Kpop Star 5 - Ranking Audition (Part 2)

[Kpop Star season 5 Ep 4]

Lucky Six Group

Park Ka Kyung (12)

(Should I Tell You I Love You - Soyu)

◆ She had not confessed to anyone but someone did confess to her before, so she can sympathize how that person must be feeling

JYP - "Your singing is still unstable but it is not boring"
YHY - "You're a 'rough gemstone' to me"
YG - "Your singing is unstable and rough, but it manages to reach our hearts"

Brody B. (12)

(Wrecking Ball - Miley Cyrus)

◆ She choose the song to show her potentials
◆ Two of the contestants choose Brody as the possible number one for this group

YHY - "You are getting much better"
JYP - "The reason we're so attracted to her is that her eyes tell many stories. But your pitch are still unstable"
YG - "You did improve after these two years. You've become more solid, confident and mature."

# I'm a bit annoyed that YG and JYP keeps on admiring her face. I mean, she's there to sing! I think Brody's singing this time is just well-staged.  

Lee Kyu Won (11)

(My Everything - Arianna Grande)

◆ During the audition, she said that she figured out the breathing technique herself.
◆ When she introduced herself, she did say she's the 'smarty' one. She got perfect scores for all the subjects before. She's definitely smart!
◆ She took this song as a challenge to express herself well

YHY - "Your singing skills are incredible, I think you can even beat the older contestants"
YG - "If you were my daughter, I would train you right away"
JYP - "It's impressive that you manage to change from head voice to chest voice perfectly"

# I guess I'm really bad at judging people's singing. The feeling did not reach me with this one.

Iris Hwang (13)

(Suitcase - Emeli Sande)

◆ The song is about her boyfriend leaving with a suitcase and she don't know the reason
◆ She has never experienced it so she just imagine if one of her friends would leave her

YHY - "You have mature and deep voice"
JYP - "One thing I would like to point out is that there's no novelty"
YG - "This song needs someone with unique or charming voice to keep them listening till the end and you lack that"

# She has a really nice voice! Looking forward for her next performance.

Kim Shi Yoon (10)

(Come Back Home - 2NE1)

◆ She's from Vancouver, Canada
◆ She sings and dances to 'Come Back Home' - 2NE1

YHY - "Your singing need to be perfected before you can dance too"

Lee Yoon Seo (10)

(You Raise Me Up - Josh Groban)

JYP - "I'm glad that you no longer bend all the notes when you sing"
YG - "If in a drama, you can't take the lead role yet"

RESULTS!

1 - Lee Kyu Won
2 - Brody B.
3 - Park Ka Kyung
4 - Iris Hwang
5 - Kim Shi Yoon [Eliminated]
6 - Lee Yoon Seo [Eliminated]

[Bibimbap group]

Park Min Ji (17)

(I'm in Love - Ailee)

◆ She initially prepared the song 'That I Was Once By Your Side" by YHY
◆ YHY in the end assigned her to find out what she wants to show for the next round and find a song that suits her the most
◆ She chooses a song that she heard a lot of times but never sung to people before

YHY - "You could win 1st place at any show if you sing like that"
JYP - "I wish you could loosen up a bit when singing"
YG - "I could hear every word you sing and it's like you mean it"

Lee Si Eun (21)

(Cactus - Sung Si Kyung)

◆ She felt a lot of pressure since the other contestants are talented too
◆ This round, the song is about sadness after breaking up

JYP - "You sounded like someone's real girlfriend singing but not a singer. It's amateurish"
YHY - "I think you sing really well. Nothing much to criticize about. But find your own style"
YG - "You sing well but you lack uniqueness"

Joo Mi Yeon (24)

(You Bring Tears to My Eyes - M.C. the Max)

◆ She has stage fright problem since she lose her confidence on herself (not getting accepted to any university and the way she look)
◆ She used to enjoy singing in front of people but now she felt she's being judged all the time

YHY - "Every line of the lyrics just pierces my heart. Wow~"
YG - "You're a great singer and your voice is unique"
JYP - "She has some old sentiments but it doesn't sound old"

Ranking audition Part 1

Ranking audition Part 3

[Review] The Liar and His Lover (J-movie)

I was browsing for some good Japanese movie recently and came across a few recommendations. I decided to write a review on this movie since I really love this movie among the recommendations I read. I couldn't find it on Youtube, so you can go to this site to watch it.

The movie was originally based on manga 'Kanojo wa Uso o Aishisugiteru' (literally means 'The Girl Who Loved Lies') by Kotomi Aoki in 2009.

