CLOSED BLOG NOTIFICATION

Centre Name: Norbury Manor B&E College

Centre Number: 14343

Candidate Name: Alisa Teterina

Candidate Number: 2220

Unit: G321

Final Front Cover

Final Contents Page

Final Double Page Spread

Evaluation Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

        

Evaluation Question 7 from Ali Teri

Evaluation Question 6

What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Evaluation Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

                                    
Audio recording >>

Evaluation Questions 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

          

Evaluation Question 3

   What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

           

Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

        

Evaluation Question 2 from Ali Teri

Evaluation Question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

             

DPS: Links To Cover/Contents

       

DPS: Links To Cover/Contents from Ali Teri

DPS: Layout

         

DPS: Layout from Ali Teri

DPS: Artist Interview

After conducting my research on typical interviews and the style of questions and speech they use, here is my artist interview:

The hype is rapidly increasing for YEO YOONJIN as she makes a comeback with her upcoming 2nd complete album, SEOULFUL, that is to be released mid-April this year. The Kstar talks to Mi Na (미나) about the inspiration behind the album, her distressing, hard-working past and her “label-less” relationship with BIGBANG’s idol, G-Dragon.

Hello, Yoonjin! I am happy we are able to talk once again with our last interview being in 2015. First of all, congratulations for winning the MAMA (Mnet Asian Music Awards) for Best Female Artist last year! I have been following you since your first single back in 2011 and it is amazing to have seen you grown into the person you are today.

Nice to see you again, Mi Na, and thank you! It has been one of my biggest dreams to win a MAMA award for Best Female after winning Album Of The Year with Kwon Ji-yong (GD) back in 2013, as it’s another one of the biggest awards in the show; I’m honored!

Firstly let’s talk about the main event, your upcoming album, Seoulful. Now, you have  made a couple of mini albums but this is your second complete album.. what inspired you to create it?

It’s dedicated to my past life. It occurred to me that I haven’t created as many songs about it as I’ve wanted so I then came up with the concept for Seoulful. I lived in a slum until my family managed to get enough money to finally move to the outskirts of Hongdae. However no matter how different those two places are, they both are in Seoul and they mean a lot to me.

Where exactly did you grow up?

I grew up in Seoul’s last-remaining slum, the Guryong Village, until I was fourteen.

Do you think growing up in the Guryong Village and then moving to such a popular area such as Hongdae has shaped you to the way you are now and contributes to your sound?

Oh, definitely. How could it not? You know of the Guryong Village; everybody does. People often look down on those who live there. The lyrics in a lot of the songs in the album are about me and others who have lived in the slums, as well as other towns in Seoul. And Hongdae is known for its urban arts, clubs and entertainment; that was what made me realize what I wanted to do in my life.

The whole point of ‘Seoulful’ is for it to be relatable and for the people of the slum to have a voice that is heard; I plan to put a lot of money from ‘Seoulful’ into the people of the Village.

That brings me to my next question: has the community of the Guryong Village reacted to the ‘present you’?

Of course! I often go back there to keep in touch with friends that are like family; they’re very proud of me and the fact that an artist from the slum has made the name that I have.

That’s great to hear! Let’s move onto one of the biggest stories behind your name: for years, you and G-Dragon have been very close and both of you have been single for a very long time, from what we know.. Is there anything currently going on between you two?

Oh gosh, the rumors have recently been impossible to miss.. It is a very private thing for the both of us and of course, people have wanted answers for years now. We have been very close friends for a long time and of course, have done a lot of work together such as my first complete album, BBBG (BAD BOY BAD GIRL) and many tracks like the single, A Piece Of Sun, in the past. After the past few years with the media constantly questioning us, we both have been really tired with the tags of “boyfriend” and “girlfriend”. All I can and will say is that we love our relationship that has no labels and we are not going to be pressured into changing that.

Now, you have collaborated with many K-artists.. GD, Zico, Jungkook from BTS, et cetera but you also have recently gained an enormous wave of international fans, especially from the UK and America.. How did you react to that?

