Yoooo! I initially wanted this post to be done and up a day or two after the first post of the yearlies but I started on a new layout and I wanted to really get that done before I either lost the motivation to do it (and would stew in unhappiness with the old layout) or I would just lose focus of what and where I was going with the layout (which I ended up doing anyway, so consider it another temporary layout). So there’s that. There’s nothing I can do about that aside from apologise for not pushing myself a bit harder, but I did want to focus on one thing at a time so that I wouldn’t mess up anything.

That being said, welcome to the second post in EXTREMIS’s 2013 Yearlies. If you didn’t read the first post and are somewhat confused, never fear. I am here to explain (not that I should, but hey.) Basically, the yearlies, obviously by the name, are a series of posts that run typically from the first week to the second week of January. In some instances, it runs a week or so longer. It’s basically a round up of all the things that I found absolutely lovely released in the previous year. They tend to be things that I feel should have a bit more attention and love than they do. In some instances, they have quite a lot of love and are extremely well known and in others, they’re not. The lists range from music to cosmetics to games to books to movies. This year, I’ll be focusing primarily on movies, games, and music as much of my year was focused around those main things. You can read the first yearlies post here.

In follow up of the previous post in this series, I’m going to this time showcase some of my favourite Korean releases of the year 2013. As there are more listed here than previously, I’m actually not going to spend too much time talking about each since doing that for four was a bit draggy, so doing it for eight would probably be dreadful. Ad I would like to point out that not all of these albums are under the Pop genre; most are, but not all.

Note: This post contains my personal opinions and no one else’s. I was in no way, shape, or form coerced nor offered any form of payment (be it monetary or whatever). This post is also not intended to change anyone's opinion nor poke fun at anyone’s opinion but rather to spark interest and possibly conversation.

This image does not follow the same order as in the picture above due to my failures and short-term memory.

Starting this off is LOVE & HATE, a full length album from Korean Pop group SISTAR’s leader and main vocalist, Hyolyn. After SISTAR’s release of Give It To Me and being slightly underwhelmed and unappealed by the full length album, I may just need to give it another proper listen to but I did adore “Miss Sistar”, “Give It To Me”, and few other immediately, I was kind of iffy about what to expect after they announced that Hyolyn was due for a solo. Don’t get me wrong, Hyolyn is probably one of my favourite females in Korean Pop (alongside SlayAilee and few others) and her voice is absolutely outstanding (again, one of my favourites). However, as of late, when it comes to KPop, I’m a bit harder to impres as nothing really sounds intriguing to me anymore. Of course, all doubts and future doubts were immediately set aside when I heard and saw the video for “One Way Love” which was quickly followed in momentum by “Lonely”. When I tell you that Hyolyn slayed. Boo, she slayed and I lived for both songs. When I finally ventured to her album, I again was a bit wary but only because singles and albums tend have separate responses from me, but man, Hyolyn went in on that album. LOVE & HATE was just a good album through and through. The vocals were on point (as usual), the melodies/beats were everything, the featurings (Zico, Dok2, Lil Boi from Geeks) were perfect especially with her voice. When I tell you that I lived for that album? I really did.

Following LOVE & HATE are two mini-albums that marked the return of two of my favourite groups and definitely earned their place on my list of loves for the year 2013: Escaping Gravity by Nell and Very Good by Block B. Released in June of 2013, Escaping Gravity followed it’s predecessor, Holding Onto Gravity, by six months and for any Nell fan (myself included) any wait is too much wait for perfection like Nell. I don’t think there’s anything I can say about the mini-album that I haven’t said/can’t say about previous Nell releases. The lyrics are beautiful, the vocals are beautiful and so emotionally raw, and the melodies are just superb. I can never honestly say anything bad about Nell because I genuinely love all of their stuff. They are just great at what they do. I do think it’s rather lovely that rather than straightforwardly depressing lyrics, they’ve managed to write songs that can be taken in either way. They can be beautiful or depressing in all their metaphors, imagery, and meanings. I loved it. If you haven’t listened to it yet and you would fancy a good bit of softer rock/indie rock in Korean, I recommend this little gem. It’s six songs of gorgeousness and in all honesty, it’s much too short for my liking. Also, the lives are amazing. Jongwan’s voice is almost perfect live. I’ll probably do a full review for this mini-album at some point.

