The song is in Japanese, but I’m still going to call it K-pop.
BIGBANG is a Korean boy band who apparently has been around since 2006. Hugely successful, “Beautiful Hangover” is the group’s latest venture into the Japanese market.
Love…
the song!
the video — very stylish and great angles
Hate…
the Ja-Rule sounding dude (I believe his name is T.O.P)
Would have been better…
if the song was in Korean (they use a lot of English Engrish to make up for their Japanese)
if it didn’t have the Ja Rule-sounding dude’s parts. Sorry, but Ja Rule is so 2001.
Overall, of the two new singles, I like “Beautiful Hangover” more than the over-autotuned “Somebody to Luv”:
I hope they release Korean versions of both songs.
I must say, 2010 so far has produced a fair share of great k-pop. Korean idol groups are getting a heck lot more popular and expanding into other markets outside of Korea.
After the madness of Dubai, it was back to calm ‘ol Abu Dhabi and more time with family. My mom wanted to show me the sands of Al Ain. So on a Sunday evening, we hired our usual taxi guy and headed outside Abu Dhabi.
We were on the highway to Al AinTo my rightStopped to take this panorama (comprised of 10 shots)
After driving for nearly 45 minutes, we got off the main highway and I got out of the car.
The sands, once I got into them, were extremely fine and smooth.
They were so smooth that you could slowly slip in to the ground by just standing still for a few seconds.
The only life out there besides us
Even though I’ve had enough sand in my face growing up in the Middle East, being here really was quite a splendid feeling. There were plans to go dune bashing in 4x4s but due to my friends being available only on Fridays made it a little tough to cram it in my already packed itinerary. I didn’t want to opt for a tourist package either ‘cos it was too corny for me.
My father in the back, collecting UAE sand. He's being doing that for every country he's been to.
After listening to hearsay tales from our taxi driver about desert snakes and other ‘dangerous’ reptiles, my father insisted that I don’t tread any further into the sand dune and asked me to get back in the car. Plus it was nearing sunset.
We weren't far from Al AinAll the trees you're going to see out herePanorama comprised of 8 shots
Heading back to Abu Dhabi
The next day…
Since I wasn’t going to sit idle at home, after lunch I took a taxi and headed to Abu Dhabi corniche.
The skies were all grey that day
After taking two Nepalis-driven taxis back-to-back, I got down near Corniche Road.
Abu Dhabi's construction scene is... still happening
You'd take this underpass if you wanted to get to the corniche
But I decided to take a stroll through the park on the other side of Corniche Road.
This park is only meant for boring purposes
I crossed the road to get to the corniche.
Don't have a cycle? You can rent one at the corniche
Really appreciated the emphasis on fitness at this corniche
Abu Dhabi corniche plays host to many cultural festivals
After a coffee break from Cinnabon, I decided to head to Marina Mall for some shopping.
That's a restaurant on top
After seeing Dubai’s mall offerings, there nothing special to point out about Marina Mall. It has all the usual stores — that’s it. And a Carrefour.
First time I've seen a dedicated Vertu store
After spending an hour shopping at Centerpoint, I took a taxi back home.
Found this post boring?
Don’t worry, the next and final sightseeing post from UAE will make up for it, trust me!
Last week, while reading allkpop.com, I was introduced to another K-pop girl group hitting the scene called Rainbow.
The girls were making their comeback with a single called ‘A’. Their first release was a track released in 2009 called “Gossip Girl“…. which was “meh”. But ‘A’…
… I LOVE IT!
Very Girls Aloud and Sugarbabes-like. And after hearing it like a hundred times in the past few days, I was waiting to see what the video was going to be like, the dance choreography, the visuals etc. I expected it to be retro, swank and mature, especially after the teaser images of the girls were published online.
But when the full video was eventually unveiled…
… I HATE IT!
The dance choreography is unnecessarily sexy, the outfits suck and the camera cuts are irritating. Funny how such a good song can be ruined by such a poor video. I’m sure the track will do well on it’s own, just that I was expecting a classier video from the group’s record company.
Korean pop or not, some people just need to learn, sex isn’t always necessary to sell something — especially when that something is good enough.
