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When I heard of 2AM the first time, I disregarded them as some soppy-boy band for girls who love their mushy love songs. An Asian version of Il Divo (minus the opera) if you may.

2am Saint O' Clock promo teaser concept member photos — From top: Jinwoon, Changmin, Jo Kwon, Seulong

Even when allkpop began hyping their upcoming new release with the many (many) teasers they kept releasing, I never bothered to click. Then when the official music videos for their first two singles were released, I was curious to see if the hype was all worth it. I listened to the two singles – “Like Crazy” and “You Wouldn’t Answer My calls” and went: “Wow, nice songs. They have great voices too.”

So I thought to myself: ” Well, if they have two great songs in one album, they may have a few more good songs”.

2am Saint O'Clock rain alternate new album cover — 2AM's first full-length studio album

Long story short, here I am writing a track-by-track album review for an album I think is one of the best pop albums of the year! (I’ve managed to find out the English translation for the Korean song titles):

1) INTRO – Phone: A beautiful piano laden instrumental with the phone constantly ringing in the background. Sounds very Japanese soundtrack-esque. Also a precursor to the next track.

2) 전활 받지 않는 너에게 / You Wouldn’t Answer My Calls – A beautiful emotional ballad. Not much else to say really. It’s beautiful track.

I wouldn’t rave about the video, but then again, I’m a guy. The girls seem to love it. (4 out of 5 for the song)

3. 미친 듯이 / Like Crazy – Another great ballad! Slightly more uptempo compared to its predecessor but a soppy ballad none the less.

Since I don’t know Korean, I have no idea why they’re crying so much in the video. (4/5 for the song)

4. 바로 나야 (feat. GLAM) / Just Me (Feat. GLAM) – One of the my favourite tracks on the album! Happier, fresh-sounding with a 90s- groove to it. (4/5)

5. Mirage – Getting into American R & B territory with this one. Just ‘okay’ to me. (Sorry, I don’t like Korean-pop trying too hard to sound American) (2.5/5)

6. 다시 사랑하기엔 / To Love Again – A nice ballad. Sounds like a track you’d often find on a soundtrack to some K-drama or movie. (3/5)

7. 이젠 없다 / Now, There’s No More – Found this to be track best enjoyed with your eyes closed. Another great ballad. (3.5/5)

8. 불안하다 / Nervous – Beats! Thumping beats! Yet another song with a strong 90s-vibe. This time a lot more uptempo. (4/5)

9. Love U, Hate U (feat. 방탄소년단) – My least favourite track on this album. Only because its another attempt to sound American with its “H to the A to the T to E” lyrics. Didn’t even bother listening to it in full the first time. (1/5)

10. With or Without U – The most uptempo track on the album, this is a great track with the guys letting it all out in the chorus. (3.5/5)

11. 사랑한단 말 못해 / Can’t Tell You That I Love You – The final track on the album and believe it or not… my favourite song on this album! A sexy uptempo track with great beats, this seems to be a favourite among fans as well.

Overall album rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

I’m definitely getting this album! Either on yesasia.com or when I go to Bangkok in a few days time. With this album, 2AM are now officially on my k-pop radar.

Update: I finally bought my copy of the album. Picked it up when I was in Manila, Philippines.

Shinee Hello 2AM Saint O' Clock album CDs India — Also bought SHINee's 'Hello' re-package album because I loved "Lucifer" so much!

Date: 26th September 2010

We woke up late.

Thought I’d get that out of the way first. After a tiring first day (with barely any sleep), we made up for it by only getting up around 10:30am. And by the time we were out, it was already noon.

But today, the skies were clear and sunny.

Singapore Kampong Glam Muscat street — We were ready for brunch

But despite the plethora of eateries and cafes, ‘the vegetarian’ (my friend Ramesh) found nothing to his taste. So we decided to go to Little India.

Singapore Rochor Centre colourful apartments — Rochor Centre

Singapore Rochor Centre apartment hanging clothes dry — This is how apartment households in Singapore hang clothes out to dry

While the guys headed to Little India, I instead went to Sim Lim Square – Singapore’s famous IT mall.

Being a Sunday, few stores were closed but you still had plenty open.

I was looking for a good tripod and the Canon 70-200 f2.8 IS USM I lens. Most stores didn’t have the latter in stock anymore but I did get a chance to try out the non-IS variant.

Singapore Sim Lim square tripod store — Taken on the 70-200 f2.8; these are unprocessed & only cropped — very impressed with the image quality!

Several shops I entered asked me why I needed the IS version and suggested that I simply go in for the non-IS version and buy a good tripod instead. Something I did give deep consideration later.

Singapore Sim Lim square floors — SIm Lim Square isn’t as big as Funan Digital Life mall — but still offers quite a lot

A few smaller shops did say they had the lens and it “could be arranged,” but I decided not to deal with them. After all, Sim Lim is equivalent to Bangkok’s Pantip Plaza — you have tread carefully when shopping here. You can get ripped off, at the same while scoring some really good deals.

