Senin, 15 Juli 2013

B1A4 4th mini album – What’s Going On (a review)


Well I know it’s quite late for talking about this, but I guess it’s never too late to share opinion. I wasn’t quite excited before about the songs in this album except for the album art that is really eye catchy and my favorite so far. My heart was locked in ‘In The Wind’ because they’re getting mature and soulful, I love all the songs except Jin Young’s solo part ft. Jea of BEG (just don’t like the fact that she moaned in the entire song instead of singing). But then I listened to ‘What’s Going On’ closely before I posted this writing, I  just realized that I have to write about this one.
Ok, enough with the crap, let’s start with the first single, ‘What’s Going On’, I love how they try something new to give us a fresh feeling. This rock – pop song has successfully captured me with the Barbie in the box MV concept also the signature ‘everyday I think about you’ doll kinda like dance move. The MV even got reviewed in K-Pop Music Mondays by Simon and Martina from eatyourkimchi.
The second single, ‘Starlight’s Song’ (Byeolbichwi Norae) which supposed to be promoted after the first one but canceled due to Baro’s injury (get well soon Squirrel !) started with simple guitar strum and has a stuck in mind part in the refrain which is Baro’s shouting (I think) as the backing vocal during the chemistry - lonely~ lyric part.
Move on to ‘Yesterday’, I think I’ve seen them performing this song on a live stage (through tv of course) during the What’s Going On single promotion time but I forget the name of the show which made me confuse because I thought that Starlight’s Song is the 2nd single to be promoted from this album (well, never mind). About the song, I love Sandeul’s high note in the refrain, he’s amazing as always. Like other B1A4’s songs, the opening part is always interesting and so is this song. And I think this is the first time I heard Jin Young singing in tune with  Baro’s rap on one part of this song.
On track number 4 they have ‘Good Love’ which was written by Baro and CNU. Through this song I realized that Gongchan has a charming voice when he opened the song. I believe it’s going to be a good one through a good training. We can also hear many of Jin Young’s falsetto in this song. By the way, CNU’s back in da house, kkkk I mean he’s rapping again after Wonderful Tonight and it’s a lot one, though it’s probably not as good as Baro’s rap, I still salute him as the multiplayer in the group (singer, rapper, and the group’s dance machine). His voice was also proven to be a good one in here. Well I can say, CNU’s skills were really explored through ‘Good Love’.
The last track titled ‘Myeochbeoneul’ or in english, ‘Several Times’. Well it’s just so so with the myeochbeoneul word repeated several times in the chorus. But one thing that captured me is CNU’s shaky but sounds like vibra high note and probably synthesized in the second chorus.
Overall, I always love these 5 guys works. This 4th mini album which was released in May 5th 2013 has successfully took them to the new level of the kpop music industry and gained them more popularity. They even got their first winning in music chart show, which was in MBC Music Core (which also became the show for their first comeback stage). If you’re a BANA you probably know how much I was touched and proud seeing them crying on stage when they received it. As a fan of an idol group who wrote their own music, I’m a proud one. I’m also looking forward to CNU’s solo part on their next album, he probably has already done it in Japanese version album or in the concert but I haven’t heard one. His vocal skill is already proven in Immortal Songs 2, and I think he deserves a solo part in the album be sides Sandeul, Jin Young, and Baro. Pardon me for my CNU biased writing, because he’s my bias (of course).
Last words, I wish them a good luck in their upcoming 2nd concert in August which I won’t be able to attend because it’ll be held in friggin Seoul, but my proud gained hearing that they’ll be singing with live band. Instead of mourning my fate, better wish a successful and long live career for B1A4. It’s fun, it’s fresh, it’s ear-catchy and it’s Ige Museuniliya. 

Rabu, 27 Maret 2013

Cerita Tentang Idola part 2 : Mission 66 Accomplished


From my previous post, maybe you have known or began to know that I’m a fan of Satria Muda Britama and Galank Gunawan. Well, bulan puasa tahun lalu another one of my dreams come true. I met him in personally ! sebenarnya sih ketemu langsung udah pernah pas after NBL match SM vs. CLS waktu itu yang ga gue certain di tulisan sebelumnya. Well, I did met him actually, terus minta tanda tangan dan foto bareng. Bahkan pulpen yang dipake untuk tanda tangannya aja masih gue simpen dan ga gue pake. Unfortunately, it was crowded and many girls (and boys) asked him to take a photo, jadilah gabisa yang satu frame cuma berdua aja terus foto gue rada fail, Galanknya ga nengok ke kamera. Terus pas giliran orang lain di sebelah dia, dia malah nengok ke kamera temen gue dan gue ketutupan. I looked so ugly.

Anyway, waktu itu liburan semester + ramadhan terus gue lagi di Jakarta. Ria, my fanmate yang juga orang Jakarta ngajak nonton latihan mereka setiap habis maghrib di Mahaka Sports Mall. That day tanggal 2 Agustus 2012 di bulan puasa dari pagi rencana kita ikut ke Sea World dulu since masuknya gratis and thanks to Pakdenya Suci yang kerja disana. Habis buka puasa, kita cabut ke Mahaka. Nae maeum udah boom boom boom boom* aja kayak lagunya B1A4 yang Beautiful Target padahal belum masuk ke lapangan hehehe, Fokus ! and there they are… practicing. Waktu itu Cuma ada Galank, Frida Aris, Raylly, Schiffo yang sekarang pindah ke Hang Tuah, terus lupa lagi… pokoknya waktu itu Nico Donda yang belum lama ini dipinang SM dari Garuda udah mulai ikut latihan. Oh iya, not forget to mention, kak Sesa yang super ramah. Yang latihan ga terlalu banyak soalnya banyak yang udah pulang kampung. Miga, Dodo, bang Ical, Bona, Arki dll, ga ada waktu itu.

