Big Bang is my ultimate Bias Group. They're also the basically undisputed Kings of Kpop. That said... I've had a long-time struggle with the fact that I only really love about half of their music, and maybe a third of their MVs. 'Loser' is a pretty great track. GD's skill with creating a punchy energy that vibes neatly with a low-key slide of understatement is top-notch and it's displayed here fabulously. The track moves well and evolves over the course of the piece, with elements jumping both in and out. The spatialization is spot-on, swirling beautifully around the listener in a perfectly thematic mess that mirrors the distress and chaos inside the characters' heads. I really like the track, though I'm not putting it in any party playlists. It accomplishes it's goal of inspiring true angst that connects with the deepest fears of all its listeners.
           The MV on the other hand is... not bad. It's not even half as awesome as Fantastic Baby, but in all honestly that's an impossibly high bar to set. And since I'm whining about how awesome the Fantastic Baby era was, I should admit that I wasn't thrilled about Blue or Bad Boy, either, and I was downright disappointed with Monster... So basically the less-than-impressed reaction I've had after two years of waiting is mostly due to unrealistic expectations. Loser's storylines are fairly well developed and they're actually quite interesting. They've been interpreted by a ton of people already (I'm sooo late with this review, blame the fact that I just had a graduation ceremony for the completion of the entirety of my school years), and one of the best explanations is HERE. The MV's Styling is gorgeous, and Big Bang's typical "suave but like waaaaay out there" sort of quirkiness. And, as a few MVs have been doing as of late, the washed-out look of the de-saturated images actually suits the aesthetic very well and, even though the look is not my favorite, I have to admit that it does very well here.
           Over all... I don't really like it. I love the track, but I am less than happy with the release over all, especially since I was SO looking forward to Bae Bae which... well read that review HERE.

          Considering the fact that Big Bang is literally the most important musical group in the world to me... I don't find myself blindly adoring their musical releases. And Bae Bae... is NOT one for the acclaimed annals of history. I was SO hyped for it. Bae Bae looked like it had the potential to be incredible. And with Papa YG himself stating that the 19+ rating was meant to open up story-telling possibilities.... I was hoping that it would be able to take fans on a ride that makes every other dramatic Kpop release in the past few years look like comic-flip-books in comparison.... And what I got was a drugged-up Sex-fiend fantasy with no real impact and no over-arching political statement or dramatized viewpoint declaration. Not only is this a rather pathetic attempt to tell a story, I feel personally betrayed because the press releases had specifically stated that “It wasn’t a 19+ video just because we wanted to be sensationalist or sexual." Which is a blatant lie, because sensationalist & sexual are the only two words that accurately encapsulate the MV at all. There's a bit of a futuristic cant to it, I'll admit, but only in the fact that there's hookers on the moon (a moon set that looks exceptionally fake and rather awkward to be perfectly honest). The MV is honestly a bit disgustingly sexual with references so obtusely blatant that the subtle references get ignored in the face of your brain shutting itself down. Even Koreaboo made a list of sexual references and it barely covers the half of them! Honestly, it seems like the MV was vulgar for vulgarity's sake and it gives nothing to a broader theme or storyline. Honestly, TOP's face-shot is repulsive, and all the spray references and the literal skirt-chasing just make me feel uncomfortable... It's the single-most disappointing music video that Big Bang has released since I first became a Kpop fan. 
            The styling is mostly awkward, though the members are all so fantastically attractive that it hardly matters and their charisma shines through even the most ridiculous of outfits. The track is okay. It's awkwardly imbalanced and dramatically un-catchy, which is something I never thought I would ever say about a Big Bang track. It's spatialized well, and there is a uniquely entrancing vibe that permeates the mix of smooth acoustic and jarringly above-the-mix rap aspects... but over all it's only okay. The two main genres are mixed together quite impressively, but they don't mesh well and they feel quite incompatible as a whole. It's quirky and unique and certainly a song to reference in terms of ambitious musical experiments, but not one to be included in the 'Successful Experiments' category. Over all, I dislike the song, but I will admit that it has aspects that are impressive. The MV on the other hand is deplorable. The ONLY thing it had going for it is that it's not actively assaulting the idea of female sexuality or being too obscenely antagonistic to women as human beings. To say that the only thing going for you is that you DON'T proliferate Rape Culture is not really the kind of complement you want when your previous releases have been game-changingly incredible and deeply profound declarations of political and social platforms. Fantastic Baby might not have been everyone's favorite track, and it might have begun to grate on the ears in the two years of waiting we've had since it's release, but hell. I'd have waited longer for something even half as awesome.
           Loser was okay. But with Bae Bae being what it is... I can only hope that the other singles that Big Bang is planning on releasing this summer for MADE have some dribbles of the majesty and creativity that should have gone into the first pair on the release schedule... I just can't accept that THIS is what we get after 2 long years.