I thought it wasn’t real, like they mixed up the names or something. That happened because of my most recent single, Stuck In The Middle. After gaining the name I have in Korea, Japan, China, so on I really wanted to push through and get known in more countries. Fans from all over the world have come to my shows and to my Meet & Greets to tell me how much my music has brought them joy and inspiration. So many of my international fans don’t even understand Korean and they still love my music; they know the Korean romanization off by heart! This rush of internationalism inspired the whole English-language songs on Seoulful.

Sadly we’re onto our final question, but what would you say to all aspiring artists?

I’d say work hard. It sounds so cliche but it’s something that is said so often people brush it off. When I started off, I didn’t do anything but stay in a run-down studio at the edge of the Hongdae region, or in my room back in the Guryong Village. I just wrote and wrote songs. I didn’t sleep, I lost so much weight from forgetting to eat because of my levels of determination and dedication. My family didn’t see me for days in a row. Back in Hongdae when I started to get attention and perform in small clubs, I would do a show, stay up all night because of the adrenaline, then go to school and fall asleep in my art classes. I came from such a poor family and dark place; if I can do what I have done, anyone can.

DPS: Image Decisions

Before deciding my final images for my double page spread, I researched some real media texts from Korean & Western magazines featuring Hyuna and CL.

These photographs of CL inspired my image decisions the most because of the casual yet elegant sitting pose with her hand holding her head. I like the angle of gaze that she holds with the reader and wanted to translate that into my own image with my model, however I wanted my model not to have her body and head faced away from the reader, but facing the reader, leaning in drawing them in more and engaging them.

I then decided on this image, again inspired by CL, because of her powerful appearance and the positioning of the hands and arms. With the idea of some of CL's photographs of her looking down at the reader with the low angle and posing with her hands up, I came to a conclusion with this image.

DPS: Stand First

       

DPS: Stand First from Ali Teri

DPS: Market Research

Whenever I see a double page spread with one page as a whole photo, I think it is very professional-looking and makes them look very important as the whole page is consists just of them. I love when double page spread also add the artist's first letter in the feature colour because it makes them seem so well-known that you would know who it is about just from seeing the letter; I would definitely like to add these features on my double page spread.

Another feature I think looks very original and professional on double page spreads is the columned text; it gives the whole other page character and structure and less like a book which goes across the entire page, making the columns relate to the context. However I do think that three columns are too much and makes the text look too much therefore I will most likely use two columns like in this example.

CONTENTS PAGE: Feedback

            

CONTENTS PAGE: Colour Choices

CONTENTS PAGE: Texts/Features

CONTENTS PAGE: Image Choice

I chose this photo for my contents page because it is able to let me zoom in and crop it to focus on the space to the right of her for my articles. I successfully managed to get the orange-tinted outline of the model by taking the photo in a dark room with the flash on; this helps the image look more interesting and unique. The model's angle of gaze is strong even with the messy hair going over her face which I think is a nice detail. The dark and powerful eyes are juxtaposed by the elegant hand on her mouth and the pink sweater. 

CONTENTS PAGE: Layout

CONTENTS PAGE: Research/Deconstruction

In this post I will deconstruct two Korean magazine contents pages that I will use to model and inspire my contents page.

Firstly, I loved the image and it's positioning; model's head and body balances well with the negative space in front of him; the use of bricks as a background fills it. His angle of gaze and laid back body language adds mystery and wonder to him.

The use of sans-serif font gives it a modern look that links with the model's clothing as in Korea, fashion is very popular and well-thought of. The bolder, classic fonts as headers contrasting the captions is a pleasant layout and is simple.

A lot like the first contents page I have shown, the model's angle of gaze is away, adding mystery however my model's angle of gaze will be at the reader; although the gaze is different, they both will look innocent and soft with a hand on the mouth.

I love the thin, simple text for the headers that match the page numbers; it lets you focus on the image more.

The introductory paragraph is a very cool idea and the separators organize the whole layout pleasantly.

FRONT COVER: Feedback

In this Prezi, I present three young people from my target audience and their opinions also asking them on what I could improve on.

