Stalkery, obsessive behavior is no better when it's framed with Aegyo than it is when framed by dark broodiness. It's still creepy as hell, and the fact that they not only stalk him, and invade his home, but also rifle through is underwear drawer is just plain stalker-creep of them. It's not cute, no matter how many plastic toys or foam-plushie kitty noses go into it... That said, I do still like this MV, though not entirely for it's own merit. It reminds me strongly of Kara's Wanna MV, which has a very similar concept, though I like the track for Wanna much better. Kara's MV is one I found perfectly acceptable when I watched it, but that's because in 2009 I was 16, and stalking the person I had a crush on seemed perfectly reasonable to my hormone-addled brain. Which it isn't. At all. And as a significantly more sane 22yr old, I'm appalled that I ever empathized with the idea... So I'm kinda ewwed out by this, worrying over how many teenagers are going to see it as an acceptable response to attraction...
           Aside from that I do love the styling in this, the whole comic-book pizzazz with sequins vibe is absolutely fabulous and I deeply enjoy all the street fashion that was worked in as well. In terms of the track, I actually find it annoyingly cutesy, considering how wonderfully they managed to avoid falling into that trap with their debut. This track does have it's appeal, it is well made and well balanced and it moves over a delightfully energetic beat with a strength that normally evades straight-up aegyo tracks. For an aegyo-focused song, there's no skimping or shirking, so it's actually a really good track. I just don't like it (There's absolutely no relation between how good a song is and how much I like it, they often correlate, but there's no legit connection). It's a solid comeback and it does good things for the Aegyo genre as a whole, so I'm quite pleased by the release and CLC is a band to watch!

          "Crystal Clear" is an odd name to condense to CLC, but whatever, it's certainly not the strangest name in Kpop. CLC is a good, easy to remember, roll-off-the-tongue kind of name, so it works. I think this group has a great chance of success for many reasons, starting off with the fact that the classy-cute but full of attitude vibe suits the generalized production vibe of CUBE Entertainment. A-Pink deviates significantly from the party line expected from a CUBE artist so I'm not surprised that their cutesy debut came very close to flopping. They've since recovered beautifully, but it was a worrisome situation. BtoB was fell into line more with A-Pink than with Beast or 4 Minute and they've never been used to their full potential. CLC is much more what I would have expected from a Cute Concept Group from CUBE than anything else they've orchestrated.
           There's plenty of aegyo and innocence and high smoothe vocals, but there's also a lot of sass and synth overlay that add energy and interest to the whole release. It's pop-y and peppy and perfectly cute, while being sharp synthed and pumped with bright energy enough to show off an undercurrent of aggressive confidence, the sort that comes from a self-awareness of being awesome. The sassy-ass hair-flips are the prime example, being sudden sharp movements laced within the sugary-sweet oohs and aahs and smooth 'shy' shoulder shrugs. The track itself back up the attitude-but-adorable vibe, being filled with sweet high notes carried off by strong, full-bodied vocals that haven't been squished by cute-i-fication. The backing instrumentals are quirky and set at a nice mid-level that keeps the baseline feeling light, but still allows the high notes to shine as quite a stretch.
            The video is fabulous, on all counts. The visuals of the settings are unique and identifiable without being so bizarre that they don't mesh with the rest of the genre. The styling is classy and cutesy, the sports-wear being off-set by pastel pinks for cute-ness, and skin-tight elements in classic black that bring in the sexy and sensual while still being somewhat reserved and the non-coordinate sports-wear is off-set by the aegyo-acting. The classy little-black-dress outfits are off-set by the fluffy skirts, the pale-paneling, and the adorable cheerleader ponytails. The choreography is flawless, paired perfectly with the flow of the track, meshed well into the styling, and captured perfectly by the camera's movements. There's enough glamour shots to start learning the differences between the the members and then at the end the helpful snapshots allow us to put names to the faces we've begun to learn. I like how the names come at the end rather than the beginning (like in many debut MVs) because in the beginning, I don't know the differences in the faces well enough to able to identify them as the video progresses. But after watching them for a few minutes? The names actually stick.
              All in all, this is a fantastic release and a fabulous debut. I'm delighted with what they've got right now and I'm excited about their release prospects for the future.