Top 10 OSTs (as of October 2015)

Yes, another top 10 OST post! As you guys have probably figured out by now, most of the music I listen to are kdrama OSTs :P I obviously go through OST phases so none of the top 10 here were part of my previous top 10 post earlier this year. This isn't to say that I don't like those OSTs anymore, but just that the below 10 resonate with me more immediately when trying to come up with a list of my current favourite OSTs.

Last time I didn't use any MVs and deliberately embedded videos with only the album art or similar ... I think it was because a lot of official OST MVs have external sounds in place of some verses and I wanted to make sure you guys could appreciate the song in its entirety. But this time I've included official MVs where available, cause I think it's only right to acknowledge the people who release the song ... and also cause this time none of the official MVs have too much external sounds going on hahaha.

Okay enough of me talking and onto the OSTs! :D


10. G.NA - Don't Cry (Scholar Who Walks The Night)

Here's a Scholar Who Walks the Night OST to kickstart this list! The Night Scholar OSTs are really beautiful, having made their way into my shortlist of favourite OST albums. See me fangirling over the OSTs here! I think a large part of it is the unique charm that accompanies historical drama OSTs, considering it was Gu Family Book which dominated my previous list. The simple vocals and instrumentals just work together really well and make this OST really relaxing to listen to.

9. Ben - Stay (Oh My Ghost)

I actually had quite a hard time deciding whether this song would make it onto this list. On one hand the chorus is so delicate and beautiful that you're tempted to hold your breath and just listen ... whereas on the other hand the beginning verses are just a little too slow for me. I guess you can see that the chorus won me over :P

8. Loco & Yoo Joo - Spring Is Gone By Chance (Girl Who Sees Smells)

This song is just really catchy! Especially the female part ... I found myself singing to it all the time!

7. Ali - Hurt (Rooftop Prince)

As much as I liked Rooftop Prince, this was the only OST that stood out for me. I've actually noticed that a lot of my category 1 dramas have mediocre OSTs :/ Anyway this song really brings out the sad emotions and memories of this drama. I once showed my mum a really well put together fan MV to this song and my mum questioned why I was listening to such sad songs ... so it isn't just me! The people who've watched the drama will know what I'm talking about, but I associate this song much more strongly to the Joseon story rather than the modern story.

See my Rooftop Prince review here! Don't worry I clearly mark where spoilers start (I'm a super no-spoilers-please person).

6. Beast - Without You (Scholar Who Walks The Night)

Would you guys believe me if I say that this is the first Beast song I've properly listened to? Well it is haha, I never really followed them despite listening to kpop. This song first drew my attention when it played at the end of episode 16: 

*spoilers start* Mr Evil Vampire is strangling poor Yang Sun, who struggles to breathe. Suddenly a whoosh - the camera pans and it turns out Mr Good Vampire has arrived to save the day. Cue OST! Mr Evil Vampire turns around to make eye contact with Mr Good Vampire and subsequently casts Yang Sun aside - someone much more important has appeared. Episode ends with Mr Evil Vampire looking really happy to see Mr Good Vampire, who looks like he's ready to bite. *spoilers end*

In short, this song screams Gwi and Sung Yeol bromance to me. Pretty sure it's because of that precise scene. There's this bit a little after 2:09 where it seems like they're saying Gwi and I keep imagining that they're singing about getting rid of Gwi but I checked up the lyrics and .... no hahaha.

5. Eun Ga Eun - Sad Wind (Scholar Who Walks The Night)

Yes another Night Scholar OST! This was actually the first OST from this drama that I fell in love with. It's got the really strong 'historical vibe' which I mentioned before (sorry about my lack of proper terminology haha), and Eun Ga Eun's voice complements it so well. I only recently found out that Oh Joon Sung actually composed the entire Night Scholar AND City Hunter OST ... yes two of my favourite OST albums! I know he's all over the music scene but I used to just recognise him as the City Hunter The Score composer ... but didn't realise he composed the non-instrumental tracks as well! The official Night Scholar MVs I've linked to are actually from Oh Joon Sung's youtube channel ... here's some love from a fellow fan ♥

I actually posted about Sad Wind just as it got released, check it out here!

