What I've Been Listening To (Vol. 1)

Hey guys! Wow, it’s been a while since I wrote my last blog post. Over the past month, I’ve sadly neglected my blog in order to focus on other things such as: finishing my website (check it out here!), practicing for my open call audition for The Voice (wish me luck!!), visiting my boyfriend, and overall just trying to enjoy my summer.

It’s been pretty hard to get back on the writing grind because I always try to write really long posts, so for now, I’ll present you with another listicle! This time, it’s songs that I’ve been playing on repeat over the last month. I promise that the next post will be longer and actually tackle a topic, but for now, onto the listicle (in no particular order)!

1. “SO BAD” – STARSYSTEM

Hey, so remember Anne Hathaway’s breakout movie, The Princess Diaries? Remember the guy who played her love interest, Robert Schwartzman? Well guess what? In addition to being an actor and Jason Schwartzman’s brother, he’s also a talented musician! He produces music under different monikers and bands (most notably Rooney), but Starsystem’s by far my favorite.

Remember this dreamboat?
photo cred.: theojammies

I discovered this track from the Palo Alto soundtrack and instantly became infatuated with its mellow beat and haunting, layered vocals. I envision this to be the kind of song you listen to while sitting in a bus and wistfully looking out of the window as the scenery from a small town rolls by.

2. “ONE MORE” – FIESTAR

And now for something completely different, but expected from me! KPOP! This one’s from a band called Fiestar. Fiestar has been around since 2012, but they’re still considered rookies because they haven’t been able to gain much public interest…until now. It’s common for rookie girl groups in kpop to completely change their concept to a sexy one in order to become more popular. But that’s not what I want to talk about in this post.

Fiestar, then.
photo cred.: thefanypack

Fiestar, now.
photo cred.: Soompi

All I want to say is that this song absolutely ROCKS. It’s so fun and upbeat—which surprisingly the kpop scene has been lacking in with respect to the summer releases. Kpop fans have noted the song’s questionable lyrics, but please don’t pay any mind to that. If you do, you’re missing out on a great song with an infectious hook.

3. “WROTE A SONG ABOUT YOU” – MNEK

Well this isn’t surprising at all. After becoming best pals with MNEK from my last post (just kidding, I wish), this is totally expected. MNEK has not failed with cranking out hits like this and I’ve already dedicated a post about why he’s awesome, so just check out this song already!!

4. “HEY MISTER” – CRAYON POP

Okay, I know what you’re thinking: “Jenn, what in the actual heck is this?” Well, it’s a song by one of my favorite girl groups, Crayon Pop, on the soundtrack for the Korean drama Trot Lovers. Now, describing my affinity for Crayon Pop to non-kpop fans is difficult. They’re totally not what you’d expect from the standard kpop girl group. They don’t do sexy concepts. They don’t even do cute concepts. It’s hard to put a label on what their concept exactly is. I mean, just look at them.

Your faves would never.
photo cred.: Soompi

All I want you to know about them is they’ve got some great music that’s lighthearted and fun to dance to, such as this one!

5. “FXXK BOYS GET MONEY” – FEMM (FAR EAST MENTION MANNEQUIN’S AGENCY SYNDICATE)

As much as I try to not include swear words on this blog, I couldn’t help but include this song on the list. Ladies, this is the Girls Night Out anthem we’ve all been waiting for—and it came from Japan! I don’t listen to jpop as often as I do kpop, but every once in a while I run into gems like this one.

photo cred.: oshiri-sisters

A little background on the group’s concept: FEMM is an “art pop” duo that has been performing at parties in Japan. The premise of their image is that they’re robotic mannequins of some sort that are trying to take over the world with music (?). Sounds zany, right? Well, I totally believe they could at least take over the music industry with this song and its undeniably catchy chorus.

So there you have it! I hope you enjoyed reading this because I’m going to be making a lot more of these types of posts whenever I have writer’s block but still want to share something with you guys. The next blog post will be longer and more interesting to read, I promise!