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This is NOT a Competition, Jessi Slayed her Los Angeles Show

October 21, 2015/in Events /by Alexis Hodoyan-Gastelum

Words like “humble” and “down to earth” are commonly used to describe artists and idols, but they’re often merely decorative and empty adjectives to make them seem more human and relatable. Not in Korean-American singer/rapper Jessi’s case though. For her first ever show in Los Angeles, CA at the Belasco Theater on October 16, the […]

TWICE “Like OOH-AHH” Music Video & Song Review

October 20, 2015/in Entertainment, MUSIC VIDEOS /by Anna Cheang

JYP’s new girl group, TWICE made their debut on the 20th of October with their mini-album “The Story Begins” and their title track “Like OOH-AHH”. This debut comes highly anticipated due to the competition show “Sixteen”, in which this group of nine members was first formed. Did they live up to their potential with this […]

This is NOT a Competition, Jessi Slayed her Los Angeles Show

October 21, 2015/in Events /by Alexis Hodoyan-Gastelum

TWICE “Like OOH-AHH” Music Video & Song Review

October 20, 2015/in Entertainment, MUSIC VIDEOS /by Anna Cheang

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This is NOT a Competition, Jessi Slayed her Los Angeles Show

October 21, 2015/in Events /by Alexis Hodoyan-Gastelum

Words like “humble” and “down to earth” are commonly used to describe artists and idols, but they’re often merely decorative and empty adjectives to make them seem more human and relatable. Not in Korean-American singer/rapper Jessi’s case though. For her first ever show in Los Angeles, CA at the Belasco Theater on October 16, the “Unpretty Rapstar” runner-up proved she cherishes her fans and the position she’s in currently while completely owning her performance.

But a headliner needs excellent opening acts to pump the audience for the main performer. And even though their set was short, Yung Koconut, Lyricks, Ken Nana, and the rest of their squad had a massive bro party on stage, throwing water at the audience every five seconds and dancing all around, to songs like “Mollah” and “Revenue.” Even rapper Dumbfoundead made an appearance, jumping up and down and serving as a guest hypeman.

Also on KultScene: HEO’s Ambient Rock Sound Takes The Stage At Seoulsonic 2015 [Interview]

Korean hip hop duo Mighty Mouth were next up, receiving loud cheers from the audience. Members Sangchu and Shorry J followed suit keeping the energy at 100, performing their hits including “Lalala,” “Movie Star,” and “Bad Boy.” The guy’s excitement was visible, especially Shorry’s, revealing his abs, flirting with fan cams left and right, and even giving his microphone briefly to a fan during a song. Mighty Mouth lit up the venue and set the perfect pace and energy for the main act.

mighty mouth los angeles show concert shorry j

by Alejandro Abarca

Once Mighty Mouth’s stage finished, the screen above the stage played Jessi’s now famous “this is a competition” speech which made her a household name during “Unpretty Rapstar.” Having a venue filled with Jebbies (her fan club name), cheers and woo’s boomed throughout the Belasco and served as the best welcoming for Jessi.

Unfortunately, a few mishaps with the CD almost ruined her intro, but Jessi made the best out of an awkward scenario by taking the time to introduce herself and dissing us all Californians by saying In-n-Out Burgers “wasn’t as good as [she] expected.” But this wasn’t the only instance Jessi took to throw shade. Oh no. In true Jessi ssenunni fashion, she continually asked the audience why they weren’t drunk enough, said “Unpretty Rapstar 2” is “not as fun as it used to be,” and playfully complained that the guys from the opening acts didn’t help her out onstage as her hypemen. From another artist, this might have been frowned upon, but coming from Jessi, that’s just her being real, and being real is what made her massively popular in the first place.

Among the songs she performed, Jessi especially shined when she belted out “I Want to be Me” as her first full song and replaced the n-word in her cover of Rihanna’s “Bitch Better Have My Money” with “baby” — which other artists should take note on. Aside from her new hits like “My Type” and “Unpretty Dreams,” the singer took her fans back to 2009 by performing “Life is Good,” which she shared it was still hard for her to sing. She also did a medley of a few songs including a cover of Guy Sebastian’s “Battlescars,” her verses in “Me, Myself, & I” from “Unpretty Rapstar 2” and Vasco’s “Bonnie & Clyde,” and gave her intro, a mashup of “My Type” and a few verses from “SSENUNNI,” another shot. However, the song that received the most excitement from the fans and her alike was the latest single “SSENUNNI.”

jessi los angeles show concert belasco jessica h.o

by Alejandro Abarca

Before the encore, Jessi told the audience “I’m never gonna forget this moment,” and that sentiment was her set’s whole mood. Right from the get go, Jessi was all smiles, even with her jetlag, repeatedly thanked the audience for coming, and expressed her excitement perform in LA. And as mentioned before, these were not empty words just to make the fans feel special. Throughout her set, Jessi took every cellphone she could get her hands on from the audience and took videos and selfies with them. Seriously… she took the phones of everyone in first two rows, at least. For the encore, Mighty Mouth came out onstage with Jessi and followed suit by also taking as many selfies and videos as they could, as well as the traditional one with the audience as the background.