4. Kim Bo Kyung - Suddenly (City Hunter)

What a perfect transition to City Hunter! No seriously it wasn't planned. This OST was used really well in the drama ... if I remember correctly it was used quite frequently at the end of each episode as well as during the show. I could sing along to it just from hearing it in the drama! Aside from that Kim Bo Kyung's unique voice really plays a huge role in making this song as amazing as it is. Love it!

3. Michael Learns To Rock - Eternal Love (Healer)

I think I've just dropped into feels land. To be completely honest if I had to judge this song on its own it would rank quite averagely. BUT once again this OST was used really well in the drama, and listening to it gives me really strong Healer feels. So overall, high satisfaction after listening to this song means high ranking! ;D

And to those of you who haven't watched it, I strongly recommend Healer. That is all.

2. M.C THE MAX - Because Of You (Girl Who Sees Smells)

I find this OST really beautiful and heart wrenching :') Just like Eternal Love, it drops me into feels land every single time I listen to it - the only difference is that the feels would still be there if I hadn't watched the drama. I absolutely love the way the vocalist has conveyed this song, it's chest-thump-worthy!

1. Yang Hwa Jin - It's Alright (City Hunter)

And finally the number one! This song is captivating from the first few seconds ... there's just so much energy and you can't help but jam to it! I get so caught up in the song it ends before I realise it. It also really reminds me of Lee Min Ho's badass scenes in City Hunter :P

Hope you've enjoyed listening to my top 10! Let me know what you think of these OSTs and if I've missed any of your favourites! I'm considering doing a top 10 instrumental OST post, but it might be more difficult since there are so many and I pay much more attention to the non-instrumental OSTs. I'll see how things go - let me know if you'd like a top instrumental OST post! Until next time ~

edit: urgh this is really bugging me but I started this post in September so the working post title was always "Top 10 OSTs (as of September 2015)" but I forgot to change it before I posted ... I realised a couple of minutes later but even when I change the post title the permalink still says September >< sigh ...

Review: Rooftop Prince (2012)

Okay … first review! I haven’t even written anything and I can feel that this post is going to take me much longer than I first expected. I’m not exactly sure if I should call this a review or not … it’s more like an aggregate of post-drama thoughts. The first time I saw Yoochun act was in The Girl Who Can See Smells … which is still airing and I literally started and finished Rooftop Prince in the time between episodes 8 and 9 >< I usually try not to watch dramas with the same lead actors simultaneously though, cause inevitably I begin mixing up the characters. I think the most extreme case was watching YWCFTS while Trot Lovers was airing … literally could not unsee the creepy side of Shin Sung Rok. Let's get back to this review …

Synopsis

The younger of two sisters is selected to be the future Crown Princess. The older sister accidentally-on-purpose burns her sister’s face, and becomes the Crown Princess instead. Many years later the Crown Princess drowns, and the Crown Prince is convinced she was murdered. He recruits three men and while investigating her death, the four get transported 300 years into the future to present day Seoul. Here they meet the reincarnations of personalities such as the Crown Princess and the Crown Prince himself, and continue to solve the mystery of the Crown Princess’ murder which they believe is the key to returning back to their time period.

Verdict

I really enjoyed this drama and would definitely recommend it - category 1! It was actually a borderline 1 or 2 most of the way through … but following the revelations in episode 20 it shot up :’) It’s got all the elements of a romcom but can be a little darker at times which stops the drama from being too fluffy. I really liked how they paralleled events with the past, it was really clever at times.

Spoilers throughout the rest of the post!

The bittersweet ending breaks my heart but it’s what made this love line so much more beautiful compared to others.

