Is This Song Famous? (Mobidic YouTube)
Yee Siyeon: “A career in being an idol is etched in my DNA, from the beginning of time.” Creator Mimiminu, who pioneered the university entrance and education content centered on the College Scholastic Aptitude Test (CSAT) now has his eyes on K-pop. As a long-time enthusiast of K-pop and the noraebang culture, Mimiminu has been singing in a unique style, always sticking to the original keys, based on his admiration for the original singers in his “Singing Room” content. Eleven of his cover videos hit one million views (as of April 12).

“Is This Song Popular” that partnered with Mobidic began with Mimiminu’s attempt at “boosting his gig”. “Singing Lessons” in “Is This Song Popular” is a type of vocal lesson that he receives from the original singer. His unique interpretation of the song and singing skills often shock the singers and audience alike. Mimiminu explains that you have to sing the lyrics “I want to sweetly whisper/ how I’ve been feeling” fromis_9’s “DM” by “(keeping your heart) deep inside our pancreas, as if to flip your lungs.” He began the “Lyrics Deconstruction Analysis” based on his opinion that “literature and song lyrics are one and the same.” In the The Boyz episode, he quickly identified the close link between “Whisper” and “Roar” to which Sun Woo of The Boyz applauded commenting that, “he has a transcendent ability to understand our universe.” In the Q&A video that he released to celebrate hitting 200 thousand subscribers, he explained that he wanted to do a real-life version of singing at a coin noraebang alone if he gained one million subscribers. Now that he has 1.28 million, he has emerged from his personal noraebang, and is on his way to realize his dreams of performing on the Inkigayo stage. It is as if he is proving how music can be a source of energy to all those who are studying for large exams considering the trajectory of his career: studying for the CSATs to expanding to the world of music. Mimiminu now has all the energy of music in his pocket as he strides into the larger world of joy.

Jeong-sun
Jeong Seohui (Cinema Journalist): Jeong-sun (Kim Geum-soon) hums a song. Jeong-sun had been widowed a long time ago, and she currently works at a food factory. But her life has gotten a bit brighter since she began dating Young-soo (Jo Hyun-wu), a newcomer to the company. Her manager Do-yoon (KimChoi Yong-jun), who is around the same age as her daughter Yu-jin (Yoon Geum Seon-a), glares into the eyes of the woman who is old enough to be his mother screaming: “Just do what I say!” Jeong-sun is humiliated over, and over again. She believes that her livelihood is hard but “fruitful.” Jeong-sun who sometimes nags at Yu-jin, who works at the junkyard, to be more “amiable” aged, still believing that softness is a virtue. However, she understands how heavy the weight of taking responsibility for oneself can be, all too well. And so, she embraced Young-soo and the scorn that he faced. When Jeong-sun, having overheard gossip about their relationship, wanted to talk with Young-soo about “their” situation, Young-soo’s sense of inferiority reared its head, and he asked her if she was “embarrassed” by him. Do-yoon considers Young-soo a loser because he has a bad knee and lives in a motel. Young-soo, in his attempt to prove his virility, shows Do-yoon a video that he took of Jeong-sun singing in her underwear. And so, Young-soo climbs into the same boat as Do-yoon. Jeong-soon who only wanted to console her exhausted partner has become the victim of a digital sex crime, and crawls under her comforter at home. Jeong-soon slowly falls into the pit of self-loathing over becoming overly vulnerable. Yu-jin who decides to take legal action, reports the incident to the police on behalf of her mother, and hides anything sharp in the kitchen. Jung-soon is disadvantaged, however. She is disadvantaged because the video of her over-acting to make one person laugh is now being re-played by random people. She is disadvantaged but she goes to work. Jung-soon takes off her cap, climbs up onto the worktable, and sings the same song that she sang in the video. Everyone who saw her video in secret now became the audience as they listened to, Jeong-sun who no longer had the reason to “stay quiet.” Jeong-sun wanted to die, and Kim Geum-soon who played Jeong-sun confessed that she had wanted to “kill Youg-soo.” But instead of choosing the path of picking away at herself while picking away at her hurt, she chose to get a driver’s license, take the wheel, and be on her way. Jeong-sun decided to live. In her passenger seat sits Yu-jin, who she feels immense gratitude for. The name that I recalled over and over again in writing this review, and the title of the film needs no description. The name of a person who refuses to be the judge of themselves is dignified in their own right. Jeong-sun keeps her eyes straight ahead.

BREIMEN - AVEANTIN
Hwang Sunup (Music Critic): If I had to choose one team from the J-pop scene that showed dazzling creativity, it has to be BREIMEN. This four-person band that formed in 2015 has a star-studded career as session musicians that is worth mentioning, namely Tempalena Tender, KIRINJI, BiSH, SixTONES, ZUTTO MAYONAKA DE IINONI, Tatsuya Kitani, Little Glee Monster, and kiki vivi lily. It was all thanks to their musical prowess that broke down the walls of genre and generation and sprinkled it in the subconscious of the public. But one reason why we need to look deeper is because BREIMEN is showcasing their unique talents that cannot be found anywhere else.

Their first album entitled AVEANTIN that they released after entering the major leagues, can be summed up in one word: bizarre. Unpredictable sounds develop in unpredictable ways in their tracks, pinching and twisting at our fixed ways. This is how they let themselves be known as a band who entered the mainstream on their own terms. They took classical funk elements and layered them with their own style to create something completely new from the very first track “a veantin”; they create a never-heard-before world of disco/rock n’ roll with their heavy use of the wah pedal along with the chorus and saxophone in “Breakthrough (ブレイクスルー)”; hard rock, blues, and soul are spiced up with Asian influences in “LUCKY STRIKE”; and the harmonious symphony is backed with a springy rhythm in “Maho ga Tokerumade (魔法がとけるまで).” The team showcased incredible wit and creativity by bringing together different ideas with their skillful musical talents. This is the first album that I listened to this year that I knew was going to be incredible after listening to just a few tracks.

Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister
Kim Boksung (Writer): Thriller. Murder mystery. Time travel ... and family drama? Author Gillian McAllister’s latest novel, Wrong Place Wrong Time, truly has it all.
Jen is a lawyer and working mom whose image of her perfect son, Todd, is shattered when she witnesses him commit a murder. After dealing with the police and a whirlwind of emotions, Jen falls into a fitful sleep, only to awake soon after—or rather, soon before: When our distraught protagonist wakes up, she actually finds herself about a day before the murder takes place, and the time travel loop begins. Unlike similar stories about time loops, in Wrong Place Wrong Time, Jen is thrown continuously further and further into the past—another aspect of this genre-bending book that breaks the mold, as well as a sleuthing main character who isn’t your typical police officer lead or similar archetype.
McAllister’s novel pulls readers in immediately with the literal bang of a gun, but slows down dramatically after that. The author takes her time exploring the immediate past and Jen’s confusion using twisting sentences and shifting perspectives, but patient readers are rewarded with a major shift mid-read that turns the second half into a proper page-turner.
As Jen works her way into a look at her more distant past, she learns just how much her arguably workaholic life has impacted her son, and also ultimately discovers she’s not at fault for the murder. And as she works through the stages of grief, the reader will likewise be reminded never to take time with family for granted.