She Calls Me in the Winds Soft Song and With the Flwrs She Comes Again

Life Is A Political party: Jung Yonghwa's Do DISTURB and SUMMER CALLING anthology reviews

Oh my god nosotros did it once again, That Girl, 2017

Anyone who reads this blog knows that I ride for Jung Yonghwa, CNBLUE's leader and lead vocaliser, and so the contempo releases of not one but two of his solo projects have vastly improved my life.

In CNBLUE'south latest releases Yonghwa has experimented with a range of different instrumentations and musical styles, and with both Exercise DISTURB, his solo Korean album, and Summer CALLING, his Japanese release, he further expands his musical repertoire. Yonghwa also continues to collaborate with several producers who each take their own musical style, including Justin Reinstein, the producer of BETWEEN US and IT'Due south YOU, two of the strongest tracks from CNBLUE'due south concluding release 7°CN. In his two solo albums Yonghwa tests the limits of his pleasantly raspy voice and for the nearly office the results are impressive, every bit he goes from deep, throaty growls and soul shouts to high, sustained falsettos.

DO DISTURB opens with THAT GIRL, and this track is without a dubiousness a smart, sophisticated jam. It'southward full of musical tricks and surprises, first a funky, thumb-popping guitar lick and a sample that proclaims "Oh my god we did it once again." The track features the rapper Loco and information technology beautifully mixes in his percussive menstruum. THAT Daughter has a actually strong, deep groove, so momentarily interrupting the flow with a drop right before Loco's rap, which takes the identify of a pre-chorus, breaks upwards the monotony of the vocal'due south heavy beat out. Loco's rap has a jazzy, freeform style and it makes its appearance in the vocal like a hard bop transition—sudden, jarring, and without alarm, yet completely correct. Post-obit this Yonghwa jumps right back in again with the vocal's mad tricky chorus, establishing the hook that continues throughout the rail. The 2d time Loco raps it's equally breathtaking, every bit most of the instrumentation again drops away and a liquid trap shell rides nether his rhymes. This time around, instead of going correct into the chorus Yonghwa croons a sexy bridge over the crush that brilliantly links the rap to the melody. He so follows this by belting a powerful sustained note ("tired") that punches up the energy of the song fifty-fifty more. These crazy switch-ups, with Loco spitting burn, Yonghwa purring and belting, and the insanely hooky backbeat, are what makes this runway ascension above the usual pop music production and keeps the sound fresh and surprising. The vocal moves all over the place while remaining anchored to its swinging groove.

The album's second rail, CLOSER, completely changes up the mood. A lush and poppy track produced by Justin Reinstein, the song creates a shimmering, dumbo soundscape that's a perfect bed for Yonghwa's powerful and pristine vocals. The soaring chorus is peculiarly lovely, as information technology shifts the song's chromatics and makes for an exhilarating break. Yonghwa has said that he can write ten songs like this a solar day, so if he ever decides to finish beingness a star he'll never starve because he'due south got the iii-minute pop song down pat.

The third track, PASSWORD, marries Yonghwa's vocals to a deep firm rails and non surprisingly his voice suits the classic firm-fashion production really well, as he alternates between smooth sustained notes, belting, and rhythmic purring. The production on this runway has the house audio downwardly perfectly, from the muted horns and flexible bass line to the slight reverb in the vocals on the chorus. The lyrics also match the house style, with a couple dainty hits of ra-tata, a few sweet woohoos, and some smexy English ("baby, turn me on"). This song is made for the clubs and it sounds like Yonghwa had a lot of fun singing it. Yet nether the housey mix the song is actually quite jazzy.

The quaternary track, NAVIGATION, is one of those out-of-left-field songs that defies classification. I don't even know how to depict this vocal, information technology'due south so astoundingly foreign. Yonghwa has fabricated a song based on GPS voices and it works perfectly as a dreamlike rails that feels like driving downward the road to nowhere. The English language refrain "left to the right, up to the downward" perfectly encapsulates geographic dyslexia as well as Yonghwa's specially sideways thinking. Songs like this and Purple RUMBLE, last year's standout track from both EUPHORIA and 7°CN, demonstrate how startlingly unexpected Yonghwa'southward tunes can be.

Something has happened to Yonghwa's vocalization over the by couple years and that is that he's become an excellent vocaliser. He's always been a good rock vocalist, with a flexibility and ferocity in his delivery, but on DO DISTURB he'southward suddenly get amazing at other genres as well. This is especially evident in NOT ANYMORE, a mid-tempo 90s throwback R&B jam where his vocal virtuosity is off the hook. On this runway Yonghwa effortlessly ranges from sultry crooning to belting to beautifully sustained high notes, bending the tune at the climax and hitting a gorgeous falsetto at the pinnacle of the song. Similar Stevie Wonder, his phonation is full of melodic flexibility, supple and smooth in one moment, then ragged, raw, and full of passion in the side by side. The merely time he falters somewhat is on the very highest notes, where there are some signs of strain in his voice and the richness found in his mid and lower register is absent-minded.