        I LOVE this track, and the MV that goes with it, though I can see easily how it wouldn't do terribly well with a wide swath of the Kpop fandom. It's a very nitty gritty track, in a genre that's relatively new to the Kpop scene, the the MV isn't the typical flashy smoothe thing a fan would expect (especially from TaeYang). However, that's exactly why I like it so much. There's a sort of sterilized underworld image that's broken onto the scene lately with bands like Block B, B.A.P, and Bangtan Boys throwing out weird 'gangsta' themed promotionals. GD & TOP have always been outliers with their craziness, and they are excused for their strangeness by the Fandom simply because they're GD & TOP, but TaeYang is regarded more like a mainstream Kpop and held to rather sterilized standards of nitty-gritty weirdness. TaeYang's cleverly circumvented that issue by having GD compose the song, but now people are criticizing it as being a GD-Clone Vid. That's unfortunate, but understandable. I mean, even the first time I heard the track I though it sounded like it was how Coup D'Etat was meant to be (especially in the styling, the styling was straight from GD's MV, though I have to say I think TaeYang pulled it off better, looking more like a dramatic villain and less like a crack head).
        But really, upon giving it several dozen 'second-listens', it doesn't even feel like a GD track so much as feels like it could have been odd enough for him. It fits TaeYang's vocals very well and I thought that hearing him rap was interesting. I don't particularly like how his voice handles a few of the sections, but all of the melodic rap and the powerful vamp sections are just beautiful. The track moves along brilliantly and in all honesty, GD wouldn't sound half as good as TaeYang were he to perform it.
        I love that it shows a different side of the Korean underground than most 'underworld' MVs: it gets into the city-scum ideas, showing a dramatic F-You, middle finger raised to authority, sort of rave rather than the glamorous underground parties of videos like Go And Tell Them, or Beautiful. It's also not the obviously set-up-on-a-stage sort of MV that No More Dream was or MaMaBeat or even Warrior. It's a party for the hell of it that's not prettied up, with plenty of aggression to go with it. But it's also gorgeously smoothe, presenting this sort of alternative lifestyle as something that isn't objectionable or problematic, just different. It moves sweetly through gorgeous images of the fires and sunset scenes and promotes passion and fun as the main motivators while still being down and dirty in the streets. All in all I really love it, and I think it's a shame there was no active plot to speak of (particularly as the DeLorean scenes weren't actually all that necessary or relevent . . . ).

                This video is so spectacular, I can barely find words to describe how profoundly and acutely affecting this piece is. It's so beautiful and it's easily G-Dragon's best work to date. I went on a little rant about it on tumblr right after it came out (see HERE), but it's not the critical evaluation this amazing video deserves.

                First of all, the song is incredible. It takes the artificiality of synthesizers and uses it to make a statement about reality and the feel of fakeness inside the real world. The song moves melodically because of the vocal line's relationship to the pitches in the synth line, since he's really only singing in a nearly flat line. I love it because it makes the mundane and simple and dramatizes it like the lyrics do to real life. It's also been recorded repeatedly and double tracked to achieve a chorus effect (mostly in the chorus) with distortion and warping that pulls thematically at the idea that there's a ton of other people feeling this exact same loneliness. There's also a cool call & response element that adds to that same theme. It really is fantastically well made.

                 That the video starts with GD walking away from us is a nice touch, giving insight to the fact that as alone as he's feeling there are people following him and concerned. He just can't see them. When he's running away from te camera, he's felt the concerns of those people and is trying to escape them, the guilt of being unhappy around them despite the effort, the annoyances they pose in trying to make him feel better . . . And when he's running towards the camera, he's chasing those same people, wanting to keep up with them and just be normal again, but be can never keep it up for long. A timeline is something that doesn't exist here, playing off the idea that none of it matters, when and where and why are just questions used to attempt to impose meaning and order on a world eternally caught in painful chaos. It's really beautifully done.

