blood red, cherry red

slipdress and blazer, vintage. clutch, ninewest. boots, rubi by cotton on via zalora (similar). ribbon tri-strand choker, verano ph via zalora (similar).

Happy hearts day, y'all! 

I'm settling down to music videos and stage performances by my favorite men/boys tonight. It's uhmn...well, more than my traditional Valentines' day tradition along with watching Da-iCE concert/s here and there to name one (or catching up to Kamen Rider Build as I left it off at episode 13 or so a couple nights ago...), it's an every night sort of thing since the MVs and stage performances are in a playlist on my windows media player. LOL. Anyway, I think this is the best way to cap the Hearts' day celebration with. I'm just missing organic/healthy dark chocolate eating somehow. The sad thing is that I don't have any of these at hand. Hmn...a strawberry zinfandel would be nice to have tonight, though, while on this MVs and stage performances marathon watching. I'm pretty sure I'll move on in a bit and play catch up with Kamen Rider Build and the kdrama, Radio Romance anyway. I've only finished 2 episodes of the latter. The reason I picked up said kdrama is thanks to Yoon Doo Joon from Highlight but that could have easily been very predictable as Highlight is my favorite kpop boygroup after Da-iCE from Japan.

For tonight, I have two tracks I love that are more about self-love and freedom than they are about dreamy romantic love:

I think these are perfect for winding down, chilling to tonight, especially when one has been out say, working or attending classes. AAA's MisaChia's MV for Jewel is cut short at 4 minutes or so but the whole track is beautiful on the Way of Glory album. It is, no doubt, my favorite so far from AAA after years of them volleying from multi-genre-d AAA to purely EDM AAA and back to being multi-genre. 

I love, love, loooovee really positive, cheerful songs (Jpop has a lot of these but Kpop is catching up as well) and those especially about self-love. Really freeing bops are also my thing so Faky's Somewhere We'll Know is an eternal favorite where that goes. I'd also add E-girls' Kitakaze to Taiyou (The North Wind and the Sun) here but I sort of remember posting that one just a few days or a week ago or so, so I'm going to leave that out in this one this time. Such songs help keep my head above the water, cheer me up some and help me fake it when I feel like needing to fake it. I guess there's nothing like girl power where pop music goes. I'm usually more into the male idol group side of things: Da-iCE, Magic Prince, PrizmaX, Choutokkyuu/Bullettrain, Flowback, Infinite, Highlight and Golden Child but tonight I will let those men/boys rest and go with the girls since it's hearts' night anyway and I need a friendly reminder that I love myself more than I love those males in the idol groups I mentioned. Haha. Oh, and even music. Though usually it's music first for me over self. They can co-exist well together in my book though,if you catch my drift here. That's the beauty of the self and music. 

black and blue

 secondhand cutoffs and gap t, vintage belt, zalora heels, ninewest bag, aizilim necklaces and rings

The many times I've blogged an incarnation of this get-up...I can't really recall anymore. Played it up a bit with a vintage belt in deep brown that's quickly becoming my favorite, however. Never said you can't wear one too many things with multiply buckles in them in one outfit post. I guess I just am the type to not get enough of the good edgy things. A repeat outfit can never get old with different variants of accessories---how to make a repeat get-up on a daily basis not boringly repetitive 101...

 plus secondhand corduroy jacket

Luckily, I caught the tail end of the golden hour enough to shoot this one. I almost didn't today.

Even when making the Chun-Li buns, I'm a mess. Let's just leave it at that. My skill in hair-styling is as hopeless as my make-up skills...yep... Even if my life depended on those two, apart from clothes styling...I...can't. I'll just be the clumsy ardent disciple learning the art however I can't really promise anything on that front... I can bleach and dye (blonde) the h*** out of hair however, so that's a consolation, I guess?

And now a couple music recommendations because...just because...

 

Just. How good is this Da-iCE cover of Ariana Grande's Into You? Like how good, GOOD, exactly? If you get what I mean in the midst of incoherently flailing on this one here at the mo...that is.

I seem to have this on eternal loop on itunes today...well, since the weekend that is. That I prefer this to the original version of Shakira's for the Zootopia soundtrack is...well...a no brainer. I am a semi-E-girls fan. Like an on/off one.

of dancing, hiphop music, soul, ubran and r&b

It's been ages since I last danced, I only do so in the comforts of my room most of the time. These guys make me want to take up the art again, however. But honestly, the only thing I am into is yoga and maybe a few workouts...in my head anyway since I haven't gone and done it and satisfy said need to get into something physical and calming.

My addiction to dance and vocal groups didn't reach its peak until I accidentally got into Da-iCE. They're pretty new. They only started their activities last year, 2011. But they're just the peak of the iceberg. There're more where they come from like...

....Miura Daichi. He apparently has 2 Sh**t Kingz members as back-up dancers in this music video.

These two artists---one being a group and the other going solo on most days---are like a drug addiction to me that I have to watch and re-watch their videos and it doesn't help that their songs are just as good as their dances. In an age where music for most artists are written and created for them (*cough*AAA and Kat-Tun among others*cough*), it's nice to discover people like Miura Daichi who choreographs his own dances and writes his own music. Da-iCE also seems to do their own music but it seems their choreography's are those of Sh**t Kingz among other dance gurus who've helped them in that area. From what I read about Da-iCE or the way I see Da-iCE while I was looking into their ameblo blog, it seems Kudo Taiki is responsible for their music. Songwriting seems to be a collective effort perhaps fronted by Hanamura Sota but this is just a hunch. Hayate, the youngest Da-iCE member, seem to also dabble into music making and that's pretty impressive for an 18-year-old. 

I think it's easy to see the kind of person I am with the kind of music I get into and other things. That aside, yep, I seem to be veering very far away from my usual Jrock interests. Jpop, too, though really, Jpop encompasses a ton of things going on in the Japanese music industry---Miura Daichi on r&b, et al, sugary idol music from AKB48 and most Johnny's Entertainment bands included.

As interested as I am in their dancing and singing at the moment, I'll just stand by and well, watch. I don't see myself attempting to dance and make my own music any time soon. Come to think of it, the last time I did dance and was interested in it in the physical sense was in 6th grade and that is years and years ago. Haha. Oh and a random insert: Miura Daichi is under Vision Factory with a contract with music label giant Avex. Da-iCE is under Avex's label and agency. There's a difference between agencies and labels in Japan, apparently. I think it's the same elsewhere.