Nothing says summer quite like the sweet sounds of reggae music. And when you mix MBLAQ with ska punk group Lazybone on a warm summer day, let them take the pop out of  알면서 그래 [You Already Knew] and stir it up with some reggae-infused magic, it pushes the song to a whole new level, and I love it!

Good songs are always going to have the pliability to be reworked and dropped into entirely different genres and still sound as good as the original. In some cases (as we have seen with many of G.O’s reworks of the legendary songs he has covered on Immortal Song 2), they even sound better.

알면서 그래 [You Already Knew] is one of my absolute faves on Mona Lisa. It is upbeat, frisky and fun. All five of the music men in absolute quality have a moment to shine in the song, but our gorgeous main vocal and the playful maknae have the biggest presence in this one.

Having the colorful Lazybone provide the music and backing vocals during MBLAQ’s June 2013 MBC Picnic Live performance only added to the playfulness of this rather cheeky song. 알면서 그래 [You Already Knew] is vibrant and comfortable in reggae mode! The horns…I just LOVE!!!

So much fun!!! I absolutely adore when MBLAQ perform while backed by a live band. It is just so organic and delicious!! I have to believe that if G.O had a preference, it would probably be to sing with a live band as opposed to a music track. I know, I know….live bands are not always readily available and are probably far more expensive than say a soundboard technician who cues up music tracks. I totally understand. Still, there is something about the vibration of the music that comes from a band during a live performance that makes it special and gives a performance an entirely different energy. I remember the feeling of hearing Run backed by a live band during the Curtain Call shows. It felt like I was experiencing an internal earthquake. Live music is so powerful.

The entire Picnic Live performance was spectacular. I will definitely revisit more of it in future posts during this Countdown series. Until then, I will leave you with an artfully edited G.O-focused fancam video captured at the Picnic Live show by the ever clever MemenGO87.

Priceless.

~♥~

[Video cr. xxu0309; MemenGO87]