Singapore Sim Lim Square SNSD Gee Samsung laptop — SNSD and other K-pop shown on laptops and TV screens was such a common sight

I had only made it to the second floor before my friends called and told me they were done with lunch. Since I had to catch up with them, I had to leave Sim Lim. Just like yesterday, I left disappointed knowing I couldn’t explore the mall in its entirety.

I grabbed a quick bite and made my way out.

As I stepped out and crossed the road in front of Sim Lim Square, I noticed crowds and street shops ahead of me.

Singapore Bugis Street shopping centre snake charmer — … and street ‘performers’ like this guy

Singapore Bugis Street Shopping centre Rochor — Turns out I was now inside the Bugis Street Shopping centre

Bugis Street Shopping is the largest street shopping market in Singapore.

For me, it wasn’t really impressive. Not after you have visited Bangkok’s Chatuchak Weekend Market (or JJ Market). In fact, a lot of the merchandise sold here was from Thailand — which obviously meant it was slightly more pricier here.

Singapore Bugis street shopping main front entrance — The main entrance to Bugis Street

Singapore Bugis Street shopping Iluma mall — We were really curious as to what this Iluma building was

Singapore Bugis iluma mall exterior — I thought it was some boutique hotel

I had to get to Suntec City to meet up with my friends, but instead of taking of the MRT, I just walked.

I passed through another mall, this time — Bugis Junction.

Singapore Bugis Square G.NA autograph session fan meet — K-pop star G.NA was going to be here in two days

Singapore Bugis Square Porsche sports car — Spotted at Bugis Square. It was F1 weekend after all.

Singapore city traffic diverted F1 — Singapore’s roads aren’t this empty, just that traffic was diverted because of the race

After catching up with my friends, Ramesh made his way to the F1 tracks to begin his evening. While myself & Loi pondered what to do next. I had plans of going to Marina Bay Sand Casino to go up to the sky deck. When I had called them up earlier in the day, I was informed it was only open to visitors until 4pm, after which it would be off limits to non-guests.

We were inside CityLink Mall (yes, another mall in the area) when we decided to check out the HMV store.

Singapore Jay Park HMV store — Damn, Jay Park was in Singapore yesterday! (Jay Park is an K-pop star who’s going to be big worldwide… trust me)

By the time we stepped out of the HMV store, we already spent SGD150 (around Rs. 5,100) on official band t-shirts — and it was past 4pm. So I pushed Marina Bay Sands for tomorrow and headed to Suntec City mall instead.

Singapore Suntec City stores — This is just one section to Suntec City mall

After shopping some more at Suntec, we made our way back to Victoria Street where I had plans to show Loi the Bugis Street shopping centre.

But lay before us was Iluma — the alluding building which I assumed was a boutique hotel.

Singapore iluma mall Victoria street — But upon closer inspection…

Singapore Iluma Mall entrance — … guess what…

Singapore Iluma mall interior design — … it’s just another mall

But a funky one at that. Iluma is a pretty cool mall mostly targeting a younger crowd. Despite its appearance, we didn’t find the usual selection of high-end designer brands. Instead, we came across stores like this:

The merchandise on display was good enough to draw me & Loi in. Nearly half-an-hour later, we step out after having spent some dime on anime merchandise.

Singapore iluma mall floor design — We window-shopped a bit more…

Singapore iluma Otaku House shop — …. before stepping into another nerd’s toy haven

Inside the Otaku House was more anime merchandise; more necklaces and keychains (like the ones we bought from Comics Connection), to cosplay outfits and other props for rent or purchase.

But we sighed… and quietly walked out, reminding ourselves that we had already spent enough and would soon run of Singapore currency at this rate.

It didn’t stop us from exploring the mall still.

Singapore iluma mall inside design — Pretty cool looking mall

The top-most floor houses what they claim to be Singapore’s largest arcade. And then there is the open roof top.

Singapore sunset skyline iluma rooftop — You get a nice view of the Bugis surroundings from up here

Singapore Raffes hospital Bugis Victoria street — Victoria Street and Raffles Hospital in the distance

Singapore iluma rooftop restaurants — There are a few rooftop restaurants up here

As we made our way down, I realized iluma was one of the more unique malls in Singapore. Not only does it look cool, it really manages to cater to a young crowd with more affordable options compared to the rest of Singapore’s malls.

After we stepped out of iluma, I took Loi to the Bugis Street Chopping centre.

And by the time we were done with that, we were hungry. So we popped into the near by Burger King for a good ol’ beef burger

(Note: Beef burgers are a rarity in India due to religious sentiments so even McDs are too ‘chicken’ to serve beef burgers here).

Anime jewelry necklace keychain Singapore purchase — Some of the anime merchandise we bought

Singapore iluma building lights night — iluma mall lights up at night

After this, we took the MRT to Orchard Road, our next destination.

I actually wanted to go back to Sim Lim Square, but Loi needed to meet his cousin — and since he didn’t have a local SIM, I had to tag along with him.

When we got to Orchard Road, we stepped right out to Ion Orchard mall.

Singapore Ion Orchard mall road night — There was some dance competition open to the public

Singapore Orchard road Ion Orchard dance contest — And this fat dude was getting a lot of fake screams from the women… so he kept dancing

Orchard Road is Singapore’s famous shopping stretch (as if the rest of the city didn’t offer enough already), home to many star hotels and a very popular stop for tourists.

