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Ga In - Paradise Lost (MV Review)

3/19/2015

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Gripping and Gorgeous, as Always.

           GaIn is widely regarded as on of Kpop's high queens and she has every right to such a title. With Paradise Lost GaIn continues to show that she's a sex-goddess worthy of adoration. Personally, I'm a bit glad that she exchanged the overt, graphic sexiness of last year's Fxxk U, for a more metaphoric version. The depiction of the temptations of Eve is wonderful, and the producers have explained their reasoning for a lot of the wonderful imagery included in video. However, their explanations confuse me a bit because if what they were going for was the strong-willed, shaker-of-the-Heavens vibe... they could have used Lilith instead of Eve... (Lilith was Adam's 1st wife, the one that refused to lie beneath him). Admittedly, Milton's Eve from the epic poem, is spiteful and vindictive and actively attempting to undermine the Natural Order, which makes for a more dramatic story, but I think the Eve depicted in the MV is softer than than, more desperate than aggressive; a needy thirst for knowledge rather than an acute desire to destroy her own reality. Even Paradise can feel like a cage if it's painted in the right light...
             GaIn as Eve breaks free of her cage, and then tempts Adam to follow her. It's wonderfully depicted in how a snake appears above GaIn in the beginning and then in the black & white solo-scene she's in an outfit that is highly reminiscent of scale and her maneuvers are extraordinarily snake-like (and presented in direct correlation to a snake-shot), indicating that she she herself has become Adam's adder of temptation. The black and white inversion sequence is not only an awesome sequence, but is shows a stunningly demonstrative example of how heaven and hell and right and wrong can be jumbled up when portrayed at certain slants. The naked, groveling men are both reaching out with carnal desires and also bowing before the greatness of GaIn's diamond clothing, which is valuable and gorgeous in a way that people trapped in Paradise could never comprehend. It's a GOREGOUS mv.
               The song is incredibly powerful, to just top off the amazingness of this release. It's well balanced and beautifully spatialized and gorgeously aching. GaIn can pour emotions into her voice, too many to name all at once in a delicate balance that draws on a fantastic sense inner-power and absolute desperation in the same breath. It's an almost magical vocal quality and the constrained energy of it it caps off every track GaIn's ever been a part of. The evolution of the track is directly complimented by the evolving visuals, making the complete release far superior to either the track or the MV on it's own. It's a beautifully done release and I bow before the queen.

I Give It a 9/10: Blissful!

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LC9 - Just A Dream (Nelly Cover)

12/8/2013

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Sweet Shisus how did I miss this?

        I may be more than a bit biased towards loving this song (it was the first song I ever had to choreograph on my own. It was part of my special high school education  {the IB program required us to log hours as an active contributor to some sort of sport. Some people lead like legit sports teams to league championships. I jumped around in sweatpants and played with a sound board and innocent lives} and I will forever be fond of it), but even if that weren't so, I'd have to say that these guys do a fantastic job with this track. Seriously. It's a GORGEOUS cover.
        And now I'm craving an LC9 comeback that includes King R&B solo, possibly even in English. I'm also hoping for a solo for Rasa, or maybe a duet between the two of them. And E.Den's lower vocals balance the smoothe highs out so perfectly. J.Hyo, AO, and Jun are such cuties and their voices mellow it out adding soft middle tones that rough the track up in just the right ways, especially with the short rap in Korean. It changes up the rhythms brilliantly.
New fantasy kpo team here, I want subgroup promotions. Rasa, King, and E.Den on a smoothe R&B track and then J.Hyo, AO, & Jun on a kickin dance track that has them playin gangsters or super spies. Or Nega Network could mix the two ideas and give me one complete LC9 comeback, I'm down for either.
       
Honestly, with the variety of voices adding depth of meaning to the universalizing question "have you ever loved somebody" . . . I kinda like this one better. Their voices are spectacular and their producers are Top-Class.
        And the MV, though quite obviously made on a budget of negative ten bucks, is pretty fantastic on it's own account. It's really quite well done. The transitions between members, the slides along notes, and cuts at the cadence; it's all the result of great planning and great editing. The lighting is a little awkward at times, and the transitions between warm and cool colors are a bit abrupt, but still phenomenal job. This right here his how you make your own MV (granted the camera they used probably cost more than my house, but hey, that why you make cool friends with people in cool places).

I give it a 9/10: Blissful!

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Brown Eyed Girls - Kill Bill (MV Review)

8/1/2013

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Well, alright then . . .

I love the whistling and the opening BW painting scene, it's all very dramatic and sexy and eerily tense. And the tattoo is gorgeous, and all the movie allusions are spectacular. The transition into the main song, through the picture, is pretty cool, but I would have preferred it if the picture's characters had started moving instead of that opening crotch shot. *Shrugs* Some people like the stupidly-sexy thing, I am just not one of those people. Guys, girls . . . just not a fan of crotch shots in any way, or choreography that mandates them. I like almost all of the rest of the choreography, it's all super sexy without being lewd and it plays with the melody.

I love the styling. Between the movie allusions and the rest of the outfits, the styling has the BEG girls looking smokin hot and ties into the MV's storyline beautifully. I also like the character introductions. I'm always a fan of putting member names in MVs, regardless of how well known a band is. If you want to get new fans interested, telling them who's who is always the smart play. Besides, code names are fun. I would have liked it if the words would stay up on the screen long enough for me to read all of them without pausing the video but, hey.

The song is fabulous, it moves well over the beat, it's melodically intricate and active. There's delightful harmonic complexity and a pretty good build up of tension. The raps, especially the second one, are well utilized to manage the tension, serving to both release and re-build the feeling of anticipation. And the way that the video ends with a synth-whistle to mimic to opening whistle is a very come-full-circle moment that I enjoy greatly.

All in all this MV is definitely meant to kill fans, and it accomplishes that very well. Like I said, I'm just not a fan of the crotch shot, but even ignoring that altogether, this MV is sexy and steamy to a T, as well as being funny and playful.

I Give it An 8/10: Fabulous!

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