Being the 21st Q4R, it seems appropriate to discuss 2NE1! (And G-Dragon, since you can't seem to talk about one without the other these days.)

• what do you think about the new female band "2ne1"? i'd like your professional, wise opinions on each of the 4 members please.
• Thanks for anwsering my question! I also love the songs you chose, and TOP`s rap is so good, how can people not like it? O_o
  Anyway, here is the question:
  
  *What do you think of the new YG group that is going to debute in may, the "female Big Bang" 2NE1?
  
  Bye byeeeee

As you can see, I'm answering all these questions REEEEALLY late, which I'm so sorry for. D:

But back on topic. My first impression of them were that they were uglier than your typical Kpop girl group. However, I still looked forward to their debut because G-Dragon was rumored to be the producer for their song "FIRE" or something like that.

BUT! The first time I saw their dress sense I went headtable headtable headtable repeatedly in a futile attempt to try and get rid of that colorful explosive diarrhea out of my head.


Yes you can go bang your heads against a hard surface now.

I don't really know them very well, so as I always do, I'd compare personalities with a group I'm more familiar with. In this case, I'm going to use Big Bang. Deal with it.

[Park Bom is Seungri]


Both of them seem like attention whores for some reason, and most of the time I see them they're acting cute in one way or another. Also, it seems that both of them sounds stuffy-nosed when they sing live.

[Minzy is Daesung]


Constantly made fun of for her "countryside" looks, she's like a more subdued version of Daesung. Maybe it'll take a variety show or two to get her to loosen up a bit.

Oh, and both of them sing well too. Maybe it the kind of face that projects the kind of voice.

[Dara is Taeyang]


She's constantly SO polite and she looks the best amongst the 2NE1 girls, so I guess that makes her Taeyang. She's also always politically correct, another trait of Taeyang's. *shrugs* She's also easily my favorite member, although this is based on a purely superficial basis.

[CL is .... G-Dragon?]


I have no idea. G-Dragon is definitely more crazy than she is. But both of them are the leaders of their groups, so... it sort of links?

• comments on g-dragon being a fasion icon. LOL

He's honestly hit-or-miss for me. Generally he gets something right, then screws up something else. Let's take a few examples...


See, in the first picture he generally looks okay except for the weird eyeliner and dead rat on his head. I think the top/scarf would work with some other hat.

But then he goes change into the mess of a T-shirt. Now don't get me wrong, the mess is not with the 'FUCK YOU' and '69' and 'I ♥ SEX', the mess is actually with the leopard print AND how faded it looks.

Like, how old is this T-shirt anyways?


I honestly like the jumpsuit and all the crazy accessories, it looks really fun and bright and all, but we would all agree he looks like a mad scientist in this photo.

The problem really lies with the hair (it's not a bad style, but it simply does not go well with this outfit) and the fact that he wore a shirt-and-tie. If you switch those out for something else, it'd probably look better. And less crazy-chemical-fetishist.


And see, he CAN look good. All white ensemble and big watch and all that, it's really fresh and airy, which makes him looks like the young guy he is. Admittedly this is one of his older photos, but still.

• Comments on GD's new look? It looks as if the inspiration came from Death Note.

Firstly, he's honestly one of the VERY few Asians who can carry off platinum blonde without looking like a total douchebag. It's probably because of his very androgynous features and fair skin. *shrugs*

I like the hair, that's for sure.

The SM-leather sleeves however...


Yeah, they make me cringe. Imagine how uncomfortable those things must be! D: And they kind of make him look like he has evil detachable arms. Eeek.

• Sorry, just a quick question, what does SQS stand for?

Gasp! How can you not know! Everyone knows!

It stands for:


If you know what I mean. :D

• OMG. GD'S HEARTBREAKER IS SOME SEXY SHIT! Y/Y?
• Hey Raid, G-dragon from Big Bang's solo album was leaked! Have you given it a listen yet? What do you think?

Sigh, ok I guess I have to do another review again, but a much shorter version. Let's do it my normal way: good, bad and so-so.

[Good songs]

"A boy" has a very interesting melody, but the pitch makes you cringe at times (especially during the bridge). You'll get used to it after a few listens though. A not-too-showy start to a very showy album.

