The Soulful Countdown to G.O’s Discharge ~ Day 292

While I have been reserving the Retro Room for songs of days long gone by, indeed longer than three years, I felt the strong urge to make sure G.O’s beautiful performance of John Legend’s All of Me from the I.Callist Idol Vocal Concert back in February is filed securely here in the Retro Room among the others. Legend’s song was released in 2013, not very retro I know, but I bend my rules every now and then when I am compelled to share moments of G.O’s moving and poignant interpretations of songs that surely mean so much to him.

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The Soulful Countdown to G.O’s Discharge ~ Day 289

I have always believed that G.O was (and still is) a consummate student of music. Ever learning and perfecting his own art, I have to guess that his music collection is more vast and wide than the oceans between us. Indeed he is extremely well-versed in music and has covered the songs of many music legends, east and west. As many of you know, there were often those times when during a variety show or in-studio radio show appearance, he was asked to sing and I have to believe there were times he was prepared to do so. But there were times when he most likely was not and was asked to sing off-the-cuff as it were. Live. At that moment. During the broadcast. I think the SBS Ten Ten Club broadcast of 15 July 2010 was one of those off-the-cuff moments when he regaled the audience with a few lines from DBSK’s  주문 [Mirotic].

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The Soulful Countdown to G.O’s Discharge ~ Day 274

It takes a lot of courage for me to listen to G.O’s cover of Javier Colón’s Song For Your Tears but it has been staring at me from the shelf in The Retro Room for some time now. I knew that sooner or later I was going to want pull it down, dust it off, listen to it, and subsequently feel my heart shatter into a million pieces. G.O being away and missing him compounds the aching but this song is just too good and his performance of it during the Zepp and Sensation tours of 2013, a master vocal class with every note.

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The Soulful Countdown to G.O’s Discharge ~ Day 248

I always said that I was gonna make it,
Now it’s plain for everyone to see . . .

To hear G.O sing these lyrics from Craig David’s Rise & Fall in the practice room with Tykeys either during or before his debut with the group is wonderfully prophetic ~ however, when you dig deeper into the song, you understand that is not so much a song about succeeding but rather, the unpredictability of the highs and lows of fame. Once again a song of depth and meaning captures the attention of our young and ambitious main vocal yet I cannot help but wonder if the tale told in Rise & Fall also gave G.O pause to enter the world of entertainment cautiously.

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The Soulful Countdown to G.O’s Discharge ~ Day 181

Although a classic break up song, there was still something very sweet about G.O singing a little bit of the chorus to Ne-yo’s So Sick at the SBS Tenten Club Public Broadcast on 14 February 2011, even if it was Valentine’s Day! I would be hard pressed to be sick of any love song on that day and even more reluctant to turn away from a song (break up or otherwise) sung by G.O. Just sayin’. I love that G.O revived a little of the song at the Tenten broadcast since it has most likely been a song on his personal playlist for some time. He covered it way back in his Tykeys days. So on this 181st day of his service, I am setting the dial to the Retro Room station to revisit G.O’s cover of So Sick.

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The Soulful Countdown to G.O’s Discharge ~ Day 154

Lately, I have had the strangest feeling
With no vivid reason here to find
Yet the thought of losing you’s been hanging
‘Round my mind

I am sitting in the Retro Room tonight being serenaded by G.O accompanied by Seung Ho on piano with Stevie Wonder’s Lately, and the air has all of the sudden become extra heady and sweet. Seven months post-debut and the 87-Line joined forces on MNet Radio to give the world a little taste of what was to grow into a genuinely potent and creative partnership.

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The Soulful Countdown to G.O’s Discharge ~ Day 100

Day 100!! Beautiful G.O has completed 100 days of his military service. Now, that wasn’t so bad. Those first 100 days actually went by rather quickly, right? Right?! Ok, so yes, the days seem to be moving right along and at a somewhat decent pace. Maybe? That pace still does not lessen the ache of missing him. Of having the excitable feeling of seeing an announcement that he will have an event, an appearance, a show, musical, movie or song. Right now, all we have is the promise of his imminent discharge. For Day 100 then, no fanfare needed as I will choose to honor his desire for a quiet service and simply share a moment of him covering Eric Benét’s Still With You.

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The Soulful Countdown to G.O’s Discharge ~ Day 80

When neo-soul artist Eric Benét released his second album, Hurricane in June 2005, little did he know the kind of impression that album was going to make on a young vocalist in South Korea. Of the fourteen tracks on Benét’s album, four resonated strongly with our beautiful main vocal man and frankly, I cannot choose a favorite of those four because all are equally amazing. In 2012, however, G.O gave some very special love and attention to Cracks of My Broken Heart.

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The Soulful Countdown to G.O’s Discharge ~ Day 31

I want to touch people with my art. I want them to say ‘he feels deeply, he feels tenderly’.~ Vincent Van Gogh

Sometimes I would like to be able to say….’Remember all of those radio show appearances MBLAQ made in the early days following their debut?’ and then magically scan my brain for a specific date, or show, or song performed and pull it out of thin air to share. But I can’t, because I don’t remember. See, I came to the MBLAQ party late and missed out on so much. Still, I am fortunate because so many of those moments were captured on video, and those videos were subsequently uploaded somewhere in the vast cyber wasteland known as the internet! And, I have wonderful A+ to guide me (thank you for this one, M~)!

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[series] 116 Reasons to Love Byung Hee: More #10 ~ All of Me Believes G.O Is Already A Legend

All of Me Blog Post

The more I commit myself to accepting the fact that I am a fangirl, and G.O my one and only true bias, the more I believe that there is no such thing as coincidence. On August 17th, after a long hiatus of my series 116 Reasons to Love Byung Hee, I published a post entitled Undercover Cover Lover, a discussion, for the most part, of the English songs G.O has covered over the course of his career with Tykeys and now MBLAQ. Two short days following the publication of that post, a video leaks of G.O covering yet another Western R&B artist’s song: John Legend’s All of Me.

If it is a coincidence, then I’d have to say the universe has a pretty cheeky sense of humor. That aside, the 1:41 clip of just his voice and piano lays further foundation that G.O is sincerely born to sing and is a master at his craft.

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