           

FRONT COVER: Key Front Cover Features Linked With Research

FRONT COVER: Masthead and Font Decisions

Here I feature the first ideas I have on my masthead's & artist's name font as well as the final decisions and why I chose the official fonts.

        

Masthead and Font Decisions from Ali Teri

FRONT COVER: Final Shot Manipulation

Whilst researching and from my own knowledge, I know that most female Kpop groups & artists are represented much more girly with features such as makeup consisting of girly colours, longer hair and clothing such as skirts and dresses with thigh-high socks as well as MV styles and concepts. This inspired me to have my model wear a pink shirt as pink is usually 

represented with femininity. To create my feature colour, I matched the pink shirt with a pink eyeshadow look and a cat eyeliner; Korean makeup is often very natural,  especially when it comes to eyeliner (they often draw a very small line to simply elongate the shape) as the obssession is more about dewy, moisturized skin. However I made sure my model's eyeliner was a little more heavier and over her mono-lids as well as using a highly-pigmented, vibrant pink eyeshadow for it to really pop on my front cover and represent her cool persona.

For my model's hairstyle, I wanted it to be slick, long and dark to make her look more original and contrast with the girly-coloured makeup & clothing choice. Inspired by Kpop artist, CL, I wanted her face to stand out more than her hair which is why I went for a simpler look.

All of these ideas and sources of Korean pop culture, makeup and fashion helped me create the image of my artist:

FRONT COVER: Editing on The Final Shot

When working with my final shot, I did not have to edit anything on my model's face (scars, pimples, marks, dark circles, etc) however as I added my front covers features such as the bright background and vibrantly-coloured artist name, the shot ended up looking very washed out; I edited the photograph at two separate points during the construction of my front page:

As you can see on the left image, the photo looks faded and unsaturated. At this moment, I opened the Levels of the photo and increased the contrast and shadowing as well as decreasing the exposure and brightness.

I then began to add more colour with my artist's name and still felt like the image was too faint so I opened the Hue/Saturation editor and increased the saturation. After that, I went to the Exposure setting and decreased that; here is a side-by-side comparison of the untouched image at first and the final product after editing the photo.

FRONT COVER: Cover Layout Decisions / Photoshop

Here is my entire production of my front cover, explaining what I add and why.

       

Cover Layout Decisions / Photoshop from Ali Teri

FRONT COVER: The Glitch Background

In this slideshow, I show the procedure of creating my glitch background from a photo of a sunset that I took.

         

The Glitch Background from Ali Teri

FRONT COVER: Finals Shots Taken/Mise-en-scene

Test Shots

In this slideshow, I present my best test shots with a few descriptions on why I took them and what they show e.g. Korea's Aegyo.

  

Model Consent Forms

Here are my models' consent forms for proof that they have allowed me to take photos of them for my Kpop music magazine.

Shot List

Here is my shot list for my Kpop music magazine with an overall description of my intentions for the different-styled shots, including camera angles.

From my own knowledge of the genre Kpop and research, I know that Aegyo (acting cute and baby-ish) is very popular in Kpop culture which is why I included some cuter poses, both medium close-up and long shots in my shot list. However my artist, YEO YOONJIN, is more of a dominant and powerful singer/rapper so most of my shots and poses are inspired by strength, mystery and attitude.

Flat Plan Feedback

For my flat plan feedback, I showed three people (two Kpop fans and one non-fan) my front cover, contents page and double page spread plans and recorded their opinions.

        

Flat Plan Feedback from Ali Teri

Flat Plan: Contents Page

Here is my flat plan for my contents page along with a deconstruction of it's simple style.

'Contents' Title: To link with my genre and front cover, I wanted to continue to bring in the Korean side to this magazine with text in Hangeul. I plan to have 'Contents Page' written in Hangeul bigger than the english title however will keep the two close on the page to show the relation between them. After placing the English translation on top, I decided to swap their positions because of the imbalance in sizes looking odd to me. Also to link my contents page with my front cover, I will bring the background into the colouring of my Hangeul 'Contents Page' text, still making the contents page look simple yet keeping a feature from my cover page.

