Welcome to this week’s recap of the weekly music shows! KBS Music Bank aired footage from their show in Istanbul, Turkey while MBC Music Core went without rankings due to the recording for their free live concert at the Incheon Airport which meant all performances had been prerecorded. Teen Top took their third win for “Rocking” on MBC Music‘s Show! Champion while G-Dragon took it for “Black” on Mnet M! Countdown and SBS Inkigayo, with his other song, “Who You?” even coming in second on Inkigayo. Below are my favorites of the week, but don’t forget to comment with your own as well!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7DFFTchMe4]Ladies’ Code‘s “Pretty Pretty,” MBC Music Show! Champion, September 11, 2013
Talk about a catchy chorus. The whole “yeppeo yeppeo” call gets stuck in your head so easily. The song allows for a more animated performance than “Bad Girl” ever did, and it works out really well on stage. Watching the backup dancers only makes it better as they act in a cartoon-like fashion that matches the male voices in the song.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSpVQDh_lo4]
MBLAQ‘s “Smoky Girl,” KBS Music Bank in Istanbul, September 13, 2013
One of the best parts of performances like these are when the audience has strong and focused fanchants, especially like during the start of “Smoky Girl.” The song is also one of MBLAQ’s best and smoothest songs, best suiting their polished music image, so it’s always a pleasure to see it return to the stage even if Seungho seemed to lose his breath a couple times.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSJUl-viaFQ]ZE:A‘s cover of Nam Jin‘s “Please Don’t Change,” KBS Immortal Song 2, September 14, 2013
The performance held a lot of strength with the stable vocals and sharp dance moves. The drum break was a nice background for the incoming rap and crowd-pleasing chant. I admittedly haven’t seen ZE:A as a very charismatic group, but this performance definitely gave me second thoughts, with Kevin and Hyungshik definitely impressing. I’d like to hear more along the lines of Hyungshik’s beginning to the performance..
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wx3Q6Ap_eGg]Exo‘s cover of Nam Jin’s “With You,” KBS Immortal Song 2, September 14, 2013
Petition for Exo-Trot to be made? Or should it be Exo-Disco? I don’t even care if only four members sing and the rest dance. It would still be great for my trot soft spot. The lively song had at least all the ladies in the audience jamming out. The choreography was amusingly exaggerated in some places while nifty and still amusing in other places, like when the focus was on the footwork. My only criticism would be for Lu Han to loosen up when it’s his turn to sing. The boys narrowly lost out to Ailee, so kudos to them!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgFQpW8Szms]Spica‘s “Tonight,” SBS Inkigayo, September 15, 2013
This is my favorite Spica song so far, performance-wise. It’s fun and casual but doesn’t even come close to losing out or going soft in the vocals. Not to mention the girls definitely have fun on the stage between the choreographed and free-for-all parts. Bohyung‘s voice is quickly becoming one of my favorites in K-pop.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6o9lCAmmSI]G-Dragon’s “Crooked,” SBS Inkigayo, September 15, 2013
GD’s “Crooked” easily blew all performances out of the water this week. The song is one of my favorites off of Coup D’etat and from G-Dragon at all, so I love seeing it performed with so much gusto. He turned the stage into his personal concert venue for his bursting charisma, acting out with the microphone stand while not forgetting to still sing. Everything was engaging and well-done.
