Pipe Full of Dreams

Probably the man with the longest reach in the Korean music industry JYP (Park Jin-Young's initials in the English-friendly name order), a.k.a Rain/Bi's former producer, is certainly a force to be reckoned with. After conquering the Korean market he helped bring forth the Hallyu wave to the rest of Asia by engineering the rise of one of the biggest stars there is over there; Bi/Rain. There are other groups that he has produced as well, but since I really do not give a could care less, they shall not be mentioned.

Rain and himself parted company last year, due to creative differences. Ever since then I have gotten repeated whiffs of someone trying to be younger than he really is. Especially when he dances. Justin Timberlake and Usher certainly don't move anything like Chris Brown and Omarion. Why? With age comes the realisation that sexy does not necessarily mean flashy. In trying to go up against his younger, hotter, better looking, if slightly (read: a heckuva lot) dumber ex-protege he has gone through all manner of age-defying processes all of which has done nothing but earn him the moniker "gorilla".

Rumours of plastic surgery, extreme weight loss and dodgy taste in clothing aside, JYP is still a good producer. Good as in not revolutionary, as in a 6 on a scale of 1 to 10. He's good enough to have worked with some of the bigger names in the American music industry, but on a personal note, it tends to be the music I skip, because everyone else produces music in a similar manner in the R&B/hip hop field nowadays, less than memorable album filler that masquerades as a mjor release (don't worry I won't start that again). On the other hand I have liked the production on Rain/Bi's albums including my current favourite "With U".

Which brings me to the ultimate reason for this post: his latest bid to take over the world (i.e. the American music market) involves five gamine girls aged 15 to 19 called the Wondergirls. Winsome and pretty with voices that can barely hold a tune (think Cassie), I shocked the living daylights out of myself by actually liking their new single "I'm So Hot". Light, frothy and which as much depth as a hair on a mosquito's behind, it is the type of song that could have been a summer hit in the US. Enjoy!