Review miss A “I Don’t Need a Man”

Whenever miss A releases a new single, it always takes a long time to grow on me before I really fall in love. “Touch” took the longest at about two months, but the group’s latest single, “I Don’t Need a Man”, caught me instantly.

There were a few raised eyebrows when JYP announced that miss A’s new album, Independent Women Part III, was directly inspired by the ladies of Destiny’s Child. Even going as far as to title it after the famous Charlie’s Angels hit, but the only thing the two have in common is a shared name. miss A actually has less in common with Destiny’s Child than the Wonder Girls do, who have noticeably referenced Beyonce in their recent hits “Be My Baby” and “Like This“.

The JYP-produced “I Don’t Need a Man” is a Southern hip-hop track filtered through the lens of K-pop. The key traits of the dirty south sound are present, like 808 snares and a fat kickdrum, but plucky guitar strings and miss A’s playful delivery make “I Don’t Need a Man” more lighthearted than your typically harder-edged American hip-hop song.

Lyrically, the song also deviates from the standard American formula, which puts a lot of emphasis on superficial things like cars, jewelry, and looking sexy. miss A doesn’t care what you think of them and they aren’t after anything that they didn’t earn. They’d rather work hard all day and buy nice things on layaway than accept a dime from somebody else.

“I’m gonna live for myself,” they sing, “I don’t care about living a good life like other kids do with rich parents and a rich man / that’s why I feel honorable.”

According to miss A’s philosophy, a girl’s self-worth should come from her own positive actions and nothing else. Just because you’re not flossing like Fergie doesn’t mean that you can’t still have the confidence of a chick with a million dollar bank account. However, for all their serious talk about not needing a man to pay their bills, you still always get the sense that miss A is just having fun with everything. They never try too hard to convince you that they’re better off alone, which only makes you believe their message of independence even more.

“I Don’t Need a Man” isn’t the first time that miss A has put a fresh spin on the tried and tested message of female empowerment. On their debut single “Bad Girl Good Girl“, they called out hypocritical men who enjoyed their provocative dancing yet also dared to judge them for their bold sexuality.

At this point, miss A is starting to rival 2NE1 as K-pop’s premiere girl power group. They’re also up there right next to Wonder Girls as JYP’s most consistent act, as they’ve yet to drop a bad single since their debut.

So, what are you waiting for? Get your single lady swag on and check out miss A’s latest hit.

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Gaon Chart releases chart rankings for October 7th – October 13th

The Gaon Chart is the national chart of South Korea and is intended to be the equivalent of Oricon in Japan and Billboard in the United States.

Check out the chart rankings for the week of September 30th to October 6th below!

miss A dress up in patterned prints for ‘Instyle’

miss A held a photoshoot with fashion magazine ‘InStyle‘.

In the photoshoot, the members wore checkered patterns, polka dot patterns, and retro patterns, pulling off a sensual and fashionable look with the prints. The members also had an interview along with the photoshoot.

Suzy confessed, “ I hope my actress image and singer image are completely different from each other. While on the stage, I want to have heavy makeup on and wear flashy clothes with a cooler performance.“

Min said, “I try to dance with power on stage to be strong for miss A.”

Fei said, “I calmly help other people, but I get so worked up about my own things.”

While Jia was revealed to be a fatherlike figure for the group, being the mediator for the older and younger members.

miss A’s complete photoshoot will be included in the November issue of ‘InStyle’.

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Lee Seung Gi and miss A’s Suzy to act together in drama ‘Guga Medical Book’?

Rumor are floating that Lee Seung Gi and miss A‘s Suzy will be the male and female leads in the drama, ‘Guga Medical Book‘ (working title).

On October 18th, entertainment representatives stated that Lee Seung Gi is confirmed for ‘Guga Medical Book’ and he will be working together with PD Shin Woo Chul, who directed ‘A Gentleman’s Dignity‘ along with writer Kang Eun Kyung who previously wrote ‘Baker King: Kim Tak Gu‘ and ‘Man of Honor‘.

Currently, the top selection for the female lead is miss A’s Suzy, who showed her acting abilities through ‘An Introduction to Architecture‘ and more recently on KBS‘s ‘Big‘. Representatives of miss A’s Suzy stated, “Suzy received an offer of the leading female role for ‘Guga Medical Book’. She is positively reviewing the offer.”

In ‘Guga Medical Book’, Lee Seung Gi will take on the role of a mythical figure (9 tailed fox or gumiho). This will be the first historical drama for both Lee Seung Gi and miss A’s Suzy.

The drama is in its early planning stages and the current schedule is for it to air in early 2013.

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Actress Ha Ji Won ranks herself 1st among the female cast members in ‘The Joseon Beautiful Three Mus

Actress Ha Ji Won has ranked herself first in terms of looks among the female cast members in the upcoming film ‘The Joseon Beautiful Three Musketeers‘.

