Congrats to Mamamoo on winning Queendom. I absolutely love Mamamoo, and they definitely deserved to win, because they were the most consistent throughout. Also, they killed their last performance for their song “Destiny.” AoA made a fan out of me with their performance their new song of “Sorry” and their cover of Mamamoo’s “Egotistic.” (G)-Idle killed with the performance for their new song “Lion.”, as well as the remix of their song “Latata.” If you want to check out Mamamoo, they released a music video for their new song “Hip.” It’s definitely worth a listen, as well as the other songs I’ve linked.
Grammy Nominations have been released
Congrats to everyone nominated for awards this, especially to Lizzo and Tanya Tucker. I just simply love her music. I have ever since I first heard “Good As Hell.” I’ve been an admirer of Tanya Tucker since I was a kid, so I’m glad to see that she’s back and getting recognition. I hope she, Lizzo and Billy Ellish actually win some of the awards that they nominated for. Having said that, I’m sure there are some fans of music and KPop in specific who are upset that BTS didn’t get nominated for any Grammys this year. To those fans, it’s nothing new. I’d love to see Band-Maid, a five-piece rock group that I am absolutely in love with, who had a sold-out tour across the US this past summer and fall nominated for some of the Rock categories; but it’s not happening, even though they killed this year. What about Lacuna Coil? This band has been killing it for years, and they had a new album, Black Anima release this year. “Reckless” from that album is a kick-ass song. Why weren’t they nominated in the Rock or metal categories? To be honest, Blackpink should have gotten a nod for their song “Kill this Love,” but no such luck. It sucks donkeys that none of these artists got noms, but it will happen. Their talent is undeniable.
MAMA 2019 is fast approaching
Asia’s answer to the Grammys, the Mnet Asian Music Awards are fast approaching, and there are quite a few artists that I absolutely love nominated. Choosing who I voted for wasn’t easy at all, but I thought I’d share some of my thought on a few of the awards.
Artist of the Year
Among the myriad of artists nominated, for me, it really came down to one—TWICE. BTS are the perennial favorites for the award along with TWICE, but honestly weighing everything that each group has done this year, for me, TWICE tip the scales with their song “Fancy”, and the following releases of “Breakthrough”, “Feel Special”, which for me is Song of the Year and their most recent release of “Fake & True.” I am a major fan of Mamamoo, and though they released a great spring hit with “Gogobebe“, and have been killing the end of the year with their performances and eventual win on the competition show Queendom, and with the release of their newest song “Hip”, TWICE have just straight murdered the whole year, all while evolving their sound from what most term as “cutesy” to a more mature, dance-filled awesomeness. That’s not easy to do for many in the industry, yet TWICE seemed to do it effortlessly and with flare.
Song of the Year
As I’ve already stated previously, of all the title/single songs released this year “Feel Special” from TWICE is song of the year for me. I absolutely love every song that TWICE has released this year. Hell, I even bought the “Feel Special” physical CD. First time I’ve bought a physical CD in over a decade, and I fervently loved every song on it, with the nod for fave going to “Love Foolish”, as Momo is my bias, and because of Chaeyoung’s low and wispy declarations towards the object of her feelings. Thing is if TWICE hadn’t have released that song, for me, song of the year would have come down to a tie between “Twit” by Hwasa and “Kill this Love” by Blackpink. So, after a coin flip (as it was the only way I could decide), I voted for “Kill this Love”.
As far as the other awards that are up for grabs, if Mamamoo doesn’t win “Best Vocal Performance Group”, I will be highly pissed. Like Blackpink, there are very few groups in all of the music industry that has the performance skills or near overpowering stage presence that these four women seem to oose from their pours. It just seems to be something that isn’t as preferred these days. I put Band-Maid in that category as well—and honestly more and more TWICE are commanding that presence as well. I mean they always had stage presence, but it’s like that presence is evolving and growing. I hope Taemin wins for “Best Male Artist.” I’ve just always liked his music and that guy kills it on stage. “Best New Artist” is really a major toss-up for me, because I love ITZY, Everglow, and Somi, and though I do know most of all the artists nominated for this award, it comes down to those three for me.
Having said that, my thing is this though—where is Dreamcatcher? They are an awesome group. I call them “Goth KPop”, because of their songs are permeated by hard rock guitar riffs and double bass drum accents. They are amazing, yet it seems that they don’t get the recognition that they deserve. “Déjà Vu” is a ridiculously great song, with a damn near haunting chorus. Why wasn’t it nominated? When it comes to “Best Rock Performance”, with all Asian artists being equal, why aren’t Band-Maid nominated? Simply put, they straight murderlized all the song nominated in this category. None of them even come close.
What do you think? Who’s your favorite artist of this year? What are some of your favorite songs? Post them in the comments, and again thank you for visiting my minuscule corner of the interwebs.
For the record, these are my favorite singles/a-side songs of this year. I forced myself to pick one song from each artist, also the song may have released last year, but it’s my first time hearing it this year.
Feel Special by TWICE
Bubble by Band-Maid
Hip by Mamamoo
Good as Hell by Lizzo
Twit by Hwasa
Belgrade by Battle Tapes
The theme of Sachio by mabanua from the anime “Megalo Box”
Picky Picky by Weki Meki
Dalla Dalla by ITZY
Adios by Everglow
Goodbye by Wheein
Kill this Love by Blackpink
Déjà Vu by Dreamcatcher
Bad Guy by Billy Eilish
Slow Burn by Kacey Musgraves
Latata by (G)-Idle
Reckless by Lacuna Coil (If you are a person that scares easily, don’t watch the video…just listen to the music)
Breathe by AB6IX
Dance Monkey by Tones and I
