Slick Censorial Satire.
EXID has enjoyed a wild ride to fame this year, after a few bumps in the road post-debut. They've managed to make a comeback on comments on the media monster that both road-blocked and steam-rolled their way to success. The censorship aspect of the modern world's media machine is one that is frequently discussed but rarely critiqued with much punch in the public sphere. Building off the obvious success of Up&Down, Ah Yeah! directly comments on the backlash EXID faced for the choreography saturated with pelvic-thrusts and sexualized imagery. Ah Yeah, while reusing the punchy beat and slick sax of Up&Down is a unique production with a smoother finish than the song that brought EXID into the spotlight. Ah Yeah is a fuller track, with a deeper, more aggressive impact as the bass is dropped by no small measure and the high-end is stretched into the heavens with a whiny slide of falsely-simpering vocals. Hani's coy little act and LE's aggressive, mic-drop worthy comeback shows in dramatic relief the distance between what is expected of women being hit on and what a genuine reaction should be.
With sass and charm, the girls of EXID take on the media's rampant abuse of power by making point-blank digs at the sexual double standard that makes girls out to be 'sluts' and boys into 'sex gods'. The lyrics are no-holds-barred attacks and the girls pull no punches with them, stating directly that there is something wrong with the way things are. The censorship blurs cover up choreo that is similar to what the KCSC forced them to cover in Up&Down, but the choreo here is focused on knee movement than the pelvic movement, and therefore it's considered to be kosher according the the KCSC. While I personally like the knee dance of Ah Yeah better than I like Up&Down's choreo, I think it's a pretty rotten deal to have the government be able to declare a female body to be obscene based on such a tiny distinction.
Not only is Ah Yeah an aggressive dig at the media and censorship policies, it's a story of triumphantly reclaiming the freedom to exist as a female that is also an independent, proud, powerful, strong, sexual, and sensual human being. EXID gets the last laugh, by changing nothing in their routine from the heavily censored start of the video to the uncensored end of it as the world shifts to accommodate them (rather than a world that succeeds into cowing them to change and censor themselves). This is an incredible release, reminiscent of the gorgeous critique found in Mamamoo & eSNa's Ah Opp! but thrown into high gear without giving any slack to nonsense. Coming on the heels of the atrocious (but unfortunately extraordinarily catchy) release that is JYP's Who's Your Mama, Ah Yeah is a breath of fresh air that proves beyond a doubt that music is never just music. By censoring something, the media makes observers expect something awful, which makes the thing behind the blur obscene regardless of how it would have seemed without censorship.
This critique of modern media culture is powerful, poignant, and perfectly suited to the times. With LE having been in a key production role to help her group members to a brilliant comeback and Shinsadong Tiger providing the experience and expertise needed to take it up a notch, Ah Yeah could hardly have been anything but fabulous.
With sass and charm, the girls of EXID take on the media's rampant abuse of power by making point-blank digs at the sexual double standard that makes girls out to be 'sluts' and boys into 'sex gods'. The lyrics are no-holds-barred attacks and the girls pull no punches with them, stating directly that there is something wrong with the way things are. The censorship blurs cover up choreo that is similar to what the KCSC forced them to cover in Up&Down, but the choreo here is focused on knee movement than the pelvic movement, and therefore it's considered to be kosher according the the KCSC. While I personally like the knee dance of Ah Yeah better than I like Up&Down's choreo, I think it's a pretty rotten deal to have the government be able to declare a female body to be obscene based on such a tiny distinction.
Not only is Ah Yeah an aggressive dig at the media and censorship policies, it's a story of triumphantly reclaiming the freedom to exist as a female that is also an independent, proud, powerful, strong, sexual, and sensual human being. EXID gets the last laugh, by changing nothing in their routine from the heavily censored start of the video to the uncensored end of it as the world shifts to accommodate them (rather than a world that succeeds into cowing them to change and censor themselves). This is an incredible release, reminiscent of the gorgeous critique found in Mamamoo & eSNa's Ah Opp! but thrown into high gear without giving any slack to nonsense. Coming on the heels of the atrocious (but unfortunately extraordinarily catchy) release that is JYP's Who's Your Mama, Ah Yeah is a breath of fresh air that proves beyond a doubt that music is never just music. By censoring something, the media makes observers expect something awful, which makes the thing behind the blur obscene regardless of how it would have seemed without censorship.
This critique of modern media culture is powerful, poignant, and perfectly suited to the times. With LE having been in a key production role to help her group members to a brilliant comeback and Shinsadong Tiger providing the experience and expertise needed to take it up a notch, Ah Yeah could hardly have been anything but fabulous.
I Give It A 9/10: Blissful! |  |
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