Oh No! I've finally succumbed to Asian Pop. Curse you, Farenheit and your emo pretty boys!

[dangermousie]

Yes, I am still working on my gigantic Farscape meta post, but for now, I just bring you links and vids.

Oh no, I finally succumbed to Asian pop. My liking for Kame and Yamapi didn't lead me to check out NewS and KAT-TUN. My thing for MatsuJun didn't translate into an interest in Arashi, and much as I adore Kimura Takuya, I have zero interest in SMAPxSMAP (actually I find most Japanese pop scary because of the shiny accoutrements, the fur and the craziness).

Loving F4 in Meteor Garden didn't do it. Liking Rain drove me really really close.

But what finally pushed me over the edge? The really innocuous hilarious twdrama Hana Kimi.

Because, Wu Zun! Jiro Wang! And I remembered I loved them in Tokyo Juliet and It Started with a Kiss respectively. And I went looking for Hana Kimi MVs and was reminded Wu Zun was in a band Farenheit and found out that Jiro was in it too!

And then I found them performing the song from the soundtrack, and I was a goner.



Performing a song from Hana Kimi soundtrack:

Zhao Xin Fu Gei Ni:

Only Feel for You:

No idea of the name:

Xia Xue:

Comments

[calixa.livejournal.com]

People are saying Farenheit are the next F4... I am not really into boybands, but I like this one because of Jiro :)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I am actually not very musical period, but I kinda like it in a relaxing way...

[calixa.livejournal.com]

I love music, but I like female voices more than male voices! Actually, for an asian boyband, Farenheit aren't all that bad. They're catchy, at least.

[callmecaito.livejournal.com]

actually I find most Japanese pop scary because of the shiny accoutrements, the fur and the craziness

And yet... Bollywood... well, I guess they don't really do fur. Although I think Salman Khan in Daisy Dukes is much, much, much more terrifying.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yes, but the Japanese boybands also seem to be into RPS and groping each other on stage. Considering they are borderline underage, it makes me want to take a shower and not in a good way. Though maybe that's just KAT-TUN (my eyes! my eyes!)

Salman Khan in Daisy Dukes

But at least he is not rubbing up against Akshay Kumar while earing a grass skirt. Oh wait...

[lydzi.livejournal.com]

Everything with Ah-Jin is bound to be yummy anyway ^^.

I love j-bands ^^. The costumes are priceless. Scary but priceless. Hum not too much into Kat-tun (I don't like their songs actually, but I like Junno XD...what? Yes I'm shallow *-*). I really like NewS, Arashi and Kanjani8. The others I don't care :p.

I just saw that one of the guy in Arashi is in Iwo Jima's Clint Eastwwod movie o_O. Well, that's what I call improvment o_O.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Everything with Ah-Jin is bound to be yummy anyway ^^.
</i Indeed. Yeah, I saw Nino in LfIJ and he was really really good. I kinda hope I never have to ruin that impression with watching him in sequins...

[kitsune714.livejournal.com]

I argue that F4 is way hotter than Fahrenheit (but you know that I'm totally biased in that respect), but I actually like their music. I've had their album rotating on my iPod since sometime last fall, and it's not bad.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Oh, I agree no one is as hot as F4, but Farenheit are better as a band IMO.

heh.

[calledinvain.livejournal.com]

They're all in my age group, which was a very pleasant surprise, as jpop bands all tend to be barely out of highschool age - tho, in Arashi, I at least have Ohno in my corner. Therefore, I like to think of Fahrenheit as really attractive cousins - I swear, the boys I grew up with never looked like that. Methinks it's time to return to the mainland and see for myself.

p.s.

[calledinvain.livejournal.com]

The unnamed video is "Ai Do" (which apparently translates into "Love Actually")

it's also my favorite song of theirs. It's cool to see who actually sings which part, and just like Yamapi surprises me with how deep his voice is singing wise, so does Jiro.

Re: p.s.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the name!

[village.livejournal.com]

Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Wait a minute. I knew Jiro was in a group but I had no that he and Wu were in the same band.