Other Thoughts/Observations

We know from the very beginning what a horrible person the Crown Princess is, having burnt her sister’s face to get to her position. But to me that didn’t invalidate the Crown Prince’s love for her … I’ll have to admit I shed a tear or two witnessing Lee Gak’s heart break as he learns of her death :’( Yoochun managed to make this scene so touching even though we’d known the characters for less than an episode.

It was only a day after finishing the drama that I realised the significance of Se Na wearing Park Ha’s clothes in the modern day reservoir scene! I’d originally dismissed it as just part of the ploy to lure Lee Gak, but later connected the dots and realised the parallel with what happened before Boo Young’s death.

Things which confused me at some point:

The History Book

OMG the history book!!! I still haven’t figured out what the significance of this scene was. And by the looks of it most fans still haven’t figured it out. So at some point quite early on in the drama Park Ha consults a history book, presumably to look up Lee Gak and verify his story. But she closes the book teary eyed, and no explanation is made as to why her reaction was like that. They never mentioned that scene again. What did she read???

I trawled through some fansites and found two hypotheses popular amongst fans.

1. Park Ha found out that Lee Gak will lead a short life. Apparently there are some uncanny similarities between Lee Gak and King Gyeongjong, a real Joseon King. King Gyeongjong’s first Crown Princess died before he ascended the throne, and it is rumoured that his death had something to do with him eating crab sauce and persimmons, two foods which play important roles in Rooftop Prince.
    
2. Park Ha found out that Lee Gak will die by being shot in the chest by an arrow. Before his departure Park Ha gifted Lee Gak a necklace, and told him to ‘always wear it near your heart’. After returning to their time period he does get shot in the chest by an arrow, but it hits the necklace square on which saves his life. Some fans argue that if this really was the case then Park Ha really should’ve gifted him a full on chest guard instead of a measly $2 coin sized necklace to protect him … and I’m not even going to go into the if-she-did-save-him-then-it-wouldn’t-have-shown-up-in-the-history-book argument.

I guess we’ll never know for sure what she read :(

Arsenic and Persimmons

So in the final episode one of the revelations is that Boo Young died after eating the poisoned persimmons in place of the King. However early on in their investigations, before their time travelling adventures, they already found out that the persimmons were poisoned with arsenic! Wouldn’t Lee Gak then have wondered what happened to Boo Young, who actually ate the persimmons??? I guess they must’ve assumed the persimmons got poisoned after Boo Young ate them or something …

The Final Scene

I know heaps of people were confused with the ending scene … was it Lee Gak standing there with Park Ha? Or was it his reincarnation, Tae Yong? Or was it some mixture of both?

Yoochun mentioned in at least two interviews that he was acting as 100% Tae Yong in that ending scene. He said that the audience would obviously be dissatisfied if it was purely Tae Yong and Park Ha, so Lee Gak was shown as a tribute to their transcending love, and as a reminder that Tae Yong is the closest you can get to Lee Gak.

What makes me really sad however, is what happens to Lee Gak! Park Ha gets Tae Yong but who does Lee Gak get??? Boo Young is dead and Park Ha doesn’t exist in his world apart from in his heart and memories *sob* *wipes tear*. The scene where Lee Gak gets teary-eyed while eating omurice really gets at me :’(

I guess the ending makes sense though … the time travelling was to give Lee Gak and Boo Young another chance in their next lives, and not to correct the wrong of their Joseon lives. If Lee Gak hadn’t travelled to the future, Tae Yong would never have met Park Ha (assuming the butterfly was also part of this time travelling force). Without Lee Gak’s intervention Tae Yong would have died in the hands of Tae Mu. Park Ha wouldn’t necessarily love Tae Yong. Lee Gak and Boo Young were destined to be ill-fated, and they were compensated with the chance to love again as Tae Yong and Park Ha.

Here's my favourite Rooftop Prince OST to wrap off this super long blog post :)