Cool and Catchy, but I'm not Crazy about it...
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.
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.
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