1. Really good music
Continuous discoveries and debuts of many amazing solo acts and great bands made 2013 one of the nicest years for my ears.
One such form of eargasm is the debut of an idol hip-hop duo: Infinite-H. As someone who's a massive follower of Infinite, I'm truly glad that Woollim gave their two multi-talented boys a chance to shine. With both boys boasting the ability to sing, dance and rap reasonably well (I especially enjoy Dongwoo's rapping style), the album was definitely no disappointment. Though there were a few things I didn't like too much about Fly High, they made a solid album that separated them from typical idol groups and thrusted them well into the hip-hop industry (or maybe at least a good step). I guess one of the main reasons was that Primary, whose productions are all to die for, was the one overseeing their project.
An idol album I particularly enjoyed is BtoB's Thriller. The songs were all very catchy and pleasant to the ears, though, unfortunately, I don't think they have enough a fanbase to make the album a public success. Also a special shout out to a band probably no one knows, that is C-Clown. "Far Away" and "Good Night" are really good tracks I'll recommend people to check out.
The only idol girl group I really enjoyed in 2013 was rookie group Ladies Code. I do believe they'll make it big with their power vocals and interesting comebacks that are often vastly different from the previous. Solo singers like Zia, rookie Jin and Lee Hi all had great tracks last year as well.
All-time goddess Lee Hyori also made a comeback, with "Miss Korea" being my favourite track. Completely suiting her musicality/voice range, and a refreshing change from the kind of sexy that her 후배s are all fighting to churn out (the unfortunate Dal Shabet included). But forsurehandsdown one of my favourite hip-hop groups PHANTOM made my year with a slough of great tracks and an amazing album: from "Come As You Are", to the lovely album PHANTOM Theory. Even the most recent track, "New Era", was such a hit with my sound buds. Another hip-hop act I loved to a greater extent in 2013 is Geeks. I really enjoyed their various featurings with members of Sistar and their first album, Backpack. Also to mention are new rappers like Kanto, and the Amoeba Culture singer, Zion T.
I also found myself loving many indie acts like Tako & J Hyung, Nell (Escaping Gravity was on repeat for a fair amount of 2013), The Nuts (또르르 was sooooo good) and the always good BrotherSu.
I can truly ramble on and on, and I keep finding myself with more content to include in each paragraph. I should really restrain myself before I get any more incoherent.
2. The highs and lows of K-dramas
There were so many powerhouses in the drama-realm. School 2013 and I Hear Your Voice effectively thrusted the very gorgeous Lee Jong Suk into his very well-deserved spotlight, and I enjoyed both of them a great deal. I also deeply love Master's Sun, which sent me into a So Ji Sub/Gong Hyo Jin frenzy and made me wish that I had the ability to see and be haunted by *very friendly and lovely tyvm* ghosts just so that I can find my very own 주군 and stalk him and eventually find true love.
Very crazy and equally enjoyable plots like that of I Miss You (including this because it ran through to the start of 2013) and Nine's very well crafted time travelling plot was well balanced by more subtle, slice of life and easy to digest dramas like School 2013 and Reply 1997 (aired in 2012, but I only got around watching it in 2013. Heh).Then again, equally bad dramas that I couldn't really get myself to complete/forcibly completed were also present. With all due respect to the nation first love, Bae Suzy, Gu Family House was rather unbearable to watch with the sole reason being bad acting. Rant: I also cannot understand how Lee Yeon Hee was praised for her improved acting, while the very talented rookie Lee Yoobi did not get any critical acclaim for her very good acting of the very complex Chungjo. I often wonder what will happen if better actors took on the show - I think it's decently crafted plot would have more chance to shine.
Then there's The Heirs. Everyone around me was watching and raving about Kim Woobin, so I decided to jump into it. But, WHAT!? Oh my God bad. It is essentially Boys Over Flowers part 2 that took itself way too seriously. I couldn't invest in any of the dysfunctional relationships. Don't even get me started on "Love Is The Moment" playing every now and then, and how everyone must engage in staring competitions while pulling wrists -.- Though I have to say that the very adorable Chanyoung/Bona couple really helped make it a lot more bearable.
Then again, I have to say that everything I've watched served its purpose. Be it entertainment, to pass time, or just to get into heated discussions as to why Choi Youngdo is both extremely twisted and loveable while exemplifying the 'Bad Boy' charm.
3. Expectations for 2014
*Some of these expectations are already in action, but I will list them nonetheless*
- Dramas, dramas and dramas. Kickstarting the year with powerhouse 'You Who Came From The Stars' while expecting a lot from 'Emergency Man And Woman' (which features the very beautiful Song Jihyo and talented Choi Jinhyuk), I can't wait to see what the rest of the year has for my binge watching habits
- Infinite's new variety show, This Is Infinite, which I'm beyond excited about considering how much I loved Ranking King
- Hopefully, a solid comeback album by Primary. Beyond his controversies, I hope he's still able to stand strong and roll out good music
- A good year for flower boy actor Lee Hyunwoo. He's definitely risen through the charts since I first saw him in God Of Study, so I hope to see him a bit more this year with more challenging roles that contain more inherent layers beyond his typical cute-smiley-boy-next-door image -- I am expecting a bit from his recently revealed casting in upcoming movie 기술자들
- Better variety shows: continue Infinity Challenge with all its gloriousness, attempt greater to overcome stagnancy with Running Man, more *moe feels* with Superman Is Back, more more more of The Genius (sincerely hope it'll continue and become even better; one of the better Korean variety shows I watched that has a different kind of entertainment value) and less idol athletic themed specials
- For the fangirl in me, more 남스타. Heh.
*phew* Such a long post, but I enjoyed writing it. I think it might be the fact that I spent so much time watching dramas that I became increasingly invested and have much more to say about Korean media in 2013.
P.S. Unfortunately, I did not catch as many Korean movies as I intended to warrant a full bullet point on it. I have mixed reviews for the few that I did watch though, with "Very Ordinary Couple" being one of my favourites (a very realistic portrayal of love a la indie hit Blue Valentine) and the very hyped up "Secretly, Greatly" one of my least.
I also want to mention that this is the year of true love: Heungsoo/Namsoon (School 2013) and GD/Hyungdon. <3 ㅋ
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