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SAN-E - #LuvUHater (MV Review)

4/13/2015

Delightfully Dark and Dramatic

San-E is typically known for his comedic MVs. His unique vocal quality lends itself easily toward humorous and lighthearted raps with chill vocals. This release is a dramatic departure from his norm. Even last summer's Body Language wasn't nearly the change that this. While Body Language gave us a new sort of visual for San-E and darker aesthetic than we'd seen previously, and it even had more sultry and sophisticated vocal variations, that most of his previous work. #LuvUHater is still in its own league. Body Language was still more of a comically sultry satire rather than an actual leap into the angsty abyss.
This new release is not my favorite song by San-E... It's not even in the running really. I'm just not a fan of it, which is not to say that it's poorly done. It's just not my genre. This minimalist straight rap thing is not my style, but San-E's pulled it off incredibly well. At it's most basic, rap is beat-poetry with a solid instrumental backing and the nebulous tones in this track blur that line dramatically. The move well and vary enough to carry the track though, and the visuals are poignant and relevant: artistically captured, without being overly hipster-fake-artsy-chic. It's the visuals that make this for me, they carry the vocals well, delineating the separate lines and putting an emphatic curve on all the words that need it without requiring repeated a vocal push that could get quite tiresome to hear. It leaves the vocal inflections in reserve for the moments when that can be truly effective. The message is strong and worth saying and it comes across perfectly through both the lyrics and the visuals and the instrumental adds tone.
It's not my favorite, but it is very well done.

I Give it an 8/10: Fabulous.

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Bumkey - Attraction (MV Review)

8/18/2013

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Smoothe & Sweet.

Melodically, this track is a lovely low-key swirl of smoothe vocals, strong under melodies in the instrumental, and great harmonic swings. It moves inside the instrumental, keeping the energy up without making tension pile up.

The styling is great, classy and not over the top. The choreography is pretty basic, but it's worked into the track and the video very well, subtly influencing the impactfulness of certain slides in the melody and visuals flashing across the screen. The split-screens are very nicely done, showing both distance and nearness in the same shot, and calling on the notion of 'feeling alone in crowded room', as well as impotence, jealously, and mutual circumstance. There's also the idea that this keeps happening to him and that it's unendingly frustrating, as displayed in about 5 seconds in single scene of split screens instead of in 20 seconds over multiple repetitions. Very well done.

In all I like the song and the MV's really sweet, in addition to being well-made.

I Give it a 6/10: Good Job.

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Phantom - I Already Know (MV Review)

8/16/2013

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The video is standard fare, but the track . . .

Phantom's latest track is absolutely beautiful. The vocals are flawless, the mix balances everything perfectly. The harmonic lines fill out the whole thing in a building sense of space, & it curls sweetly around the listener with warm undertones and crisp high notes. The sections are well timed, the perfect Goldilocks middle ground of not too long but long enough to feel solid, sure, and steady. The bridge sweeps out from under you, but gently enough so it doesn't feel like your falling. Rather, when the beat kicks back in, it feels like a conspiratorial smile and then being pulled off by the hand.

And then there's the lyrics. The sweetness in them is something that can't possibly be overlooked by any sane person. It's entirely pan-cultural, too. In the West the notion of 'I Know' is usually thought of as a reference to StarWars, but that's not it. There a reason that line is so sexy, so viscerally appealing. It goes deeper into the human consciousness, the human condition. Being understood on that kind of a level just feels good. And Phantom brings that idea to the table beautifully here. First of all there's the notion of just understanding another person without needing words to make the connection possible. And secondly, there's the promise that the boys of Phantom know and return the feelings of their fans. More than that even, they take the voiceless understanding even further, by saying that not only to they understand their fans' feelings (and the metaphorical girl's) they know that she/we already know; that it goes without saying that we all understand each other on such a deep level that words are entirely unnecessary.

As for the video itself, as I've said, it's pretty standard fare for a BTS video. Phantom is cute and sweet and serious about their work, but the fact that this video is BTS, instead of a story, implies beyond any doubt that the meaning of the song's 'girl' is the fans. It's implicit, just like the song is talking about. We understand that the single lover than Phantom is singing about is actually the fans in general, and they know that we'll be able to figure that out. Honestly, the fact that this video is BTS and not a story, that it connects like it does to the song . . . it's beautifully done and sweeter than any story they could have put to this track.

I can't give it too many bonus points, because it really doesn't have a story, and without the track behind it, the MV is nothing special at all, but it definitely gets a few because the decision to make it a BTS vid was a very conscious one and one that turned out better than any story would have.

I give it a 9/10: Blissful!

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SAN-E - #LuvUHater (MV Review)

Delightfully Dark and Dramatic

I Give it an 8/10: Fabulous.

Bumkey - Attraction (MV Review)

Smoothe & Sweet.

I Give it a 6/10: Good Job.

Phantom - I Already Know (MV Review)

The video is standard fare, but the track . . .

I give it a 9/10: Blissful!

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