Positioning of numbers, headers and captions of what is inside the magazine: Since the magazine 10asia+Star is my main source of inspiration for my magazine, I chose to portray their juxtaposition of having a busier front cover than a contents page. I will use simple, classic sans serif fonts for the text to keep the modern edge. I will make sure the list is not too long to keep some focus on the model. However when planning the positioning of the headers and captions, I noticed they were too high up for my liking therefore drew a line to mark whereabouts I would crop/zoom into my image to make sure there is enough space for my numbers, headers and captions to be placed low enough on the page.

Model: I knew I wanted an over-the-shoulder shot at some point in my magazine pages and decided to use it for the contents page. I will use another Eastern-Asian model as my genre is Korean to link the two together for realism. I aim to make the pose innocent with a hand on the model's mouth, inspired by this magazine's contents page; on this contents page, the model's angle of gaze is lower however I would like my model to have a strong angle of gaze at the reader to draw the reader in just like on my front cover.

Flat Plan: Front Cover

After all of my research and having my overall style in mind, I drew out a flat plan for my music magazine's front cover; here is a deconstruction of my drawing.

Masthead: For my masthead, I wanted some very original and simple with a twist. After researching a lot of Kpop magazines, I noticed the most common words in mastheads 'Star', 'Pop', or 'K', known in Kpop or Kfashion. I decided to include the iconic 'K' and 'Star' to create 'Kstar'. Inspired by magazine 10asia+star, I wanted to add a symbol like they use the '+' plus sign. I came up with the idea of using '@' because it can link with Instagram and Twitter usernames, giving it a modern feel to my masthead. The '@' can also can be seen as an 'O', creating a double-meaning masthead as in 'OKstar'. Most Kpop magazines place the masthead in the center of the top of the cover, complimenting the simplicity of the rest of the text and layout; This also inspired me to place my masthead in the center and even though it challenges conventions, it makes my Kpop magazine seem more realistic and professional in Asia. The placement of the issue number and date is to be lined up underneath the masthead for a neater look.

Background: For my background, I thought about how I can express the genre of Kpop. I went back to my survey for my audience research and looked back on the answers I got from my target audience of the things they first think about when they think 'Kpop'; many spoke about the crazy, bright effects that could relate to the electric elements of the music. I thought of the concept of glitch and VHS to show static and movement. To make it more 'Kpop' and link further to my survey answers, I wanted to make it bright and look like computer-screen pixels, mixing and merging colours together. This way I can create a contrast from the bright, busy front cover with the simplistic-style contents page like magazine 10asia+Star does.

Cover Star: Because I am not exactly sure on what I would like the pose of my artist to be yet, I drew out the type of shot it will be instead. I have chosen a shot in between medium close-up and a close-up, this is because I want all of the attention on my artist's face, makeup and shirt that she will wear; this is also one of the most common type of shots for solo artists in Kpop magazines. The model's angle of gaze will be at the camera because this technique is very effective, drawing the reader in more.

Cover lines: Taking inspiration from real media texts, I have decided to place my cover lines around the cover star and not on top of her. This will make sure that there is no unbalanced negative spaces on my front page. However because Kpop magazines have a common theme of minimalism, I will not place too many lines of text and make my front cover look too busy, again inspired by the magazine 10asia+Star.

Asian elements: Although this magazine is a Korean-English translated, I still want to keep hold of the Asian vibe to express its cultural background. I plan to do this by adding small text in Hangeul throughout my front cover, inspired by many magazines including KPOP LIFE. . For example, on the top right of my masthead will write "Kpop magazine". I also would like each cover line's header to be in Korean; although the reader may not understand it, the captions underneath will explain what it is about.

Anchor: I want my anchor to be bold and contrast from the simple coverlines. It will be my artist's name, YEO YOONJIN however to match some of the colours of my background and make the anchor stand out from the rest of the text on my front page, I will edit the text in a gradient using two colours copied from the background. I have decided to place the anchor in the center of the bottom of my front cover to compliment the masthead.

