Yup, here's another back-dated one! It's another that I just couldn't pass up because it's another that's changed how I think about a band. When these guys started out with Co-Ed School, I was initially quite hopeful. The whole boys & girls on a level playing field thing just never happens at the current time (which is something I would like to change). Their debut was meh, their follow-ups was even more meh, and the transition to Speed through Lovey Dovey and such was enough to make me let them go entirely.

I only kept a tab or two open for them because they were still attempting to power through, I honestly didn't have much hope for them though. But with Speed Circus my opinion has entirely flipped around. They have fantastic potential and it's well showcased by this release. I've seen a ton of flack floating around in regards to this MV, but honestly, it's really quite good. Yes the audio goes out of sync with the mouth movements, but I think it's more of a stylistic thing than a show of bad lipsync (I mean, they are professionals, and it's not like this is their first MV. For them to mess up {and then to not reshoot to fix it} would be a very strange occurrence in the industry). Besides, the lyrics that slide out of sink match up to moments of relative drama in both the lyrics and the action of the MV. And yes, the zoom-thing is a bit odd, but it is a one-take production, and it's done well on a very low budget, so I'm cool.

Anyway, moving on: even without subtitles, the story of the action is made abundantly clear (it's almost over done, but still I'm still fairly appreciative, though I'd rather that Core Contents take the Loen {1theK} approach of automatically subbing everything). The story is quite simple, and common in the industry, but it's still nicely done. There's a lot of Big Bang echoes here (I'm thinking in particular about Lies and Bad Boy, there's a lot of stylistic elements in how the action moves, and the singers don't affect it at all, not to mention how the camera flows between shots within the narrative. There's also correlations between the color tones & the overall style palates {though Speed's MV is fully saturated, sharp with color, which I actually prefer}. Even the musical style has elements Big Bang's unique flavor, the highly melodic backbeat paired with rhythmically intense rap lyrics and the light high-sung and sweet harmonic turn of the chorus present in much of Big Bang's Discography. Being a hardcore VIP means that I enjoy these little stylistic odes). All in all, the song is fantastic. It's energetic, refreshing, and straightforwardly awesome. And the video, while not up the clean-cut standards of some of the industry's other artistic acts, is still quite lovely and offers up a nice compliment to the track.

        I don't know, T-ara's managed to pull through some ridiculous scrapes over the past two years; all the bullying scandals and member shifts and public relations nightmares... Not to mention the fact that their main promotional strategy seems to be "release fifty-billion different versions" of the same song . . . Unfortunately, Number 9 seems to be following the same business plan. Admittedly, as much as it peeves me to have 15 versions of something, the marketing has apparently been successful, allowing T-ara to weather their recent storms of Netizen disapproval.
        Anyway, the song they've chosen to promote this time is more of their ultra-catchy techno-pop, in the same vein of "disappointing coulda-been-great" as LoveyDovey, RolyPoly, and Sexy Love, with rather nonsensical lyrics and a seeming deeper meaning to be teased out with lots of patience. They've given it their typical first-release video as well, a video with a generally uninteresting execution of a spectacular premise. The video's production quality is very high and all the girls are GORGEOUS as always. The sets and styling and glam and glorious and I love so many aspects of it that it's tragic to not adore the whole thing.
        Song-wise, it's been getting tons of praise and I'm just not seeing where that praise is coming from. Yes, it's catchy. Yes, from a technical standpoint, T-ara has managed to merge the emotional swoop of a ballad's tune into a catchy dance track and that's cool. Yes, the transitions between sections are fluid and beautifully produced. None of that makes it a really good song, though. None of that means that the track has the emotional power of a good ballad, it just has the melodic swoop of one. Really, I love the song, hot dang is it catchy and well produced, but it's just not very powerful. The harmonies are flat, more like a support track than a fill, and the lack of independence from the main melody of any melodic line leads it to feel like a group of girls singing along to a pop song rather than an original song itself. The only points at which a solo voice is raised above the hum of the chorus are the beginning with the guitar and humming and the "I'm addict" lines. The opening is lovely, but the addict bit break the flow of the song, sound jarringly out of place, and do nothing for the song but lead into the raps. The whole song has bits that could have been great and then were just dropped into a safe zone. Altogether, it's really just meh.
        The video is absolutely gorgeous. The production, the styling, the sets and scenery, the choreography . . . all of it's beautiful. However, it's being praised as an almost minimalist creation, people are saying the "simple set highlights how good T-ara is at performing" and that it "gets rid of the crazy flash and bang" of some other concepts. I'm all for giving praise where praise is due, T-ara is fantastic at performing, but there is nothing simple about their sets, nor is there any lack of flash and bang. In fact, one of my biggest criticisms is that it's literally so flashy the choreography is hard to see at times.
        Not to offend any QUEENs out there, but I really just don't get why T-ara's so popular. They have potential to be incredible, so maybe that's it, but there's only been glimpses of that potential released for public consumption so it can't be the real driving force behind their success. This album has a few great songs on it, but their promotional track is just blah. Still, it's a beautiful MV to watch.