[Lunatique]

My favorite Mamamoo songs:

 

[Lunatique]

A few excellent recent K-Pop songs:

 

[SilverEars]

I'm a big Red Velvet fan currently. There's really nothing else tickling my fancy at the moment. I guess Twice makes some fun videos, but other than that...

 

[rishabh]

I would recommend checking out the soundtrack to the movies 2016 and In the Mood for Love. Excellent OST. Disagree that asian music is poorly recorded.

 

[Lunatique]

Disagree that asian music is poorly recorded.

Agreed. That might have been true a long time ago--like decades ago. For example, some 80's J-Pop were really sibilant and fatiguing. But it hasn't been true for a while now. K-Pop in particular often has superior production, and audio professionals who are fans of K-Pop routinely comment on how well recorded, arranged, mixed, and mastered K-Pop often is.

 

[SilverEars]

 

[SilverEars]

Man, I just love Soyou's voice, so addicting. This is the type female voice that really tickles my ears(it must be her voice textures which shows up a lot of in the recordings). I wish I can get a compilation of everything she has done.

I guess I'm big on female vocals textures as Mariah Carey has so much textures as well. And I love listening to her voice.





This one is probably my favorite track in terms of her voice. This one shows off her vocal textures. I can listen to this over and over again. And again.. and again.. If she can make a whole album with such vocal qualities, I would so up for it.

 

[SilverEars]

I also love Punch's voice as well.

 

[Lunatique]

For me, of all the K-Pop female vocalists, IU's vocal timbre is probably my ultimate favorite. She can do cute and demure, breathy and sexy, bright and uplifting.

 

[SilverEars]

I've listened to a bit of UI when she first started her debut album as she is quite talented in singing. I think just that over time, her vocals sounds a bit to general for my taste. She's been around a while, she started when quite young.

This is from her early days, and her voice was different from now, and I personally think her voice was better back then.





Another female singer with really good voice is Song Ji Eun from the group Secret(usually these girl groups have at least 1 person that can actually sing).



Truely talented female vocal from old school era is Hyobi(linked above). The old recordings/masterings don't do her voice justice as mastering quality wasn't in the same level back then as now. The level of control of her voice is ridiculous. She's probably one of the most skilled singer in terms of vocal ability.

 

[Lunatique]

I've listened to a bit of UI when she first started her debut album as she is quite talented in singing. I think just that over time, her vocals sounds a bit to general for my taste. She's been around a while, she started when quite young.

This is from her early days, and her voice was different from now, and I personally think her voice was better back then.





Another female singer with really good voice is Song Ji Eun from the group Secret(usually these girl groups have at least 1 person that can actually sing).



Truely talented female vocal from old school era is Hyobi(linked above). The old recordings/masterings don't do her voice justice as mastering quality wasn't in the same level back then as now. The level of control of her voice is ridiculous. She's probably one of the most skilled singer in terms of vocal ability.

I like both IU's earlier and current vocal timbre/style. I have the opposite opinion on her voice. She started out sounding more generic, because that is what record companies made her do since she was young and a new talent, and they had to make sure she had enough mainstream appeal. Then as she matured as an artist and took creative control over her career (and started writing and producing her own songs), her voice became more unique. There's a breathy quality to her voice that I really like, and that's actually not the mainstream timbre in K-Pop female vocals. It seems the vocal timbre you prefer is in fact the more mainstream style of singing in K-Pop--a cleaner and simpler approach, with a little bit of texture added.

I do like Ji Eun too, but in terms of actual songs, I like Hyoseong's discography more. It sucks that the group's pretty much dead at this point due to the contract disputes. But as long as the members keep putting out solo releases, I'm fine.

Hyobi's singing it a bit too affected for my taste. I prefer when a song has a sense of progression in terms of emotional journey, so that if it needs to get maudlin, save it for the climax.

BTW, another breathy female singer I like is Eyedi. She's actually a K-Indie artist and not a K-Pop idol, even though she did compete in MixNine and made it to top 9.


I really like Kim Lip's singing too--it's got an ethereal tone that's vulnerable and sensual at the same time.


I also have a soft spot for female vocals that have a bit of that child-like timbre--I think it's really cute. Here are some K-Pop singers with that kind of timbre:

 

[SilverEars]

I actually like a bit texture which is the main reason why I like later Soyou's vocal recordings as well(which seems more raw in recording or matured) as Mariah Carey's. I just find that IU's earlier smoother vocals sounded more to my taste. It's a bit different for IU's vocals I guess. IU seems much more popular now a days though.

 

[SilverEars]

I like both IU's earlier and current vocal timbre/style. I have the opposite opinion on her voice. She started out sounding more generic, because that is what record companies made her do since she was young and a new talent, and they had to make sure she had enough mainstream appeal. Then as she matured as an artist and took creative control over her career (and started writing and producing her own songs), her voice became more unique. There's a breathy quality to her voice that I really like, and that's actually not the mainstream timbre in K-Pop female vocals. It seems the vocal timbre you prefer is in fact the more mainstream style of singing in K-Pop--a cleaner and simpler approach, with a little bit of texture added.

I do like Ji Eun too, but in terms of actual songs, I like Hyoseong's discography more. It sucks that the group's pretty much dead at this point due to the contract disputes. But as long as the members keep putting out solo releases, I'm fine.

