Commentary: Why FT Island?

If you've read my other posts, you will notice that I write a lot about FT Island. I am an unofficial Primadonna. Yep, I said it. They are one of my favorite artists right now.

Honestly, I used to be a die hard SS501 fan, and a big fan of Kim Hyun Joong. But when they "disbanded", it just wasn't the same anymore. They will always sound better as one to me, none of this solo activities crunk.

So...I started searching for another K-Pop group. Which was kind of hard to do since most of them danced to techno or cutesy music. Anyways, I was at home, sick, re-watching "You're Beautiful" starring the one and only Jang Geun Suk and Park Shin Hye. I was thinking of what a shame it was that Go Minam ended up with Hwang Tae Kyung instead of Shin Woo when the scene, where a karaoke singing Go Minam gets soaked up on stage, comes on.

To save a bit of face, one of the A.N.Jell members, Jeremy (Lee Hong Ki), takes over on "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" and goes to stand next to Minam onstage. She is joined by Shin Woo (Jung Yong Hwa) and Tae Kyung (Jang Geun Suk) who wraps a tablecloth around the shivering Minam. Btw, that moment where he rips the tablecloth off the table is so gallant.

It got me thinking, Shin Woo and Jeremy actually sing pretty well. I wondered if they were multi-talented as well. So I did a bit of Google searching on them and found out that they were members of two groups (CNBlue and FT Island) under FNC Entertainment. Interesting that two FNC artists were acting together in the same drama.

This led me to a couple of their videos. CNBlue's "Oettoriya" (Loner) and "Jidokhagae" (Severely) by FT Island.

CNBlue's M/V of "Oettoriya" was a bit confusing for me, I don't think I got the concept as clearly as I would have liked. But the song was very catchy.

FT Island's "Severely" was a different story. Let me back up a bit and just say that the first thing I saw on YouTube for this M/V was a comment from a viewer saying "Noooo! Hong Ki!" or something to that effect. I thought, what the heck is this about?

I watched the video and I understood. Right from the beginning, that scratched in guitar intro had me hooked. The music was strong and powerful and the music video was so heart wrenching. I got immediately that Hong Ki's character was trying to go back in time to change things. (I wish he wouldv'e tried harder, but that's all moot now.)

I thought to myself, this is what I have been looking for. I was sick and tired of hearing the same sort of country and R & B and Pop music in American pop culture. Same songs that the stations feed us over and over and over. Blech!

Finally, there was a K-Pop group I could relate to. None of this dance club upbeat techno crunk. Their sound was unique, raw, real and downright emotional. I connected with their music on this level and also as a musician. They looked like they really loved what they did, that's something that's rarely seen in American music nowadays so I really appreciated that.

From there, I wanted to know everything about Lee Hong Ki, Choi Jong Hun, Lee Jae Jin, Choi Min Hwan and Song Seung Hyun. I read articles, I watched videos, listened to their music, watched them on variety shows. There was loads of information on the internet about them and they were hilarious! Just as I imagined a band of brothers would be. (Now granted, CNBlue was also all over the internet, but they weren't promoting as much at that time.)

All this while being sick in bed for a few weeks. Such a short time to convert, haha. In a way, I hated being sick, but in a way, I am glad I was. I found hope in music again.

FT Island, kahmsahabnida!