                 GD looks gorgeous throughout, the styling is spectacular, and his acting is fantastic. Honestly, I don't even think a lot of it is acting. Kwon JiYong the person and G-Dragon the performer are very different people, as GD has repeatedly tried to explain, so I'm sure that this isn't any sort of cry for help or thinly veiled explanation of how he feels right now, but at the same time . . . there are certain things you can't act without having first experienced. The sort of pain this song is talking about is one of those things. This sort of wracking physical pain is found in a very unique, very deep rooted, traumatic loneliness that stems from the idea of being different from other people on a fundamental level; this isn’t just the ‘weird one out’ syndrome, this is the absolute extreme: the ‘how the hell are you people even people, or am I the one not human’ syndrome. It's a violent, vicious feeling and it just plain hurts. His posture kills me; through the whole MV it's just so perfectly on point, so heartbreakinly defensive and wounded and lost . . . there's no way he was just trying to act out a feeling he's never had before. He's put so much emotion into this MV and I think he's absolutely fantastic for it. He's not sugar coating reality, he's not sensationalizing or fictionalizing the pain, or dramatizing the scenario into something worthy of a kdrama. He's taken a very real, very human emotional state, and has displayed it with a frank honesty that is both artistic and guileless. 

*(nota bene: if you see any of this sort of behavior in your friends, particularly the posture thing, be aware that they may be going through a tough time. Please, do not call them out on it. Don't make them want to runaway, don't make them feel guiltier than they already are. Just be there, be supportive by simply refusing to let their ill treatment of you, others, or themselves, push you away. Don't try to fix it, or them, or anything. Just be there and smile. It will be the stability they need to pull themselves together and it could just save their lives.)

And yet, I'm actually fairly disappointed in this release. First off, I hate his hair. Normally I'm the first to say I think GD's hair rocks, because even when it's weird, it's usually kinda cool. This style, though, is just Beethoven meets Sweeny Todd in all the worst ways. Aside from that I think the styling rocks.

There's a ton of great imagery in Coup D'etat and it all connects very well to the idea of the MV and the song. It's a bit high-concept though, and therefore rather inaccessible unless you take the time to sort through each and every illusion as it comes up. I think it's nice how that High-concept idea, inaccesiblity included, actually links well thematically to the idea that the whole thing is all inside his head. And there are some images that are pretty relatable; the unfinished peace sign for one, how that means his Coup is entirely inside his head and also entirely ongoing, inner peace, if it's ever found, is eternally unfinished, unstable, new revolutions must always be launched to reaffirm, re-evaluate, and restore one's own mind. That idea is also supported by the wrecking ball inside the tower (the tower being the mind, the wrecking ball being reconstruction, the fact that the tower keeps standing under reconstruction... etc), and by the skin-removal section. It's also enforced by the tower's eventual demise (or perhaps it's a different wall, a mental block hidden away somewhere deep inside the main tower), one little stone, one idea that upsets a world-view and changes everything. It's very cool, very deeply dramatic and connected, but I do think the rest of the ideas could have been linked a little more obviously. The its-not-blackface-but-I-don't-have-another-word-for-it section was also really cool, the idea of literally being coated in the sludge of humanity's worst, how that can define a person if they let it. The blind-folds and the ninja-ness can be seen as a comment that questions whether we're walking through a world that refuses to see us, or are we the ones at fault for walking along while keeping ourselves invisible. It's all very cool, and beautiful to look at, but while it's high minded and high meaninged, it's not terribly engaging to follow. Sure most people will watch to the end, but most people would be watching just to see what other crazy visual pops up, not because the story has really caught them.


It's also musically subpar, at least for the Kwon JiYong I know & love. Don't get me wrong, the song is fantastically catchy and I've had it stuck in my head for the last few days. Honestly, the chorus and the bridge are both fantastic, very chill and yet also high-tension. But there's a lot of musical pulls to his One of A Kind album, a helluva lot of pulls. The rhythm of a few lines comes straight from Crayon, there's a few melodic shifts yanked from Missing You, and the tension-vamps and over-all structure link closely to One of a Kind... I'm not saying an artist can't remix or re-purpose elements of other tracks, but I'd prefer that they didn't do it quite so obviously, or as close together as this.

First of all, I like how this genre uses his voice; it makes good use of the sweet-sounding airiness, supports him beautifully on the high notes, and adds a mellow undertone to his lows. Our strong baby has certainly grown up with this one. The whole of the track is much more sophisticated than any of his previous solo work, though it does trend toward a more simple structure than BigBang puts out as a unit. The MV is far artsier than any of SeungRi's other solo as well. Personally, I like VVIP better, but hey I also like the SyFy show it was more or less plagiarizing as well.
This one has some really nice camera effects and use of lighting and reflection and shadow to very effectively generate a cool & distant mood amid the warm sounds of the acoustic guitar. At length I do think that the artsiness of the reflections does get to be more of a distraction than the effective tool they start out as, but it's an interesting stab  at a unique cinematic device.

