UNIQ has been having a great year so far and their follow-up to EOEO is just another thing to love! Following the patter of EOEO, it's another dramatic departure from their previous release, swinging their image back towards the suave and sweet idea from their debut. It stands apart from anything else they've done because of it's relax, coffee-shop casual atmosphere and sweetly smooth acoustic elements. What I like most about it is the fact that the track manages to capture the relax coffee-shop acoustic vibe without losing the delightful melodic energy that is quickly becoming UNIQ's trademark sound. The setting and styling is all gorgeous and the video has a great mix of real-time cuteness and slo-mo glamour-shots. Over all, it's an adorable addition to UNIQ's MV list and I love it.
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A Very Solid Debut! Right off the bat I have to say that the thing I find most interesting here is that law enforcement is involved, and legal penalties are as well. Neither of those things make it into most music videos, particularly those depicting the stereotypical gangsta bad boy crew. The other interesting point is that they actually have a 'real' weapon. In most MVs the idea of a gun is alluded to through miming motions rather than a prop, and I've seen dramas where even knives are blurred out by the Censors... Those details made this a very interesting release, aside from the fact that it was an anticipated debut.
Over all it lived up to my expectations. It is my firm belief that ALL debuts should have names attached to the members in the MV, so that was a tick in the right column. The track is catchy and well-produced, with an aggressive slide of energy bridging between the backing track and both the melodic-vocal and rap-vocal sections. The MV mixes generalized adorable tom-foolery in the drama-scenes with aggressive bad-assery in the Choreo, giving the new group a perfectly balanced image right from the get-go. The parkour was pretty sweet, though it was very clearly just to be impressive rather than to actually facilitate an escape. Most of it would have actually slowed a would-be escapee down... it was still pretty cool to watch though. Most of the Styling is gorgeous, there's a few outfits the gave me pause, but they're only on-screen for a few seconds, so it's nothing to be concerned about. The only other thing I have worries about is the fact that their voices aren't terribly strong in this. It could just be how this track frames their voices, but it really feels like their vocals are rather weak over all. They have potential, certainly, and I'll be keeping an eye on them, but the fact stand that I was definitely rather less than impressed with their vocals. I haven't listened to the rest of their release, so I may rescind my statement, but for now... The 'Special Cut' version was not my favorite bonus feature. It was very simple and all it really showed off was the fact that none of their cover-alls actually FIT them... But it was a unique extra I suppose. HOT DAMN! This MV is AMAZING. With their fantastic 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. In direct contract to So Too Very Much, the focus of Just Tell Me is one the smoothe melodic vocals rather than on the rap sections. It makes the two releases balance well together. Also practically polar opposite is the styling theme. From the industrial daydream bright of STVM, this release explores the dark and sultry underworld of the hiphop clubbing scene. It makes the two MVs balance out and excuses the fact that this particular style set is being wrung out to flood the market this summer... In the past two weeks alone I count at least 5 boy group releases with the same theme. Any yet, nothing about this release is even remotely ordinary. It's SO epic that I've put most of my review over on the Editorials page. It's a massive post, but I could have easily gone on for another 10 pages. Check out the analysis HERE. Seriously, this is one of the best tracks released this year and it's certainly the most impressive thing that MYNAME's ever produced. There are rhythmic elements in this that are analogous to what makes Uptown Funk zing, there are melodic elements that use the same tactics as NyanCat to generate an unbelievably energetic earworm, and it employs harmonic elements comparable to what makes WannaBe the 'catchiest song ever'. It even as RickRolling levels of hilariously and intentionally misleading surface elements. Beyond that, the lyrical story, and the visual exploration of that story, goes above and beyond anything that I would have expected from this release. It's really quite the incredible feat and I'm THRILLED about it. I Give this Release a 10/10: Perfect Beyond Words!!BoA is BACK! BoA is one of the undisputed QUEENS of Kpop, and she's been leading the industry into brave new waters for fifteen years. Kiss My Lips is the title track on her 8th studio album and it is a visual extravaganza! Honestly, BoA has never been responsible for too many of my favorite musical releases, but I admire her as a person far beyond the ability of words to express. Kiss My Lips is not my favorite track of the season, nor is the MV made for it on I consider to be anything terribly spectacular. It is however, still pretty awesome.