Practice DISTURB'south closing track, LOST IN Fourth dimension, is admittedly gorgeous. This is what Yonghwa tin can do. Even earlier I read the translation of the lyrics, Yonghwa's plaintive, emotional delivery finer conveyed the melancholy of the elementary, evocative melody. His vocals are completely on point in this song, with a stunning octave jump and a beautiful sustained high note at the crescendo, his tone and vibrato gorgeous, rich, and full of emotion. I doubtable that this vocal would have been released as a single if it wasn't so stylistically similar to 1 FINE Day, the championship rail from Yonghwa'southward previous solo release. In order to avoid pigeonholing he likely wanted to become away from releasing emo ballads and instead focus on a dissimilar kind of tune.

In improver to Do DISTURB, which was released in the Korean market, Yonghwa also dropped Summer CALLING in Japan about a month after Practice DISTURB. As well as four tracks from Practise DISTURB, the album also includes iii other songs that demonstrate his further growth as an artist. All three of the additional tracks are completely in English language and each has a very dissimilar sound from the others.

The title track, Summer DREAM (produced by Reinstein) is a fast-paced song that includes some rapid-fire English lyrics that demonstrate a vast comeback in Yonghwa'due south English-linguistic communication skills. Showtime with SOMEONE ELSE, the b-side from this spring'due south CNBLUE Japanese single SHAKE, Yonghwa has suddenly get fluent in writing in English. Whether or not he's getting a lilliputian help from an uncredited collaborator, his English lyrics are now actually, really adept and his previous clumsiness with the language has vanished for the most part. Non just is he much more than fluent but he at present tin can use English the way that he uses Korean, musically and poetically as opposed to only being about the meaning of the words. Summertime DREAM's imagery is strong and consequent throughout and the song'south lyrics turn on a dime. For example, the song repeats this couplet twice:

If nosotros could stay forever jump
Could finish the globe from turning 'round

In its third iteration this variation appears:

I wish I knew a way effectually
Could stop the world from turning 'round

This alternates with this couplet, also repeated twice, at the same point in the melody.

I burn the moment in my listen
I experience our hearts are intertwined

Again there is a slight variation in the lyrics in the third iteration.

I burn the moment in my mind
A time again I'll never find

These slight yet sophisticated changes brand the vocal's story progress from hope to resignation and motion the mood from joy to sadness and from hope of the hereafter to longing for the past. The song's driving crush and the rapidity of the lyrics also advise the inevitability of loss. It'south a beautifully structured song that demonstrates Yonghwa'due south mastery of tune, lyrics, and performance.

The two other English-language tracks on SUMMER CALLING are every bit interesting. Though Yonghwa has been compared to Bruno Mars, in these two songs I'chiliad hearing a bit of another famous mixed-race polyhyphenate, the legendary Prince.

LIFE IS A PARTY opens with Yonghwa flexing his falsetto equally he effortlessly swings through this flirty, dancey melody. The lyrics show off a pleasant swagger equally Yonghwa confidently explains why he's the superior choice of a mate.

I don't do this for just anyone
But I know that he can't be the one for you, daughter

(Come on)
With the setting of the summer lord's day, I toast my glass and fight
"Everybody living it upwardly, until I've got you lot, I'll never stop"

Life is a party
Don't you waste it with him, darling

Yonghwa's sweet cockiness and his clear, flute-like falsetto, along with the rails'south spare, funky synth-based product, calls to mind Prince's Minneapolis sound.

Make YOU MINE similarly echoes Prince tracks like Lilliputian Crimson CORVETTE and IF I WAS YOUR GIRLFRIEND. Though not as overtly smexy as the Royal One'southward, Yonghwa's lyrics are even so mildly racy and create bright give-and-take pictures.

Slowly tracin' all the droplets
Equally they're drippin' off your pilus it's
So astonishing how you lot discover
Another way to blow my heed

Creative growth, Yonghwa, 2017

Yonghwa has recently stated that his current favorite vocal is DESPACITO, Luis Fonsi's Castilian-linguistic communication mega-hit. He may similar the song for its music merely he also has to be enlightened that this is one of the few non-English language songs to cantankerous over to mainstream success in the US and around the world. His fondness for the rail may reflect some of his ain longing to gain global popularity and interruption through the cultural and language barriers notwithstanding holding back Korean musical acts in the US. His swain Kpop star G-dragon (leader of BIGBANG) is currently on a world tour that's been selling out most of its venues, with the notable exception of some of its North America dates, attesting to the difficulties Asian stars go on to face in breaking into the US market. Despite this history, South Korean rapper Jay Park has just signed to Jay Z's label Roc Nation and Kpop boy group of the moment BTS collaborated with The Chainsmokers' Andrew Taggart on their latest release. Yonghwa may go lucky and catch the brass ring in the US sometime, merely until then he'southward selling out shows and otherwise doing but fine across Asia, both with CNBLUE and on his own.

