Tag: Music

K-Drama Report: Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born, Part III

January 4, 2026

I guess I’ve been on autopilot for the past few days. I’ve had time off because of the holidays, and there’s a family matter to attend to next week, so I haven’t been in a regular state of mind. I’d decided to dedicate this sort of limbo space to watching and writing about Jeongnyeon: The Star is Born, which might’ve felt indulgent but not wildly divergent from other experiences with K-dramas here. I basically binge-watched both Anna and Genie, Make a Wish, though not in such a concentrated period of time. To clarify, I generally don’t watch TV shows like that; I don’t even watch movies in one sitting. And although it didn’t match my exact expectations, Jeongnyeon turned out to be great in a more traditional way, as covered in the first report, before darkening, as noted in the second. Still, even at that point, I imagined I’d watch the rest of the show and type up this very blog post, easy peasy like always. Sitting here in the immediate aftermath of the finale, I can tell you that I don’t want to write this prophesied third report. I feel really, really weird. Bad, I suppose, but in an unfamiliar way. It might seem silly to be so affected by a work of entertainment, and I can’t address that without an entirely separate conversation about the social utility of art and what have you, so in the meantime, you’ll just have to excuse me. I think Jeongnyeon: The Star is Born is a really great K-drama. Easily one of the best I’ve seen. I also – at least at this moment – don’t believe I’ve been more harmed by a TV show. I’ve been disturbed, harrowed, and moved countless times, but this is different. … More K-Drama Report: Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born, Part III

K-Drama Report: Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born, Part II – A Perfect Episode

January 3, 2026

I was perfectly satisfied with the prospect of doing Jeongnyeon in two reports, so consider this an emergency situation. And I just hope to God there aren’t further incidents from here to the finale. In two episodes, Jeongnyeon: The Star is Born gave me a lot to process and absolutely no slack to do so. It’s hard to think… when you’re crying. Episode eight, specifically, is one of those “perfect episodes” I used to get so hung up on, but before we get there, I did leave myself on something of a cliffhanger. Previously, Jeongnyeon upstaged the performance of Jamyunggo, winning over the audience to the point where even the audience was like, “Wait, this isn’t how it’s supposed to go!” I was bracing myself for the scene where Ok-gyeong returns to the stage and the crowd starts chanting for Soldier #1, but thankfully, we don’t see that. And as we may find, it likely didn’t happen. Still, I assumed that Ok-gyeong’s patience with Jeongnyeon would finally run out, and there’d be hell to pay. I just want that so badly. Jung Eun-chae is so compelling as Moon Ok-gyeong as Prince Hodong, but as Moon Ok-gyeong off the stage, it’s harder for me to assess the performance because she’s so similar to Jung Eun-chae herself. In Anna, the menace of Hyun-ju reverberated through her entire body; it was a transformation. Ok-gyeong rarely even gets upset with anyone – rarely. For now, I understand that Ok-gyeong isn’t offended by Jeongnyeon’s antics because she sees her almost as an experiment. The disillusioned star is simply playing a different game than everybody else. … More K-Drama Report: Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born, Part II – A Perfect Episode

K-Drama Report: Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born (2024)

January 2, 2026

Kim Tae-ri is probably the best actor to come out of Korea since Choi Min-sik, and while such hyperbolic language may indicate a simple mind structured, Sith-like, by absolutes, I’m comfortable with the assessment because she’s so quintessentially Korean. Seamlessly toggling between physical comedy and genuine heartbreak, it’s like she was crafted by the gods to inhabit the whiplash tones and extreme scenarios of popular Korean film and television. Specifically, the way she can make me cry and laugh simultaneously is exactly how critics describe Bong Joon-ho’s The Host, and of course, her acting debut was in Park Chan-wook’s celebrated film The Handmaiden. She’d go on to win industry awards with roles in major titles like Mr. Sunshine and Twenty-Five Twenty-One, and managed to close out the first ten years of her career with another canonical entry: Jeongnyeon: The Star is Born – confound that double colon – which netted her the Grand Prize at the APAN Star Awards and Best Actress at the Baeksang Awards (her second), as well as the label “Television Actor of the Year” by Gallup Korea. Where Kim Tae-ri goes, quality is sure to follow, if her taste for sci-fi blockbusters is the only thing suspect about such a jeweled filmography. And so, taking up the titular role in Jeongnyeon, she’s flanked by a murderers row of veterans like Ra Mi-ran and Moon So-ri as well as young, fierce talent like Shin Ye-eun – and of course, the scene-stealing ladykiller, Jung Eun-chae. … More K-Drama Report: Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born (2024)

