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Miss A - Only You (MV Review)

4/10/2015

Not Hush, but Still Catchy

Miss A has had a career of absolutely incredible, industry redefining hits and this is not one of them. With the phenomenal "Hush" having been their last release, the standard they'd set up was impossible to live up to and it's no surprise that "Only You" isn't as good. That is not to say that this release isn't good on it's own merit, because the case is quite the opposite. "Only You" works off a bouncy energy with a unique undercurrent of energy that blends an upbeat smoothe melodic-pop track with a sort of Trap-twist framework, very synthy bright and yet flavored with the grittier edge of digital instrument music (without falling prey to the current standardized fallback of rap/hip-hop). The MV itself is full of gorgeous styling on gorgeous girls and interesting camera tricks that perfectly balance out the audio quirks. I'm a sucker form the pink outfits, the color gives the girls an edge of sweetness while the sharp lines of the actual clothing articles ensures that none of the classical Miss A attitude is lost.
Over all, I really do like it. Even though it's still not nearly as good as "Hush".
(Also, the 'screaming man' is a consonance trick. It connects the upbeat pop-push with the trap sections by creating a disruption point that is common to both sections. It begins about 2 seconds before every trap section ends and goes about 3-4 seconds into the pop-sections before your brain can't keep track of it anymore, it's there again in the transition back to trap for about half the time).

I give it a 7/10: Me Gusta.

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Miss A - Hush (MV Review)

11/21/2013

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Hella Hot, but Not Quite What I'd Hoped For.

        Though, I'm not exactly sure what I apparently was hoping for, because this is pretty dang flawless. Sweet shisus the styling is good, sexy and sensual and yet not just skin-showing (though there's definitely a lot of skin, it's all shown as a secondary sex-factor. Honestly, the hair-porn in this MV is the main feature of sexiness in my opinion.) As for the choreography, there were a few moves I could have done without: the slide on the floor was just a bit too, yeah, but even that was actually utilized quite tastefully. The rest of it is absolutely gorgeous: I love how well they made use of all four of them in most of the shot, showing off different angles and making use of their even number of members to create great mirror shots.
        I also love how all the visuals tie in together, the drip of Min's shower scene bleeds into Fei's flooded domestic setting, Fei on her chair as mimicking Suzy sitting on the train, and Suzy's flickering light and candy, linking to Jia's supermarket scene. We move from the intensely private sphere of the shower to the utterly public sector of the store as we follow the MV's progression and the micro/macro-scale comparison is beautiful. I also really like how it sticks to having each member sing inside her own set, the one she was first introduced in. And it's just gorgeous how these set-ups allude to various insecurities: Min as vulnerable, in a place where it's supposedly safe to bare her soul and yet not bare (honestly I think the fact that she's not naked, and therefore symbolically still has her secrets, makes a more powerful statement of insecurity than if she were actually naked; it's like saying that she can't bare everything out, even if she genuinely wanted to); Fei as drowning in domesticity, the pressures of simply being happy and normal as things that can feel utterly unbearable at certain moments; Suzy as the little girl lost and alone and feeling like she's only pretending to be a grown-up (I know a TON of people feeling this sort of angst at the moment, college is a crazy place to try to find yourself in); and Jia as the utterly objectified, the sex-symbol left forgotten in the store after all the goods have been ransacked (this could be a metaphor saying either that after sex {the store's ransacking} she's nothing but a decoration, or that in a disaster that would result in food being stolen, she doesn't count as something vital enough to be taken. Both are legitimate fears, similar and yet ever so slightly, and importantly, different).
        I think it's fantastically interesting that instead of using the video's plot to hold a straightforward "put insecurities on display and then dispel them" sort of storyline, the video goes into an idea of something almost entirely unrelated. The blatant sexual desires of the narrator sort of address the insecurity issues, being that she is a fully human creature, a grown woman with wants and needs and therefore also fears. These fears of being made into something less than a fully competent and independent entity are only addressed by means of a slant in world-view, as a mature and competent independent woman who knows her body and desires, it would suggest that she has nothing to fear in her insecurities. But interestingly, it also opens up the idea that both the confidence and the fears can exist at exactly the same moment as different layers, often overlapping layers as well, in the complex creature that is the human female. This idea is added to by the fact that the title font for Hush is a ripple on water that never fully levels out, it's a surface eternally worried and marked by some invisible past event that settled below the surface; she is both perfectly fine and also forever changed. It's a statement that's unfortunately rare in most spheres of pop-culture. I like it.
        And then there's the track itself. Sweet Shisus it's gorgeous! The build is incredible. The acoustic start, the tense, whispery beginning feeling deeply of secrets being told or kept and fears being tamped down or wants being confessed to . . . the clear vocals and the distorted rebound of the delay as it travels ear to ear with expert panning controlled to elicit anxiety . . . the sly addition of the sub-bass beat level making everything stretch just a little bit further, like it's someone pushing boundaries or reaching out for something vital and intangible . . . Aigoo, it makes an audiophile squirm with glee. I LOVE it.
        All in all, this is easily one of the sexiest releases of the year, particularly by a girl group. I love the unflinching honesty in it, the daring to go a little grunge without going gangster . . . It might even be my favorite female comeback of 2013; it's at least in the running for it!

I Give It A 9.5/10: Divine!!

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Miss A - Only You (MV Review)

Not Hush, but Still Catchy

I give it a 7/10: Me Gusta.

Miss A - Hush (MV Review)

Hella Hot, but Not Quite What I'd Hoped For.

I Give It A 9.5/10: Divine!!

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