With these 2 solo releases Yonghwa is clearly enjoying spreading his wings and continuing to expand his musical horizons. In THAT GIRL'due south music video he even manages some passable dancing, which is a pretty far reach from CNBLUE'southward usual rock band turf.

CNBLUE just dropped a new vocal, STARTING OVER, which mixes a retro Ray Charles-inspired piano line with Yonghwa'due south sweet, soulful vocals and which takes the band's sound in yet another direction. It's a pleasure see Yonghwa continue to claiming himself and have artistic risks, which tin can simply bode well for his ongoing creative growth. I can't wait to hear what he comes up with adjacent.

September 21, 2017 at 6:55 am

Rebel Without A Pause: Why we need GOOK

The Korean American view, GOOK, 2017

Just caught a matinee of Justin Chon's film GOOK at the Alamo Drafthouse here in San Francisco. Although the film is a bit crude effectually the edges for the most function it's an absorbing and successfully mounted film that focuses on the Korean American perspective of a specially fraught moment in US history.

The film follows Eli and Daniel, a pair of Korean American brothers who run a small and funky shoe shop in Paramount, an unincorporated expanse bordering Southward Central Los Angeles. It's set up during the ceremonious unrest in Los Angeles in 1992 following the acquittal of the four LAPD officers caught on camera beating unarmed motorist Rodney King, but most of that activity takes place offscreen. Instead the film miniaturizes the conflicts that occurred during that time, focusing on a small group of individuals repping for the entire city of Los Angeles. Several times characters refer to action taking identify in Southward Central but aside from a few digitally added columns of smoke on the distant horizon we don't actually see any widespread violence. This is no doubt in part due to the pic's indie budget which probably precluded any large-scale set pieces of buildings on burn down or shit getting fucked up. Then we get a couple broken windows, some beatdowns, a few guns existence fired into the air, and other incidents that gesture toward the greater unrest without actually staging any of the mass devastation and destruction that took identify during that time.

Time and place, GOOK, 2017

Justin Chon does a good job with his actors (himself included) and demonstrates that he has an eye for time and place in the worn-out, working class neighborhood he places his story in. He's as well got the 1990s kicks fetish downwardly pat as i of the narrative threads turns on the acquisition of several pairs of expensive sneakers. The pic's fine art direction also works hard, with baggy jeans, overalls, and asymmetrical jheri-whorl hairstyles capturing the flow'south fashion sensibilities. Although I accept some issues with the resolution of the character arc of Kamilla, the young African American teen who befriends Eli and Daniel, for the well-nigh part Chon directs with a steady hand and maintains a tone of tense wariness in the film's multiethnic milieu.

And like MOONLIGHT, which the picture show in some style resembles, there are no white people in the flick, which attests to the racial and social stratification that led to the explosion of tensions in 1992 following the verdict that acquitted Officers Powell, Current of air, Koons, and Briseno of beating Rodney Rex. Instead the film tells its story from a Korean American POV, one which has for the most role been lacking in mainstream depictions of the 1992 unrest. This omission is especially glaring considering the fact that the Korean American customs suffered huge belongings losses during the unrest and that sa-i-gu, or April 29, is considered a watershed moment in the Korean American community.

Important, GOOK, 2017

Even in the 21st century the focus on a Korean American perspective is particularly important, and this was all the more credible to me subsequently watching the ads and trailers that preceded GOOK's screening at the Alamo. The cinema is a hipster oasis located in what used to be a predominantly Latino neighborhood, and I counted exactly 1 non-white person in the many trailers for the various indie films in the upcoming schedule. Likewise, the ironic midcentury aesthetic of the constitute footage in-business firm announcements were decidedly not very diverse. Ane short clip featured an all-white group of immature people from the early 1960s dancing to African American manner choreography. This moment was presented without a hint of irony and its glaring cultural appropriation felt decidedly tone-deafened.

So even though I experience like I say this a lot, information technology clearly bears repeating. Unconscious Eurocentric bias makes information technology all the more of import to support films like GOOK. Now more than than ever, as Trumpism threatens to plow back the hard-fought gains of the ceremonious rights motion and its struggles for equality and social justice, we take to keep decentering the master narratives of white hegemony and bring Asian American voices to the fore.

September 5, 2017 at four:23 am

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Source: https://beyondasiaphilia.com/2017/09/

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