Music Dramas

Once upon a time, singers just record their songs into a album. Somewhere along the way, MV (music videos) became a must, part of the album. In fact, the MV is often seen before the official launch of the album.

I’ve always felt that the Koreans really put a lot of effort into their MVs (see my posting here). Often, the MV is almost like a mini story. Most MVs last between 3 to 6 minutes. But of course there are some really long ones. I believe the original MV for ‘Sad Sonata’ was about 20 minutes (this was the one with Song Seung Hun, which they filmed in the states before he was forced to enlist for army). And Jo Sung Mo’s Mr Flower was about 24 minutes. Sometimes, the singers have a couple of MV (showcasing different songs) that are linked. Then you would see the line ‘to be continued….’ line at the of the MV. This drives me up the wall because it means I have to find out where and how many related MVs there are. Often, proper actors are in these MVs. I guess this is a win-win situation for both the actors and the singers. Lee Byung Hun, Ryu Si Won, Hyun Bin and Choi Ji Woo etc have all appeared in MVs before. Lee Soo Young had 3 MVs when she launched her ‘Grace’ album- all starring Lee Joon Gi. ^^

Recently, some of these artistes started recording music dramas. What’s that? Well… it’s like an extended mv or a short drama, depending on how you view it. But whereas an MV would only feature one song, a music drama would promote a few songs from the album of that artiste.

If you think about it, it makes more sense to put more than one song into the MV. After all, the filming process and cost are the same whether for you put in one song or 4 songs. Right? Might as well make full use of the resources. Hehe!

Position- Love Song (애가). Released February 2007
Cast: Lee Dong Gun, Lee Yoo Ri, Jeon In Hwa

This is Position’s 6th album after a long break. The music drama stars Lee Dong Gun, Lee Yoo Ri and Jeon In Hwa. Lee Yoo Ri and Jeon In Hwa are sisters. A love triangle formed between the 3 of them, ending with tragic results. I am really impressed with Lee Dong Gun’s acting and enjoyed his chemistry with the 2 female leads, especially Jeon In Hwa even if the music drama is only about 25 minutes. I read that Jeon In Hwa has not acted for 5 years.

There are only 2 songs featured from Position’s album in the music drama- 하루 & 흔자. 하루 is originally a Japanese song and has a very nice tune to it. If you like ballads, then I’m sure you would like this song. I first heard Position sang when I attended the April Snow concert in 2004 and immediately fell in love with his voice. I feel that his last album ‘I Love You’ is slightly better but this is still quite a good album. You have to listen to the songs a few times before they grow on you as they are not the catchy type (except for 하루)

Position and the cast of his music drama.

By the way, Lee Dong Gun has a duet with Position in the album- a rather fast song called ‘Friend’. Hmm… he must like friends a lot as he also sang a song with the same title (though that was in Korean) in his earlier drama- ‘Stained Glass’. Here’s the half hour long MV for 하루. You can listen to Position singing live here

SG Wannabe- The Sentimental Chord. Released April 2007
Cast: Lee Bom Soo, Lee Seon Kyun, Ok Ju Hyun

I also first heard SG Wannabe sang at the April Snow’s concert in 2004 (it was a great concert) and I mesmerized by their voices.

For their main song in their latest album, they mixed traditional Korean musical instruments and with contemporary pop. The song title is ‘Arirang (아리랑)’ and strains from the popular, traditional, nationalistic song of the same name can be heard in the beginning. This song is backed by a 100 man- orchestra. Wow!. I actually have this urge to take out my Singapore flag and start waving it when I listen to this song. Maybe can persuade the Singapore authorities to consider using this song for our National Day celebrations. Wahaha!

Their impressive MV is no less a minor war film. I’m wondering how much they spent on the special effects (all the exploding bombs and extras etc). I guess it’s just as well that the MV has 4 songs.

Basically Lee Seon Kyun and Ok Ju Hyun are lovers but she is forced to marry Lee Bum Soo when Lee Seon Kyun was captured as the lovers were trying to elope. Both the guys met again on the battlefield and ….. this being a love story/ song..of course it’s a tragic ending. It’s a matter of who and how many died.

Anne, who is a big fan of Lee Bum Soo has written quite a bit about it on her blog

What can I say? I really like SG Wannabe. Listening to their songs give me goose bumps…the nice sort. Hehe! Oh, Ok Ju Hyun also has a duet with the group for one of the song- ‘한여름날의 꿈’

The full music drama:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

‘Music Drama: Dong Hwa’. Released December 2006
Cast: Eric (Shinhwa), Kim Yoon Goon

Unlike the 2 music dramas above, this is a compilation of songs from various singers, including a duet by Hye Sung (Shinhwa) and Lynn, Shinhwa, Lee Soo Young and Kim Bum Soo.

Eric is a gangster, who fell in love with Kim Yoon Gyung, a very sweet girl. But he has a good-for-nothing trouble ‘brother’. So Eric always ends up in a fight because of him. As in all love songs- this one has a tragic ending too. Sigh… Must say though Eric is one very cool looking gangster.

It seems this music drama took its inspiration from Wong Kar Wai’s movie ‘As Tears Go By’ Apparently the ultra hot kiss landed the actress in hospital due to the soreness caused by Eric’s stubble. Hahaha! How hot is the kiss? Judge for yourself after watching the clip here. Now I’m sure there would be a lot of girls out there who would be very, very willing to go to the hospital because of strong kisses by Eric.

I’m not sure if they are all new songs or a mixture of old and new songs. I think it’s the latter as I recognized some of the songs (the theme song, from ‘I’m Sorry, I Love You’). Can anyone enlighten me?

Besides the full 30 minutes music drama, there are 3 separate MVs. If you like variety, then this would be a good buy. ^^

Here are the 3 MVs from the music drama:

Love…Afterwards (사랑…후에) by Hye Sung and Lyn
‘I’m crying (눈물이 나요)’ by Lee Soo Young
‘My only sorrow (나만의 슬픔)’by Lee Soo

I hope the titles are correct as I’m not 100% sure of the translation.

I was going to include Lee Hyo Ri’s ‘If in Love, Like Them’ as well. But it went from a one episode MV, to a two episodes music drama and then to four episodes drama. I haven’t watch it yet and so can’t comment. The last I heard, Japan is going to air it. So I guess it can’t really be counted as a music drama anymore. But it was originally filmed to promote her latest single, ‘Lee Hyo Ri’. Cast include Lee Hyo Ri, Lee Dong Gun and Ha Suk Jin.