East Beat: Your Guide To Asia’s Best Pop Songs Feat. NCT 127 & Perfume
The world of pop music moves fast, especially for those who enjoy the sounds of the East and the West. Keeping up with the Hot 100 is hard enough, let alone knowing what’s going on in Japan and the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it K-Pop scene. To help you stay on top of Asia’s hottest pop music, I’ve put together East Beat — a handy guide to the best K-Pop and J-Pop (and beyond!) songs of the week.
Experimental boy band NCT just dropped one of the year’s best releases with their third EP, Cherry Bomb. The title track is a strange mix of brooding outsider hip-hop and K-Pop, but for those looking for something more commercial there’s the pulsating house track “Summer 127.”
Girls Next Door released one of the week’s most surprising releases with the lush electronica of “Deep Blue Eyes.” The project group is made up of members from various K-Pop groups, including Lovelyz and Red Velvet, who are currently starring together on a reality show about girl group members writing and starring in their own K-drama.
The legendary T-ara also returned with a new album, What’s My Name. The title track is a solid slice of catchy dance-pop, but one of the album’s major standouts is member Qri’s solo track “Diamonds.” With its brooding bassline and chilled swagger, it sounds more like something a hipster Pitchfork pop star would release than a glossy K-Pop diva.
Japan’s Perfume add a tropical twist to their trademark techno-pop sound with “Everyday.” The track is being used to promote a new Panasonic washing machine, which explains the clean and pristine look of the music video.
Last but not least, Chinese-American songstress Rose Liu lends her heavenly vocals to rapper MC Han’s new future bass single “Be Alright.” The San Francisco-born beauty shot to stardom a few years ago on a number of reality TV singing competitions, including The Voice China, and is now busy forging her own music career.
What are you into this week? Let us know below, or by hitting us up on Facebook and Twitter!
