The Soulful Countdown to G.O’s Discharge ~ Day 428

I often wonder when G.O became MBLAQ’s official main vocal if he realized how much dancing he was going to be required to do. Choreography is part of the Korean pop idol package but he is primarily a romantic balladeer. As we all know, ballads do not really require choreography. I can only hope G.O surprised himself with how well he could . . . move. I pretty much view dancing as a sport, and much of MBLAQ’s choreography was quite athletic, especially in aggressively intense dance tracks like Run. Along with its searing vocals and powerful rap, Run was designed to be visually spectacular. And indeed it was when our gorgeous men in black brought their fierce martial arts themed performance to the K-Collection Fashion Concert stage back on 11 March 2012.

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The Soulful Countdown to G.O’s Discharge ~ Day 427

When shuffling through your MBLAQ collection do you ever come to the Y  album and get stuck there for awhile? I do. The reason I get stuck on Y is mostly because of the dreamy ballad Last Luv. Oh the feels that song gives me. But today, I want to focus a Vocal Virtuosity moment towards MBLAQ’s 8 June 2010 performance of What U Want on MNet’s The Pub Only You Concert. I am going to be a bit brazen here because I really wish to focus on the last minute or so of the performance, for obvious reasons.

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The Soulful Countdown to G.O’s Discharge ~ Day 422

The sound of a voice that is authoritative, abrupt and cold begins to flood his heart with the memory of a deep and painful loss. His mind is transported back to when she left. His heart is reminded of the void he is still suffering. He longs to hear her comforting voice and not his abusive tone. Dong Ho is devastated. Lost. Heartbroken. The intensely emotional 소리기억 [I Remember The Sound] in 서편제 [Seopyeonje] is a flashback moment from the mind of Dong Ho who relives the tragedy surrounding the death of his mother. A death he squarely blames on his stepfather, Yoo Bong. Continuing on my spring Seopyeonje revival, the heart-wrenching 소리기억 [I Remember The Sound] is the subject of our Fan-Camming Friday today.

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The Soulful Countdown to G.O’s Discharge ~ Day 415

There is just something about 열쇠 [Key]. It seems to be one of those songs that digs deep into G.O and takes ahold of every fiber of emotion welling inside of him. From the Broken promotions to the final performances of the song into late 2014, you see it in his eyes when he sings it and without question, hear it in his voice. 열쇠 [Key] is a somber song filled with pleas to help ease the pain of a broken or closed heart and probably has one of the most poetic and touching choruses of any of MBLAQ’s songs. And yes, G.O is the commander of that chorus. Today’s Fan-Camming Friday moment is a G.O- focused cam taken during the performance of  the lyrically beautiful 열쇠 [Key] at MBLAQ’s July 2014 Summer Vacation in Tokyo.

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The Soulful Countdown to G.O’s Discharge ~ Day 404

I cannot possibly be the only one who routinely loses my emotional balance when I listen to G.O sing the songs of the musical, 광화문 연가 [Gwanghwamun Sonata]. While writing an original musical (story, music composition and lyrical content) is an amazing creative feat, there is something equally as magical as picking and choosing well-established songs of a composer and building a story around those songs. This fascinates me. I admit that my imagination runs wild with the thought of examining the songs G.O has penned to see if a story can be set to those songs. But, I am getting way ahead of myself here. So let me pull the reins a bit and get back to the focus of this post: Lee Young Hoon’s beautiful and haunting ballad 슬픈 사랑의 노래 [Sad Love Song] from Gwanghwamun Sonata. Continue reading “The Soulful Countdown to G.O’s Discharge ~ Day 404”

The Soulful Countdown to G.O’s Discharge ~ Day 397

 

My infatuation with G.O’s eyes continue, even if he dare only show us one. For some reason, showing only one eye during some of the Mona Lisa promotions and performances in the summer of 2011 proved to be ever mysterious and absolutely alluring, particularly at the MTV Cyworld Music Festival Dream 2011. Lucky were those who pointed their cams and cameras on him and were able to capture the attention of that one very lone soft and mesmerizing eye. I would like to ease into this Monday, this 397th day of G.O’s service, with the soft gaze of his eyes, the windows . . . or in this case, window to his soul.

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The Soulful Countdown to G.O’s Discharge ~ Day 393

I admit to not being well-versed in Korean popular music. I further admit that my vision and hearing have been focused on and tuned into MBLAQ since I discovered who they were and what they were about. I felt then that I was experiencing the cream of the crop. That there was no need to explore further because MBLAQ, and specifically G.O, were satisfying all of my Korean music needs and yes, I was hooked. I dabbled and listened to other Korean pop groups here and there, but I always found myself returning to MBLAQ. To me they sounded different. Better. Honest. And although I love so many of their songs – so much so that it is next to impossible to choose a favorite, I have to agree that Oh Yeah,  전쟁이야 [This Is War] and Mona Lisa are perhaps some of their most iconic ~ at least in the non-ballad category of their extensive catalog. There are many performances of these three songs worthy of revisiting. For today though, I am choosing the 21 October 2012 GS & Concert performances because in addition to sounding fierce and intense, G.O’s stage presence was equally powerful and disarming.

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The Soulful Countdown to G.O’s Discharge ~ Day 388

Is :56 seconds of G.O singing an excerpt from a ballad sufficient enough to place it here on the Countdown in the Vocal Virtuosity category? You bet it is. Back in May 2010, just prior to the release of MBLAQ’s second mini album Y, MBLAQ’s handsome hyung line made a stop at the MNET radio studios. In under a minute, the combination of G.O’s voice accompanied by Seung Ho’s piano continually proves to me that these two artists were perhaps always destined to work together. Indeed, this post can hold equal weight in the Heavenly Collaborations category.

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The Soulful Countdown to G.O’s Discharge ~ Day 359

Let me just cut to the chase for this Fan-Camming Friday by saying that anytime a fan cam features an accidental flash of otherwise covered up skin and a wink, along with outstanding vocals and provocative choreography, it easily reaches that gold standard of fan camming. This is my choice for Day 359 ~ one week from the year marker of G.O’s service. A cam from amazing masternim letsgoinho taken at the Human Target Awards on 22 November 2011.

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The Soulful Countdown to G.O’s Discharge ~ Day 329

When I first started One Shot days, my entire point of them was to share one picture or one .gif. Over the course of almost one year now (yes……….we are literally closing in one year of G.O’s service being completed), I have bent and stretched and violated my own rules but all with good intention for sometimes one picture is simply not enough. Today, I will stay within the parameters of my One Shot rule book. One picture. One smile. One lovely capture of one handsome and amazing man.

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