Flashback Friday

[waves-of-light.livejournal.com]

Happy Friday! Every week I go through the charts for this day in the past and share the top three songs. Then I pick out two more from the top ten as honorable mentions. This week, we’re going back to the 4th week of April, 2011. It’s going to be a Ladies Night here at Omona!


#3 After School “Shampoo”
I love this song so much! Definitely in my personal top three from them. After School went all out for their comebacks, and for this one the girls learned how to tap dance. This would also be the last song with Bekah, who would go on to graduate a few months later. Here’s their comeback stage on Music Bank, with the “Let’s Step Up” tap intro.

#2 f(x) “Pinocchio (Danger)”
This was the lead single off of their album of their “Pinocchio” album. I don’t remember this at all, which is funny because the lyrics are “remember me” lol. Sulli’s face and that hair, ugh so cute and pretty. What’s Victoria been up to lately?

#1 Park Bom “Don’t Cry”
Her solos did so well. Sold and charted so damn well for weeks. Could only find a single shortened music show stage, so here’s a live acoustic from YG on Air. I love this version so much. I know this is in black and white, but damn I miss orange hair Bommie. I also just miss 2011. More new music from her next week yay!

Honorable Mentions

#5 4Minute “Mirror Mirror”
This is one of my most favorite songs from them, so much fun! And it makes me feel all sassy lol. They also look so amazing. Here’s their Inkigayo comeback stage with the original choreography. This choreo only lasted a few days before the networks made them change it (twice, if I remember right).

#9 Okdal “Having Nothing Is My Merit”
I see the song title also being translated to “None The Better Or Courage”. This was Okdal’s (they’re also known as Rooftop Moonlight) single off of the duo’s first album. How fun is this song? So sweet and light and I want to skip to this in the park. Or lounging around on a lazy weekend. I didn’t find a MV, so here’s a live stage.

sources: S.Kamilia, MBCkpop, chico4jones, SBS Inkigayo, 온스테이지ONSTAGE & naver

Comments

[theweebdream.livejournal.com]

Omg! Shampoo is my favorite After School song. It’s such a pretty song! I was so sad when Bekah left tho bc she was my favorite member :(

Don’t Cry was such a good song too, and marked the beginning of 2ne1’s best era. I agree OP, I miss 2011 too.

[921227.livejournal.com]

Pinocchio holds a special place for bringing Amber back after her yr long hiatus & the entire album was also really good, it has a couple of my all time fave f(x) songs

The original choreo for mirror is superior & I'll always be better they had to change it. Iirc allot of choreo got censored that year

[lizanka23.livejournal.com]

oh wow i forgot about that completely lmao. there were so many theories as to why amber was absent. did we ever find out the real reason she was gone for a year?

yeah men fighting and beating each other up was ok in mvs but god forbid a woman do a suggestive dance move. it feels like there hasn't been any banning done regarding that in a while but it's probably because there aren't as many sassy girl groups anymore

[921227.livejournal.com]

Im not sure if there really was a deeper reason to her hiatus, nothing like all the crazy stuff ppl were saying at the time, but the closest thing to sounding true was that she got into a small contract issue that coincided with her fucking up her ankle which was why she was gone so long.

Some groups, boy & girl, have had to have choreo changes recently, but i think that year was particularly bad bc of the ministry of gender blah blah blah that went around banning everyone in sight -- kbs still has the most rigid broadcast standards as far as appropriateness goes

[lizanka23.livejournal.com]

i guess that makes sense too. even just an ankle injury can prevent someone from performing well and doing all that choreography. maybe it was for the best to have it heal completely rather than make her sit on a chair and sing like other groups do.

i do not remember them changing any boy group choreo lol. i just remember them always being against having girl groups having their legs open or even just lying on their back and doing some common exercise move that they thought looked too suggestive, i.e. 9muses drama

[lightframes.livejournal.com]

Women: *exist*
Everyone: "This is too sexual"

[pikapika217.livejournal.com]

I remember one of the popular rumors being that she was pregnant

[myungung.livejournal.com]

I feel that Pinocchio was also a turning point for the group in that they started to gain traction in Korea. I remember people used to say that f(x) were underrated and not popular, but they were doing pretty well in Korea from Pinocchio to RPPP if I'm not wrong.

[drfaith101.livejournal.com]

They improved with each comeback imo, even 4walls did relatively well tbh

[dior-chic.livejournal.com]

Shampoo!! Aww so many fond memories.

Pinocchio - never cared for it, I think I might’ve skipped this whole era

Mirror Mirror - 4minute is one of those groups I honestly can’t remember whose who besides like two members 😬 as I’m watching it, I’m like ‘who has the short hair???’ I feel like 4minute was a group I liked their music a lot but never bothered following the group’s performances for whatever reason till Crazy. At first as I watching it, I was confused why the dance was changed as it looked harmless to me but then I saw the move and went ‘oh. I see now lol’

[lizanka23.livejournal.com]

i love shampoo and the music video too. it was just a feel good song. danger and a couple of fx songs around that time were just meh to me. i wasn't enjoying their title songs until they came back with electric shock. then i started to check out their music again.

also op, to answer your question victoria is acting in dramas and movies in china.

mirror mirror by 4minute is such a jam still. also the choreo was never explicit to me. boy groups got to do crotch grabs, hip thrusts, and rip shirts, so girl groups should be able to do moves like that too

[pikapika217.livejournal.com]

a post of kpop CLASSIQUES!!!!!

This is my favorite Mirror Mirror performance:

[aures.livejournal.com]

*heart eyes* ♥

their vocals on point

[myungung.livejournal.com]

I loved Shampoo, and that era was the first time I saw AS live. Nana and Lizzy were really gorgeous at that moment, it's such a pity they didn't hit bigger (though Nana is probably secure now).

and I didn't really like 4minute's constant changing, especially with Mirror Mirror/Heart 2 Heart switch. they were never marketed as a cute group so it was sad to see them do that (probably in a bid to gain more fans). so glad things turned out well for them post What's Your Name

[4minutesluts.livejournal.com]

oh look it's the 4minute era that my now-embarrassing username comes from, and one of after school's hottest bangers

what a good era

[aures.livejournal.com]

A+ username still though, every time i see it i giggle and sing a little of the song, so don't worry A+ from me

[ashdevilrun23.livejournal.com]

loved shampoo and pinoccio/danger
BUT PARK LEGEND SNAPPED ON DON'T CRY
IT'S OKAY BABY PLEASE DON'T CRY😭😭😭😭😭

the acoustic ver was iconic and should have been relesed

[daydreamsofblue.livejournal.com]

The amount of live vocals in these performances is insane. Everyone is singing live! And everyone sounds at least pretty good if not great! I feel like even on the rare occasions when current generation groups sing completely (or mostly) live, the bg music and vocals are so loud you can barely tell. But here I really can. AS, f(x), and 4minute were all so good and worked so hard to give good live performances T_T

[aures.livejournal.com]

shampoo was so pretty ;~; i miss AS still so much

[babyjenkski.livejournal.com]

I miss 4minute a lot! They became my favorite girl group (aside from KARA) when they debuted. Mirror Mirror is a really good song and I agree with the rest here that if boy groups can do hip thrusts and crotch grabbing, girl groups can also do their own moves and not be called out for it.