Omijacha

Finally! Hayi is going to start doing some OST songs! http://entertain.naver.com/read?oid=382&aid=0000494214 The article says she is going to participate in the OST music for the upcoming drama "Scarlet Lovers" (scheduled to begin on Aug. 29). I'm also hoping that some of her Seoulite songs will be used as OST tracks for future TV dramas. They are so perfect.

She's obviously getting close to zero support from YG and zero budget, so she's having to figure out how to keep in contact with her fans all on her own and a zero-budget v-app show using her own smart phone, and an ordinary cheap and basic computer camera is all she can do on her own for now. Years ago, YG would actually provide some amount of support for things like 2NE1 TV, and there would be professional editing, professional camera operators and situational humor and interactions between the different members. They also were able to do full-length, high quality alternative studio versions of their songs (like Lonely and I Don't Care, etc. and collaborations with that guitarist Sungha Jung, etc.) and put them up on youtube. More recently, even prior to their debut, YG was creating a lot of different videos and tv programs for the boy groups (like Winner TV, not to mention WIN and Mix & Match). I don't recall YG ever, ever doing anything like that for Gummy or Hayi, so we're back to what we've known all along --- YG sucks at promoting solo artists and -- worse -- doesn't even seem to be interested in promoting them. I guess we should be thankful that she at least got the basic and standard promotional support for her album release (i.e. a grand total of 3 music videos -- after a 3-year "hiatus" in the dungeon). If she got even minimal production support from YG, she could probably have joint activities with different "guests" and other YG artists, where they could have fun interactions together and stuff (and be supported with some professional video camera operators, make-up support, editing support and so on). But it's pretty clear that she'll never get even 1% of the amount of promotional support that the YG-created idol groups get. I would like to see her be able to do some full-length, high-quality, studio recorded alternative versions of her own songs, as well as covers of other songs that she likes -- maybe on a monthly basis. (I know other solos and groups (like 15&) have done dozens of such recorded covers and put them up on youtube for their fans to enjoy.) But I know I'm dreaming and she'll never get support from YG for anything like that.

Up All Night is really good. All of the songs in her album need to be showcased more and get more attention. Each one is a potential chart-topper.

What? Denise has joined YG? How did I miss that? (Actually I thought YG might go after both Joyce and Denise, but I haven't seen any news about either of them until this.) Yes, I would love to see/hear some songs by the Kpop Star girls as a group. Definitely want more Lee Hi solo songs and more Hi-Suhyun songs too. A Kpop Star girls project may also be a great way to launch opportunities for Katie and Hanna to branch out into future solo activities.

Lee Hi's not a "group". But, as a YG artist, Lee Hi has been a BFF of 15&'s Park Jimin (JYPE), friend of Ahyeon (JYPE) and friend of Day 6's Jae (JYPE) for years and, as her Seoulite album and recent "Refrigerator" featuring proves, she has a friendly and collaborative relationship with artists from many different companies (e.g., Dean, Gil, Jong-hyun, Dok2, etc...)

"It's Over" -- Lee Hi

I checked the GAON chart, but the monthly chart for May is not up yet. Since her album came out around the end of April, the April chart only shows a few thousand sales (around 6,300). I'm sure the figures for May will be quite a bit higher. One factor to keep in mind is that her album is about two or three times more expensive than most of the top-selling albums. Most of the top-selling idol groups are putting out mini-albums at prices around KRW 8,000 to KRW 13,000. Hayi's album is priced at around KRW 24,000 (with some places occasionally sellng them at KRW 19,000 when special discounts apply). So I'm guessing a lot of the middle-school and high-school fans may not be buying the physical album. Hopefully, she'll get a lot of purchases by Hajussis and Hajumas, as well as sell a lot in overseas markets.

He should be congratulated on writing a really great song...and I think Hayi was the right choice to sing the song. Her expression of the song is perfect in my mind. It's not just the high climax parts that make the song so good. It's also the low, soothing tones that make up about 70% of the song. Hayi's one of the few singers who can do justice to every note. I've heard a few covers with great high notes, belted out with fantastic drama, but they usually make a muddle of the lower-register notes in the rest of the song.