The massive feather fans make the perfect unusual accessory for a fanfare to the Queen. BoA looks absolutely gorgeous in every single shot, the hair and make-up styling is incredible and her outfits are all beautifully dramatic. I'm not a huge fan of the choreography, it just seems a bit choppy and honestly rather awkward.The track itself is pretty fabulous, catchy and smooth and arranged to show off BoA's strong vocals while sustaining a whispery seductive mystique. It's a lovely song and I'm sure that it'll make it into my personal playlist. The MV is an artsy sort of beautiful. It's not really my cup of tea but it's very well done and it plays off BoA's image very well. Over all I think it's quite fabulous. It's not my favorite, but I can acknowledge when something is done well even if I don't particularly like it. BoA is an undeniably fantastic artist and SM always does well with her. Not What I expected, & Not What I'd Hoped For... BESTie debuted as my favorite new girl group for their year, and I've enjoyed a lot of their releases since then, but this one is definitely not my favorite. The track is actually hella catchy. The bright brassy notes of the instrumental play well with the sass in the girls' voices. It's well-spatialized and beautifully energized and it moves well over the beat. I really do like it. And I LOVE the styling and the set aesthetics of the music video. It really is quite gorgeous. Which makes the fact that I don't really like the message a bit tragic.
Admittedly, I usually try not to say that political or social standpoints are 'wrong' per se. I only make a big deal about things if what's perceived as an 'opinion' is actually an attack. The difference being fairly simple: a basic opinion is something like I don't like cats, a politicized opinion is something like I hate people who don't like cats, and an attack is I think it's okay to kick people who don't like cats. Both are technically opinions, but can you see how one's a problem? Things like JYP's recent awful MV are attacks, promoting Rape Culture. Things like this are just opinions, but politicized opinions. The lyrics themselves are saying that the narrator is straightforward in being entirely dismissive of people who like her because of her appearance, and that such shallow attraction isn't worth her time. The lyrics make the statement softer, by explaining that this opinion has come about after a long string of empty relationships where appearance was everything. The lyrics depict a frustrated girl with an unfortunate track record with romance so that now all she sees is the sort of thing she doesn't want. The MV is not quite so forgivable. The MV takes the idea of dismissing people for their base-attraction to the narrator and takes it one step further to actively rejecting them. The girls are in search of true love and the glasses they find show them the lecherous fantasies of all the men that they encounter. I find fault with this for two reasons, first of all, the glasses are showing fantasies, internal wants and inappropriate yearnings that DO NOT SURFACE IN THE BOYS' EXTERNAL BEHAVIOR. Punishing someone for their thoughts is bridging into Brave New World or 1984 type dystopian insanity. The second reason I'm not a fan is that it shows literally every male presence as having such fantasies, and absolutely none of the female ones, because obviously all men are pigs and all women are pure and innocent. Yeah, Sexism might still be a thing... just maybe. --_--' Women, believe it or not, can like and want sex. And men are not horrible, inhuman creatures with purely lecherous intentions, not even the ones that indulge in daydreaming about putting their hands all over a pretty girl they just met. Fantasy is not something that should be policed. No one is a bad person for wanting sex. It becomes inappropriate if that desire for sex leads to the doling out of unwanted attentions. The ONLY guy that behaves even remotely like that is the blue-suit dude that buys them drinks. That could make someone uncomfortable and could genuinely be considered a breach of personal space. Unfortunately for people who are made uncomfortable by it, buying a drink for the person you're interested in is a basically universal flirting convention... Of course, refusing a drink that someone's bought for you is becoming more acceptable. Every other guy in the MV is just going about their lives, being generally decent people for what limited context we see of them. Other than that, I love the choreo, if fabulously fun and playful. I've already mentioned that the styling is gorgeous, but it's just so true that have to bring it up again. The track is incredibly catchy and very well-produced. Additionally, I enjoy that the gay couple is represented just like any other set of guys save for the fact that their fantasies are focused on each other instead of on the girls. My final comment is just a small thing, the menu in the outdoor cafe is selling hot dogs for more than 8 bucks... so either that is a DAMN good hot dog, or that's one hella over-priced processed-meat-product. Maybe it'd be okay if you got a few of them in one order, because even 3 bucks is already pushing it for a wiener in my opinion. Back on point: I want to like this release. I REALLY want to like it. But I just vehemently disagree with the main message being conveyed. I'm knocking it back at least two points. It's kind of tragic, honestly. Also, I really want to see a straight choreography video! The choreo looks like a TON of fun, but it's hard to get a good look at the whole of it in the MV and when the only practice video released so far is the Eye Contact Ver (which I don't approve of as a whole... that sort of sexiness fantasy is better left to the MV dance-versions, when I get I practice video, I expect it to be a straight shot of the practice session... that's not BESTie's fault, and they are certainly not alone in having this sort of release, but still...). Unexpectedly FANTASTIC! Following up last month's collab with Giriboy, MoonShine is back with Temperature Difference and it is pretty dang adorable. The play on words with the pink and blue lighting for a slide between Hot and Cold is charming and it creates a uniquely bright and playful set aesthetic. The track is hella catchy and very well produced. There's a great funky fresh beat pounding below a delightfully energetic vocal line and entertaining instrumental decorations.