Now, let’s talk about Very Good. Again, there’s not much for me to say that I probably haven’t said/can’t say about the group’s previous releases. I’m not going to delve into the fuckery of what led up to the long wait for this group’s return (Google it if you want to know), but just know that as a BBC (one of the few fan clubs I will wholeheartedly claim) waiting for this mini-album was like trying to stay afloat without a flotation device while waiting for help. And when I finally got this mini-album? It was everything I wanted and expected, plus some. I don’t even know where to stop and start. “VERY GOOD” is that song. It’s upbeat and in your face. It’s good fun and flattering to every member’s voice and talents. It’s a song that screams Block B and I loved it. The music video was hilarious as well. “Be The Light” came out MV and single-wise before “VERY GOOD” did and wow, just wow. I love that it was a ballad and that, most importantly, it was beautiful and showed that Block B was more than what they seemed at face value. You have Park Kyung and Zico both singing, you have yourself another upbeat motivational song, you have Taeil vocally slaying and hitting notes that I couldn’t dream of hitting. You have your life in that mini-album. It was too good and once again? Way too short. This was a good way to comeback and I was too proud to see them win an award for “VERY GOOD” it was well-deserved.

We’ve come to the final album in this row and it’s another mini album. This mini-album marks another long awaited comeback for fans of MBLAQ and it’s SEXY BEAT. SEXY BEAT came to us over a year after the release of 100% Ver., which was a bloody amazing, and was absolutely sexy. It seemed the early part of 2013 was dedicated to KPop artists being ridiculously sexy. From 2PM’s “A.D.T.O.Y” to SISTAR’s “Give To Me”, there was so much sexiness and embracing of sensuality being showcased and I was definitely here for it. When I saw the teaser for “SMOKY GIRL”, I died. There is almost nothing sexier to me than anyone in a suit and I have a thing for videos that are in black and white/greyscaled (even if it’s not fully). Plus, the song itself was sexy. The beat, the lyrics, the dance, the vocals...everything. As per usual, the entire mini-album was great and it reminded me of a what a love child of the 100% Ver. and Mona Lisa mini-albums would be.

This image does not follow the same order as in the picture above due to my failures and short-term memory.

Time for the second row. Surprisingly enough, the first in this row is a mixtape under the KHip-Hop genre. This mixtape is entitled 미완성 / Incomplete by Choi Sam. I can’t say much about Choi Sam because while I’m familiar with her music, I’m not familiar enough to write a full on paragraph about her stuff and rave about it properly. I will, however, say that 미완성 was a jump off for me. Her voice is rugged and unique for a female rapper and most of the songs had dope beats. It was very club banger, booty shaking for a good bit of the songs and I loved it. So good.

Now. I have no excuse for putting G.O’s Play That Song on the list aside from it’s G.O with his amazing voice and the song is amazing. I have a bias, let me show it.

CHEMISTRY is the second mini-album from Troublemaker, a duo made up of HyunA from 4minute and Hyunseung from BEAST. What I liked about this mini-album was how amazing it was put together. When their previous mini-album, Troublemaker, came out, I didn’t particularly care for any of the songs aside from the title track. This time around, every single song was amazing. I particularly love HyunA’s solo “I Like (feat. Flowsik)”, “이리와 (Attention)” and “볼륨을 높이고 (Turn Up The Volume)”. The album is just the right amount of sexy with the right amount of sensuality and it showcases how much they’ve grown as both artists and friends. The connection is stronger and the mini-album’s title is very fitting.

TEEN TOP CLASS was Teen Top’s second 2013 release and I must admit something, while I am a Teen Top fan, I have never been completely impressed by a mini-album of theirs. Their first album had a few gems, but wasn’t, overall, something I’d listen to consistently and their mini-albums before this one had gems, but again, always fell a bit short for me. Now TEEN TOP CLASS? Was amazing. There isn’t a song on the mini-album that I didn’t. The lead single, “장난아냐 (Rocking)” is an amazing dance song and it makes you want to get up and move around in someway. A lot of the songs on this album showcased the rappers of group which is always a plus, but even the vocals were highlighted in a good manner. This mini-album was a great way to show that they had improved as a group and I adored it. They definitely need to do everything like this from here on out.


I know I said I wouldn’t type much, but before I realised it, I had so much written for the first half. I actually did not lazy around on the second half, I just had a lot more to say about the first half of the listings than I did about the second half. That being said, this was yet another doozy to type out and I think there are so many mistakes (which I’ll go back and edit later) but I hope you enjoyd it! Until next time, darlings! ❤

Edits: 01.11.2014 (5:30am)

Labels: [music], [yearlies], artist: various artists, genre: k-pop, genre: kr&b/khip-hop, goodbye two thousand thirteen, misc: lotta text

Yoooo! I initially wanted this post to be done and up a day or two after the first post of the yearlies but I started on a new layout and I wanted to really get that done before I either lost the motivation to do it (and would stew in unhappiness with the old layout) or I would just lose focus of what and where I was going with the layout (which I ended up doing anyway, so consider it another temporary layout). So there’s that. There’s nothing I can do about that aside from apologise for not pushing myself a bit harder, but I did want to focus on one thing at a time so that I wouldn’t mess up anything.

