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Sunday, October 14, 2012

KPOP Review: J-MIN "Stand Up"



So... who finished watching the drama To the Beautiful You? I haven't. I have been to busy, but hopefully I get time to finish the drama. In my opinion this isn't the best Kdrama out there, but it is still entertaining and fun to watch. You can tell that they put much effort in the drama. The plot is just not that interesting or eventful. It's not like I am some kind of expert on this so I can't say much. Even though I didn't completely fall in love with the drama I did fall in love with the theme song.

I totally love "Stand Up", and I think it might be my favorite drama OST. What I found different in this song from other Kpop songs is that it doesn't have the same sound. From what I understand is that J-MIN is more of a Japanese artist rather than a Korean. It shows in the song. It has a more Jpop/rock sound to it, and it was quite different. The mini guitar solo was pretty cool too. Her song sounded more like she meant what she said, like she put honest feeling to the lyrics. I know that there are also various other artist that put just as much feeling as her, but with J-MIN you can notice it and I really like that about this song.

The lyrics to this song are no exception. The song has a powerful message that is not hard to figure out what she is trying to say. It all is about standing up and being yourself. The lyrics are also saying that you need to continue on, don't quit, and keep trying. The whole song is basically one big message, which I thought was really cool and inspiring. Her English is really good too. If I were to pick my favorite part of the lyrics it would be the first stanza, which is:
"Even if life is hard, don’t quit until the end
The sky will protect your side
Your footsteps are heavy, make some noise
You sink down and let out a sigh
But one more time, one more try"

The song has two music videos. One has clips of the drama mixed in with J-MIN singing with a band, and I heard that the guitarists is a member of TRAX. The other version is a band version where you see J-MIN and the band playing in different places. Personally, I prefer the band version. I don't think that this song was very fitting for the drama and I don't think the music video was either. To me the drama was more childish than anything, but the song is serious-ish. The band version was better and I thought it was pretty cool when they slowed down some parts to add affect. The drummer was cute too.

Anyway. what did you think of the drama. Did you like it or hate it? Who was the best actor or actress? For the drama I ship Jae Hee and Eun Gyeol, but I think I know for sure that they won't end to together. What about you? Also, what version of the MV did you like? Why?

My Ratings

Lyrics: 5 out of 5

MV: 3.5 out of 5 (this is the one with drama clips)
Song: 5 out of 5
English: 5 out of 5

Overall: 4.5 out of 5

Here is the music video with the drama clips, since I guess this is the official MV: