The K-Pop Thread

[Neight Shayde 7,925]

1 hour ago, Taylor said:

17 long months I have waited for a signed copy of Choerry's single... Merry Christmas to me!

Out of LOOΠΔ's 18 releases so far, Choerry was the only one I didn't have a signed copy of (her signed CD is really rare for some reason). And now I'm finally complete! 

how do you check the authenticity of those signed albums?

[Taylor 964]

9 minutes ago, BrothaGaga said:

how do you check the authenticity of those signed albums?

It depends...

Most of the signed albums I buy are promotional or 'not for sale' albums. Instead of the usual gold "C" sticker on the back they have a silver "비매" sticker instead. 

"C" stickers are for regular/retail albums while albums with "비매" sticker means they are a promos. Promo CDs are given to music and broadcast staff and are often signed by the artist. They're given as a goodwill gesture but many of these people don't really want them (as they're given hundreds and hundreds each year) so they give them away or sell them.

There are some eBay sellers who receive these albums or buy them from the people who work at broadcasting shows and resell them on.

However, with some groups you have to be careful. MAMAMOO's promo CDs are not genuinely signed, since "Purple" all of their 'signed' albums have their autographs printed on them at the factory so that they appear to be signed.

A lot of SM artists also do not sign their own albums and instead SM has each artists manager forge the artists autographs onto the promo/not for sale CDs - so they often appear genuine but the signatures are slightly off.

I don't collect boy groups so I don't really know about them, but a lot of Red Velvet albums from "Perfect Velvet" aren't signed by the members themselves. Taeyeon signs most of her own ones, but not all - however hers is really easy to spot if it's genuine as her manager is AWFUL at forging her signature 😅 Yuri all the ones I've seen appear to be genuine too - but I guess she and Taeyeon had time to genuinely sign them since they didn't really promote as much as Red Velvet do.

I haven't heard of any issues with other groups doing manager signed but I wouldn't be surprised if it becomes more commonplace for that to happen - or some companies might go the printing route like MAMAMOO.

If you get to know an artists signature you can normally tell quite easily if it's legit or not but I'm not that good at it myself (unless it's LOOΠΔ). If I ever doubt anything I don't tend to buy it - and the more expensive things I will ask a friend who knows more about the artists signature if they think it's legit.

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There are also some sites where you can buy signed albums officially (not through eBay) - Mwave and YesAsia's store are the main ones (they tend to sell the same albums from the same artists). Not a lot of artists do these though.

Sometimes you'll get an all member signed CD but a lot of the time it will only be signed by one random member. You also can't see the CD you get before you buy it (unlike the promos where you can see it) so you might end up with a smudged signature.

You pay a little more than retail price for these signed albums (promos can go for hundreds of dollars) and these will have the generic "C" sticker on the back. You have to wait a really long time to get them - as artists don't sign them until after they've finished promoting and have the time to sign them. So you could be waiting around 2 months or more for them to ship.

If you find a signed album on somewhere like eBay that has a "C" sticker then you can always see if Mwave sold those albums at one point and ask the seller for a screenshot of the order confirmation email (that's what I do) just to prove it's genuine.

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Hopefully that makes sense!

If you have any questions just let me know.

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Oh - any signed CD on eBay from China is probably fake and most signed posters are fake.
If the price looks too good to be true it probably is (like $40 for a signed Red Velvet CD).

[PoshLife 16,980]

Here are the results from my week of musical discovery, basically in order of the number of new songs I discovered from each artist:

BoA - She's had some good songs on both albums she released this year and I definitely play to download them:
Korean album - Woman, Like It, Little More, No Limit, I Want You Back
Japanese album - Crow, Jazz Club, FLY, Manhattan Tango
And "No Matter What" from Station was pretty good too.

Taeyeon - Most of the Something New mini is good, especially "Baram x 3", and "One Day" is okay. "Stay" and its b-side "I'm the Greatest" are decent too.

Rihwa - She did a song with Michelle Branch a few years ago but I haven't really followed her otherwise. Her "Wild Inside" album has some good tracks: "My Life is Beautiful" is really interesting, it sounds kinda celtic. "Put Your Gun Down" and "Suns Come Up" are also pretty good.

Minako Kotobuki - Her song "Candy Color Pop" was a total breakout for me a few years ago, and she's finally released a full album, Emotion. It has a few really good tracks in addition to CCP. "Piece of emotion" is THAT song that I loved on first listen and must have in my life. "Bye Bye Blue," "I wanted to" and "Feel in my heart" are also good.

Koda Kumi - Her songs were always hit or miss for me (mostly miss) but I really liked the "Bon Voyage" album and a few songs from "Walk of My Life." Basically I like her melodic stuff and not her chanty stuff. She's released like four albums in the past few years, but really the only songs I like are from DNA: "Chances All," "HOT HOT," and "Work That"

Shishido Kavka - This was always a long shot. "Blue n Red" is the only song of hers from the past few years that I like. 

Daoko - I really liked "Uchiagehanabi" which came out last year, but other than that the collab with Nakata is the best thing she's released in a while. The "Moshimo Bokura..." EP had a couple good songs on it, though. The last few songs of her new album are also pretty good, like "Cinderella Step".

Miliyah Kato - Another long shot, since I only liked her because of the "Fighter" duet  But "I Hate You" from the Femme Fatal album is good.

Ailee - She's had a few songs since "Mind Your Own Business" that are decent, like "I Need You" from the A New Empire EP and "Thirst," but nothing that really keeps my attention.

