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During the last week of February and the first week of March, Amoeba Culture released the choreographed versions to some of their artists’ hit songs. Dynamic Duo’s AEAO and Crush’s Whatever You Do were the two songs chosen. Both videos use the original recording of the song but with choreography performed by professional dancers. Both videos add a new element to the songs and show the appreciation for the art of dance.

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AEAO

Dynamic Duo released their digital single A Giant Step with DJ Premier in 2014 with the singles Animal and AEAO. Both tracks produced their own music videos, but it wasn’t until February 2015 that Dynamic Duo released a new music video that featured freestyle dance by Monster Woo Fam (Bucky, Youngster, Monster Woo, and Boram) and J-Black.

This music video is a beautiful way to showcase the expressive art of freestyle dance. The backlighting and minimal flashing lights help provide a bit of anonymity for the dancers so only their moves are the main attraction. For a song like AEAO, you don’t necessarily have to use facial expressions to help convey emotions. Instead, the mid-tempo beat, scratching, and contrast between the pace of the music and of the rapping create a freestyle landscape full of possibilities for the dancers.

All of these dancers express how the song makes them feel through their powerful and sometimes elegant movements. It adds an extra element to the song and music and creates a story of its own that could be interpreted differently by every person who watches it. For instance the rough, abrupt, and aggressive moves may show anger, frustration or even dominance. Whereas the more elegant, fluid, and subtle motions show confidence while not flaunting all one has.

Whatever You Do

One of the songs off of Crush’s first full-length album, Crush On You, features Gray, and now has a dance-focused music video. The song is choreographed by Bucky, a member of the Monster Woo Fam. Bucky starts the song off solo in a barren warehouse parking lot. He is then joined by Trix as the two completely crush the synchronized moves throughout the first part of the song.

Unlike the first part of the song where Bucky begins solo, Monika takes the solo reigns for the second part of the dance inside one of the warehouse buildings. She is then joined by fellow dancer Youngster. Like Bucky and Trix, Monika and Youngster are always in sync. Bucky and Trix appear again, inside the warehouse, and soon join Monika and Youngster (after their second duet) as the four dance together through the end of the song.

Their movements and interactions with each other create a storyline that is compatible with the lyrics of the song. Their light movements correlate to the strings in the song and the happy, warm vibe they give throughout the song. The use of a male-female partnership for Whatever You Do emphasizes Crush’s lyrics about pulling the girl into his arms, and being next to each other. The lyrics that are clearly portrayed throughout the choreography is

Whatever you do
Whatever you feel Whatever you see
Just stay like that
Whatever you do
Whatever you feel Whatever you see
Just stay by my side

The partners are always by each other’s sides (aside from the brief solos). They move with each other, breathe with each other, and feel with each other. They relay Crush’s words into movement.

It’s nice to have these types of videos for a few reasons. One, it allows the choreography and dancers to have the spotlight as opposed to being in the background. Dance is a beautiful art form and where some idols do dance their choreographed dances very well, there’s always that extra something special when the choreographer and trained dancers perform it.

These videos shed light on the masterminds behind the scenes and help express a different art form other than singing and rapping. The dancing and choreography videos help connect listeners and audiences in different ways than if only the music video was available. Focusing on only the dancing performed by the choreographer allows them to put their story to the song and express it for fans.

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Dynamic Duo and Crush, along with Zion.T, will perform in NYC and Atlanta at the end of March as part of the Amoeba Culture Tour 2015 hosted by Music Enkor. Our previous article has more details.

Do you like the idea of these types of music videos where the choreographer and professional dancers are the only ones dancing? 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.

It’s been a while since KultScene has done a Let’s Discover piece. And this one may not seem like a true Let’s Discover as there are a good amount of people who already know about this young man. But for those of you who want to know more, or do not really know him at all, this article is for you. Crush is the focus for this Let’s Discover. From his vocals to his humor, Crush is an all around entertainer.

Vocals

Crush’s voice perfectly suits his R&B and hip hop style. His powerful vocals can easily show fans his finesse when singing. His falsetto is another key element of his voice. Crush uses his falsetto in almost every, if not every, song on his first album. His tone is different from other artists, which makes his voice easy to pick out among others.

There are a lot of instances where an artist’s voice does not live up to the hype when they perform live. There is a lot of production behind the scenes to create an album and in some instances the artist’s voice is altered, if ever so slightly. But with Crush, what you hear is what you get, which is a good thing. If you listen to his songs on his album and then live versions, they are just as good as the album.

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Songs & Music Videos

Something that sets Crush apart from other K-Pop idols and solidifies him as an artist, is that he writes and arranges all of his songs and lyrics. Crush debuted with Sometimes an R&B song that perfectly showcases Crush’s vocal abilities, arranging capabilities, and writing skills. The music video loosely tells a story related to the lyrics. Crush shows off some of his dance moves as well. Not to mention he holds a jam session with some well-known names in the Korean hip hop industry.

Crush released a second music video from his Crush on You album a few months after Sometimes. Hug Me features Gaeko and even has choreography featuring female dancers. Sometimes and Hug Me stick to the overall theme of his album, which is smooth R&B tracks that will draw you in with his great vocals.

Crush recently came back with his latest single, Sofa. Sofa shows a slightly different side to Crush in that they song begins with strings instead of a R&B beat and his vocals carry so much emotion.

Collaborations

Before he debuted with his first full length album Crush on You, Crush featured on many artists’ songs, such as Supreme Team, Zion.T, Gaeko, and more. His solo debut also sees the likes of those artists as well as Lydia Paek, Jay Park, Choiza, Gray and more. In fact there are only three songs out of the 11-song album that do not feature another artist.

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Personality

There aren’t many videos of Crush online. He isn’t on any variety shows. But there are videos of him in 1theK’s original YouTube video series. These videos are one-on-ones with Crush so fans get a feeling for his personality and they get to know more about him through the questions he answers.

In both videos, Crush jokes around with himself and the staff off camera. It makes the interview experience more enticing to fans as they sit and watch and listen to him. His personality isn’t over the top or boring. His humor, at least in these interviews, is subtle and if you’re not paying attention you may not catch it.

Crush mentioned in the latter video that he started underground and took the time to hone his skill. If he is this good now, I can’t imagine what he was like when he started (he must be a natural). Crush’s R&B style music, multiple featured artists, and talent for writing and arranging his songs shows his passion and talent as an all around artist. His music is always worth listening to and we look forward to more music from him in the future.

Are you a new fan of Crush or an old faithful? 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.

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