JYJ's Park Yoochun Serenades With 'The Empty Space For You' On Ripley's OST

Park Yoochun, one third of the famous JYJ trio, has recently released a solo track for Ripley's OST. Whilst on the JYJ World Tour, he is also filming for Ripley, an MBC drama airing on Mondays and Tuesdays at 9pm KST.

Titled The Empty Space For You, the track is a heart-wrenching one, telling of a love that is not meant to be for the other person loves another. Even reading the English translation of the lyrics is enough to move me to tears!

His voice has a nice timbre feel that gives off a sad touch, befitting the emotional message of the song. Do check out the audio clip for The Empty Space For You here.

The song took over various online music charts upon its release on 21st June 2011, proving the power of JYJ fans.

The author plans to add Ripley to her ever growing list of K-dramas must watch list, just because Park Yoochun is starring in it!

PS: Credits go to jyj3 for the English translation of the lyrics.

Do follow me on Twitter for the latest updates!

Romance Town: A Maid's Story Of Striking Rich

Who still works as a maid, serving rich families when they have won 10 million won in a lottery? That’s the main question behind the plot of Romance Town, a drama centering on the lives of five maids working for families in a rich neighbourhood. The main protagonist is Sungeum, a young maid who was hired to look after a baby after the family had just fired their previous maid. Hardworking and earnest, she decided to follow the footsteps of her mother and grandmother, both whom were also maids.

One day she came across an older woman peeping into her employer’s postbox. Curious, she went to have a word with the older lady and found out the she was the previous maid. It seems that she was waiting for letters addressed to her from the eldest son of the household who was studying abroad. The older woman asked Sungeum for a favour since she might not be able to come often and read the letters, and that she do it instead in her place and reply to the sender.

A few years passed and soon it was time for the eldest son, Kang Geonu to return home. Upon his return, nobody could recognize him as he had lost a huge amount of weight and looks more dashing than ever. Upset that his former maid was fired, he decided to act according to his emotions at the moment and fired Sungeum on the spot, declaring that he would track his former maid, whatever it takes.

Devastated, Sungeum walks around town aimlessly in a dazed state. She returns to rest at the room where the five maids congregate and they sympathize with her state, though winning the lottery draw seems important too as they are glued to the television screen. Usually the five share equally to buy a ticket, but the day before Sungeum decided to buy one more for her ownself in tribute to her mother. Though the ticket that all maids shared to buy didn’t hit the jackpot, Sungeum’s own ticket did.

She became a millionaire overnight but she did not want anyone to find out, the least being her gambler father. She sells her winning ticket to a neighbour who runs a shady money-lending business and keeps her secret to herself. When her father tracks her down, she had no choice but to resume working at the same house, but as the family is in a dire need of a helper, they hired her back on the spot.

Out on an errand to choose a dress for the mistress of the house at a departmental store, Sungeum had to wait for a while for it to arrive. With time on her hands, she went for a makeover. When she was done, a salesgirl urged her to try on a new dress. Dressed up and all dolled-up, she stared at her new self in the mirror. Someone happened to walk past her looking at her reflection, and he was none other than Geonu, the man who hates having her in his house.

Sungeum was unrecognizable and he felt as if she was another person altogether. He asked her out for lunch and fell in love with her. After their brief encounter, Sungeum feels awkward at home facing him, while he dreams and fantasises about ‘Yun Sia’, her alter-ego.

Will Sungeum tell him the truth that ‘Yun Sia’ is none other than herself, his maid? Find out by watching Romance Town on KBS World, ASTRO Channel 391 every Wednesday and Thursday at 9 pm.

The author dreams of striking a lottery one fine day so she can realize her dream of zipping around town in a fancy car with the rooftop down!

Do follow me on Twitter for the latest updates!

Secret Mesmerizes With Starlight Moonlight

The girls of Secret are back again with a mini album, titled Starlight Moonlight. Post-Shy Boy, the girls are sticking to their winning formula and are retaining the retro feel on their songs. Not many girl groups out there can pull off the retro style right, but Secret are definitely one of the more successful ones as their sugary sweet vocals blends in with the style and they manage to pull it off beautifully.