Visual Moodboard

For my visual moodboard, I wanted to show you the world of my favorite Kpop group, BTS. I aimed to visually explore the themes, styles, concepts, colours and seven members of the group. I edited this montage of MVs, comeback trailers, fashion and more to do this, featuring a remix of one of their latest songs.

                            

Reader Profile: ALICE BRIDGEWATER

In this Glog, I have introduced one of the readers of my music magazine, explaining where they are from, what they study, their favorite music genres and their want for more easy-accessed Kpop merchandise to show the significance that my music magazine will make.

Artist Profile: Fashion & Style

For my artist's fashion style, I chose some classic K-fashion outfits. In South Korea, fashion can be extremely different. A lot of K-fashion is simple and neat but can also be flashy, bright and crazy. however whenever westerners see classic K-fashion, they often see it as too dressed up. This is because in Western countries such as American and the UK, people usually dress down which creates an even bigger contrast between Western fashion and K-fashion when really, Koreans just add more thought into their everyday outfits, especially K-artists.

Yeo Yoonjin's style is usually inspired on solo and group's 2NE1 artist, CL, who is featured in this moodboard of Korean fashion. Yoonjin often likes to wear bright and bold colors with statement pieces or coordinated outfits to match her music style.

Artist Profile: YEO YOONJIN

In this Prezi, I have introduced the artist that I have created, Yeo Yoonjin, explaining her life from where she was born to her first track and how she made the name that she has for herself in the Asian music industry. I featured real-life Kpop artists and how they have noticed Yoonjin to make my artist even more realistic as well as quoting tweets that I have created.

           

Audience Research (Focused): Kpop vs. Western Magazines

As I am focusing on Kpop, a not very well-known genre of music around South London, I am intrigued about what non Kpop fans and Kpop fans think about music magazine covers from western (American, English) magazines and Kpop magazines. Not only will this give me first-impressions from fans and non-fans, but it will help me spot what is different &/or similar between Korean and western magazine covers. Because I feel like it is not accurate nor fair to judge all Kpop/Western magazines by just showing one music magazine cover, I am going to show my interviewees a printscreen of what google images shows when I search 'music magazines' (I would not have to refer to 'western' as the most well-known music magazines are British and American) and 'Kpop magazines' to show a more accurate representation of the typical styles of the magazines. I have decided to interview three young people, one fan and two non-fans; I chose two people who are not fans of Kpop because I wanted to get more first-impressions.

Interviewees: Martha (15/non-fan), Naya (17/non-fan), Annastasiya (18/fan)

1. (Before I showed the images below) From experience &/or own-knowledge, what do you think of when you think of a typical western music magazine cover? How about a Kpop magazine cover?

M: (Western) I think of classic colours like black, white and red. My dad has a lot of magazines from the 80s and 90s and they're a lot more colourful than magazines nowadays. (Kpop) I have never seen a Kpop magazine before, they're not as well known, I guess.

N: (Western) I collect a lot of music magazines, my favourite one is Q and it's very popular and covers a lot of different artists. I know its logo is in a red box which catches my eye every time I go out to buy the newest monthly issue. They usually have one artist on the cover and use the colour red a lot, mainly because the title is red for it to match. The cover stars often look sexy, powerful and even intimidating. (Kpop) I have never seen a Kpop magazine so I am quite clueless. I would say very colourful and in-your-face because I have seen Kpop fashion and what some girl groups wear. It is all very quirky so I can imagine a very bright, colourful cover. 

A: (Western) I don't buy magazines often but I know red is a popular colour for magazine covers, probably because it pops out to catch your attention. In western culture most artists pay attention to looking sexy in their music videos so I can imagine female cover stars wearing revealing clothes or in seductive poses. (Kpop) I don't have a favourite Kpop magazine because all different ones feature my favorite Kpop group, EXO, in them so whenever I see a magazine with them included in it, I try my best to buy it even though it is very hard; I am lucky that I have a relative that lives in Seoul, Korea and they send me merchandise and magazines with EXO in them. Because I have seen quite a lot of different magazines, I am aware they are usually very simple and neat unlike western magazines that are covered in lines of texts, but like an art/artistic magazine. A lot of white, then black and a soft, light colour. However you do get some very bright, colourful ones and in my opinion they are much more interesting-looking and catch my eye more when im searching for new magazines online. You don't find a lot of them but that makes them look exclusive and very unique. The title of the magazines usually have 'Kpop' in them which I quite like because its simple.

