KARA – Mamma Mia! (マンマミーア！)

KARA is one of the legendary Korean groups that made waves of success in Japan during 2010 and 2011, alongside Girls’ Generation and others. Also, I consider them simply one of the best girl groups to come out of Korea in the last ten years, with a discography full of remarkable hit singles.

One of the group’s best songs is called “Mamma Mia!”, and it was released almost simultaneously in Korea and Japan in August 2014 (the Korean version was released one week prior to the Japanese single).

“Mamma Mia!” is a slick dance song, but with strong 80s vibes, something that KARA managed to do very well in its entire catalogue. It’s an explosive and full of energy song, perfect for clubs. And, surprisingly, I was able to dance to it last Saturday in a K-Pop party I attended in Rio de Janeiro. So, even if the DJ was a little bit too focused in boring boy groups and Korean hip-hop songs, it was nice to see this veteran girl group getting some love. At least I wasn’t the only one happy, as the whole crowd went crazy and started doing the choreography (I don’t know any choreography, so just kept jumping and doing awkward dance moves with my friend).

“Mamma Mia!” reached #6 on the Oricon chart, selling 31,864 copies. Lyrics were written by doublekick and Yuu Shimoji (下地悠), while music was composed by doublekick, HOMEBOY and Tenzo & Tasco. As for the arrangement, doublekick was the responsible.

Source: generasia.com

Nicole -- Something Special

http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/9R8LKqwuqtk/

NOTE: I’m not a fan of Tudou, but as I had this article ready for posting with a couple of music.163.com links, and I didn’t want to throw it away, I used the Tudou link as a one-time emergency solution.

I became quite sad when I was informed that Nicole (ニコル) had left South Korean girl group KARA in late 2013. She was my favorite member of the group, so the fact she parted ways with KARA just meant the end of an era for me. Also, I could never guess she’d have a solo career as a singer, because, come on, she’s a gorgeous and sexy young lady, but with very few singing skills, to say the least.

I was wrong... Nicole did start a singing career in South Korea with a mini-album called “First Romance”, which was released in 2014. To make things even better, the girl also debuted in Japan a couple of months ago, and it makes sense, as KARA’s fanbase is quite strong there.

At first, contrary to the song’s title, “Something Special” didn’t sound very special to me. It was just a formulaic pop song with some catchy samples of Nicole singing the “something special now” line, but nothing more than that. Well, I was wrong again... I’ve been listening to this thing for three five months now, even though, initially, I thought I’d only tolerate it for two or three weeks, at the maximum.

The thing is, “Something Special” may not be innovative by any means, but it’s a catchy and short tune. The effectiveness resides in the fact that you’re not going to hear the chorus looping for five minutes, which makes this light pop tune a good and quite dynamic listen. Also, the video, even though far from great, showcases Nicole’s beauty in a positive manner with lots of close-ups of her face and lips (she kind of reminds me of Arashi’s (嵐) Matsujun (松本潤) because of the cute black mole she has below her lower lip).

I really don’t know how Nicole’s career in Japan will progress, but I’m eagerly waiting for her next step. I hope the powers-that-be makes the right decision with her, maintaining this cute teen-oriented aidoru concept.

“Something Special” was released in June 2015, reached #8 on the Oricon charts, and sold 12,268 copies. Lyrics were written by SONG SOO YOON, MIN YEON JAE and MEG.ME, while music was composed by HAN JAE HO, KIM SEUNG SOO and KO NAM SOO.

Source: generasia.com