and more like his Edgar The Beatmaker material with jazz and trip-hop and gives me Nujabes vibes. The video left off where the "Easy Easy" audio , he puffs on a cigarette looking towards the sky and plays around with a friendly dog. "Six Feet Beneath The Moon" is out August 26th.

Lady Gaga "Applause"

Lady Gaga has declared a pop state of emergency! After a mix of low and high quality snippets of her upcoming "ARTPOP" single "Applause" leaked over the weekend and Katy Perry's "Brave" "Roar" leaking in full, Gaga's camp decided to rush-release the song...in direct competition with Katy's today! Let the Pop Hunger Games begin.

Foxes "Youth" Music Video

As UK singer Foxes continues to grow in popularity thanks to her many hit collaborations, she is now pushing her solo stuff. With the re-release of her 2011 single, "Youth" on its way, Foxes has given us the visuals that the original lacked. Foxes embraces her inner hipster and hangs out with a band of misfit characters and parties up in a abandoned warehouse.

One Direction "Just Can't Let Her Go"

Not to be one upped by Katy Perry's unexpected leak, One Direction's supposed new single has also made its way to the internet. "Just Can't Let Her Go" is rumoured to be the boys lead single from their third studio album, due out sometime in the fourth quarter. The song is incomplete but it seems to have some Maroon 5 influences and tells the tale about a bad girl that they can't seem to shake. It sounds like a hit and now I'm excited to hear the full, studio version!

Graded Song:Katy Perry "Roar"

Katy Perry: The name of modern music legends. Her "Teenage Dream" era broke records in America, spawned five #1 singles (six if you include the re-release lead single) and two additional top ten hits. While it was a chart travesty that one of Katy's best songs, "Wide Awake" didn't top the charts, but Flop" Part of Me" it was nonetheless impressive and cemented Katy's pop star staus. It's 2013 and now the California Gurl is shedding her candy coated image for something a bit more "fuckin' dark" as she said. Miss Perry has been teasing her return with a gold truck and video clips until her new singke "Roar" leaked three days before it's slated August 12th preimere. To quote a lot of the people who have already identified it, "Roar" sounds identical to a song by a certain artist who's name is Sara Barellies: "Brave". But apparently, Katy got the blessing of Sara to sample "Brave" for this single, so it's all good. It's nothing I would want to add to my collection of music though. It's another empowering song in the vein of "Firework" and "Part of Me", but swaps the soaring strings and higher bpm for a military stomp clap and an eye of the tiger reference. It's very basic, but it's nice not to hear a recycle-me guitar riff by Dr.Luke.
Final Grade:C

Marina and The Diamonds "Electra Heart" Music Video

It's official. Electra Heart has kicked the bucket. Two years ago, Marina kicked off the fictional socialite's life with "Fear and Loathing" and chronicled it via 10 seperate entries and a #1 album. She has released the studio version of the song "Electra Heart" an EDM banger produced by Dr.Luke and Cirkut, which was played during the final leg of her Lonely Hearts Club Tour. In the video, Marina/Electra sports a ponytail and sings the song in a dark forest while clips from all the parts play, ending with Electra's signature heart on the cheek being wiped away.

Graded Song:TASTY "MAMAMA"

TASTY, Woolim's twin idol duo and self-proclaimed #1 performance duo of Asia, have impressed me this past week. They debuted last year with their genre-bending dance jam "You Know Me" (which I just discovered) and their dancing is on point! So when I heard through the grapevine that they were coming back this week, I was intrigued to see what they could dish out. "MAMAMA" is a big band inspired hip-hop song oozing with the swag that each of the twins seem to emit through their pores. Their vocal delivery during the second chorus is what makes the song much more convincing. Best thing is the breakdown which kicks the song into full swing before going back to the cool swag of the beginning The thing that I was most disappointed with the song was the length. It doesn't even cross the three minute marker.
Final Grade:C+
The music video is another flashy set music video featuring one pretty female lead, a Lamborghini and Infinite H's DongWoo and Hoya. The dancing was impressive, but a lot less memorable than in "You Know Me." If they would have had a swing section in the video, that would have slayed me!

