In 2008 NHMedia formed a 7 member group by the name of “U-Kiss” introducing members Alexander, Soohyun, KiBum, Kiseop, Eli, Kevin and Dongho. UKISS actually stands for “Ubiquitous Korean International Super Star”. Originally Kevin and KiBum were members of boy band “Xing” but left to join U-Kiss, Personally i think it was a better move, and they seemed to have gained more fame in U-Kiss than when they was in Xing!
U-Kiss debuted in japan in august of 2008, the group released their first Mini-album “N-Generation” with the Single release “Not Young” then later on released the same song in South Korea. Many of the boys have studied abroad at some point, and can speak many different languages, with Alexander beingn able to speak English, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean and Japanese Fluently along with French, Portuguese and Spanish! With other members being able to speak Chinese and English the members have no problem communicating with international fans.
Early 2009 U-Kiss made a comeback and released their second Mini-Album titled “Bring It Back 2 Old School” with the single release “I Like You” This album unfortunately didn’t receive much love and didn’t gain much popularity. Later in 2009 U-Kiss made a more “Manly” comeback with their newest Mini-Album titled “ContiKiss”. With this Mini-Album they managed to secure themselves some popularity with their title track “Man Man Ha Ni”, and this was when i discovered U-Kiss. The dance routine for “Man Man Ha Ni” was known as the “Strong Man Dance” and became a instant “Must Do” dance around South Korea, Obviously, I had to learn it too.
2 Years after debut, U-Kiss officially opened up their Official fan club named “KissMe”. The official U-Kiss KissMe fan colour is Pearl Pink. Then in February of 2010, U-Kiss highly anticipated full length album “Only One” was released. Unofficially the track “Without You” was supposed to be the released single, however it was changed to “Bingeul Bingeul (Round and Round)”. With the release of “Bingeul Bingeul” U-Kiss gained the most popularity than they had ever received since debut, the new looks and fresh sound certainly spoke to new listeners and existing fans, and the Bingeul Bineul dance was given the name of “The Tornado Dance”. The album consisted of 5 new songs and remixes from previous songs. The first full album is definitely worth a listen too, and seems to be a place where the U-Kiss boys have found a sound that’s unique to them.
In May 2010, the boys started new promotions for their follow up song from their “Only One” album titled “Mworago (What)” and with their new dance move named the “outcry”, it gained U-Kiss even more popularity. In June the boys had their first ever concert and thus began their overseas promotions. During the many months the U-Kiss members had many promotional activities in South Korea as well as Overseas, many TV show’s was made featuring the boys, which gave you a little in look to how the boys lived and worked together. During these promotional times U-Kiss guest starred at Bi Rains “Intensity” concert in the Philippines, the concert was filled with lots of controversy due to the fact that only a estimated 2,500 “clouds” (Bi Rains fan club) turned up, whilst 8,000 “KissMe” (U-Kiss fan club) turned up. Even though this controversy was hanging in the air, the concert ran smoothly and a fun night was had.
Now the boys have decided to release another Mini-Album called “Break Time”, it’s rumoured that either “Shut Up!” or “Avater” are going to be the singles released, but at the moment i don’t know, and the Music video should be released any day now.
My overall view of U-Kiss is very high, these boys have worked their butts off trying to get recognised, and instead of turning away after not getting any recognition for the first 2 years, they battled on and tried harder than most groups i know. They have had their equal shares of highs and lows, but i can sense these boys goin on further now that they have a sound they are used to and everyone knows them by.
U-Kiss Break Time Mini-Album
This is just a small review of U-Kiss newest Mini-Album, which you can pick up right now.
Track 1: Before Yesterday (Intro) - As a “Intro” song, it definitely sets a feel that they have all grown up, this is another era for the boys, and one to show how much harder they have worked.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAcUyMzFKGM
Track 2: Shut Up! – This is the single being released from the mini album, and personally, i think it was a great choice! When i first heard the teaser for this song, it sounded like a ballad song, and not as fun as their previous songs, but boy oh boy was i wrong! This song has a brilliant vocal sound, fair do’s they are computerised, but with the back beat and the “Blade Rave Scene” backing track, it certainly gets your head, hands and feet bopping to the music!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoQ6c_zaU34 (Audio)
Track 3: Light It Up! –Again, another song that definitely has a U-Kiss feel. But there is a certain change to the music style, they have seemed to have gone for a clubbier feel, and they have definitely pulled it off. This is another one on the album that i would love to see as a single release with a music video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giAW9C--3WQ
Track 4: Rock Ya Body! – I can’t help but feel this has a similarity to Super Juniors “A Man In Love”, they both share that same “clapping” back beat. But again the U-Kiss boys have bought their own feel to the clap beat, and again another song well worth listening to. If the chorus doesn’t get you clapping along or even singing along, then there is something wrong :P
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4WHTPFAnPw&feature=related
Track 5: Avater – Again the audio teaser video sent out before the release was totally misleading! When i first heard the teaser i was not impressed, but now i have the whole song, i am thoroughly impressed and think that this is a nice new sound for everything that’s come out recently.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYhOnsOED2k
Track 6: Shut Up! (Instrumental)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02rENEWG2FY
My overall thought of the album is one very unexpected. Its obvious now that the members have settled into a sound they like and still it gives a fresh feeling, yet some points there are some real big similarities, that are maybe too samey. A friend of mine named Sako said her review would be “"Good album. Too much auto-tune. Sounds alot like the last album though." Sako is a “KissMe” and well, i really do agree with what she has said, it sounds similar to their last album, and there is a hell of a lot of auto tunning, but i don’t know, there is something about the allnum that really pulls me to listen to it just that one more time, and before i know it, ive listened to it for the 15th time. As a whole id say a good album, deffinately if u hear one song you know your listening to U-Kiss, and its good to see them back again.
Well hope you enjoyed reading through, and i hope to see people giving them a little try. Next review is Beast with their newest mini-album “Matermind”
Ciao
xXx Kimi-Chan xXx
