An Album a Day
![AOA: A Dynamic 2014](https://portalapi.alivepodcastnetwork.com/api/image/resize?url=https://storage.googleapis.com/alivepodcastnetwork/episode/2024/3/59d6100c-4f1e-4d62-8a7e-a7d6dceeded5_nHna2lTFo6bZk3GBNUbaEBEV.png&width=300&height=300)
AOA: A Dynamic 2014
An Album a Day is my exploration into the Korean music scene. This podcast will cover mainstream, indie and some underground artists within the scene and provide both factual and opinionated commentary. The biggest benefit to sharing my thoughts this way is that it will hopefully expose you to more great music and exploration of your own.
Oh hey, look! Apple, in all of its powerful technology force, made updates that compromised countless podcast’s availability and I had to pause my show. Previously recorded episodes had time-specific references that caused me to have to re-record a lot of AOA’s episodes. Since I am determined to deliver a cohesive podcast season experience by minimizing delays, here’s a quick overview of the remainder of their most dynamic year in music, 2014, right after the drop.
You’re tuned into An Album a Day. Show start.
Hey y’all, as previously stated in Episode 3 of this season, FNC Entertainment struck gold for the group when Brave Brothers began to work with them in 2014. January set the new sound standard and this summer follow-up continued to push the new AOA vibes in the right direction. On June 19th of that year, AOA released their debut extended play, or EP, “????.” This title literally translates as “short hair” in English and is also the name of the first single from the album. The EP is just over 24 minutes long and is a decent album to perk up your mood. Though “Short Hair” was followed by the album’s second single, “Joa Yo!” the song “Short Hair” is truly memorable. The theme focuses on feeling good in one’s skin. Choa’s “whoa oh oh” refrain and ownership of the chorus makes the “it’s okay to not be okay” theme more of a pick-me-up versus going the route of a ballad. Overall, it’s an album that can populate itself on shuffle when you’re streaming music and you won’t feel the need to skip it.
Continuing to ride the wave of success, AOA released a compilation album in September 2014 entitled, “AOA Best Songs for Asia,” and that’s a seriously audacious name! So much so that I’m skipping over details of this because it’s a compilation album and they’ve already told you by the title that they don’t care what you think about what could possibly be on a Best Songs for Asia list. It’s them. It’s AOA, in their book.
The winner of 2014 in their discography for me is the undeniably catchy, “Like a Cat,” released on November 11th. The entire album is fun and sassy but the title track has been proven to make me blow a speaker or two. The song is so iconic for them that it even made American-based television channel Fuse’s top 10 pop songs list for that month and year.
K-pop fans on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being essential listening and 1 not worth mentioning, the A3Day rating for 2014 for AOA’s body of works is a 5. We’ve never ranked a year before so this is a first! Though I hate that we had to breeze over this in greater detail, you’re always encouraged to listen and draw your own conclusions. Oh yes, the #A3Day Highlights Playlist on Spotify is updated because it’s Friday! Albeit a bit late! I’ll catch you in the next episode, bye y’all.
There’s sponsored ads and social media hashtags but this show is truly supported by the efforts of my MACGoalas, the most amazing fan base a lil’ entertainer could ever have.
Special shout out to my Patreon patrons -- the Student Body, the Scholars, and the Staff -- who keep my vision of becoming your favorite foreign Korean music historian, exploring all the industry from A to Z a real thing. If you’re interested in supporting the growth of this content, please visit patreon.com/multifacetedacg and for as little as $1.00 a month, you can get in on the magic.
Interested in continuing your support at the free-99 price? I love you for it. You can still engage with the show and me, your lovely host, when you retweet, repost, and share the show and use...