My Red Velvet Spotify Playlist [Podcast]

April 28, 2022

Well, everyone, it finally happened. A friend of mine said to me, “I’m trying to get into Red Velvet. What do you recommend?” Those are the most beautiful words under Heaven. It more than made my day; it answered with the sweep of catharsis a long-running anxiety I’ve had about the art of recommendation itself, that it’s been lost, that people don’t really mean it when they ask anymore because criticism and curation have been so thoroughly decentralized, but here she is: “What do you recommend?” … More My Red Velvet Spotify Playlist [Podcast]

speechless.

March 21, 2022

By the third viewing, I’m beginning to see what they’re doing with “Feel My Rhythm” and perhaps The ReVe Festival 2022 altogether, as this video feels like a spiritual remix of the three lead singles from the Festival trilogy, “Umpah Umpah,” “Psycho,” and maybe especially “Zimzalabim.” I’m seeing some of the key dance moves, the costumes, similar camera work and visual motifs. … More speechless.

Congratulations, Apink!

April 19, 2021

Today is the ten-year anniversary of Apink, one of my favorite K-pop groups. I don’t have anything big planned to commemorate such an achievement, but I have been working intermittently behind-the-scenes on a podcast episode dedicated to them, something like “Apink: A Musical Journey” or “The Art of Apink.” I don’t know, whatever sounds less dumb. But I don’t mind being dumb, because Apink makes for sometimes simple pleasures, with their easy, listenable sound. This is their overall character, “soft” or “cute,” so they lull you and when the surprises come, they hit hard. There’s the gradual “maturing” in tone they’ve developed in the past few years, with hits like “I’m So Sick” and “Eung Eung” — both excellent — but I don’t want to look at that as a change of style. I think it’s all one thing, that there’s a central driver behind songs as disparate in theme as “My My” and “Dumhdurum.” We’ll talk more in-depth about their artistry later. … More Congratulations, Apink!

Sir, this is a WENDY

April 5, 2021

What did everyone think of Wendy’s solo debut? We have the video for her single “Like Water,” and a mini-album with — appropriately so — great B-sides, including a duet with Seulgi adorably titled “Best Friend.” It’s been a long, strange journey, but for Wendy, she’s arrived. After suffering an injury around Christmas 2019 during a rehearsal, she spent 2020 recuperating, and while Red Velvet fans (myself included) imagined that’s all she did, here she comes with another stunning SM production. The album itself Like Water may not have the sheer dynamism of the Iseul debut before it, cleaving entirely toward the Velvet concept — no wild synth here or colorful bubblegum — but it’s a long-awaited showcase for Wendy’s vocals. … More Sir, this is a WENDY

K-Pop Pick of the Day: “Into the New World”

May 31, 2020

My God, I’ve only been listening to this song since Friday and I already feel nostalgic about it. It’s just got that power, so I can’t imagine how it is for longtime Girls’ Generation fans who grew up with “Into the New World,” looking back at the full lives suggested in the video, now lived, through triumph and heartbreak (and probably less plane-flying, but given the nature of Korean variety shows, you never fucking know). … More K-Pop Pick of the Day: “Into the New World”

K-Pop Pick of the Day: “About Love”/”Taste”

April 24, 2020

The linkage between these two songs is immediately felt: they bounce. Wikipedia might classify “Taste” as pop/dance, and I can abide that, though it’s generic enough to be applied to all of the Red variety songs. It may be afield to say, but I’d almost hazard the application of “R&B” here. Both songs flow through with again, a bouncing rhythm, but are also laidback enough to eschew the frenzied energy or melancholic touch of other tracks. This is a specific zone. … More K-Pop Pick of the Day: “About Love”/”Taste”

K-Pop Pick of the Day: “NoNoNo”

March 24, 2020

This is where it began with Apink and I, and what a perfectly succinct introduction to this group’s bubblegum and surprisingly sexualized style. My frame of reference being Red Velvet, I do find Apink videos to be much calmer and still, willing to let the girls spend time with a single activity (in this case, baking cakes?) rather than run them through several at lightning speed (baking cakes, getting lost in the woods, stepping on cakes, breaking things, finding ants in cakes). That reduction in variety doesn’t also reduce the character: there’s still plenty of big smiles and goofing around. What could be cuter than Eunji poking Naeun with a cupcake? … More K-Pop Pick of the Day: “NoNoNo”