That being said, welcome to the second post in EXTREMIS’s 2013 Yearlies. If you didn’t read the first post and are somewhat confused, never fear. I am here to explain (not that I should, but hey.) Basically, the yearlies, obviously by the name, are a series of posts that run typically from the first week to the second week of January. In some instances, it runs a week or so longer. It’s basically a round up of all the things that I found absolutely lovely released in the previous year. They tend to be things that I feel should have a bit more attention and love than they do. In some instances, they have quite a lot of love and are extremely well known and in others, they’re not. The lists range from music to cosmetics to games to books to movies. This year, I’ll be focusing primarily on movies, games, and music as much of my year was focused around those main things. You can read the first yearlies post here.

In follow up of the previous post in this series, I’m going to this time showcase some of my favourite Korean releases of the year 2013. As there are more listed here than previously, I’m actually not going to spend too much time talking about each since doing that for four was a bit draggy, so doing it for eight would probably be dreadful. Ad I would like to point out that not all of these albums are under the Pop genre; most are, but not all.

Note: This post contains my personal opinions and no one else’s. I was in no way, shape, or form coerced nor offered any form of payment (be it monetary or whatever). This post is also not intended to change anyone's opinion nor poke fun at anyone’s opinion but rather to spark interest and possibly conversation.

This image does not follow the same order as in the picture above due to my failures and short-term memory.

Starting this off is LOVE & HATE, a full length album from Korean Pop group SISTAR’s leader and main vocalist, Hyolyn. After SISTAR’s release of Give It To Me and being slightly underwhelmed and unappealed by the full length album, I may just need to give it another proper listen to but I did adore “Miss Sistar”, “Give It To Me”, and few other immediately, I was kind of iffy about what to expect after they announced that Hyolyn was due for a solo. Don’t get me wrong, Hyolyn is probably one of my favourite females in Korean Pop (alongside SlayAilee and few others) and her voice is absolutely outstanding (again, one of my favourites). However, as of late, when it comes to KPop, I’m a bit harder to impres as nothing really sounds intriguing to me anymore. Of course, all doubts and future doubts were immediately set aside when I heard and saw the video for “One Way Love” which was quickly followed in momentum by “Lonely”. When I tell you that Hyolyn slayed. Boo, she slayed and I lived for both songs. When I finally ventured to her album, I again was a bit wary but only because singles and albums tend have separate responses from me, but man, Hyolyn went in on that album. LOVE & HATE was just a good album through and through. The vocals were on point (as usual), the melodies/beats were everything, the featurings (Zico, Dok2, Lil Boi from Geeks) were perfect especially with her voice. When I tell you that I lived for that album? I really did.

Following LOVE & HATE are two mini-albums that marked the return of two of my favourite groups and definitely earned their place on my list of loves for the year 2013: Escaping Gravity by Nell and Very Good by Block B. Released in June of 2013, Escaping Gravity followed it’s predecessor, Holding Onto Gravity, by six months and for any Nell fan (myself included) any wait is too much wait for perfection like Nell. I don’t think there’s anything I can say about the mini-album that I haven’t said/can’t say about previous Nell releases. The lyrics are beautiful, the vocals are beautiful and so emotionally raw, and the melodies are just superb. I can never honestly say anything bad about Nell because I genuinely love all of their stuff. They are just great at what they do. I do think it’s rather lovely that rather than straightforwardly depressing lyrics, they’ve managed to write songs that can be taken in either way. They can be beautiful or depressing in all their metaphors, imagery, and meanings. I loved it. If you haven’t listened to it yet and you would fancy a good bit of softer rock/indie rock in Korean, I recommend this little gem. It’s six songs of gorgeousness and in all honesty, it’s much too short for my liking. Also, the lives are amazing. Jongwan’s voice is almost perfect live. I’ll probably do a full review for this mini-album at some point.