jessi concert show los angeles belasco jessica h. o la

by Alejandro Abarca

Also on KultScene: Touring With BIGBANG, Fangirl Style

However, once the show ended, the fan engagement was clearly not over for Jessi. Security guards and staff urged Jessi to get off the stage, but she wouldn’t, she kept on taking phones from the audience. Even when a security guard whisked her away, she somehow cheated him and ran to the pit to dance, hug, and keep on taking pictures with her fans. To say Jessi was truly happy and genuinely wanted to meet her fans is an understatement. Jessi gave her fans a whole experience rare in the K-pop field, and Jebbies loved every second of it. Turned out this ssenunni isn’t that bad or mean when it comes to her fans.

mighty mouth jessi jessica ho los angeles show concert belasco

by Alejandro Abarca

Check out more pictures from the show here:

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Are you a Jessi or Mighty Mouth fan? Why do you like best about them? Share your thoughts in the comment section below and be sure to subscribe to the site and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr to keep up with all of our posts.

TWICE “Like OOH-AHH” Music Video & Song Review

October 20, 2015/in Entertainment, MUSIC VIDEOS /by Anna Cheang

JYP’s new girl group, TWICE made their debut on the 20th of October with their mini-album “The Story Begins” and their title track “Like OOH-AHH”. This debut comes highly anticipated due to the competition show “Sixteen”, in which this group of nine members was first formed. Did they live up to their potential with this title track? Here is my review on it.

Song

I love the instrumentals throughout the song, especially at the beginning and when it was building up to a climax. Most of the girls showed off their great vocals as well, in particular members Jihyo and Nayeon. It is a very catchy song and has a youthful feel with the girls cheering lines such as “I want to fall in love!” The chorus has a good hook, is filled with energy and is my favourite part of the song. The track is far from perfect, however, especially because of the massive overuse of autotune for non-vocalist members such as Momo. The rapping done by Chaeyoung and Dahyun was rather underwhelming however, especially because I’ve seen better rapping from Chaeyoung during “Sixteen”. So is the surprisingly sombre bridge, which got the original highly energized song screeching to a halt. It felt a bit disconnected from the rest of the song, which is unfortunate.

On the bright side, the lyrics of the song and cheers are cleverly worded. Apart from throwing in JYP Entertainment references (“Who’s Your Mama?”), there are puns on their name being used as well. Take for example the cheer they shout out before they sing the final chorus.

Better think about it TWICE
Let me see how you gonna treat me
I ain’t no easy
Better think about it TWICE

The song was good as a whole but was disappointing because TWICE has a lot more potential than they showcased. It was a surprise to me as well how the lines were quite evenly distributed, considering the fact that there are nine members in the group.

Also on Kultscene: Which TWICE member are you? [Quiz]

Videography

I really didn’t understand the use of the zombies in this video and their relation to the song, but I’m happy to report that the rest of the music video is solid. It takes place in what is supposed to be a school but ends up looking more like a club. It’s pretty hilarious how there is a gigantic hole in the wall of a classroom and how the toilet has pink and purple lighting complete with glow in the dark scribbling. The video is colourful just like the personalities of the TWICE members and I really enjoyed the transitions from member to member as the specialities of each member was showcased.

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My favourite part of the video would be when the girls were gathered in front of the school bus dancing together with Momo (main dancer) standing inside the bus. Apart from showcasing her awesome skills (she was really shortchanged on the vocal part) it also featured TWICE dancing together as a group, instead of having them separated like they were for a majority of the video.

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The humor incorporated throughout the video also stands out to me because it gave the TWICE members a friendly and cute image, particularly when cheerleader Sana attempted to mimic the flexible movements of her members Mina and Momo and failed horribly at them. When the rest of the members got off the bus coolly Sana also managed to fall on the ground (in a cute manner of course). It just seemed so true to her playful character that I found it adorable and endearing.

via momoohirai on tumblr

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I have two main complaints about the video though. Firstly, the zombies were really unnecessary in the video. I’ve read some explanations online regarding the meaning behind the zombies and how they relate to the song but I would argue that this video would have been better off without them. It didn’t help that they were quite scary looking, or maybe I just have a low threshold for horror, but they somewhat ruined the aesthetic and fun vibes of the video. If TWICE had gone for a truly scary concept from the start the addition of the zombies would definitely have been more logical.

Next, it may be because TWICE are rookies, but there were some instances where the members’ lip-syncing was quite obviously off. While it did not really affect the video very much, it did take out some of my enjoyment of it.

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Styling

I absolutely love the styling for this video, be it their academic attire or their rooftop attire. The outfits were vibrant and interesting, in some cases they were even catered to the individual personalities of the members. Jungyeon, her messy hair and her gym tracksuit is a great example of this.

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I appreciate the fact that the TWICE members are not just trying to look pretty but that they want to be unique and have their own style. I can say with satisfaction that they have certainly succeeded in doing.

Overall Thoughts

TWICE was a group that I was expecting a lot from, especially because I had watched them in their trainee days through “Sixteen” and I was already a fan. There were many flaws evident in both the song and the music video, but as a whole I enjoyed it. This may not be the best work put out by JYP Entertainment this year, but it is a great start for TWICE and I hope that they will only grow from here.

TWICE 'Like OOH-AHH'

Did you enjoy TWICE’s debut? Share your thoughts in the comment section below and be sure to subscribe to the site and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr to keep up with all of our posts.