Ai Otsuka - I love all of Love Tricky so it's a bummer none of her other music sounds like it "Akkan Be" from a few months ago is pretty nice. I wish I liked more of the Love Honey album; "Make Up" and all the songs from the "Watashi" EP are pretty good.

The SxPlay - I loved some of her music as Sayuri Sugawara, but her music as The SxPlay is... not great. But she just came out with an album in December, half of which are singles she released over the past few years. "Make Me Alive" is decent, and "Kimi Ga......" is pretty but not something I'd listen to regularly.

Nishino Kana - She's had like four songs over the past 7 years that I've liked, but none of her new stuff does it for me. "Bedtime Story" is okay.

Miwa - She's very prolific so it's a shame I don't like more of her stuff. "We are the light" is good but that's about it from the past few years.

Che'nelle - The "Believe" album in 2012 was amazing, but she just hasn't put out the same quality since. She seems to put out English and (very western) Japanese albums these days. "Love You Like Me" and "Outta Love" are generic af but fine.

BTS - "IDOL" is pretty good, and "Don't Leave Me" is decent. But their discography confuses me cuz all their Japanese and Korean stuff is on the same page on iTunes, and I can't tell, like... what the singles are  

Oh My Girl - I really liked Liar Liar but the rest of their discography just doesn't stand out to me. I can see why someone would like Coloring Book. "Remember Me" is a little too Twice-y.

ayumi hamasaki - Nope, nothing. She's really the most JPop of the JPop singers I've ever listened to, and tbh it's really not my type of music Her music that's more Western, like the Colours album, is more my style. 

Supernova - Their kpop was always better than their jpop but they haven't released anything in Korea for years. Plus, they haven't released anything in Japan since 2016 so I think they're disbanded or maybe on military leave. 

Cross Gene - I loved "Play With Me" and "Noona You" so much, but their 2017 comeback which I was REALLY hyped about didn't do it for me, and now "Fly" is basically just generic Moombahton (thank you YCH for teaching me that word) trash.

KARD - I totally understand the temptation to release the same song eight times because the first two were really popular, but it's kinda gotten embarrassing at this point Their music is just formulaic to the extreme. Hard pass on everything after "Don't Recall." 

[Taylor 964]

16 minutes ago, PoshLife said:

BoA - Like It, No Limit

I think those songs along with "One Shot, Two Shot" are my favourite BoA songs from this year 😍

[Neight Shayde 7,925]

1 hour ago, Taylor said:

If you have any questions just let me know.

ooooh I didn't know they sell those copies that artists give out. good to know!

Have you checked out any (or are there any?) sellers that have signed CDs that came from fansign events? or are they too sketchy to buy?

[Taylor 964]

58 minutes ago, BrothaGaga said:

ooooh I didn't know they sell those copies that artists give out. good to know!

Have you checked out any (or are there any?) sellers that have signed CDs that came from fansign events? or are they too sketchy to buy?

There aren’t many people who sell albums from fansigns after the event - since they are signed to someone else’s name. There definitely are some for sale, just not common. 

People do sell fansign slots though - where you can get your own name on the album. 

I’ve done a few for LOOΠΔ (you can see them on account from Choerry post) and one for SoRi - but that was done through SoRi’s official store. 

You can either get full album signed by all members or just one members page but each seller is different in how they run their fansigns. 

[PoshLife 16,980]

What sites do folks use to find kpop downloads (like if I wanted to find the most recent BoA and Taeyeon albums)? 

[Neight Shayde 7,925]

4 minutes ago, PoshLife said:

What sites do folks use to find kpop downloads (like if I wanted to find the most recent BoA and Taeyeon albums)? 

you mean illegal downloads?

[Neight Shayde 7,925]

1 hour ago, Taylor said:

There aren’t many people who sell albums from fansigns after the event - since they are signed to someone else’s name. There definitely are some for sale, just not common. 

People do sell fansign slots though - where you can get your own name on the album. 

I’ve done a few for LOOΠΔ (you can see them on account from Choerry post) and one for SoRi - but that was done through SoRi’s official store. 

You can either get full album signed by all members or just one members page but each seller is different in how they run their fansigns. 

i'm checking out your ig and you have albums from waaaaaay back like Gavy NJ, After School, the earliest Kara CDs and even Dal Shabet?!?! when did you start?

[PopReaper 2,231]

34 minutes ago, PoshLife said:

What sites do folks use to find kpop downloads (like if I wanted to find the most recent BoA and Taeyeon albums)? 

https://www.miusiq.net/

[mister max 18,480]

1 hour ago, PoshLife said:

What sites do folks use to find kpop downloads (like if I wanted to find the most recent BoA and Taeyeon albums)? 

Ilkpop?

[Taylor 964]

2 hours ago, BrothaGaga said:

i'm checking out your ig and you have albums from waaaaaay back like Gavy NJ, After School, the earliest Kara CDs and even Dal Shabet?!?! when did you start?

I started collecting in November 2013 - so 5 years :)

[PoshLife 16,980]

Staying up for the artRave livestream drove him insane, and he's been collecting kpop albums ever since

True story

[Taylor 964]

9 hours ago, PoshLife said:

Staying up for the artRave livestream drove him insane, and he's been collecting kpop albums ever since

True story

All I can remember about that night/morning is that I ate a whole tube of Pringles whilst waiting for that stupid stream to start 

[PoshLife 16,980]

2 hours ago, Taylor said:

All I can remember about that night/morning is that I ate a whole tube of Pringles whilst waiting for that stupid stream to start 

LOL that's pretty much all I remember about it too  I'm sure I had snacks too but I don't remember mine. But your pringles sticks out in my mind

That was also around the time we discovered MiChi, which kept us from getting bored until the ARTPOP album release