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Baby Boy - the Cuter than Cute Philosophy of a KMV Explained.

6/5/2015

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'Aggressive' and 'Adorable' are NOT Mutually EXCLUSIVE: 

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           High4 is not a band I've been terribly enamored with I loved their debut, but most of what they've done since just hasn't struck my fancy. This one is extremely different; I like it so much that it's even jumped the queue of MVs I should be reviewing! 
           From the moment I first saw it, my only reaction has been "Yep. That's it. We're done here. The most adorable song humanly possible has been produced. We can all go home, now". And that feeling hasn't dissipated at all in the two days I've been watching it while pretending to care about other things. And now I just HAVE to explain the full extent of its intricate weave of imagery, because there's much more than meets the eye to this release and it would be a shame for anyone to miss even the tiniest detail. What seems at first like a mess of contradictions is actually an array of perfectly inter-locking pieces that create a dynamic and accurate depiction of an enchanting reality.
           Kpop has done things were 'cute' and 'gangsta' overlap, there's been other examples of aegyo mixing with straight-up awesome, but nothing else I've ever seen does it quite like this; nor nearly this well. Most other versions of an attitude that resemble this one use aegyo to straightforwardly mix in a dose of adorable, but this release takes that a leap forward by avoiding straight-aegyo, for the most part, and using a more sophisticated weave of more traditional imagery to convey the idea that the object of the narrator's affection is a singular point of exception in his world. Every single detail in the visuals plays off the notions in the lyrics, leading to an achingly cute final product that takes its message more seriously than I would have ever guessed just by glancing at the colorful screencaps.
           It also has something very important in common with Beyonce (but we'll get to that later).

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Just Tell Me - THE (SURPRISINGLY) Sweet PHILOSOPHY OF A KMV EXPLAINED.

5/14/2015

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True Love Is Hard to Define, But It's Pretty Easy to See...

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        With their lovely So Too Very Much release in February, and their March activities in Japan, I wasn't expecting anything new from these guys for a while yet. I've been pleasantly surprised by their Korean return and the release in question is itself absolutely fantastic. And when I say fantastic, I mean FANTASTIC. This is easily going to stand up as one of the very best releases of the entire year, it's going into my history books as one of the most fabulous releases EVER.
          From the set aesthetics and the basic styling, it looks like Just Tell Me can't possibly be anything to terribly spectacular. MYNAME isn't really a band with a track record of deeply meaningful or profoundly impacting releases, so when combined with a concept that looks to be more of the same old, hiphop-grunge-but-still-clubbing-chic that's been flooding the market lately there was really no reason to suspect that this release would be incredible. Honestly, there were a dozen pressing reasons to think this release would be anything but awesome, including the fact that MYNAME has already had a comeback this year, and they've had activities in Japan, so theoretically they haven't had much time to spend on this; not to mention the fact that the concept seems blandly unoriginal and the the Choreo from the teasers has some moves that stand out as painfully frequent instances of recycling moves.
          HOWEVER, to anyone who believed the teasers or who concluded on a cursory examination that it really is just another sex-focused grungy hiphop club thing: YOU GOT PLAYED. The whole thing is one big joke on us and the best part of it is that our expectations were used against us by preparing us for something mediocre, but what they gave us was something FABULOUS. Unfortunately, there are still a ton of people who are taking the release at face-value and as it's easily the best thing MYNAME has ever released, I will not suffer it to be maligned by people who won't give it more than a cursory look to allow the true elegance, sweetness, and complexity to unfold.

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Xiah Junsu's "Flower" ... Crazy Mess or Cultural Critique?

3/6/2015

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THE PRODUCTION COST OF "FLOWER" IS THROUGH THE ROOF, BUT DID JUNSU GET ENOUGH BANG FOR HIS BUCK? THE MESSAGE IN IT IS A HAZY, SILENT SCREAM TO THE VOID, MADE WITH FLASHY SYMBOLS AND GLITZY VISUALS BUT WHAT IS IT REALLY SAYING?
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          There is a HELL of a lot going on in this MV and some of it is really not all that slick. There's a ton of good stuff going on, but there's a lot that I'm disappointed in as well. I keep waffling back and forth. Junsu's voice is unquestionably one of the best in Kpop, but it's usage here doesn't make it obvious... And while there's a lot of gorgeous symbolism in the visuals, the way they're strung together without exposition leaves me less than impressed... Arguably, it's a flashy, but poignant critique of the whole nature beneath Idol culture, one I personally find unduly antagonistic. 

           But in order to critique it fairly, I think I should start by explaining what on earth is happening in it:

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The Awesomeness of Amber & What "Shake that Brass" Might Mean for Kpop

2/12/2015

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Amber has always been a brightly unique individual, in all the most wonderful ways.

This is particularly true when she is viewed as a successful superstar within the confines of the Kpop world. At this point however, the confines of that world might be changing to suit her, rather than the other way around. Shake That Brass is a great release on it's own, showing off Amber's special flair with a brush of comic hilarity. Humor of this scale is the sort that has the potential to easily normalize even the craziest of concepts and I believe that it can push this release to the next level. Kpop is evolving and becoming a world-wide phenomenon in a way that can't be ignored and Amber's unique depiction of what it can look like (and sound like) to be a successful woman in Kpop might help the rest of the world embrace the musical revolution with open arms. 

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Rocking - The (surprisingly) Deep Philosophy of a KMV Explained.

9/3/2013

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Meaning comes in Many Forms, some of them catchier than others...

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Teen Top is not a band known for their incredible story-telling or deep-seeded philosophizing or even for good music at all really. If we are to speak realistically, Teen Top is known by everyone, including their more honest Angels, as a group fabulously funny, super sweet boys with tight, intricate choreography, massive issues with role-distribution & MR, interesting hair, and a high-energy synthy sound that plays into lyrics that don't really make sense but are super catchy anyway...
At first glance, Rocking seems to be more of the same, but is it? Not at ALL. As one of the catchiest songs to have been released this summer, and as one ingloriously (and incorrectly) placed in the category 'apparently blithe and simple', I decided to take a closer look (in all honesty, it was more of a violent reaction of righteous indignation than a level headed decision, but the point still stands). Rocking is the best thing Teen Top has ever released and I will not suffer it to be maligned by those who won't look closely enough to see that between the complex meaning built into the choreography, the variegated meaning of the lyrics, and the over all visual blast of color and movement, it's one of the top ten music videos released by anyone this year at all.

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Be Ok - The Deep Philosophy of a KMV Explained.

7/17/2013

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And the Award for most Unexpectedly SPECTACULAR  goes to . . .

    I was not expecting this to be as good as it is, really, this blew me away. There's so much build and symbolism that I can hardly contain my excitement for explaining it all! Well, then let's go through this methodically, shall we?
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Why KMVs are some of the Coolest things ever:

6/29/2012

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Otherwise known as "Internet rants Should count as Healthy Anger Management" . . .

It pisses me off unbelievably when someone uses a kpop song or mv to say that the industry is sending ‘bad messages’ to their audiences, especially when they're explaining said song or mv with blatant disregard for what the media's actual message is....

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Fantastic Baby - The Deep Philosophy of a KMV Explained.

3/13/2012

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BigBang's Fantastic Baby is truly Fantastic, in every sense of the word.


In case you didn't realize how deeply narrative this EPIC MV is, here it is, broken down into understandable chunks of awesome...

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