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Fiestar - You're Pitiful (MV Review)

3/8/2015

0 Comments

 

Gorgeous and Glamorous.

           Right of the bat there's a lot of forbidden fruit imagery, and an underworld affectedness with the smoke, and a sense of taking a journey with the image of a trunk. It was more than enough to pique my interest, particularly when combined with how delightfully well-timed the imagery was in relation to the audio. My first thought was some cliche forbidden fruit and temptation thing, but the specific use of the pomegranate and the disparaging words of the song made me think of Hades and Persephone, particularly the part about how she gets tricked into staying in the Underworld by the bossy and controlling King of Hell (please note that there are a LOT of myths relating to this story and many of them have a genuine romance developing between Hades and his Bride, but some of them are less rosy depictions of the marriage-by-force). 
          Subsequent lack of follow up makes the think that connection is cursory, but it was still a delightful thing to note. The rest of the MV, while not tying itself to Greek Mythology, still has a beautiful string of visuals that correlate the relationship to self-destructive over-indulgence. It's a lovely little plot line that connects well to the lyrics. I LOVE the choreography (enjoy most choreo that involves chairs and props, but this is special). It ties well to the lyrics in that the guys are looking at the next girl over while one is paying them attention: when the guy was in a relationship with the female narrator, he was already looking ahead to the next girl he'd get which caused him to ignore the one he had (grass is always greener style). Additionally, the choreo uses levels well, having the girls at different heights, standing or sitting, on the chairs or off, in an asymmetric arrangement that played with every theory of visual interest in the books. And the whole leg-swish thing is just plain fun (as well as being hella hot).
           I also like how the lyrics acknowledge that the girl in the story is still heartbroken, but that she's not going to let her pitiful ex-temp her back into a relationship that she knows isn't good for her. It's a unique take on a post-break-up song an I highly approve. The lyrics are set nicely within the melody and the track, while being rather simple, is quite pleasant. It has enough harmonic complexity and enough decorative elements to keep it interesting. The vocal melody is catchy and it evolves well enough to more than cover for the backing track. I really like it.

I Give it An 8/10: Fabulous!

0 Comments

Fiestar - I Don't Know (MV Review)

11/17/2013

2 Comments

 

CUte! But also kinda Creepy . . .

        Okay, so I'm clearly not a raging feminist, or rather an actively campaigning feminist (because feminazism is a not a real thing and frankly the idea is rather disgusting), but I do have standards. This doesn't quite violate any of them, but it gets really close to crossing lines by more or less reinforcing the stereotypes of rape-culture. I mean really, that girls don't understand their sexual urges, but all men do and coercively arrange things for their own sexual gratification? Really? "I don't know, I don't know, it's the first time for me, it's only natural for you, but I don't know..." and "meeting only at night, 'it's like that for adults', I don't know" . . . yeah, kinda creeper-y there. & the sweater thing . . .  sweet shisus that was creepy, like 'what the hell is this guy trying to do?' creepy. And yet, at the same time, it's playing with those stereotypes, the girl exploits the distraction she poses to win the video game, and she seems to just be acting oblivious to watch him squirm... but still, it's just not kosher in my book. The nursery rhyme elements and the creeper-deep voice that chimes in now and then just make it feel very uncomfortable; very childlike and like he's ruining her innocence (which is an entirely different level of creep-tastic . . . ).
        On the other hand, I LOVE everything else about this release. The track is flawless. It's catchy and quick-witted and it moves beautifully combining elements I would have have thought could work. It slides from the verses to the chorus with grace and then into the rap with an elegant flip of meter that's jaw-droppingly straightforward and then it magically cants right back into the chorus. It's spatialized beautifully, the parts are well-balanced and well-mixed so that the vocals sit neatly inside the track and nothing feels stretched. Seriously, the only complaint I have at all about the track (aside from the lyrics) is that it ends without a cadence. One more note, really bum bum BUM (I know you can hum what I want in your head, it's a cadence, it's a human need for that last note . . .).
        The choreography rocks, the styling is gorgeous, the sets are beautiful and have just that little touch of christmasiness to make it charmingly holiday... it's really a great release. Were it not for the humanist defender of all, including female-kind in me, I'd easily throw a 9 at this, without question. But being what it is . . .

I Give it a 7/10: Me Gusta. (mostly)

2 Comments
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