Salutations ol’ faithful readers! For those of you looking forward to our weekly round up of music videos, here they are – fresh and delivered on time. I decided to do something a little different and from here on out will call out my favorite video of the week with each round-up. It will be featured front and center as the first video in the list every week and our inaugural “winner” is Kero Uno and his latest visual for “Journey Together”! Tune in each week to stay on top of the ever-growing scene of Asian-American artists!
VOTW: Kero Uno – “Journey Together”
This was definitely my favorite video of the week. I’m loving the concept on the passage of time and it’s always a welcome sight to see some genuine acting. For a song without words, it does a whole lot to use every other medium to convey a message and sentiment. Kero has grown a lot as an artist as he’s made the transition from One to Uno. This video may not be perfect, and it does play on some familiar tropes, but it dared to be creative and even ties in with another former work.
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Run River North – “Seven”
As a music blogger, it’s refreshing to hear an atypical arrangement in a song. So you can imagine I was pleasantly surprised by this b-side release by Run River North. It may not have a traditional hook/chorus, but it draws you in just the same. The video is a mixture of standard studio footage with some nice visual flair thrown in, which is more than expected for a song that wasn’t even planned as a promotional single. I’m highly looking forward to their Drinking from a Salt Pond album, set to drop in February.
Shogunna – “Coffee & Cigarettes”
In a perfect scenario, an artist’s song and video are both strong enough to support the other yet standalone well on their own right. But often, it’s one that is more polished than the other. Unfortunately, the latter is the case with Sho’s latest. I’m liking the grimy, throwback beat of the song, and the flow is classic Gunna… but that video is a much less even affair. Poor lip-syncing, uneven lighting, laughable fight sequences… I’ve seen worse but I’ve also seen much better. It may be good for a single viewing but this is something you’d probably prefer in your headphones as opposed to your screen.
Yung Koconut x Cue – “Ya Ja Su”
Everything about this song and video is a representative microcosm of the cross section of SoCal K-Town and Contemporary Hip-Hop culture. Also, from what I can gather, apparently Sean Rhee has re-branded himself as Cue… not sure when. So the credit says Yung Koconut x Cue but to me this is a Furis x Sean Rhee track. Regardless, they have transitioned into their new sound seamlessly, though whether you’re a greater fan of the new new or the old school is a different question entirely. The video is well shot and edited, and although there isn’t anything groundbreaking, it’s polished enough to support the track well.
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The following section is a collection of “music videos” from the show Make It Pop, the K-Pop inspired Nick show starring Megan Lee and Erika Tham as two of the leads. Since they are all pretty similar in sound and look, and since they are all taken straight out of the show, I’m not going to review them and will instead just leave them here for your viewing pleasure.
Make It Pop (featuring Megan Lee & Erika Tham & Vinson Tran)
a-Tunes 