SUMMARY

Ogasawara Aki (Takeru Satoh) is a talented songwriter and was the bassist of Crude Play. Crude Play consisted of his childhood friends; Sakaguchi Shun (Shohei Miura), Ono Kaoru (Kouki Mizuta) and Yazaki Teppei (Koudai Asaka).

The original members of Crude Play; (from left) Teppei, Shun, Aki and Kaoru

Aki decided to leave the group before debut because of some personal reason. He was replaced with Shinohara Shinya (Masataka Kubota), who is a professional bassist.

Crude Play was first discovered by a materialistic producer named Takagi Soichiro (Takashi Sorimachi).

# I am a fan of this actor since Great Teacher Onizuka (GTO). He's still hot for an ahjusshi/ojisan.

"Music.. has no meaning if you can't sell it"

Even though Aki has backed out from the group, he still wrote songs for Crude Play, which made the band famous. His identity was totally concealed from the public, though. Despite all his achievements, he felt empty inside and he don't seems to understand why too.

He seems to lose interest in music and plus, being the ghost-writer for his famous girlfriend, Mari (Saki Aibu), who ended up cheating on him with that producer guy.

Having your ex's face on billboards is the worse

At that time, he was heart-broken and coincidentally met with Koeda Riko (Sakurako Ohara), a normal high-schooler who is also the daughter of a vegetable store's owner.

Riko fell in love with the song that he was humming at that time. Riko is a big fan of Crude Play. Aki didn't want her to know that he's the mysterious songwriter of Crude Play. So he lied about his name and even his job.

"Why are you crying?"

He lied again saying he hates music and girls who sing. Ironically, Riko was someone who does sing but she kept it a secret from him.

Riko, Yuu, Sou

Things became more complicated when the evil producer scouted Riko and her friends on the street, on the way to Aki's place. At this point, the truth has to be revealed..

Mush & Co.

PERSONAL REVIEW:

I love the storyline and I have some weak spot for vulnerable guy like Aki. My heart hurts when I see Aki suddenly cries in front of Riko. And the kiss that follows make my heart flutters. It's too early for a kiss but maybe Aki was just carried away by the whole "I will protect you" phrase. I'll take it as a way of him saying "It's so sweet of you to say that, although you don't know me that much".

"I believe in love at first sight!"

I would say Aki was having some inner conflict with himself since he felt as if he is being used by the evil producer and Mari. Actually, the reason he backed out from the group was the fact that he felt offended because all the instruments were played by some professional musicians and they would need to pretend playing them on stage. For bassist part, Shinya was playing for him. So, might as well let him be in the group right? What's the point of becoming a bassist when you can't play the instrument yourself?

When he met with Riko, he thought he could run away from music. Aki started to fall in love with Riko for her cute and innocent personality. Plus, after he first listen to her singing, he began to enjoy writing songs again. Previously, he wrote songs because he was asked to but now it's because he wanted to.

I'm still confused on why he was so moody actually. I can make a few guesses initially but I became more confused as I listened to his explanations. I understand that he felt offended since he was asked to pretend playing bass. In the beginning of the movie, he said something about the value of music which I couldn't understand what his point was. Then, there was the scene when he told Shun that he was turning his back on music before he met Riko. Yet, he had wrote all these songs for Crude Play right? How is that called 'turning your back on music'?

He has the habit of closing his ears when a song came to his mind

Their love story is so sweet. Riko manage to see through Aki's deepest feeling through his song and Aki started falling in love with Riko because of her pure and innocent self. I envy Riko since she was able to reach out to someone who is struggling. I find it amazing since I am really bad at reading people. Like I said before, I love 'the broken ones'. I wish I could 'protect' someone too.

Overall, the movie left a very good impression on me. I read the manga after the movie and I would say the cast are similar to the manga's characters. The storyline in the movie might be slightly different than the manga but I was satisfied with the movie.

The only thing I would like to complain is the unnatural laughter of the actors. Their laughter was either too fake or not suitable for that situation. I'm referring to the scene when Riko dropped her stuff while running to Aki and when Shun found out that Aki uses Shinya's name to lie to Riko. Maybe the actors felt it's awkward to laugh at that moment too so they can't really laugh sincerely.

Trivia from manga:
• To read Aki's mood:
   Bad mood - he plays remote-controlled heli
   Confused - he eats chocolate
• Shun's family owns a confectionary factory and he was supposed to inherit it.
• Aki comes from a poor family so instead of cake, they had omurice for birthday.
• Dumpling are Aki's specialty. He can't cook anything else besides that.
• Aki also called Riko as 'Mush', before Shinya came into picture.
• Aki was reluctant to hold hands with Riko since he has sweaty hands.
• Shinya and Yuu also like Riko. Yuu had a crush on Riko for the longest time.
• Sou is Riko's childhood friend. In the manga, Sou is supposed to be chubby.
• Riko is known as a crybaby and that just makes Aki, Shinya and Yuu want to protect her.
• Riko is quick to understand the situation. It's almost impossible to lie to her.

