Sunday Serenade is one of our periodicals here at GTG, which we decided to start up because of our love for Asian music.
What we do for Sunday Serenade is simple: we recommend music videos for you to watch (three at a time). Our main goal is to develop everyone’s vocabulary in Asian music, showcasing videos from all over (including Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, etc). We will show videos both new and old.
Basically, we want to make an Asian music fan out of you.
That being said, let’s get jamming!
This week’s Sunday Serenade: is your blood type B1A4?
B1A4′s debut poster back in 2011.
Quick, what’s your blood type? A? B? AB? O?
Whether your blood type is the rare AB or the more common O, B1A4 shatters all blood barriers. Named after their blood types – one member, Baro, has B, while the rest of the group has blood type A – B1A4 is one of Korea’s popular groups today. Young girls fawn over them, while their male fans admire their hard work and fun, dancing beats.
Debuting in 2011, the group has already experienced some notable success. They have released one studio album and three extended plays thus far, and have been recognized as one of the up-and-coming, new generation idol groups. Our favorite blood type idols took home a slew of awards, including the “Best Newcomer Award”, “Best Male Newcomer”, and “Super Rookies for 2012″. They also have a small, yet notable Japanese fan base, as they debuted there in the same year.
Their image is also quite memorable in recent K-pop history. They’re known as “country boys”, as they pride themselves on their country roots. None of them are originally from the city sprawl, known to you and I as Seoul. In addition to being known as “blood idols” from their name, some teenage fans also call them “paper idols”, from the A4 paper size.
With their brief history and image, we move onto what makes them known: Their music. Let’s take a look at some of the B1A4 songs we jammed to recently:
“Dancing, Dancing, Dancing in the moonlight.” The famed lyrics to the song “Baby Good Night” had to be one of the most hummed lines last year. Walking through the streets of Seoul, it would be hard not to hear a group of teenage girls or tourists sing this line.
In fact, you may be “Dancing in the moonlight” after hearing the song too. Just make sure it’s night if you do!
We take a look at the group’s lead single from the mini album B1A4, “Beautiful Target”. As with many K-pop songs, this one deals with love, as finding that special someone is something many of us can relate to. While the message is common, some of the lyrics are quite funny. My particular favorite line? It has to do with shooting arrows like Robin Hood… or something like that. Check it out:
I’m like a Robin Hood, what you gonna make me do
Oh yes, sir! Gotta shoot!
Whether you’re a Kevin Costner from the 1991 movie, an archer, or neither, it doesn’t take an expert in arrowship to like this song.
Known to be the song that member Jin-young wrote, “Baby I’m Sorry” tells of a past love. Told from a guy’s point-of-view, he tries to get over his former flame, but has a hard time doing so. The song is one of their more serious songs, singing about a common theme, past lovers (the other being about having a special someone, as in “Beautiful Target” above).
Hopefully, you won’t have to singing to yourself “Baby I’m Sorry” over a sorrowful breakup!
We hope you enjoyed this week with the “blood idols”, B1A4! Stay tuned for more jams next week.