Graded Song:Wassup "Wassup"

When news of a twerking (rapid sexual ass shaking) K-Pop group was to debut soon, I was disgusted and excited. Disgusted because I already have to hear about people claiming Miley-has-no-cakes Cyrus being dubbed as the twerking queen without it interferring with my perect fantasy if K-Pop being pure and untainted (LOL yeah ok...)and excited because just maybe they could actually twerk and not shake their bones. The group debuted today on cable since their are banned from the three major stations and the video for "Wassup" premiered later.
Even if this was released from another K-Pop rookie girl group, I would not like it. It's very choppy and the Ha Ha ha ha ha ha part is sooooooo annoying! And I can't at Nada (the rapper) ripping of a line of Azealia Banks' "212". I expected the song to make up for the butchering of the twerking but, nope.
Final Grade:D
The music video...O-M-G. It was like watching the twerking section of Miley's "We Can't Stop" on loop. Member Nada is the only one who seems to have the ASSests to do the actual twerking choreography. Maybe she should go off and become a solo artist and the rest of the group debut as a typical K-Pop group. Their company dropped the ball on this. Their debut stage today on Show Champion was a lot more toned down, but their outfits were atrocious.

King Krule "Easy Easy" Music Video

Turn down for what? King Krule's video for his song "Easy Easy" has him looking proper dapper in a suit a bit large on his frame while partaking in some hoodrat activities with his one of his mates, including rolling up a joint on a train and wielding a paddle that a Greek should envy.

Chase and Status "Count On Me" (feat. Moko)

Chase and Status, why do I keep missing when you premiere singles? I am such a bad fan! Better late than never. The duo have already racked up a top ten hit with "Lost and Not Found" and now the group his hopping onto the 90s house revival train with their second single, "Count On Me" featuring rising UK singer Moko. The song, along with "Lost and Not Found" will be included on their third studio album "Brand New Machine." Sounds like another winner! "Brand New Machine" will be released October 7th and the single will drop September 29th.

2NE1 "Do You Love Me" Music Video

After dropping their August release "Do You Love Me" yesterday, the music video followed suit today. The group is shown in a more "natural" setting having pillow fights, attending pool parties and acting derpy to the extreme (except CL who was too much for the camera). The concepts for "Falling In Love" and this should have been switched. I would have preferred them to be on a real beach for such a summery song compared to the hard electropop of this. 

Graded Song: 2NE1 "Do You Love Me?"

"Falling In Love" failed to live up to the potential that their past singles did and that reflected in its chart positions. It's a good thing that they still have a few more months to make up for it, starting with the August release of their third love themed single in a row, "Do You Love Me" A step up from "Falling In Love", but more like a half step than the step that was needed to make me satisifed with 2NE1's releases again. Dara gets a turn and leads the song, while Minzy's lines are diminished. Bom, well she's there on the chorus, but she's the least memorable member on this thing. The next song will probably be more oriented on her, so no worries. Fans are comparing this to "I Am The Best", but to be quite honest, it's no where near as good as that song.Also, I may be reaching here, but in my opinion, the song sounds extremely similar to Prozzak's (a now-defunct Canadian dance-pop band) "Infatuation". It could be just the spelling part done by CL (which is the best part of the song).
Final Grade:B-

Kings of Leon "Wait For Me" and "Supersoaker" Music Video

"Mechanical Bull" is fast approaching and Kings of Leon want to keep their fans pleased so they dropped two surprises on us in one day. First, they released another song from the LP, "Wait For Me" which a bit more slow and a lot more melancholy than first single "Supersoaker", which is what I always seem to enjoy by them. Speaking of "Supesoaker", the band has also released the video for the song as well. The video reflects the vintage feel of the song set in a mix of early 50s and 60s nostalgia, thanks in part to the camera filter and effects.
Wait For Me Supersoaker Video

Lee Yu Rim "Call My Name"

Thanks to the overall awesomeness of Simon and Martina of "Eat Your Kimchi", I found this! Lee Yu Rim is a rookie K-Pop artist signed to one of LOEN Entertainment's many sub-labels, and has released her single, "Call My Name" a week ago and it's pretty good. It has a predominately pop/dance instrumental, but incorporates that catchy dum-dum-dum piano line that is found in Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" and with some added indie elements, makes for a sunny and compelling listen.

