Winning end-of-year music award shows is important for Korean idols and groups as it helps to cement their importance and popularity not only in Korea but across East and South East Asia. This is demonstrated by the fact that MAMA 2018 – one of the biggest music shows – took place across multiple countries with … [Read More]
Post Series: Colette on K-pop
Colette Balmain’s top 10 Kpop music videos of 2018
My top 10 Kpop videos of 2018, chosen on the basis of their visuals, storytelling, songwriting and musicality: 10. #Cookie Jar (Red Velvet) Red Velvet are one of the few girl groups to successfully switch between the girl crush and cute concepts. #Cookie Jar, their single from their first Japanese EP, combines the sweet & … [Read More]
It will pass, someday: Gothic ethereality and introspection in RM’s Mono
RM’s second mixtape, Mono, dropped on 23 October 2018 almost two and a half years after the self-titled RM, which was released on 20 March 2015. Mono was accompanied by a music video for the final track “Forever Rain” with lyric videos released for “Seoul” and “Moonchild” on 23 and 24 October respectively. It followed J-Hope’s earlier … [Read More]
The Top 5 Gothic KPOP Music Videos
Dr Colette Balmain applies her specialism in Gothic Cinema to the world of KPOP – perfect for the Halloween season… ‘Gothic forces its readers, viewers, and listeners to identify the ghosts that haunt them…’ (Isabella van Elferan, 2012, Gothic Music, p. 15). 1. SHINee “Married to the Music” (2015) “Married to the Music” doesn’t sound … [Read More]
Affective becomings and musical transformations: BTS take London
Dr Colette Balmain, or maybe a ghost writer, reports from the biggest KPOP event in the UK this year: Taking the Plunge This is the first concert review that I have written although I have been to many concerts, some of which I have good memories of and others which I wish I could press … [Read More]
The end of the journey: desire, recognition and redemption in BTS’s “IDOL”
Dr Colette Balmain examines the culmination of the BTS Love Yourself series: “IDOL” is the lead single from BTS’s final album in the “Love Yourself” series. The series comprises one extended storyworld music video, Love Yourself 起 Wonder; one mini album, Love Yourself 承 Her; one full length album, Love Yourself 轉 Tear; and one … [Read More]
The Garden of the Forking Paths: Difference and Repetition in BTS “Epiphany”
Dr Colette Balmain examines the BTS comeback trailer for Love Yourself 結 Answer: “Epiphany” is the comeback trailer for BTS’ last entry in the LOVE YOURSELF Series: Love Yourself 結 Answer. LOVE YOURSELF is a transmedia and multimedia project involving the expansion of the BTS Universe through the construction of a metafictional storyworld established by Music … [Read More]
Artistry, Creativity & Emotionality: Choreographies of the self in “Fake Love”
Dr Colette Balmain examines the lead single from BTS’s Love Yourself 轉 Tear: “Fake Love” is the lead single from BTS’ third studio album Love Yourself 轉 Tear (they have also released three Japanese studio albums, two repackages, five EPs and two single albums to date) and follows, both temporally and thematically, the comeback trailer “Singularity” … [Read More]
Trajectories of Meaning in “Singularity” – the BTS Comeback Trailer: Love Yourself 轉 Tear
Dr Colette Balmain analyses the comeback trailer for BTS’s third studio album: From Serendipity to Singularity: A Universe of Meaning “Singularity” is the comeback trailer for BTS’ third studio or full length album, Love Yourself: Tear which will be released on 18th May 2018. This follows up the mini album or EP, Love Yourself: Her … [Read More]
Neverland: Holland’s ground-breaking K-pop debut in context
Dr Colette Balmain discusses the controversial debut MV from Korea’s “first openly gay” KPOP idol. “Never lose self-esteem and be confident” (Holland, 2018) On 22st January 2018, at exactly midnight KST, Holland released his debut single and MV “Neverland”. Since its release, “Neverland” has racked up over 6 million views on YouTube and Holland has … [Read More]