The first song off the 3-track album is Oh! Honey which starts off the sounds of a guitar strumming, the sort that reminds you of a sunny day at the beach. A catchy carefree and uplifting song that gets you humming along in no time, it also serves as a prelude to the other tracks on the album.

The title track, Starlight Moonlight, is better understood when you watch the music video and read the English translation of the lyrics. Picking up the mood from the previous track, it is also another chirpy track that is easy on the ears. In the music video, it is about a girl dreaming of meeting the man of her dreams, only when she meets him, he turns out not to be what she expected. Nevertheless, she accepts him for who he is in the end and is contented with what she has. Do check out the music video for Starlight Moonlight here!

The last track, literally translated as Melodrama, is a mellower and slow-tempo track. Though I’m not well-versed with the language, I can roughly guess that the message of the song is about a girl thanking the lover for liking and loving her. The girls’ harmony and the song melody provide a great way to wrap the whole album up.

The author is a huge fan of Secret's Shy Boy. Such cute dance moves!

PS: Credit goes to theblackcat1236.wordpress.com for the English translation of the Starlight Moonlight lyrics.

Do follow me on Twitter for the latest updates!

B2ST's Fiction and Fact

The boys (or more accurately, men) of B2ST are back with their latest album titled Fiction and Fact. With a mellower sound compared to their previous works, they have also shown that their vocal prowess have improved greatly over the years.

I wasn’t acquainted with B2ST’s songs before their current album, but frequent appearances by members Yoseob and Kikwang on KBS World’s Oh My School variety programme sparked my curiosity about their abilities.

So when their latest album was released recently, I decided to give it a listen. And boy, it didn’t disappoint and turned out to be really great!

The first track titled Fact, is a mid-tempo guitar-driven track, which is short yet sweet.

With a smooth transition to the second song, Fiction, the track opens with a melancholic synthesized tune, followed by Doojoon’s soft voice singing the intro, and. My favourite part of this song has to be the part in the chorus where they sing ‘Fiction in fiction’, and part of Junhyung’s rap where he repeats ‘Saranghae’ five times, which is so addictive and makes me wanna play this song over and over again. The heart-wrenching tone of the song is also echoed by the storyline of the music video. Do check out the music video to Fiction here.

Another smooth change to the third track, Back To You, a fast-paced track, followed by You, which showcases the wonderful vocals of the five members of B2ST. Complete with a simple chorus, you’ll soon find yourself humming along to this uplifting song!

Freeze, the fifth track, has an electro-pop sound and gives you the feeling of commercial tunes for advertisements sung by boy bands, followed by Virus, a slow-tempo song full with falsettos.

The seventh track, Calling You, is a mid-tempo song which after a few listens will start to grow on you, especially the part where they sing ‘Bye bye bye, ni mareun lie lie lie lie lie, nae nuneun cry cry cry cry cry, tonight’, which is so harmonious and beautiful.

On Rainy Days is another guitar-driven track, a mid-tempo song that also showcases the vocal abilities of each member. It is a very stripped down and raw song that enables you to focus just on their voices and the emotions and message that they are trying to convey.

The remaining two tracks on the album are an unplugged version of Lightless from their previous album and an orchestra version of Fiction. Both are soothing and are good listens just when you needed something to de-stress. On top of that, both songs proves that the members of B2ST can really sing.

This might be one the best works from a boy band for this year as they gave an impressive delivery of emotion and strength in their songs. After listening to this album, I have become a fan of their music and look forward to their future works.

Update: B2ST will be holding their 1st Beast Fan Meeting Asia Tour in Malaysia on 1st July 2011 at Sunway Lagoon's Surf Beach at 8.30 pm. Tickets are priced at RM388 (VIP), RM288 (PS1) and RM188 (Rock Zone). For more information on the fan meet, please visit TicketCharge's website.

The author is into K-pop these days and is focusing on improving her Korean vocabulary to further understand song lyrics.

Do follow me on Twitter for the latest updates!