Fefe Dobson "Legacy"

I had a friend in high school who stanned Canadian singer-songwriter Fefe Dobson's first album. During my sophomore year of college, I stanned her "Joy" album, as it had those two great cuts "Ghost" and "Stuttering". Since it seems now that she doesn't have any foreseeable label woes, a third (official) album is on its way and has a single in the form of "Legacy". "Legacy" starts with some guitar, which transitions into a handlclap-piano-medley like in house music, add military drums and let the euphoria take you. There were some parts that remind me of a sped up version of Walk Off The Earth's "Red Hands", but that can just be the similar drum patterns, which are present in a lot of mainstream pop songs.

The Wanted "We Own The Night"

If you asked me back in 2011 if I was a The Wanted fan, I would have said hell to the yes! "Glad You Came" and "Heart Vacancy" are better anything your faves could come up with on their best day. But from "Chasing The Sun" onward, I've grown tired of the boys with their constant bitchingbrooding because they aren't as famous as their fellow British-Irish fivesome One Direction and the quality of their songs decreasing with each subsequent release. Today, they premiered their new single "We Own The Night", which sounds like a PG-13 version of a song that you would hear on a direct-to-DVD sequel of a Disney movie. It's tons better than "Flops Like Riri", I'll give them that.

Graded Song:Jessie J "It's My Party"

Jessie J's first two singles were two contrasting forces: the brashness of "Do It Like a Dude" likened her to the UK's response to Nicki Minaj, while the guitar driven pop "Price Tag" showed her as a top forty goldmine. I forgave her for releasing "Wild" earlier because I assumed that it would grow on me like "Laserlight" did, but it did not. Then I looked to the 2nd single, "It's My Party" because Sir Calvin Harris produced it and he had yet to disappoint with his productions.
Jessie, gurl we know you can sing. We don't need you to go Christina Aguilera on us and oversing the whole song. It was cute when you did it on "Domino", but that should have been a one time thing. And the fact that Calvin did nothing to make the song even remotely interesting is a crime in itself. It sounds like he blatantly ripped off Dr.Luke's signature recycle-a-song format and paired it with what David Guetta did with "Laserlight", which was essentially a copy of his flaw-free collab with Sia "Titanium" and out came "It's My Party". And with all the amazing songs he's released in the past year (he even made Cheryl Cole sound good), there is no excuse why this shouldn't have been "Sweet Nothing" 2.0. Jessie is officially 0-2 in this era.  
Final Grade:C-

Graded Song:EXO "Growl"

Now that EXO is finally out SM's basement, they aren't ready to put them back just yet. After "Wolf" became their highest charting single to date (and on the contrary of hatin' azz netizens slays all to high heaven), SM has prepped a repackage of the group's "XOXO" album and offered up a new title track, "Growl" continuing with the whole lycan theme.
So I guess since most of Korea didn't enjoy the genre-bending slayage that is "Wolf", they have opted for a more straightforward release. Like with "Wolf" the dance practice video was leaked days before, so I had an idea of what the song sounded like in LQ. It's an alright song, but compared to "Wolf", "History" and "MAMA" this is pretty dryyyyyy. The part that starts with the red haired one singing and the other four come in and begin to harmonize with each other is the most interesting part of an otherwise boring piece. Shame on you SM.  
Final Grade:C