"Heartbreaker" is a thumping club/dance/pop track that's bound to make you want move your body a little. Some people might get turned off by the autotune (or whatever you call that thing that makes his voice synth-y) but I personally think it's a very good tool to hide the flaws in his voice. G-Dragon is not a strong singer per se, but with this vocoder (am I using the wrong word again?) thing, it makes his voice phenomenal.

"Breathe" continues in the same vein as "Heartbreaker", except it's slightly less upbeat. Think of it like this: "Heartbreaker" is when you're in the club, and "Breathe" is the after-club sex that you have.

The lyrics are mightily suggestive too - "I know you want it baby... You and me hardcore, let's do it some more... Till you say no more... I can't breathe".

Don't you love it already?

"Gossip Man", like many of the other good songs on the album, has a very distinct beat that you can follow easily. It also has a rather decent chorus with a strong melody. I didn't much fancy the veteran singer featured in this song, but I can't complain much I guess. It's really not good enough to be a good song, but it's much better than just so-so, so I had to put it here.

"Korean Dream" is my favorite track on the album, and I swear it's not because of Taeyang's involvement in this song. The song with its catchy as heck tune and shoutable lyrics ("Eh oh eh oh!" and "One two step and Turn left to the right below shut Ladies (yeah) and gentlemen (huh)") makes it a great party track. There's so much fun to be had with this song, and you'll know why when you take a listen to it.

[So-so]

"Hello" is mainly Dara (from 2NE1) singing, with G-Dragon rapping. Therefore, the whole song is made up mostly of rapping with Dara singing minimally (sad really). It's not exactly a catchy song, and kind of feels like a filler song. Dara doesn't sing enough for this to be a romantic duet or something either, unless this duet is of a narcissistic male and his really unimportant girlfriend. While it's not a bad song, it just doesn't stand out enough for me to care too much about it.

"The Leaders" is really just hip-hop and rapping, which is not really my thing. The opening with the "wassup, wassup, wassup wassup wassup" held so much potential to make this a fun song, but it eventually fell flat. There were some cute parts ("Gee gee gee gee Baby baby baby, GD GD Bang it Bang it Bang it") but those just weren't enough to make this song epic.

Besides, CL rapping "the one and only best female" makes me roll my eyes.

[Bad songs]

"Butterfly" is a weaker number because G-Dragon is trying for forlorn and sad or something equally rubbishy in this song. G-Dragon can do angsty, emo, angry and happy, but not sad and sentimental. It just turns out cheesy and all I want to do is ask him to just shut up and stop whining already.

And besides, he's required to sing without the help of any effects shielding his voice. The music is also very minimalistic, which exhibits his flaws for all to see.

"She's Gone" is... well. I guess the fact that I don't even remember how the song is like is testament to what I think of it. It's just basically macho screamy stuff which would be great for those angry days. Other than that, it's just really... testosterone-overloaded noise. How inspiring.

"1 year station" is a neither here nor there song. It's trying to be upbeat, yet has a mid-tempo melody, yet has mad rapid rapping scattered here and there and basically it just sounds a little messy to me. The singing doesn't help much either, he sounds gay in here. Or constipated. Or both.

Oh oh, and if you're asking about the music video for "Heartbreaker", then yes it's fucking sexy. It propelled him from "strange eccentric friend" to "fuckable" in my list. A major improvement I would say. Go watch it if you haven't already.

• I was just wondering your position on the whole Heartbreaker copying Right Round incident
  love your blog as always :D

I'm always slightly hesitant to comment on plagiarism issues because, let's face it, is anything even original these days? Everything is inspired by something else, and with so much music in the market these days, is it any wonder that two songs happen to sound the same?

But anyways, he might have, he might not have. I really don't care. All I care is whether the song is nice (it is) and whether the music video is nice (also is). Why should I have to care so much as to who owns the song anyways? So that I know who exactly deserves to get my money when I buy the album? Whatever for, sheesh.

• just curious, do blonde asians have more fun, like G Dragon?

Ask Seungri. He's the one having fun (if you know what I mean) with G-Dragon. 8D


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Labels: 2NE1, Big Bang, Q4R