And boy, does this one-way road live up to its reputation!

Singapore Lucky Plaza Orchard road — Opposite ION Orchard, Lucky Plaza is very popular among Filipinos working in Singapore

Singapore Ngee Ann city mall orchard road — Ngee Ann City mall, the largest mall on Orchard Road

Singapore Takashimaya shopping center Orchard road — Popular for housing Japanese department store Takashimaya

Inside Ngee Ann city mall Singapore — You can get into Ngee Ann city to get to the underpass which comes out the other side of Orchard Road

Singapore Paragon Tod's Prada Miu Miu Orchard road — Paragon, a high-end mall housing luxury brands like miu miu, Prada and more

Once Loi met up with his cousin, I was on my own to explore the rest of Orchard Road for some time.

I got back to the other side to continue from where I left off.

Singapore Emporio Armani store Orchard road — Next up, Mandarin Gallery

Singapore Orchard road street performer gold — You’ll find a few street performers on Orchard Road… and for the love of god, do not taunt them like a few tourists did. They don’t like it.

Singapore Orchard Road female bikini sculpture — This can be found in front of the Mandarin Gallery

Singapore Tourism Visitors center Orchard road — This is the Singapore Tourism office where you can get info, maps, make reservations and such

Singapore Courts electronics store Orchard road — Courts is a large multi-storey electronics store

Singapore bus stop bed ad Orchard road — Pretty innovative ad

Singapore Orchard Central mall Orchard road — This was a pretty cool looking mall

After this point, the malls slowly disappeared.

Singapore Orchard road Orchard Central signal — Crossed to the other side and made my way back

Singapore Orchard road Tangs store — Tangs is a local department store

Singapore Orchard road Wisma Atria mall — The Orchard Road MRT station is connected to Wisma Atria mall

Singapore Orchard road Ion Orchard Paterson road junction — Ion Orchard, from across the road

After catching up with my friend Loi, we decided to see off his cousin at the bus stop and take one ourselves as we hadn’t done so yet.

Singapore Orchard road Ion Loiyumba cousin — My friend Loi with his cousin sister who studies in Singapore

Singapore sbs transit bus inside — The buses use the same MRT cards

Since we didn’t really know where to get down, we just got off at the end of Orchard Road.

Singapore Orchard road Plaza Singapura Carrefour — There were still more malls this side

As I looked at the map, we realized that Victoria Street wasn’t very far from where we were currently, so I asked Loi if we could just keep walking.

Singapore School of the Arts campus building — The School of the Arts Singapore campus

Singapore YMCA hostel building — We passed by quite a lot of landmarks

It was nearing 11pm, so we stepped into a food court to have dinner and to quench our thirst with some beer.

Singapore Kopitiam food court 24 hours — Open 24 hours, Kopitiam has mostly Chinese and Pan-Asian fare

Singapore Kopitiam roast honey duck pork — We weren’t really hungry so we just had roast duck and pork with our beer

After ‘dinner,’ we resumed our walk towards our hostel.

Singapore Arts Museum night sculptures — This was the Singapore Arts Museum

I couldn’t help but remind ourselves how good a location we chose to be stay in, given how close we were to a lot of what Singapore has to offer (especially if you a re shopaholic!).

Singapore Management University building — Singapore Management University campus

Singapore Bugis street shopping closed night — The Bugis Street Shopping centre… closed

Singapore Kampong Glam at night Sultan Mosque — Sultan Mosque down the street

Singapore Old Street cafe & bar hotel — Santa Grand Hotel Bugis is in front of ABC Hostel

We were finally back in our room…. oh wait, we ran out of drinking water.

(Steps out again)

Once back from the nearby 7-Eleven I was finally done with day 2! As we checked out out our merchandise, we also counted how much we had already spent and soon realized we were running out of Singapore dollars.

We just had one more day left in Singapore, so it was either going to be Sentosa or the Singapore Zoo. I also wanted to hit the sky deck at Marina Bay Sands Hotel and Casino.

Would I be able to do it all?

Well…

Other posts in this series:

Singapore & Malaysia 2010: Planning and preparing for the trip

Singapore 2010: Day 1 – Little India, CBD, Clarke Quay, China Town… and a lot of walking

Singapore 2010: Day 3 – Singapore Zoo, Marina Bay Sands; leaving Singapore for Penang

Malaysia 2010: Day 4 — One day in Penang (Around Georgetown, Gurney Drive, Penang Hill)

Malaysia 2010: Day 5 — Langkawi (Ferry ride from Penang, Cable car & Sky Bridge)

Malaysia 2010: Day 6 — Langkawi (Island hopping tour, Pantai Tengah beach, Night market)

Malaysia 2010: Day 7 — Kuala Lumpur (Low Yat Plaza, Petronas Towers, Jalan Alor)

Malaysia 2010: Day 8 — Kuala Lumpur (Batu Caves, Petaling Street/China Town)

Malaysia 2010: Day 9 — Kuala Lumpur (KLCC Aquaria, Merdeka Square, KL Tower observation deck)