YG announced that Hayi, Epik High and iKon are going to be doing concerts in China later this year. I hope Hayi will do a lot of her album songs. She usually only does the promoted "title" songs from her albums. But I think fans would love it if she did other songs too (with concert-appropriate arrangements), like "Passing By", "Up All Night", "Missing You", etc., etc. Epik High and iKon will be there, so it should be possible for her to do an Up All Night performance with Tablo and a "Video" performance with Bobby. http://osen.mt.co.kr/article/G1110426062(Article in Korean)

Refrigerator is a really addictive song. The lyrics are relevant and meaningful...and Hayi's voice and vocal expression communicate the emotions of the song perfectly. Gill's singing is fantastic and the blend of his voice and Hayi's voice is both unique and immediately satisfying. (Kind of like the perfect sweet-and-sour sauce.) Although it seems like a song that could easily be number 1 on the charts, with all-kills and roof kicks and stuff, I didn't really expect a high chart position because there has been so little promotion. (Even now, there are almost no news articles or any media play at all in the Korean media. I was therefore pleasantly surprised to see that it got as high as #6 on Melon and continues to be quite high in the charts. I hope it will get some more buzz. It would be a shame if a lot more people don't hear it just because they don't even know about it yet.

Great! Just a few more hours from now then... Thanks!

Does anyone know when Gill's "Refrigerator" song (featuring Hayi) is going to be released? I know it's supposed to be released on May 28 (Korea time). But I'm wondering if that means that it will be right after midnight tonight (Korea time) or sometime later in the day.

Really looking forward to the Gil x Hayi collaboration. If it's coming out this Saturday, I guess all of the recording has been done and it's just waiting to be released. With those two voices, I'm pretty sure it's not going to be a typical cutesy boy-and-girl ballad. It's probably going to be really powerful. (Hope her voice is in great condition. She's not had much chance to rest it since having that nasty cold/flu a couple of weeks ago. But I'm not complaining. She still sounds great in her recent performances.)

I thought she looked familiar. I think that's Kim Doyeon who was in Kpop Star Season 2... She's the one that made it into the top 10 and then voluntarily withdrew from the show because she said she was really only interested in a musical education career and was not really wanting to eventually sign up with one of the entertainment companies. She didn't want to take that opportunity away from another contestant who really wanted a chance at signing with a company, so another contestant took her place in the top 10. IIRC, Shin Ji-Hoon took her place and eventually did sign up with an entertainment company.

The dancer on the left of the top picture......I'm pretty sure that she was in the 1,2,3,4 music video (last scene in the street in front of the movie theater).

And her My Star video recently just went over 3,000,000. So her recent 3 videos (Breathe, Hold My Hand (more than 5 million) and My Star) now have an aggregate of more than 18 million views. That's quite good ... and is about equal to the current total views of the 1234 video, which has been accumulating views for 3.5 years now.

Speaking of Hayi fans....did you see the view-counts of the performances from that episode? I think Hayi's was well over 300,000 when I last looked (probably close to 400,000 now) and nothing else was even up to 100,000 (while most were not even up to 10,000). The number of likes for the Hayi and Jun In Kwon collaboration was also far ahead of everything else. There were some negative/naysayers, but I suspect that most of them were fans of some of the other performers and they were bitter about Hayi's performance getting so much attention and praise. Most people who aren't biased for someone else wouldn't bother putting up negative comments. They just move on. The bitter ones are usually trying to persuade people that they shouldn't like it, usually because they want people to like what they like instead.

I loved the Immortal Song performance. I was worried because they recorded it when her cold/flu symptoms were quite bad. But for that kind of song (rock ballad), it actually worked out quite nicely. Her introductory part was fantastic (and I'd love to see her write/sing a song that emphasizes that style in the future). I also really loved the "ahh-ahh-ah-ah-ah" chorus toward the end. The harmonies on the chorus parts weren't the polished/precision harmonies that are expected for typical pop songs. They weren't intended to be IMO. In fact, they were for the most part sung in slightly discordant unison lines, which is fitting for a rock ballad. It's supposed to sound raw and gritty in those parts. (That's rock. If it sounds too polished and over-rehearsed, rock purists will complain.) In any case, people come with their own expectations. Some people love high-note climaxes, so they tend to give more points to whoever hits the highest note. Some people like ultra-polished harmonies. Each style and approach has its place. For this type of song and collaboration, though, I think it was a really fun and moving interpretation of the song. It made me want to hear more of these types of collaborations from Hayi...