Kpop Star 5 - Ranking Audition (Part 1)

[Kpop Star season 5 Ep 3]

Timbre Vocal Group

Kim Sara (22)

(Sofa - Crush)

■ She trained with YHY and received an elimination warning that's written 'Cliche'
■ YHY said when she moves between high notes and low notes, it sounded habituated and fixated
■ She tried to fix her bad habits but it comes unintentionally. When she tried to sing sincerely, it sounded bland to her.

JYP - "That was excellent"
YG - "I think you learn better with provocation"
YHY - "I can see the effort and struggle you went through"

Yoo Yoon Ji (17)

(Only You - Park Jin Young)

 ■ JYP previously commented she didn't deliver emotions well
■ She started to lose her confidence
■ JYP asked her to just lose herself when singing

YHY - "JYP should stop singing and just give his songs to other singers"
YG - "You could have bursted out during the climax"
JYP - "Finally you have released your soul"

Yoo  Jei (15)

(New York State of Mind - Billy Joel)

■ She chose the song to show how she loves living in New York
■ She becomes more cheerful and talkative after making friends with other contestants
■ She was chosen as the strongest contestant in the group

JYP – "This is the best performance on Kpop Star"
YHY - "You are unique, skilled and has great sensibility"
YG - "It's like seeing someone you dreamed of in real life"

#If her performance was the best, that means she just 'defeated' Katie Kim's performance for 'The Place You Should Be' by G.O.D

Unfortunately they did not show the full performance by the other three contestants:

Amy Jo (21)

Park Chan Hyuk (17)

Han Seung Yoon (17)

RESULTS!
1 - Yoo Jei
2 - Yoo Yoon Ji
3 - Amy Joo
4 - Kim Sara
5 - Han Seung Yoon
6 - Park Chan Hyuk >> [Eliminated]


Ranking audition Part 2
Ranking audition Part 3

Kpop Star 5 - Audition Part 3

[Kpop Star season 5 Ep 3]

Sophie Han [Passed]

(Girl On Fire - Alicia Keys)

◆14 years old, from Atlanta, US

◆ Her mother forbid her from pursuing singing

◆ She is a soccer player, loves to sing and dance

◆ She practices singing in her closet to avoid waking her parents up

✔ JYP - "You lack precision but with practice and experience, you can become better"

✔ YHY - "I enjoyed your performance"

✔ YG - "You need to learn to control your volume but I'm pleased that you are engaged with the song"

Hwang Min Young [Passed]

(I'm in Love - Ra. D)

◆ 22 years old, from Vancouver, Canada  

◆ She started her performance when all the judges were already tired. So, initially none of them paid much interest in her

✔ YG - "Your concentration was amazing. Your rendition was unpredictable"

✔ JYP - "I love it becoz you didn't try to impress us with skills but instead you want to deliver the emotions"

✔ YHY - "You're only teasing us before showing your true skills right?"

Kim Young Eun [Passed]

(I Loved Like That and Smile Like That - Bubble Sisters)

◆ 18 years old, daughter of Yesan County in Chungnam

◆ She has two older sisters

◆ Her family owns a pharmacy store

◆ She decided to audition becoz she wants to overcome her fear of singing in front of people

✔ JYP - "You truly sang from heart"

✔ YHY - "Your singing was the best out of all the contestants who sang ballad song"
✔ YG - "You probably sang well becoz my encouragement in the beginning"

Lee Si Eun [Passed]

(I Will Sing - Park Sae Byul ft. Christian Kim)

◆ 22 years old, from Ilsan
◆ She lives with her mom and an older brother
◆ The reason she auditioned was to make her mom proud
◆ Her mom raised her and her brother alone and always has two jobs a day

✔ JYP – "Among the 190 contestants we have seen for today, you have the best singing skills. Even a professional singer finds it hard to sing ballad the way you did"
✔ YG - "Her reason for coming and her happiest moment both related to her mom. But I think your mom would be the happiest when you are happy"
✔ YHY - "You sang a song that really suits you. Just keep on singing"

#Actually, I think her brother just steals the spotlight. =P

Bonus!

*In conclusion, out of 200 contestants, 71 were chosen..