I'm not really into Asian boybands in a musical sense. I do more often than not enjoy the girl groups and the female singers. But when it comes to entertainment value (inappropriate touching being my personal favourite) I'm all for the boybands. I don't know why but watching them fills me with glee ... but listening to them sing? Eh.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I don't have much interest in either but I prefer boy groups for sheer y chormosome factor :)

[scottishlass.livejournal.com]

and much as I adore Kimura Takuya, I have zero interest in SMAPxSMAP (actually I find most Japanese pop scary because of the shiny accoutrements, the fur and the craziness).
Well good thing Smap grew out of the sequins :) But really they have the most adorkable clothes sometimes and their songs are GOOD (in a good way) which is rare with JE bands (probably one of the reasons why so many JE kohei bands cover SMAP songs (like KAT-TUn, Arashi and Yamapi).
SMASMA is actually very funny even without subtitles. SMAP is not just a band who sings ... really *LOL*
Why SMAP is cool ... sort of ... ;-)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Heeee. Cute!

[scottishlass.livejournal.com]

As an explanation you have to know that SmapxSmap sometimes do Smap Olympics where the winner of the five will then demand something from the losers. These tasks are totally goofy. But SmapxSmap normally consists of Bistro Smap where Nakai is the host and the rest of the four are the chefs and damn they cook well for a special guest. The winning team gets a kiss or if the guest is male get a little present. Then there is Pie-Lot - a question and answer quiz with a guest which involves pies, then there are the infamous skits where they either make fun of themselves or of recent dramas or bands or popular celebs. And, of course, the show always ends with a live performance either of a SMAP song or if they have a band or singer as guest, they do a little jamming. It really sounds weird, and it is on first glance. But it is really interesting to see those guys interacting among themselves as well with their guests (as you could see in the clip they were gobsmacked when Michael Jackson turned up as a surprise guest - they were just 5 normal guys meeting with their teen years idol)
Strangely enough, this weekend one of Germany's more popular singers will start his own variety show and it has strangely a very similar set-up. I guess TV producers went on a little shopping spree in Japan for ideas.

Anyway, I like a lot of KPop as well as JPop though I have to admit I cannot stand so much the younger JE kohei bands, like KAT-TUN and News. They are too constructed as well as too trimmed on the (bi)shounen thing (even though their fans are mostly female). So the only bands I really like are SMAP and Tackey & Tsubasa as well as Tokio. As for KPop, I'm still waiting for certain actors to actually sing!! Kang Dong-won has a beautiful voice and his version of Go Baek from Temptation of Wolves is heart-wrenching and I just like his voice very much. Taiwanese Pop is a bit too ... I don't know ... fluffy. I guess it is the Mandarin with all those cute sounds (yue, jie, shi etc.) The only song I really like is the main theme from MARS, it is rock, it has a good beat and the lyrics are beautiful :)
Ack, I better stop now, I already blabbed too much >:D

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I like TPop the best because it sounds fluffy but I am not much into music in general. I agree with you on the younger JE groups. Freaky.

[fivil.livejournal.com]

Boybands have always mainly just amused me and I'm not exactly addicted to or suberbly fond of Asian pop, either, though I do admit I love certain kpop songs off the soundtracks of Goong & My Girl (and had a guilty pleasure thing for the jpop band W-inds).

BUT I gotta say that I find these incredibly entertaining in a cheesy sort of way (cheesy because hey, boybands for crying out loud), especially the one with the comic-book thought bubbles and the girl. And now that I've browsed Drama Wiki more than healthy, I know that the girl from that video is actually in the girlband Ella's also in. Wild pop connections!

Jiro and Wu don't really act together in many scenes in Hana Kimi, but when they do, there's a very natural vibe there that I like - so it makes sense this isn't the first thing they've worked together on.

(Also, just watched ep 5 and god I love this drama. I just want all of it. Now.)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

They are cheesy. In a very fun way. The day I stop finding this cheesy, I should be carted off to the loony bin :D

[ladysaotome.livejournal.com]

Fahrenheit's music is great. HanaKimi is what enticed me (I ended up checking out S.H.E., too.) but "Happiness for You" is what got me hooked. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UFfL4uc9JY

It's a horrible shame there's nothing similar in jpop. I listen to it for the language exposure since I'm learning Japanese (& I do like some of it but the music tends to feel dated) As for the shiny accoutrements - I can live with those. It's when they dress in my grandmother's living room curtains that I die out of embarrassment for them.

btw, the older age of the Fahrenheit guys is another major perk for me, too. Although the way they play high school roles confuses things.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I really like Farenheit. Jpop is a bit 'tinny' sounding for me.

[catdecember.livejournal.com]

I MISSED THIS! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Heeee. enjoy :)