I hate colds! I hope she gets better soon. I hope her performance with Kwon In Sun really turns out good. I'm worried about how it will be since she is suffering from really bad cold symptoms. This is the kind of "extra-curricular" collaboration and singing activity that I've been wanting for ages to see her start doing. And it's the type of thing that I think will really help her build up her fan base. So I'm feeling really bad that her first big opportunity comes at a time when she's got a super-nasty cold. I'm definitely going to watch the show...and I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I know it's not a record or anything, but I just realized that Hayi's 3 official M/Vs released during the past month or so already have a combined total of close to 16 million views. That's pretty darn good for someone who (due to an extremely isolated 3-year dungeon sentence) is in many ways still close to rookie status. (YG's message to her for 3 years was basically: "fan-base, shman-base, you don't need no steenkin' fans cuz yer just a girl and yer not even a girl group.")

She definitely deserves to be on the list. I noticed that Lorde is on the list too. Lorde mentioned a year or two ago that she really liked Hayi's style and would be interested in a collaboration. I wonder if something like that could happen in the near future. If they came up with a song and arrangement that made both of them shine, it could be a big hit. I hope YG will put this Fuse honor on Hayi's official profile page on the YGE website. I remember she was the only Asian singer on Billboard's global "Top 25 Under 25" list for 2013...and YG didn't even bother to put any mention of it on her profile page.

Her physical album is one of the most expensive albums out now....and worth every penny (or won).

In one part, she says: "there are a lot of songs that don't need high notes, but..." I know exactly what she's talking about. I've felt for years that she shouldn't be pressured into singing songs with outrageously high "climax notes". She already has an amazing range, starting from solid notes that are lower than just about any other female singer and going all the way up to a reasonably high register. Within that natural range, she can make beautiful songs that are dynamic and unique and blessed with that tonality that only she has...and the way she artistically handles each phrase with just the right touch of emotion and coloring to bring the full meaning of the words alive is truly beautiful. But there are many (somewhat simple-minded) people among the public and idol fans who seem to think that whoever sings the highest, loudest and longest note is the "winner" (of whatever real or imagined singing competition there is). I think that's what she's referring to when she talks about having to "shout in the last bridge." I've seen a lot of music shows and it's always a bit funny to see how people get so impressed when the singer is bustin' a gut and popping veins to wail out the last, highest note as long as possible. Sometimes, it's really too much, way too theatrical and doesn't match the lyrics. Once in a while I can get into it, but I really prefer the type of smooth groove, emotionally genuine style and powerful mid-range dynamics that Hayi has in her songs.

I think that's just because Hayi is too genuine as a person to do a lot of fake laughter. She was polite and smiled politely, but I don't think she needed to go any further than that. It was really tacky for the HT producers to let the erotic-movie director go as far as he did with those sex-movie topics. Some of it was getting solidly into perv territory. That's exactly the kind of land-mine situation that requires a lot of prudence and caution for someone in Hayi's position. She handled it perfectly IMO, like a true diplomat. The other girl tried to play along with the director's topic and ended up looking like she was wanting to get a part in one of his erotic movies.

Okay, that makes more sense. I don't know if it was intentional or not but the way they edited the last scene compilations it almost made it look like one guy was coming back as a ghost, after a pebble kept getting blown off a rock, and then they hugged and kissed and went to a beach in Greece or Turkey (where they sat on a rusty shipwreck)...and there was no narration or explanation...so I was thinking it reminded me of the altered state of consciousness I was in when I had my wisdom teeth pulled. Funny thing is I didn't even know any of the background, but they had me crying when those letters were delivered to the girls.