It’s exactly one month till BoA officially releases her American debut album, and you can now preorder it on Amazon.

The pop princess is taking her debut seriously by pulling out all the stops for this moment. Not only have they hired top notch producers, music video directors and photographers, but doing whatever it takes to get BoA on the map. If only Se7en did the same.

The album is officially called BoA (self-titled) and will be released on March 17th. You can preorder your album here for $11.99. More »

34 Comments

You’ve got just two days to enter and win a pair of tickets to the largest Asian American talent competition in United States! Ningin will be giving two winners each a pair of tickets to Kollaboration 9 in Los Angeles this Saturday, February 21. Ningin favorite BoA will be performing live as a special guest! More »

18 Comments

Happy early Valentines’ day everyone! Despite being a day early, I’m delivering my top 10 favorite love songs. While some of them are a bit emo, they’re still really good songs.

Hope you guys enjoy your (fake) holiday. Remember! There’s still White Day and Black Day to follow.

Enjoi. More »

11 Comments

Hope you guys have already made plans for V-day, because it’s just around the corner!

And after that comes March which meaning Apop overload! It seems that a handful of Apop artists are releasing their new albums in March (Utada, BoA, Epik High and Se7en). For whatever reason they may all be releasing their albums in the same month, I’m looking forward to each and every one of them!

As always, enjoi! More »

10 Comments

A preview track of BoA’s “I Did It For Love” leaked this week. It’s not bad at all. Not quite as catchy as “Eat You Up,” but not bad. Sources say it was produced by Sean Garrett, the man behind hits including Usher’s “Yeah” and Ciara’s “Goodies.” Whoever the producer may be, they used the almost ubiquitous auto-tune effect to erase any accent slip-ups. If T-Pain can do it, so can BoA. No word on the fate of this track, but it sounds worthy of being a single to me. Enjoy: More »

35 Comments

Most likely you need to refresh your browser cache by pressing F5 or use a forceful refresh by pressing CTRL+F5.

It’s been almost three months since my last upgrade post. Yea…things keep coming up. The Megaman Movie Trailer, the BoA interview, the End of the Year Special, America’s Best Dance Crew, drunken holiday parties + hangover recovery time, launching ZiggyTek — our gadget site, I was sick (no really I was), etc. In a way, it was kinda a perfect storm of events for Ningin as our growth has been skyrocketing from all those different things combined. Well, not the being sick and drunk part. More »

15 Comments

BoA isn’t the only Asian pop star actively seeking to stake a claim on the US market this year. Allow me to introduce to you Jamaica’s own Tami Chynn. Like BoA, the 25 year old singer/song writer/dancer has also managed to make waves in Japan with the release of her first album “Out of Many…One” in 2006. Her music style blends pop and R&B with the dancehall and reggae, music of her native Jamaica. Last year, she toured the US with the likes of NKOTB (I’m going to hurt you if you want me to explain what “NKOTB” stands for), Lady Gaga, Colby O’Donis, Natasha Beddingfield and starred in Akon’s “I’m So Paid” music video.

To pioneer her US debut, Chynn’s team consists of Akon and RedOne under SRC/Universal Records. Responsible for the nation’s current #1 hit Lady Gaga’s “Just Dance,” Chynn’s debut this year with Akon and RedOne is looking good. If I could compare her to other artists, I would say her music is like early Rihanna, but slightly updated to include the sweeping European electro influences on today’s pop music. Fashion and style-wise…I think she’s trying to channel Rihanna but with less edge. If you’re trying to guess her face, her ethnic background is Chinese, Cherokee, Afro-Jamaican and British. Check out “Hypnotico,” a song that’s currently making the rounds in the blogosphere this week: More »

18 Comments

Seems that the flu is going around, since everyone and their mom is getting sick! I’m still recovering and hooked on Nyquil but no worries, I was able to pump out this blog post.

It seems to have been an eventful week with new MV’s released, some old stars making their comebacks, in addition to some parody love. I’m glad the week’s over.

As always, enjoy! More »

14 Comments

Some of the most popular artists in Japan are not even Japanese. In fact, many of these top selling talents are imported from South Korea.

Teen sensation Younha skyrocketed to stardom with her song “Houki Boshi.” The catchy and clever tune was used as an ending theme for the anime Bleach. Born in South Korea, the talented Youhna started playing piano at age four and taught herself Japanese. Her interests for dorama and for singers like Utada Hikaru influenced her to join the Japanese music industry. She is the second Korean artist, after BoA, to have broken into the Oricon Top 20.

Another Hallyu star is Mink, who auditioned for Avex Trax while studying in Japan. Mink’s stage name is actuality an acronym for Made IN Korea; her real name is Mikyung Lee. She rarely performs using her native Korean tongue, and sings in English and in Japanese instead. Proudly, Mink is one of the first Asian artists to have a single reach No.1 in the U.S. charts. She did so on the U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart with a remix version of “Glory of Life.” More »

11 Comments

After many months of depriving myself of this fun (mostly because my throat and sinuses were stricken by some disease), I finally went to a no rae bang (private karaoke room) with a friend. Actually, it was a really long and freezing day. I had to haul myself to Yeoksam-dong, to Gangnam-gu for an errand, and then I waited for my friend in a coffee shop in my neighbourhood. When she arrived, we went to another coffee house/bar to have dinner. Then we decided to go to a no rae bang since we couldn’t go last time due to my sinusitis.