Also, SeungRi looks good in this video; suave and classy, smoothe and sexy, and everything he's been trying to be forever, he's finally captured the idea he's been grasping at for years and he did it very well. None of it feels over the top or ridiculous, and the same smoldering looks he's been utilizing for years have finally clicked perfectly into place here, he's finally learned to use them in just the right way. I'm not a huge fan of the choreography, it's pretty straight forward and rather more "pretty-boy popstar" than "Kpop all-kill" but SeungRi can make it work well enough. Downsides, there is no detailed cinematic story-line, the artsy imagery covers the choreo, and the dance isn't even all that spectacular to begin with . . . so it really can't score very high, regardless of the fact that I like it.

Trackwise, it's very well balanced and spatialized, his voice is utilized well and mixed perfectly into the melodic structure, gaining support where he needs it and rising above where he can shine. The vamps are spectacular, there's an ever so slight BPM boost as we swing into the chorus and it's just lovely to listen to. Lyrically it's okay, I'm not a huge fan of the chorus, but I like the melodic-rhythmic-interplay elements it makes use of as it drops down well over an octave and the verses pack in what meaning is lacking in the chorus. And then the way the bridge lets the pounding bass fall away, but pushes up the tension by having the piano playing double-time and letting it all echo away into the lower frequencies . . . *shivers* THAT is how a bridge is supposed to feel, not like it hits you, but like suddenly you've run out of sidewalk and are hanging in the air about to fall. I do wish the return was a bit more dramatic, so that you do feel a fall before you slide back into the verse, but the way it's done here an admirable sliding of support back under your feet in almost an apologetic manner (like "we're sorry we didn't have a sign about the road coming to an end, here have some more and we'll pretend this never happened"...). The song does have build and evolution, but it doesn't feel like you really get anywhere with it. Perhaps if the chorus had more to it, if that part could evolve along with the rest of the track . . . because as it is, the movement isn't really felt, even though it is there . . . at least not until the 'end' when the dubstep thing ramps up. I honestly LOVED that part, but I did wish that some of the artsiness would have cleared away, that the vamp wasn't quite as strung out as it is, and that it didn't just slide back into the feel of the chorus . . . even so, great track.

The cartoon flip-book is adorable and the acoustic guitar is lovely. This track and MV follows the lines of what I would have expected for his debut much more closely than Wild and Young. I think I would have liked this one better as his very first release because you can really feel the power he is able to put behind his vocals.

All of the settings in this are gorgeous, really wherever they filmed this is a fabulous place. My only complaint about them at all was that the flowers in gazebo scene block our view of his guitar playing (and of the guitar in general, which is a shame because it looks like a beautiful instrument). I really like the time progression idea of that setting though, and we do get a few good looks at the guitar as the MV rolls along.

Story-wise the MV is cute and heartbreakingly adorable in all the right ways. I love how they have her actually say the quotes in the song, that is a very cute technique and one surprisingly under utilized. All in all it's very cute. It's pretty uneventful, but it does well to expand upon the song's lyrics which are beautifully sweet and specific. Musically, it builds, it's got pretty good harmonies, the song's form is simple but the sections are well delineated; it's a very sweet song. I'm not a huge fan of it, but it's still a well made track. There's no real oomph behind it, no spark or sweeping rush to really get your heart pounding like the lyrics say the narrator's is . . . Still, good track, good release over all.

I like how this one starts at night and moves into day light. I'd have preferred if we got a sunrise shot to the vamp in the intro, but still, starting in darkness and moving to light is an underused technique in kpop, while its reverse is way over used. I also like how this MV shows the softer & incredibly funny side of 2NE1 in a way that used to be relegated to 2NE1 TV and BTS things. It's not the typical vacation-shot MV for a few reasons: first of all, they're playing off the song the whole time, it's very obviously a video that couldn't just be put to another song for the heck of it (a recent example of the typical vaca-MV would be Lunafly's Yeowooya, this MV is a bit more like Sistar's Loving U, but it's neatly settled in the middle).

