Musing While Cruising the Hallyu Highway
On June 9, 2015, MBLAQ released their 8th mini album, Mirror. Melodic, sophisticated, jazzy and mature, it is a clear departure from their earlier works but it is with good reason: they are different.
Continue reading “A Deeper Look Into The Mirror – The New MBLAQ”
At midnight on June 5, 2015, J Tune Camp released a 48-second teaser video of MBLAQ’s upcoming release Mirror, and with it unleashed a wave of emotion that rushed over us culminating the last eight months of mystery, wondering and worrying.
Ok yeah, it was a rough autumn and a rather excruciating winter. Coupled with that, the prolonged hibernation of our beloved three MBLAQ teddy bears hasn’t helped matters much either. Yet as we enter spring, it seems they have begun to push themselves through the soil of those darker days and are starting to re-blossom as a music-making trio. With news of a new album in the works, hope does indeed spring eternal.
A couple of years ago I sat down with a Jyotishi to have a look at my birth chart in order to see how my karmic path was affecting my present life. Yes, I realize that sounds like a bunch of new-agey hocus pocus. But, I happen to believe in the inexplicable beauty of how the universe and our lives collide. I am weird like that.
Jyotish, or the science of light, is actually an ancient form of astrology that has been practiced for centuries throughout India. It is a Vedic science that basically describes the planetary patterns at the time of our birth and can give us valuable clues to understanding our life’s journey. When the Jyotishi asked me if I liked to write, I casually said yes. He then told me with urgent insistence to start writing and to begin right away because it would change my life forever.
There are many reasons for a native Chicagoan to dislike (and often detest and incessantly complain about) the most brutal of all seasons, winter. Winter often denotes the transition of everything in nature that was once warm, light, lush, in bloom and alive into something that is cold, brittle, barren and dying. Winter is a time of hibernation, and also a time to leave.
When I discovered that the new MBLAQ mini album being released on November 25th was to be entitled Winter and was to be an album of ballads, my heart felt heavy and somewhat sad. At the same time, however, hearing that this album would feature self-composed songs by the men, and G.O would be producing, I immediately became impatient to hear it. Now, after having it on repeat and listening to it non-stop, I have only one complaint: there are simply not enough songs.
As he takes the hoodie wear to a level of its own (his own), so too does Byung Hee make a statement with the sunglasses he wears often choosing a particular shape and style to suit the moment (or not), and always making them look good regardless of the occasion. His fine facial features serve him well affording him the ability to wear any shape, size or color. And although he may choose to wear them to help establish a sense of anonymity, I like to think he wears them to simply increase his already existing and overflowing cool quotient.^^ It seems to add some extra special swag to his persona when he does decide to rock the decorative shaded eyewear and gives me yet another reason to love him like I do.
Continue reading “[series] 116 Reasons To Love Byung Hee: #7 – Nifty Shades of Byung Hee”
When the fabulous five of MBLAQ met for the first time, Mir was convinced that G.O was slotted to be the rapper of the group. Little did he know that the man behind that cool urban swag actually possessed the velvet voice that was to become the group’s main vocal. I have to commend producer Rain for having the foresight he most certainly had to marry that very golden voice with the rap element he was firmly establishing in MBLAQ. Rain must have had his eye on Tykeys! The very cocktail of blending G.O’s sweet and delicious vocals with that of rappers Mir and Cheondoong proved to be a potent fortuitous recipe. In fact, pairing his voice with any rapper has proved to be magical. And this beautiful vocal synergy is another reason to love Byung Hee.
Continue reading “[series] 116 Reasons to Love Byung Hee: #6 – It’s A “Rap””
I happen to think left-handed people are otherworldly. There is something unique and mysterious about them and so it comes as no surprise to me that MBLAQ’s resident mischief-maker is left-handed. Call me crazy (and you probably already do), but I find that characteristic oddly attractive and rank it as one of the reasons to love the adorably sweet and delightfully left-handed Byung Hee.
Continue reading “[series] 116 Reasons to Love Byung Hee: #5 – Everybody on the Left”
For this post, I am going to keep my reason short and sweet. Byung Hee is lovable in any style of clothing or head wear, but I happen to think he takes the art of hoodie (or a hood of any particular style) wearing to a level all of his own. It’s a hat, so to speak, (even though it is attached to something) but, not all men can rock a hat and/or hood. He can and, well, I LOVE it.^^
Continue reading “[series] 116 Reasons to Love Byung Hee: #4 – In The Hood”
When asked in an interview once, if you did not become a musician, what would you be, G.O answered: A father of an ordinary family.
Not a rocket scientist. Not the king of the world. Not the president. No, just a father of an ordinary family. It may sound simple, but in that simplicity lies something completely noble, at least to me. It is clear that family has always been and continues to be very important to him and that having a family of his own is something that he just may think about now and again. I think he takes the idea of ‘family’ and applies it to pretty much all aspects of his own life. This is a wonderful reason to love Byung Hee.
Continue reading “[series] 116 Reasons To Love Byung Hee: #1 – Sweet Dad-Hee”
The Fangirl Lane 