Hyobi's singing it a bit too affected for my taste. I prefer when a song has a sense of progression in terms of emotional journey, so that if it needs to get maudlin, save it for the climax.

BTW, another breathy female singer I like is Eyedi. She's actually a K-Indie artist and not a K-Pop idol, even though she did compete in MixNine and made it to top 9.


I really like Kim Lip's singing too--it's got an ethereal tone that's vulnerable and sensual at the same time.


I also have a soft spot for female vocals that have a bit of that child-like timbre--I think it's really cute. Here are some K-Pop singers with that kind of timbre:

To me, those vocals sounds a bit typical of girl group Kpop. I think I like Soyou's vocals due to the textures are not spiky sounds or too grainy, but smooth textures in abundance. Her vocals sound pretty unique.

I think Hyobi has similar skills akin to Utada Hikaru, which both have very high level mature vocals skills. Now a days, I can't find much in terms of real vocals skills in the the kpop area, too much girl or boy groups(and I don't find any of them all that interesting besides Red Velvet or Twice having some entertaining vids). I wish to see more seriously talented solo singers, but all I see being popularized are really cringe worthy boy groups like BTS(seemingly getting an international fame?). Perhaps the older audiences are diminishing there(or indie or underground, and there was a time indie hiphop was popping up, and then started saturating with boy or girl groups).

I know soul or R&B was(or is it still currently?) big there in the past, but I don't see any new talents in the domain pop up anymore. Something like this.



This performance by Punch really grabbed me.



I find J Rabbit quite talented as well, and their recordings are pretty raw sound quite detailed. They can peform this level live, which you won't find much people to be cable.

 

[julianaray]

I like Japanese soft music's or songs a lot.
Besides Indian music is sounds great but can not understand and European is also good.

 

[Lunatique]

To me, those vocals sounds a bit typical of girl group Kpop. I think I like Soyou's vocals due to the textures are not spiky sounds or too grainy, but smooth textures in abundance. Her vocals sound pretty unique.

I think Hyobi has similar skills akin to Utada Hikaru, which both have very high level mature vocals skills. Now a days, I can't find much in terms of real vocals skills in the the kpop area, too much girl or boy groups(and I don't find any of them all that interesting besides Red Velvet or Twice having some entertaining vids). I wish to see more seriously talented solo singers, but all I see being popularized are really cringe worthy boy groups like BTS(seemingly getting an international fame?). Perhaps the older audiences are diminishing there(or indie or underground, and there was a time indie hiphop was popping up, and then started saturating with boy or girl groups).

I know soul or R&B was(or is it still currently?) big there in the past, but I don't see any new talents in the domain pop up anymore. Something like this.



This performance by Punch really grabbed me.

If you like K-R&B/Soul, then you're in luck because there are so many artists in that style right now in S. Korea. Everyday there are new releases in the R&B/Soul style from various artists. In fact there are so many that it's totally flooded the K-Indie scene, and I don't even know where to begin to give recommendations, since you can't swing a dead cat without hitting one these days. I'll post some just to give you an idea of how common the style is in the current K-Indie/K-Pop market:

Among them my favorite is Baek Yerin (also one of my favorite female vocalists):






















And that's just the tip of the iceberg--there's so much more. As for where to find all the latest new releases in K-Pop and K-Indie, here are some links that you can check everyday:

https://www.reddit.com/r/kpop/search?q=flair:audio&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all
https://www.reddit.com/r/kpop/searc...ct_sr=on&t=all&feature=legacy_search&sort=new
https://www.reddit.com/r/kindie/

There are a couple of other sites I check often but I can't post links to them because they also allow you to download the music. I use them to see what the new releases are. I can PM them to you if you want.

I find J Rabbit quite talented as well, and their recordings are pretty raw sound quite detailed. They can peform this level live, which you won't find much people to be cable.

I used to listen to J Rabbit, but then I discovered there are countless other K-Indie artists that sound just like J Rabbit in S. Korea, and more popping up every month, and I now favor the ones with a bit more upbeat sound. In that particular style, Bolbogan4 is currently the reigning queens in terms of success (they're more upbeat and a bit more pop):



BTW, BTS does have some really good songs too. They are actually quite versatile in terms of stylistic range and if you don't like certain type of songs they do, chances are they have other songs you would like.

I like Japanese soft music's or songs a lot.
Besides Indian music is sounds great but can not understand and European is also good.

In the 80's and 90's I listened to so much Japanese music (J-Pop, J-Rock, Anime/movie soundtracks). But in the 90's J-Pop took a nosedive and got much worse (due to the emergence of the Euro dance sound that Komuro Tetsuya brought to Japan, which killed all the unique J-Pop style--everything all ended up sounding the same. Then when AKB48 and similar groups became extremely popular, it also made J-Pop much worse because musically their songs are quite bland and grating and lacking musical merit. That also when K-Pop became really good, so I moved on to K-Pop/K-Indie instead. I still listen to some Japanese stuff, but not nearly as much as I used to in the 80's and 90's. I still love all the 80's and 90's J-Pop/Rock though--they are some of my biggest influences as a composer/songwriter.