One Year On

Yesterday (12 July) AZNPopCulture turned one year old. So I'd just like to say a big thanks to everyone who has visited and read any of the content here. Big thanks to all who have commented on anything and shared on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.

This week also saw the highest number of page views I've ever had, with the majority of visitors viewing the VAMPS live at Download Festival page, and also the recent BABYMETAL London Forum gig review. I hadn't realised how popular VAMPS were, but that post is now the most viewed page so far, with the BABYMETAL post being the third most viewed in just a few days! So thanks to everyone who has read them and shared them.

Incidentally, yesterday was also a birthday for Crayon Pop twin sisters ChoA and Way. So happy birthday to them!

Anyway, please do continue to come back; I really do appreciate it. Please comment on anything you find interesting; it's always interesting to hear others' opinions, and any ideas or suggestions you might have are welcome, so if you do have any, please message me using the contact page.

Thanks again!

Lady Gaga Chooses Crayon Pop As Support Act

Lady Gaga has revealed that K-Pop girl group Crayon Pop will be the opening act on her tour "artRAVE: The ARTPOP Ball". The award-winning, multi-platinum selling singer tweeted the news along with the video to the K-Pop sensations' hit song "Bar Bar Bar", which went viral last summer. Their "straight-five engine dance" was copied and parodied the world over, and since then, Crayon Pop's profile has gone through the roof!

"Bar Bar Bar"

The girls will be joining Lady Gaga from June 26 to July 22 on her tour of America and Canada this year. Tour dates are as follows:

Jun 26 Milwaukee, WI - Summerfest (Buy Tickets)

Jun 28 Atlantic City, NJ - Boardwalk Hall (Buy Tickets)

Jun 30 Boston, MA - TD Garden (Buy Tickets)

Jul 02 Montreal, QC - Bell Centre (Buy Tickets)

Jul 07 Buffalo, NY - First Niagara Center (Buy Tickets)

Jul 09 Toronto, ON - Air Canada Centre (Sold Out)

Jul 11 Chicago, IL - United Center (Buy Tickets)

Jul 14 San Antonio, TX - AT&T Center (Buy Tickets)

Jul 16 Houston, TX - Toyota Center (Buy Tickets)

Jul 17 Dallas, TX - American Airlines Center (Buy Tickets)
Jul XX Las Vegas, NV - MGM Grand Garden Arena (Buy Tickets)

Jul 21 Los Angeles, CA - Staples Center (Sold Out)
Jul 22 Los Angeles, CA - Staples Center (Buy Tickets)

Crayon Pop plan to release a new song "Hey" on March 31.

Are you excited about this? Are you going?

Top 10 K-Pop Christmas Songs 2013

'Tis the season to be jolly, and here are some recent K-Pop songs to help you do so!

I'm not generally a fan of Christmas songs, but sometimes you can't help but like some of them. Here are my Top 10 of this year...

10 - KOYOTE - Hug Me

First up is KOYOTE. A nice mixture of rapping and singing, come together with a catchy chorus to produce this pleasant Christmas song.

09 - Wa$$up - LA Pam Pam PA

This one doesn't particularly sound too Christmassy, but then that's what sets this apart from most other Christmas songs. I think it's pretty cool, and I reckon Wa$$up are a girl group to watch in the future...

The 2013 Mnet Asian Music Awards: Who Won This Year?

Twenty days after we saw a K-Pop group win an award at the YouTube Music Awards, Friday 22 November saw the fifteenth annual Mnet Asian Music Awards, which is pretty much totally dedicated to K-Pop music (with a few international acts too). The ceremony took place at the Asia World Expo Arena in Hong Kong, and was broadcast live on YouTube.

There were numerous categories, recognising the most popular K-Pop groups and solo performers of the year, as voted by fans online.

Watch the awards below (red carpet show to begin with, followed by award show start at 2hr12m):


Award winners and some videos to show you of who they are (if you didn't already know...) appear after "The Performances" section.

The Performances

The star-studded show opened with rock band Jaurim and an "Enter the Dragon" version of their song "Icarus", who were joined on stage by Lee Han-Eul and Jay Park, in a combination of rap and rock. I thought it worked quite effectively, and enjoyed the song.

The show also featured performances by pop duo Trouble Maker with "Now", boy band INFINITE singing "BTD", flipping and somersaulting all over the place before performing "Destiny". They were followed by Hong Kong singer/actor Aaron Kwok performing "Yi Ge Hui Wu". The next performance was by girl group 2NE1 performing "Lonely" and new song "Missing You",  followed by Swedish pop duo Icona Pop who performed "All Night" and were also joined on stage by 2NE1's CL on their hit "I Love It".

Crayon Pop - Bar Bar Bar (Global Version)

Crayon Pop have released a global version of their #1 Billboard K-Pop Hot 100 hit, and with it comes a new promotional video.



The original was released back in June with a Story Version video. The release of the Dance Version music video for the song followed not long afterwards, and since then, the video went viral, and they slowly climbed and eventually topped many of the K-Pop charts.

While I think the new video is fun, and I do like it a lot, I still prefer the original Dance Version, and I'm not so keen on the start of this one; how it goes straight into the Straight-Five Engine Dance. I know this dance has become synonymous with Crayon Pop and Bar Bar Bar, but I like the build up to it in the original version.

Still, you can't blame Chrome Entertainment or Sony Music Entertainment for wanting to capitalise on the huge success of this song and video, but I hope Crayon Pop will be bringing out some new material soon.

You can download the single on iTunes or buy a physical copy at amazon.co.uk
or at cdjapan:
THE STREETS GO DISCO [Korean Version]
THE STREETS GO DISCO (Taiwanese Edition) [CD+Trading Cards in Folder]




Photo credit: Crayon Pop Official Fan Site / Korea

Crayon Pop - Itaewon Freedom teaser

Here is Crayon Pop's teaser trailer for, what I can only assume, is their version of the UV with J. Y. Park song "Itaewon Freedom" (2011). The teaser features the girls miming along to the original song, and was filmed guerilla style on the streets of Seoul. It is posted on their official Facebook page, with the full length performance airing on M-net Japan on August 16.

Looking forward to seeing this! I reckon it looks like fun!
What do you think?

Crayon Pop - 빠빠빠 (Bar Bar Bar)

How fun is Crayon Pop's new music video?? "Bar Bar Bar" is a pretty simplistic song, but there's something about it that just makes me want to smile. Could it be the brightly coloured costumes? The synchronised dancing? Or is it just the jumping?

Jumping! Yeah! Jumping! Yeah! Everybody!!



I had heard only one of their songs prior to seeing this video, and that was when I saw the video for "Saturday Night" (2012). At the time that it was released, I thought it was okay; a fun song, and an okay video that ultimately didn't really grab my attention. Then I saw this; the video for "Bar Bar Bar"...