The choreography is simple to the point of being a bit lacking, but the song itself is simple enough to support the decision to keep complicated choreo out of the MV. The girls are charming and the adorable interactions between everyone on set makes me smile. The track is just plain perfect, a fabulously fun summertime flirty. There's no real intensity to it, but that's the real charm of it. The track is a very casual, delightfully playful sort of thing, the perfect addition to any summer time backyard BBQ party playlist. Catchy, but a bit Confusing... HyunSeung has long been one of my very favorite human beings in show business, dating back to his time as a potential member of Big Bang. His work with BEAST and as a part of Trouble Maker has been fantastic, so I was totally hyped for his Solo. I wasn't disappointed. The track is hella catchy, the music video's styling is gorgeous, the choreo's killer... right up front there's so much awesomeness that I didn't know where to start when dissecting it. So I just watched it again, and then again, just to drink in the colors and the chic style.
That's when things began to get a bit iffy. The chorus is catchy, but it's really simple. That's not necessarily a negative, but the simplicity of the chorus allowed me to focus on they lyrics and more importantly on their translation. The first thing that confused me is the fact that 처음이야 translates to 'being first' but not as in 1st Place, instead it means something more like 1st Crush. Which I guess is applicable, based on the overly devoted reaction and the day-dreaming histrionics in the rest of the song, but personally I found the phrasing to lend itself to a different meaning: rather than "you're the first girl I've ever had a crush on" it seems more like the lyrics want to say "you're first among all women, best of the best", but I'm pretty sure the word for that kind of first is 먼저이야... That could just be my inexperience in Korea with either winning things or with being anyone's first, but it still confused me. Again, that could just be me. There were a few other things that confused me about the release, this time though it was the MV that was confusing. The order of events is really unclear and I couldn't really tell what was a dream and what was really happening... My final interpretation is that NOTHING actually happened. The suave slick style of the flirty HyunSeung seems to me more of an idealized sort of imaginary play-by-play, something like a shower scenario where you rehearse what you're going to say to the pretty girl that, in reality, you're never actually going to talk to. The psychosis HyunSeung displays in his apartment (the writing on the walls, the erratic behavior, the crazy hair) seems to support that theory. Nothing at all that happens in HyunSeung's apartment is plausibly real, other than the fact that he's going more than a bit crazy. It is possible, I suppose, that it's all real, since the girl appears in his apartment at the end, seemingly wearing the shirt he wore to the club, but its much more likely that none of it's real. The fact that HyunSeung wants her so much makes it more plausible that he doesn't get her. The choreo is powerful and impressive. It's not my favorite aesthetic, but it's suitable for the vibe that the sets and styling provide. The fact that it's full of abrupt and jarring movements plays off the confusion in the rest of the MV as well as with the sharp spins in the track. As for the track itself, the beat is energetic and HyunSeung's smooth vocals slide through the mix with an edgy attitude that's as catching as the track. If you can listen to this as you walk and not strut down the street, I'd be impressed. Giriboy's rap is an addition I didn't initially like (simply because I always love when JunHyung helps out his bandmates) but having seen JunHyung get a LOT of focus in 2014 for being just a bit too omnipresent in Beast's releases and in those of other bands... it was nice to see HyungSeung on his own with a rapper from a different source providing the necessary featured appearance. Over all I really do enjoy this release. The chorus does become a bit grating after a dozen listens right in a row, but still, over all, it's a fabulous track. The MV is pretty awesome too, being aesthetically gorgeous and deeply interesting in terms of story lines. Also, HyunSeung was adorable in the BTS reel. Cute & Catchy, but not Quite My Cup of Tea. The thing that this whole concept reminds me of most is Infinite's Last Romeo