Negelcted K-Pop Songs: July 2013

There are always those comebacks or debuts that I miss (or totally forget to blog because I have a life outside of the internet) in the K-Pop world. And as you can see, Taeyang is not pleased with my neglect. I'm sorry. I can't do them all!!!! So I decided to retread the K-blogosphere and wrap up ten (because if I tried to do all of them my eyes would bleed and render me blind from blogging ever again) and plan on doing this at the end/beginning of every month.
1.BTS-We Are Bulletproof (Part II)
After "No More Dream," BTS was one of the groups where I was like, meh. Then they went and released an MV for this Americanized urban smash and I was sold! The delivery, the clothes, the choreography, Jimin's hips... TEN! TEN! TEN!
2.Xia Junsu-Incredible
Not a big fan of the former TVXQ member's "Taratellegra" which was just a bit too "forward thinking" for me. "Incredible" however nice, the video is very colourful and diverse but the rap (shake your spaceship candy...really?) just really brings down the quality of the song, much like Flo Rida and Pitbull do whenever they feature on anything.
3.Brown Eyed Girls-Recipe
The pre-release single before the girls unleashed the beast, sounds like it should have been on Ga-In's "Talk About S." But that's not me hatin', just making an observation. Funky, smooth, perfect for mature late night drives through the city. And Miryo, how I live for your raps...
4.Brown Eyed Girls-Kill Bill
 
Their official comeback song, Brown Eyed Girls do the unexpected and tone it down instead of turning it up and making all the other K-Pop comebacks look basic as fuck.While sonically Kill Bill sounds like a basic, Western (as in westerns genre not Western)inspired song, the visuals are a comedic blend of the Taratino film it's based on and dash of "Abracadabra."  
5.Girl's Day-Please Tell Me
Like the saying goes, if you have too much of a good thing, something pleasant becomes unpleasant because you have too much of it. Girl's Day has already come back twice and on the 30th, they released a special digital single. I guess Dream Tea is still trying to push them, even though they have proven themselves as a second-tier girl group but they need to give them a rest. I probably won't be ready for another Girl's Day comeback until late November/early December at the earliest.
6.Ailee-U&I
Ailee ripped off Gloria Gaynor and Nicole Scherzinger The Pussycat Dolls for her last release, "I Will Show You" and now she serves up Beyonce doppelganger realness for "U&I," which sounds like "Crazy In Love" 2.0. Ailee gives some serious attitude with her vocals, shakes her little rump and even drops it low behind a lighted stage complete with monochrome dressed background dancers. Somewhere in the world, Beyonce is asking Ailee for her wind machine back.
7.AOA Black-Moya
AOA has finally broken up into a subunit! The band part of the group released their first single, "Moya". Moya is another throwback sounding tune, this time girl group sixties is what they aimed for, and they hit the mark. Also, whoever styled Youkyoung in the video, A+! Could someone explain the premise of the MV though and why the guy from SNL Korea looks so surprised when the girl points at the end?  
8.Dynamic Duo-BAAAM (feat. Muzie of UV)
The only thing that I had heard from Dynamic Duo was their feature on Jay Park's "I Love You" and Choiza and Gaeko featuring on other people's tracks. "BAAAM" is a funky 80s-inspired bop that is quite easy on the ears and sounds like a response track to all the bad girl concepts K-Pop has been dishing out. However, the bad girl gone badder line sounds like bad girl gone better (which actually sounds a lot better imo).
9.B2ST-Shadow
While everyone else seems to be loving the newest from B2ST, I am having mixed feelings about it. On one hand, the song does something different by deviating from the typical fun and sunny singles that plague the summer months. On the other, the disturbing imagery in the MV like with Vixx's "Hyde" make it a bit less enjoyable. Song=ok, video=not so much.  
10.B.A.P-Hurricane
B.A.P have been pumping out tunes like hell this year and I was a fan of all of them up until this point. The group has proven to be versatile in almost all the K-Pop concepts, even aegyo! But "Hurricane" just suffers from a major identity crisis, and not the good kind like Girl's Generation's "I Got a Boy". Also, the loofah's on fire thing wasn't funny the first a thousand times so...