Now, I know I could just go and copy paste everything that’s in her wiki or summarize a biography that you can find elsewhere on the web. However, I’ve chosen to do this slightly differently. I want to give you as much raw, uncluttered information as I can…and also pull some of more “interesting” details to the front of this artist profile. So here’s the format I plan on using (with Younha as the sample artist), tell me what you think.

Hah! My Rant comes first!
Let me just go ahead and get this out of the way or you’re going to be hearing about it all the time. Younha is gorgeous. All singing and everything else aside, she’s beautiful. Not to mention, I have yet to see her resort to any of the dirty-dancing, barely dressed retardedness that is so incredibly evident in American pop music. I’ve run all over the web, watching her music videos and interviews, etc. She seems to have a ton of fun just rockin’ out on the piano and being herself. Impressive in my opinion to say the least. Just as impressive is the fact that she sings some of the best English music I’ve ever heard.

The Basics
Younha is a Korean artist who sings K-pop and J-pop. She was born on April 29th, 1988. Yep, that means she’s currently 19. She has released one album in Japan, entitled “Go! Younha”, which was re-released in Korea (with all Korean lyrics), and one Korean album entitled “The Perfect Day to Say I Love You”¹. Her album debuted at #10 on the Japanese charts, and her immense Japanese success scored her the nickname of “The Oricon Comet”².

Anime
Houki Boshi – Bleach
Ima Ga Daisuki – Jang Geum’s Dream (Korean animation)
Hakanaku Tsuyoka – Kiba
Scratch of the Heart – Maple Story

Check this Out:
Younha sings “If I Ain’t Got You” in English, and even throws in a small clip from a Super Mario song beforehand.

¹ This is a translated title of the song since the actual title is in Korean text and I wanted to post something easier to remember.
² Oricon is the name for the Japanese music billboard.

As always, your comments are appreciated and wanted, from rants to a simple “Nice Job!”. Don’t know what’s going on here? Checkout the Site Tutorial for a visual guide to how everything works (UC). If you’re confused about terminology, check out the WTF Did You Say? page. Note, links for (songs only) are accurate only during the month that this article was posted, after which, all media gets moved to our Twango website for archiving.

Song Title: Houki Boshi
Anime: Bleach
Artist: Younha
Watch the ED! ( Note: There are a bunch of different versions of this one. )

To celebrate the opening of Oretachi no Oto, I decided to kick things off with one of my favorite anime songs of all time, Houki Boshi. The song originally showed up as the third ending of the ever popular anime, Bleach. I can remember the first time I heard the song. After enjoying a tense episode that introduced the upcoming fight between Bleach protagonist Kurosaki Ichigo and (at the time) antagonist Ikkaku Madarame¹, I sat there slack jawed as the ending suddenly exploded into one of the most rockin’ ED songs I’ve ever heard.

The first thing I notice is the blood-pumping drum beat. I’m not saying the beat is going to make you explode with energy and jump out of your chair as you air-guitar rock your way around the room (not that I’ve done that or anything *cough*), but it’s definitely an upbeat, exciting song. Noticeable feature number two? The piano that comes in as the melody. As you’re soon to find out², the artist, Younha, doesn’t just sing, but also plays the piano, so it’s usually the centerpiece for her songs in terms of melody. Up until this point I hadn’t heard many pop-rock style songs that had piano as a main instrument, so Houki Boshi took me by surprise in a way that turned out to be absolutely enjoyable. As for the guitars, nothing too crazy to notice, other than the fact that they provide a solid backing to the piano melody and vocals.

Now, on to the singing. Wow. I’ve really come to love Younha’s voice. She’s got this voice that just sits well on the ears. It doesn’t get so high that your monitor screen shatters, she doesn’t have weird intonations or engrish thrown in…rock solid comes to mind when I think of how to describe it. In Houshi Boshi, she just sounds so uplifting. If you check out the video or read the lyrics, you’ll notice that the song has a lot to do with comets and falling stars. The stars are where Younha’s voice and Houki Boshi in general will take your mind if you give them the the chance to. I may be giving it too much credit, but I’d go so far as to say that the song will make you dream. “If maybe I’d been able to become a comet, I would run flying through the sky”.

Rock.

So what do you think? Dreaming yet?

¹ Ikkaku Madarame later goes on to become one of my favorite Bleach characters. But not until around episode 130ish.
² Next up on OTO – Artist Profile: Younha

As always, your comments are appreciated and wanted, from rants to a simple “Nice Job!”. Don’t know what’s going on here? Checkout the Site Tutorial for a visual guide to how everything works (UC). If you’re confused about terminology, check out the WTF Did You Say? page. Note, links for (songs only) are accurate only during the month that this article was posted, after which, all media gets moved to our Twango website for archiving.