On the October 20th episode of KBS‘s ‘Entertainment Relay‘, she began by introducing the movie, which is scheduled to hit theaters next year.

When asked how she ranks herself in terms of appearance among her co-stars, Brown Eyed Girls‘ Ga In and actress Kang Ye Won, Ha Ji Won laughed and answered, “First.”

‘The Josen Beautiful Three Musketeers’ is an action-comedy film set in the Joseon Dynasty and revolves around three, beautiful musketeers who fight against a group trying to overthrow the royal family and take over the nation.

Ha Ji Won will be playing the leader of the three musketeers, ‘Jin Ok’. Kang Ye Won will be playing ‘Hong Dan’, a tough, married woman, and Ga In will take on the role of maknae ‘Gabi’, who expresses herself through movement rather than by speaking.

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HyunA releases new mini-album ‘Melting’

Unfortunately another artists has fallen victim to album leaks. Earlier today, popular siren HyunA‘s new mini-album was publicly leaked with out permission. Although her agency, Cube Entertainment tried to prevent the songs’ widespread distribution, as expected it was futile. Cube is currently investigating the source of the leak and has decided to officially release the album earlier than its October 22nd release date.

HyunA’s new mini-album ’Melting‘consists of five tracks including title track, “Ice Cream“.

“Don’t Fall Apart” opens the mini-album depicting HyunA’s feelings on releasing a new solo album.

The idol attempts the ‘teen-pop’ genre with “Unripe Apple” which sings of a girl who wants to be seen as innocent in front of her boyfriend. BTOB‘s Ilhoon participated in the rap for the song.

Hyuna helped write the lyrics for the next track, “To My Boyfriend“, which is HyunA’s take on an emotional ballad.

The album closed out with another notable track, “Very Hot“, which is a song she participated in both the writing and composing process for the first time. The song was recently banned by KBS and MBC for referencing popular SNS app KakaoTalk.

Listen to the tracks below and tell us what you think. Be sure to support the artist by buying the album.

1. Don’t Fall Apart

2. Ice Cream ft. Maboos

3. Unripe Apple ft. BTOB’s Ilhoon

4. To My Boyfriend

5. Very Hot

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Leeteuk shares his thoughts on Super Junior’s anniversary party and his love for Elf

Super Junior‘s Leeteuk recently shared his thoughts on holding his final fan meet ahead of his military enlistment via his Twitter on October 21st.

The group held their seventh anniversary party with their official fanclub ‘Elf‘ at the Korea University gymnasium on the afternoon of the 20th.

The singer wrote, “Although it was a party held a bit in advance of our seventh anniversary, I had so, so much fun with everyone. I think it was a lot more fun because I worked hand in hand with the fanclub director nuna and really participated in the process.”

He continued, “Although I won’t be with you guys for our eighth anniversary, I’ll be with everyone for our ninth. It sounds very short thinking about it like this, right? This was an opportunity for me to feel once again how crazily in love we are with each other. Elf. I respect and love you. Let’s last a long time together.”

Leeteuk will be enlisting on the 30th.

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AoA’s Hyejeong cast in ‘Chungdamdong Alice’

Girl group AoA‘s Hyejeong has been confirmed for a role as the younger sister of Moon Geun Young in the upcoming SBS drama, ‘Chungdamdong Alice‘.

On October 21st, FNC Entertainment officials revealed, “Hyejeong will be playing ‘Han Se Jin’, the younger sister to Moon Geun Young in the SBS weekend drama, ‘Chungdamdong Alice’.”

Hyejeong is a vocalist in AoA and stands at a tall height of 170 cm with excellent body proportions to boot. After earning attention for her beautiful looks, she was cast as a cameo in ‘Gentlemen’s Class‘ after her debut.

Although her role in the drama was short, it made enough impact on casting directors to land her another role.

She expressed, “I’m glad and excited to be cast in my second drama. I’ve always had a lot of interest in acting so this is a great opportunity for me to do my best and show my best possible image as an actress.”

She continued, “My character ‘Han Se Jin’ likes hanging out with her friends and is described as having a bright personality. She resembles my real personality a lot in that she might look immature, but has a warm heart under all of her motives.”

The drama is expected to begin airing this December.

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EXCITE ditches the mysterious concepts to be a warm and friendly group

Five member rookie boy group EXCITE recently released their debut music video for “Try Again“ earlier this month.

The boys, who all stand at an average height of 180 cm, explained that their name was an expression of the excitement that can be brought about with good music and a high quality performance.

EXCITE’s agency explained, “Since the planning stages for the group, we put the utmost focus on their music as well as fitting the characters of each of the members into the current trends. We created a style that is completely unique to EXCITE.”

The group is against the ‘mysterious’ and far-from-reach concept that boy groups often take to look cool and plans to instead be warm and friendly to get closer with their fans.

EXCITE will kick off official promotions starting October 22nd.

Source + Photos: Chosun via Naver

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