Kpop Star 5 - Audition Part 2

[Kpop Star season 5 Ep 2]

Jin Yu Na [Eliminated]

(Problem - Ariana Grande)

◆ 7 years old, the youngest contestant of this season
◆ She said she was looking forward to meet all the judges, and the best judges she thinks was JYP
◆ She learned singing just by listening to the comments made by the judges from previous seasons

✖ JYP - "It's too early for you to compete against other older contestants"

✔ YHY - "I think you did very well for your age"

✖ YG - "You are charming and you have good sense of pitching but you're too young"

# I bet we'll be seeing her somewhere in the future.. I hope..

Son Ji Yeon [Wild Card]

(To You Who Don't Love Me - Lee So Ra)

◆19 years old, "Small pepper is hotter!"
◆ After getting bullied during middle school, she became shy and timid. She lost her confidence. So she decided to sing to comfort those who has the same experience as her
◆ She prefer singing song that instills sincerity in every word rather than having fancy high notes

✖ JYP - "You reminded me of some existing singer. You sang skillfully but it did not touch my heart"

✖ YG - "There's no sense of originality in the way you sang the song"

✔ YHY - "More than half of the panelist wished you to pass. You sing so well and I feel it's not right to eliminate you in the first round. I'm giving you my wild card"

#She's pretty but I wish she take off her Harry Potter spectacles

Lee Hyo Rim [Passed]

(Goodbye Sadness Hello Happines - Yoon Mi Rae)

◆ 24 years old, Lee Ha Yi's older sister

◆ She envy her sister for being able to become a star

◆ She felt burdened as the older sister and since Ha Yi said her older sister inspired her to be a singer

✔ YHY - She reminded him of his brother and himself. The same sibling rivalry

 ✖ JYP - "You sang the same way you speak but you lack something"

✔ YG - "Ha Yi has a unique charm and I believe you have it in you too"

Yoo Jei [Passed]

(Almost Is Never Enough - Ariana Grande)

◆ 15 years old

◆ She has stage fright so she never did any audition before but after seeing Katie Kim (from her hometown), she thought she should take the challenge

✔ JYP - "I think they have really good water in your town (coz she and Katie Kim can sing well). You have an attractive low and mid-range and you also can do high notes"

✔ YG - "I don't think you realize how special you are yet"

✔ YHY - "I think you sing very well"

Kim In Hye [Passed]

(Mother - Ra D.)

◆17 years old
◆ Her specialty is push-ups 

◆ YHY said he was impressed with her once she started singing 

◆ All of the panelist vote for her except Jung Seung Hwan. I guess he was too focus on her singing that he forgot to press the button.

✔ YHY - "Why aren't you confident of yourself when you can sing this well?"

✔ YG - "You passed"

✖ JYP - "You sing very well but I think you lack something"

Brody B [Passed]

(Dear Future Husband - Meghan Trainor)

◆12 years old, former Kpop Star contestant

◆ She grows around 7 inches = 18 cm

◆ She was extremely nervous and tense backstage

◆ JYP asked about her thoughts during the past 2 years and she said it had a good experience being on Kpop Star.

✖ JYP - "You're getting worse than before. The techniques are not yours yet and your voice are more unstable than before"

✔ YG - "Your voice is unstable but I want to see your performance again"

✔ YHY - "I guess I have some feeling of attachment towards you so I'll give another chance"

Park Min Ji [Passed]

(No More - Han Gi Ran)

◆ 17 years old

◆ She loves big vocal range songs and singer such as Whitney Houston and Beyonce
◆ She don't want to come across as a show-off, so she choose a low-key song

◆ All the panelist vote for her to pass

✔ JYP - "Your soul is beautiful that is why you sang beautifully"

✔ YG - "I disagree with JYP. I don't think you are beautiful. LOL! I was captivated by you half way through the song"

✔ YHY - "I just feel you are somewhat different, just how I felt about Jung Seung Hwan"

Shortcut to ~

Kpop Star 5 - Audition Part 1

Kpop Star 5 - Audition Part 3

Kpop Star 5 - Ranking Audition (Part 1)

Kpop Star 5 - Brody B.

Guess who's back?!

It's our baby Brody! She's all grown up now~

"Hi~"

# Her appearance in Kpop Star 3 ⇒ click here

■ The judges were pleasantly surprised to see her again. Just look at their expression above.

■ The surprising part is how tall she had grown over the span of 2 years. 

She said around 7 inches, which is around 18 cm!

■ YHY said she was like a baby before, but now she's a young lady.

■ She told that she's been going to school as usual while improving her voice.

She thought that being in Kpop Star before was a great experience.