Hari itu juga merupakan awal pertemuan kita sama seorang fanatic yang bener – bener fanatic, I mean he’s probably the king of all fanatic, he’s kak George a.k.a @GeeDendeng yang juga admin dari @INFO_Fanatics. Ria spotted him as the admin while he was also watching the practice a bit far from where we sit. Sehabis mereka selesai latihan, kita pengen foto bareng terus malu gitu dan mereka keburu ninggalin lapangan. Finally kita ngedeketin kak George terus kenalan dan bilang mau foto bareng. And you know what he did ? dia ngenalin ke kita ke Coach Ocky, and after that ke kak Aris, he even introduced us to Nico Donda ! Kak George pun koordinatif banget, dia ngomong ke coach kalo kita mau foto bareng Galank, terus sampe kita diajak masuk ke mess.

Satu hal yang ngena banget menurut gue waktu itu kak Aris baik banget, dia ngebukain pintu buat kita sampe manggilin Galank juga. Sampe di dalam mess, kita ditinggal Kak George sama Coach Ocky ngobrol – ngobrol. Rada awkward sama amazed sendiri selama nungguin Galank di dalam mess, tau sendiri deh, tempat yang biasanya cuma kita liat di foto atau video hasil kepo terus kita ke tempat itu langsung. Ga masuk ke kamarnya juga sih (ajegile), cuma nunggu di ruang depan aja. Awkward lagi waktu Schiffo lewat, ngeliat kita aneh gitu, bingung mau ngejelasin gimana bisa masuk ke mess, soalnya kuncinya pake semacam password atau fingerprint (?) I don’t know, udah rada lupa juga.

Akhirnya yang ditunggu – tunggu dateng juga, masih keringetan abis latihan, orangnya ke kamar dulu. Entah mandi atau Cuma ngelap badan doang terus keluar lagi. Galank in personal cukup ramah, rada malu – malu juga karena belum kenal, yah pokoknya baik dan ramah deh. Tapi menurut Ria yang beberapa hari sesudahnya ga sengaja ketemu Galank sama kak Sesa di La Piazza (she’s so lucky), Galank itu kalo ketawa lepas banget, humoris juga, liat aja tweetnya. Finally we got a chance to take a photo with him privately ! though he wasn’t quite in a nice appearance. Tiga kali foto yang diambil sama kak George, cukuplah sebagai pemuas hati. Ga lupa juga minta tanda tangan buat kedua kalinya, kali ini di kaos bernomor punggungnya sendiri dan merk punya dia sendiri (SlamDunkInc) tapi yang punya kaosnya gue (ha ha ha).
                                             
Setelah foto, ngobrol – ngobrol sebentar, malah sempet diajak ke food fest di La Piazza, but since itu udah malem dan rumah juga jauh banget, akhirnya kita pulang. Galank sempet bilang makasih juga tapi cuma “makasih ri”. Terus gue malesin banget sok ngambek buru – buru pulang minta diinget namanya gitu, haha. Emang bener ternyata dia lupa nama gue, terus kenalan lagi deh. Yah, I don’t know if he’s still remember me or not. Terakhir ketemu kak George kemaren pas NBL seri Jakarta juga, kak George ga inget nama gue. Tapi pas mau keluar Mahaka kita ketemu kak Sesa terus foto bareng dan dia kayak kaget gitu ada yang minta foto bareng, terus following each other’s twitter, sampe sekarang juga kadang masih suka mention. Emang ramah banget tuh orang, sayang ga seterusnya latihan di SM. Apparently, Kak Sesa sama Ria itu ternyata saudara jauh.

It was such a daebak day banget lah, ketemu orang yang lo kagumin and doing things out of your expectation, even maybe ga semua fanatic bisa dapet kesempatan kayak gitu. Hari itu juga finally tweet gue dibales sama Galank. Berkah puasa dan timing yang tepatlah karena yang nonton latihan hari itu sepi. Padahal kak George udah berkoar – koar ngajak fanatic nengok timnya lewat akun Info_Fanatics. I thanked God so much for this experience, and I thanked Kak George, coach Ocky and also Kak Aris. Mungkin beberapa yang baca tulisan ini ngerasa kalo gue rada lebay since he’s not so famous dibanding artis tipi atau kpop idols yang lagi hype sekarang ini, but I adore Satria Muda Britama with all of its players, et j’adore Galank Gunawan. I promise that I will be a loyal fanatic til the end.

I realize that idols are only human, just like us, but they are extraordinary human who were brave and determined enough to pursue their dream, whether it’s their  effort in getting good look or nice body as the first impression or their amazing skills in singing or sports. That’s why we adore them, am I right ?





Mission 66 accomplished

Kak Sesaaaa ({})

* : Bahasa Korea, Nae maeum = My heart (Jantung gue berdebar – debar maksudnya).