and their whole Season 2 Album condensed into a single release. In some ways, that's fantastic. There's a beautiful mix of bright, synthy instrumental and piano lines, a fantastic chorus of vocal harmonies, and visuals that flip easily between bright and soft with a twist of aegyo to a dark drama of genuine angst; all of which definitely go on the plus side of things. Unfortunately, drawing on such an incredibly well-developed release by a group that's matured significantly from their debut means that there's inevitably, a sense of hollowed-out immaturity hugging the vocal lines of the members of Romeo. For a debut, this is pretty impressive, but it's not the strongest sound I've ever heard from rookies, which unfortunately reflects a bit poorly on them. These kids have great potential, but they're not power-house singers in the way that it feels like they should be for this concept to be pulled off.
One thing that really bugs me about the MV is that it's in super-widescreen, so there's two lines of white around the active scenes in frame. The choreo is cute and it's well executed, but with so many glamour shots interrupting the choreo demonstrations... it's hard to tell if it's as frighteningly perfectly-in-sync as Infinite's. There's no real story in the visuals, so that's another tick-mark in the 'could be better column'. I love the track, even though it's not the profoundly impactful track it could be. The Chorus is fabulous and the raps and the bridge punch through with a great sense of intensity. It's well built, the mix and spatialization are lovely, keeping the vocals squarely in focus while the instrumental decorations bounce around without being too distracting. And over all it's a solid debut. A HotShot Duo with a Hella Hoppin' Track! So this came out a while ago, and I meant to make a review of it, but things got out of hand and I was suddenly required to be in NYC... I didn't completely forget about it though, because it's an absolutely incredible release. One benefit to being more than a bit late on the doling out of commentary is that someone's already made a fantastic analysis of the track and it's impressive MV. As you may known, Seoulbeats has a few writers that I steadfastly disagree with, but in regards to this epic release I fully agree with the analysis presented HERE. Aesthetically, the sets and stylings are gorgeous and the over-all vibe of the track suits the HipHop elegance-with-attitude notion of 4 Minute's Crazy without being so close so as to cause confusion. It makes the perfect addition to a clubhit hiphop playlist. The Choreo is sexy smooth and it seems like it'll be a TON of fun to learn and cover.
In addition to being ripe with awesomeness and attitude, the track is well balanced, hella catchy, and delightfully energetic. It moves over the beat with vibrancy and it evolves well over time. It's perfectly spatialized to make the duo's declaration of omnipotence include a sense of omnipresence. It's easily one of my favorite rap-based releases from so far this season! With the focus being on personal prowess, individual determination, and generalized self-confidence, it takes gender out of the equation is the best way. At the same time, the verses beautifully detail the intimate personal struggles of both N.Flying and AOA to make names for themselves in the wild world that is modern music in Korea. I'm a huge fan of how this stands as a departure from Jimin's usual work with AOA and I'm terribly hyped up for N.Flying's upcoming Debut! BoA Shines as Always in this cute MV! BoA's English is beautiful and it meshes fabulously with her Korean voice, many people speak the two languages with very different vocal qualities and it's often a struggle to get them to slide smoothely together. I'm not a huge fan of the washed-out colors but still, it's an artsy spring release by a sweetheart Kpop queen filmed on sunny days out of doors, so I don't have much choice in the matter. The track is light and sweet with BoA's smooth vocals on full display and a kickin' cool energy that effectively highlights the summer-time playfulness. The over all MV is adorable and sweet, and the track is doubly so. There's nothing ground-breaking in it, but I can't help but to feel the butterflies of shy delight portrayed. I honestly have nothing negative or critical to say, though it's certainly not something I have endless words of praise for. Over all, it's cute, catchy, and beautifully care-free.
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