■ She decided to audition again to showcase her so-called 'new' voice.

■ She sang Meghan Trainor's 'Lips Are Movin' during regional audition.

The producer praised that she has improved.

■ A lot of people recognized her in the waiting room. She was like a celebrity~

HOWEVER!

■ She became quiet as her turn getting closer. Obviously she was nervous and stressed out

with all eyes on her. Can she meets everyone's expectations?

■ The song she prepared was Meghan Trainor's 'Dear Future Husband'.

# If you haven't watch the performance, click the link here.

■ Before she could finish the whole song, JYP stopped her.

The judges expression did not look good. #Oh no!

JYP - "You were much better 2 years ago. You used techniques this time but 

it does not seem like yours yet. Your voice was unstable, your pitch were insecure.

Your performance did not match my expectations".

YG - "I will look at it from a different angle. I think she was frozen up today.

She must be very nervous coming back here after eliminated before.

Back then she was too young and fearless. 

I want to give her another chance".

YHY - "I met her the first time I join Kpop Star and I still remember it clearly.

I felt something bittersweet. She was getting better as she advanced to the next round,

In consideration of how much she has improved, I want to give a chance 

to show what she got". 

JYP [✖]  YG [✔] YHY [✔]

# I was not impressed with her performance too

but considering how nervous she might be, let's give her another chance.

Plus, I really miss to see her again~

Ranking Audition

*She was grouped with other contestants with similar age range.

Then they were given a ranking in the group.

The bottom rank has higher chance of being eliminated.

# Sometimes I forgot that she's only 12 years old (international age)

■ She choose to sing 'Wrecking Ball' by Miley Cyrus.

The reason was to show her potential.

# Watch here

■ Ka Kyung and Kyu Won predicted that Brody was going to be rank first.

YHY - Same thing I felt last time. You were a little insecure in the beginning 

but you improve the next round. Today you did the same.

JYP - We're attracted to her because her eyes tell many stories. She looks like an actress. 

Which mean you have the best quality, that is feeling. 

But your pitch is still shaky although better than before. 

The only problem is you can't hold a note for long. As if you're short of breath.

YG - For me, rather than technical skills, I think it's more important to 

have the power to pull people in. You were unstable during the previous 

round and now I can see the immense improvement. 

You've become solid, confident, and mature.

# I really wish they don't mention about how pretty she is. 

This is not Korea's Next Top Model!

I do think she did better this round compared to audition.

RESULTS!

She was rank 2nd, after Kyu Won.

■ She was not around for Showcase round. It's not really an important round (# I would say)

since they were not judged. Just getting feedbacks from the judges.

Team Mission

C (=China), U (=USA)... C U Again!

#That's their group's name btw

■ She was teamed up with Yu Yu Liu (17). 

#I heard she called her Lexi. 

■ She was shy at first, but warm up to Yu Yu afterwards.

■ Remember the Ox Bone Soup (Seolleongtang) Restaurant she went last time 

with Almeng? She went there again with Yu Yu.

■ They choose to sing Michael Buble's 'Sway' since both of them never tried 

that genre before

#Watch here

# She looks tensed up compared to Yu Yu. She needs to be more confident!

YG - It's like an American singer collaborates with a Chanson(?) singer. 

I was surprised to see Brody mastering high notes

JYP - Maybe it's just me but I felt she was much better 2 years ago, even after the 3rd round. 

She get tensed singing middle and low tones. 

So her voice becomes extremely narrow and there's no resonance. 

You need someone to train you because your singing is going to a wrong direction. 

YG - In Brody's defense, I think this song is for YuYu Liu but not Brody. 

YHY - Every time I see Brody, I felt a bit of weird feeling. 

Last time she was here, she didn't know what's going on. 

But now I can see she's fighting with all her might.

■ They were battling against Kim Young Eun and Seo Kyung Deok.

■ C U Again lose the Team Mission and someone has to be eliminated..

That someone is.. Brody~  ㅠ ㅠ

■ Unfortunately we have to say another goodbye to Brody.

She did not cry after saying her goodbye.. as if she saw it coming..

Remember in season 3, when she was saying her goodbye..

#The editing team has to put the caption, 'She seems to be learning how to overcome pain'.

Aww.. Our baby really has grow up~ ㅠ ㅠ

# What Yoo Hee Yeol said after seeing her go really touches my heart..

"You want your kids to have more confidence but instead, they care

more about what other people think. That breaks my heart..

So, what I really want to tell them is it's not important whether or not

you're good. Don't pay attention to what other people think. 

But in the end, they do that because they really want to be VERY good".

Extra footage:
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