Now, let’s talk about Very Good. Again, there’s not much for me to say that I probably haven’t said/can’t say about the group’s previous releases. I’m not going to delve into the fuckery of what led up to the long wait for this group’s return (Google it if you want to know), but just know that as a BBC (one of the few fan clubs I will wholeheartedly claim) waiting for this mini-album was like trying to stay afloat without a flotation device while waiting for help. And when I finally got this mini-album? It was everything I wanted and expected, plus some. I don’t even know where to stop and start. “VERY GOOD” is that song. It’s upbeat and in your face. It’s good fun and flattering to every member’s voice and talents. It’s a song that screams Block B and I loved it. The music video was hilarious as well. “Be The Light” came out MV and single-wise before “VERY GOOD” did and wow, just wow. I love that it was a ballad and that, most importantly, it was beautiful and showed that Block B was more than what they seemed at face value. You have Park Kyung and Zico both singing, you have yourself another upbeat motivational song, you have Taeil vocally slaying and hitting notes that I couldn’t dream of hitting. You have your life in that mini-album. It was too good and once again? Way too short. This was a good way to comeback and I was too proud to see them win an award for “VERY GOOD” it was well-deserved.

We’ve come to the final album in this row and it’s another mini album. This mini-album marks another long awaited comeback for fans of MBLAQ and it’s SEXY BEAT. SEXY BEAT came to us over a year after the release of 100% Ver., which was a bloody amazing, and was absolutely sexy. It seemed the early part of 2013 was dedicated to KPop artists being ridiculously sexy. From 2PM’s “A.D.T.O.Y” to SISTAR’s “Give To Me”, there was so much sexiness and embracing of sensuality being showcased and I was definitely here for it. When I saw the teaser for “SMOKY GIRL”, I died. There is almost nothing sexier to me than anyone in a suit and I have a thing for videos that are in black and white/greyscaled (even if it’s not fully). Plus, the song itself was sexy. The beat, the lyrics, the dance, the vocals...everything. As per usual, the entire mini-album was great and it reminded me of a what a love child of the 100% Ver. and Mona Lisa mini-albums would be.

This image does not follow the same order as in the picture above due to my failures and short-term memory.

Time for the second row. Surprisingly enough, the first in this row is a mixtape under the KHip-Hop genre. This mixtape is entitled 미완성 / Incomplete by Choi Sam. I can’t say much about Choi Sam because while I’m familiar with her music, I’m not familiar enough to write a full on paragraph about her stuff and rave about it properly. I will, however, say that 미완성 was a jump off for me. Her voice is rugged and unique for a female rapper and most of the songs had dope beats. It was very club banger, booty shaking for a good bit of the songs and I loved it. So good.

Now. I have no excuse for putting G.O’s Play That Song on the list aside from it’s G.O with his amazing voice and the song is amazing. I have a bias, let me show it.

CHEMISTRY is the second mini-album from Troublemaker, a duo made up of HyunA from 4minute and Hyunseung from BEAST. What I liked about this mini-album was how amazing it was put together. When their previous mini-album, Troublemaker, came out, I didn’t particularly care for any of the songs aside from the title track. This time around, every single song was amazing. I particularly love HyunA’s solo “I Like (feat. Flowsik)”, “이리와 (Attention)” and “볼륨을 높이고 (Turn Up The Volume)”. The album is just the right amount of sexy with the right amount of sensuality and it showcases how much they’ve grown as both artists and friends. The connection is stronger and the mini-album’s title is very fitting.

TEEN TOP CLASS was Teen Top’s second 2013 release and I must admit something, while I am a Teen Top fan, I have never been completely impressed by a mini-album of theirs. Their first album had a few gems, but wasn’t, overall, something I’d listen to consistently and their mini-albums before this one had gems, but again, always fell a bit short for me. Now TEEN TOP CLASS? Was amazing. There isn’t a song on the mini-album that I didn’t. The lead single, “장난아냐 (Rocking)” is an amazing dance song and it makes you want to get up and move around in someway. A lot of the songs on this album showcased the rappers of group which is always a plus, but even the vocals were highlighted in a good manner. This mini-album was a great way to show that they had improved as a group and I adored it. They definitely need to do everything like this from here on out.


I know I said I wouldn’t type much, but before I realised it, I had so much written for the first half. I actually did not lazy around on the second half, I just had a lot more to say about the first half of the listings than I did about the second half. That being said, this was yet another doozy to type out and I think there are so many mistakes (which I’ll go back and edit later) but I hope you enjoyd it! Until next time, darlings! ❤

Edits: 01.11.2014 (5:30am)

Labels: [music], [yearlies], artist: various artists, genre: k-pop, genre: kr&b/khip-hop, goodbye two thousand thirteen, misc: lotta text