2. Do you see any differences between the styles of western magazines and Kpop ones, if so what exactly?

M: Oh definitely. The colours are very different; the American magazines use a lot of darker, harsher colours than the Kpop ones. I never new Kpop magazines used so much pink. But thats mostly for the girls, the guy ones are darker and use black, white and grey but still are lighter than Western magazines.

N: Western magazines seem to use more closer-type shots and with solo artists. I have a friend who is obssessed with Kpop and she has all these posters of boy and girl groups so the Kpop magazines seem to use longer shots depending on how many people in the group.

3. Do you see any similarities between the style of western magazines and Kpop ones, if so what exactly?

M: Even though a lot of the cover stars on Western magazines are presented in a more sexy way, the guys in Kpop magazines seem to be presented kind of sexy too. The girls not so much since they're so girly.

Audience Research (General): Survey

In this presentation for my (general) audience research, I talk about why I created the survey with the questions I chose, why I chose them as well as showing you the results and talking about what I have found out from them.

                      

Audience Research (General): Survey from Ali Teri

Genre Research: Kpop Entertainment Companies and Branding

In this video, I talk about the three main Kpop entertainment companies and their same branding strategy called Umbrella Branding, talking about many Kpop groups as examples to help explain my points.

Genre Research: MVs of K-pop

BTS (방탄소년단) - Blood Sweat & Tears (피 땀 눈물)

     

After an extraordinary year that has included two headlining-arena dates for KCON 2016 as well as two albums featured in the Billboard 200, BTS has made sure they are still at the top with their lead single, 'Blood Sweat & Tears' for their second full-length album, Wings, that was officially released on October 10th 2016. With the single's MV almost as 88,000,000 views on Youtube, the song features the emotional, falsetto vocals of the group's singers, Jimin, Jungkook V & Jin which are then contrasted by the tough-yet-delicate grunts of the verses from rappers Suga, Rap Monster and J-Hope. These graceful tones are juxtaposed with the electronic-dance breakdown at every chorus.

The beautiful, melancholic vocals and raps fit perfection with the MV with their artistic theme; many theories have been made about the meaning of the MV with one of the most common ones being about the book, Demian by Hermann Hesse where Sinclair (Jin) makes a deal with the devil (V) and seals it with a kiss (referring to the scene when Jin kisses the stone statue).

Suga has said that in their songs, the rappers have an order of 1, 2 and 3, with J-Hope rapping last. Rap Monster and Suga have deep voices, so when J-hope raps, it's full of hope.

Wings is a new era for BTS as the album flew to No. 1 on the overall U.S. iTunes Top Albums chart as well as 'Blood Sweat & Tears' in the overall Top Singles chart as Top 30. Not only that but the members Wings is a new era for BTS as the album flew to No. 1 on the overall U.S. iTunes Top Albums chart as well as 'Blood Sweat & Tears' in the overall Top Singles chart as Top 30. Not only that but the members  have also explained how this 15-track album means a lot to them since each member has a solo song in it along with the fourth iteration of their 'BTS Cypher' tracks, 'Cypher (P.t) 4'. They have already announced a comeback, Wings: You Never Walk Alone for February 13th 2017 and have just released new concept photoshoots for the two album versions, 'Left' & 'Right'. BTS are also still to add more dates for their Wings Tour; to the group, this is only the beginning of a whole new era.

ZICO (지코) - BERMUDA TRIANGLE (Feat. Crush, DEAN)

   

Just like a bermuda triangle, Zico, Crush and Dean really do form the dopest trio proven by this track 'Bermuda Triangle', released on November 28th 2016. Although the song is fairly new, Zico flew to South Korea's real-time music charts Monday in less than 12 hours of its release; Crush and Dean have helped the song receive so much attention with the MV having more than 15,000,000 views on Youtube. 