We went to the one we always go to, paid about $9-10 bucks for over an hour and sang our hearts out. Whenever we go, we sing a bunch of weird combinations of songs. Here’s a list of what we sang and of what I can remember. More »

16 Comments

The winter holidays are here once again, the air is laced with silver bells and snowflakes, and holiday pop hits are everywhere. The season that sparks joy and giving has also inspired several artists to go head to head in a battle royal of carol crooning covers. 

In the Holiday ring, we have a pan-Asian pretty-pop-princess, a big-voiced seven-member R&B group, and a trio of Sensual Girls. This song, which was originally performed by Wham, is an instant classic, but also a Christmas/love song. However, these newer versions will let you reminisce about your own memories of “Last Christmas.” More »

13 Comments

Many fans are crying out for their Apop idols to cross over and debut in the states, but there has been little effort and success in these unfamiliar grounds. This year, that has changed. In comparison to recent years, there have been quite a few crossovers and like many fans, I’m cheering them on.

So, now I present the crossover highlights of 2008! More »

37 Comments

…at the bottom of this blog post.

What a contest! This was easily our most popular contest of the year! It’s great to see so many people chipping in and doing their part as fans to help their favorite artist.

As I was going through the entries, I wondered if people just uploaded and didn’t bother to tell their friends. See, uploading the BoA videos was a means to an end with that end being, exposing BoA to more people. So I hope you guys went the extra step and told your friends to check out your uploaded stuff. There’s probably a lot more people in America that don’t know who BoA is than people that do. Those are the ones that need to be educated if BoA is to have a better chance of crossing over! *cough MTV Iggy* More »

52 Comments

I started out with the intention of writing the Top 10 Moments of 2008. You just don’t know how much has happened in a year until you sit down and have to write about it. Below are 10 distinctive moments for me in 2008, but trust me, there’s so much more that happened. If your favorite 2008 moment didn’t make the list, don’t be sad. There’s always next year! More »

31 Comments

It’s the end of the road for 2008. Goodbye Samurai Girl, Edison Chen and your photos, and of course goodbye to George W. Bush. Special thanks to Beijing Olympics, the cast of Hana Yori Dango, and Barrack Obama. You’ve been great!

If this year was good to you, then you’ll probably look back on it with fond memories. If this was a rough year for you, I’m talking to you American economy, then it’s a good thing 2008 is just about over. As a wise turtle once said, “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.” (5 points to the first person who correctly guess where that’s from.) More »

51 Comments

When everybody heard the news that BoA is going to appear on MTV, BoA is crossing over with a new English Album, and BoA released an English single, there was a lot of blog posts, a lot of buzz, and a lot of excitement. Nothing unusual there. As more details came in, we learned that it’s not so much MTV, it’s MTV Iggy. What is MTV Iggy? That was the question in my mind a couple of months ago. Now that I’ve actually had time to breath for a little bit, I’m realizing that I’m missing the much bigger question, and it seems that a lot of people have as well.

BoA is looking to crossover to an American audience. She is releasing an American album. She just released an American single. Why is she on MTV Iggy — MTV’s second attempt to reach Asian Americans after the failed Chi, K, and Desi — when she should be on the main MTV channel? When British pop stars crossover, there’s no MTV Brit. They appear on the parent MTV channel, on their new artist webpage, and their music circulated through the MTV hit-making machine. More »

42 Comments

Q: Who are you here for?

A: (by Time Square BoA Fan) BoA! BoA Kwon!

So we promised some extra BoA content. Ningin film crew members David Hou and Amy Chang interviewed BoA fans outside of Time Square New York on December 3rd right before the BoA performance there.

I have to say, it’s pretty cool to see BoA’s name and face as part of the neon landscape of Time Square. That makes a great statement to me.

Anyway, get to know other BoA fans with this video. Expect special performances by Dancing BoA Fan Guy and Singing BoA Fan Guy! Also, I’ve been told four Boajjang people were in attendance.

More »

28 Comments

The idea behind this contest is to help spread the word about BoA. What better way to do than to ask her ever-loving fanbase to help right? You see, being a star — being popular in general — is more about numbers than anything else. The more times people see you, the more people know about you, the more likely you’ll become a hit. She’s already a household name in Asia, but not so much in America or Western media.

That’s where fans can change things and why Ningin has dedicated so much of our time and energy in BoA putting together this special 5 day BoA event. BoA is an extremely talented, down-to-earth, good-natured, all-around amazing performer. We knew that BoA has a really strong likelihood of crossover success relative to other Asian pop stars and so we made a great effort to showcase that with our interview of BoA and with our special BoA website. More »

93 Comments

Some of you have known BoA for years, while a lot of other people are just learning about her for the first time in the English-speaking world. Here’s a little discography list to bring you up to speed on BoA’s recording career. There are a couple mini albums (EPs) not included here, like “Miracle”. I’ve mentioned some of my fave songs on each album. What are your fave BoA albums and songs? (^>^)v More »

33 Comments

The big question on everyone’s mind is what took BoA so long to cross over?

Let’s face it, BoA was always ready to “Bring on America”. Even before her American debut was officially announce, she was already singing in English. Although she had only started learning English a year ago, there is no question about how well she adapts to singing in English. Then again she has always had a talent with linguistics. More »

33 Comments