Before Zico released 'Bermuda Triangle', he was seen at the Melon Music Awards 2016 where he won the Hot Trend Award and the Rap/HipHop award; he also performed in London for Men's Fashion Week 2016 in November. With his effortlessly cool vibe, Zico gives it all with his rapping. Against the heavy beat and bass of 'Bermuda Triangle', his buoyant style matches it perfectly. Crush has been a big name in Korean R&B for a while now however Dean has been imprinting himself in the South Korean music industry much more recently as well as turning into an international star in 2016 with the release of his first EP, '130 Mood: TRBL'.  

With the work of some of the coolest names in Kpop, we were given 'Bermuda Triangle'. Not only was this collaboration and song perfect, but we as an audience get to experience legitimate street credit, something that is rarely found in Kpop. Each part of the song fits the artist who is rapping/singing like a glove. Deans opens and closes the track from the awesome hook to the closing of the menacing beat. Crush is rougher and takes up the middle portion. The contrast of these artists and parts of the song helps keep 'Bermuda Triangle' dynamic. The overall beat has multiple layers, making it dark, deep and intimidating, just like the artists.

BIGBANG - BANG BANG BANG (뱅뱅뱅)




During 2015, BIGBANG were releasing MVs at the incredible rate of two per month and along came 'Bang Bang Bang'. Even with the astounding amount of MVs they were releasing, the quality of them were awesome, proven by this third release from the MADE project  in particular. From the numerous locations to the outfits, this MV is a classic representation of modern Kpop. It begins with quirky camera spin and disorientation, zooming into the first member's part. This continues throughout the MV, jumping from member to member until they unite for the chorus.

Overall, 'Bang Bang Bang' recieved extremely positive reviews from critics. Fuse praised the MV, "an over-the-top affair, with the guys rocking a slew of wild looks, hairdos and fashion in a neon-tinged world." 

Billboard also called the track a banger, praising every single look and making it the biggest Kpop song of 2015 in the World Digital Songs chart. Stereogum ranked it the 14th best music video of the year being the only non-English song on the list. It's MV was the most viewed K-pop group video of 2015, second of all time behind their own 'Fantastic Baby'. The choreography, by Parris Geobel, was one of the most popular dances in 2015. Not only that, but the track was even chosen by the South Korean government for a part of the loudspeaker propaganda broadcast into North Korea borders, in response to the January 2016 Nuclear tests.

BLACKPINK (블랙핑크) - BOOMBAYAH (붐바야)



YG Entertainment teased Kpop fans for months of an upcoming new Kpop girl group, and since it has been almost seven years since they debuted a Kpop girl group with the last being 2NE1, a four-member group including CL, Dara, Bom and Minzy, the news was enormous in the Kpop community. Although fans couldn't wait for BLACKPINK's debut, the entertainment label did all they could to build the hype with numerous teaser photos of the members Jennie, Jisoo, Lisa and Rose.

YG enertainment eventually revealed BLACKPINK's debut through a series of teaser images and two songs, 'Whistle' and 'Boombayah'. Needless to say, the newly-debuted girl group exploded the Kpop community. Without having to go into extreme detail of the MV, the vibe and style is almost identical to 2NE1's which caused controversy as many fans compared the two four-membered groups, being biased to the group they preferred and creating hate to the other. Technically, this was done on purpose by YG Entertainment to express that the feel 2NE1 has was not exclusive to them, but to make all groups that are signed to YG Entertainment stand out as a whole from other Kpop artists that are signed under other labels. The Korean news outlet, Naver, reported that the CEO of YG Entertainment said that he did not try to differentiate the two groups. Either way, both groups have their own fame, fan base, albums and members.

“We didn’t try too hard to create a difference between Black Pink and 2NE1. It was the same when we created 2NE1. YG has its own unique sound so we focused on making the music sound the most like us.”