Also, it's especially nice to see this side of 2NE1 from these girls because of what they stand for. They've stated on multiple occasions that they want to be an inspiration for girls, to grow up and be kick ass powerful and every inch  as awesome as they can be. It's a great message, but it doesn't sound like much fun. Aside from the special releases showing how they are BTS, 2NE1 hasn't officially promoted something that shows that being a strong & capable adult woman, running around all day like a bad-ass, still leaves room to just be an idiot and goof off. I think that the fact that they are showing that here, that they are using that as part of their continuing commentary on  female fabulosity, is fantastic.

In terms of the stylings, they all look spectacular, as always. Their usual MV styles reflect their personal styles, so I could easily see these outfits dressed down on the street or dressed up in another MV. And their hair and make-up is also keyed nicely of their personalities. And since 2NE1 has 4 such vibrant personalities, watching the MV is just a fun treat.

Song-wise, it's leagues ahead of I Love You. At least in terms of song construction and consistency. It's a pretty safe song for them, fit snugly into their usual genre. They carry it well, the harmonics are beautiful, the spatialization is soiid . . . lyrically, it's pretty simple, at least in the vamps and a bit in the chorus, but it's a standard (and acceptable) 2NE1 tactic because their complicated verses do not lend well to singing along.

I really do like this release from them, I think it more than completely makes up for any less-than-impressed feelings I had about I Love You. Unfortunately, because it is mostly a Vaca-MV, it can't score too high...

YG's grab from SuperStarK2 has finally debuted!
Actually it was like two weeks ago and I'm still behind, oh well.

I like what they did with his look, there's definitely some GD influences in the styling and that is in no way a problem.
The MV feels like tons of fun and I love the set and the colors an all in all it's a fun video. It's not the best debut video ever, but this isn't exactly a normal debut either. Since he'd been on SSK2, we all know he can sing, so I thought they might go for something very artsy and dramatic to prove that not only can he sing, he can create. This was just kinda there, fun and fabulous for what it was, but nothing earth shatter

Also when considering his SSK2 success, I was surprised that they went the way they did with his vocals. The verses are too rough (intentionally) to really feel his vocal power, and the chorus too much double-track fill to really measure him. The post chorus and the Bridge do let him open up and shine, but it's still a bit odd.

It's not the best thing a YG artist has ever put out, but it's solid release.

The styling is fabulous. First thing I noticed was that dang they look good. It's quirky and interesting but not so outrageous that it wouldn't fly in the real world and I love it! I'm not a huge fan of blonde-Dara, and especially not of blonde-pigtail-Dara, but she still looks good.

The second thing I noticed was the interesting mix of reggae and hiphop. I wish they'd pushed it more towards the reggae side, the hiphop is cool and all, but they've done it before and it feels more like they've just mashed the genres together rather than giving one an interesting twist. Bom and Minzy's voices are fantastically well suited to reggae, & I would LOVE to see a duet track from them in the genre! CL's rap is definitely linking back to the Baddest Female, which I can understand, but still, it's unnecessary. She hasn't been gone long enough to warrant such a strong link to an 'old' promotion and it almost felt like Falling in Love was just a continuation of her solo promo and the other girls just happened to be there. What prevented that is her complete lack of singing lines. The throw to Fire was good, that is an old promotion that really is fun to pull back up, the Baddest Female doesn't have that nostalgia yet. The song itself is pretty good, the verses are actually pretty fabulous, but the rap breaks are a bit too much. Dara's raps are actually better than CL's because they suit the atmosphere of the song whereas CL are definite breaks. Also, the bass is WAY too heavy, it muddles the higher lines because of harmonic interference. It suits CL's raps, but that's it and those should be tossed or changed anyway.

My one other problem with it is that the choreography feels completely unrelated to the the track. I like the touch me sections, those make sense, and Minzy's second verse (around 1:50-ish) almost does too (and CL's 2nd separate rap), but for the most part it felt like I was watching an MV on mute with itunes running a different song. It just doesn't mesh well at all.

I still like the song and the concept and we've been promised more 2NE1 tracks in the near future, so I'm hopeful.

I'm terribly impressed with Miss ChaeRin here, CL has really proved that she can pull off just about anything and look fantastic doing it. She really can do incredible things, conceptually. And since the whole crazy concept / MV setting / and the song itself are CL's creation with only a bit of Teddy's supervision, I have to say I'm proud of her for the whole thing.

However, it feels unpolished. She's a well-trained rookie in regards to producing so that's not unexpected, but it still true. The MV is very western, lots of Nikki Minaj influences here, clearly, and a lot of her Sunbae-GD's influence too. The quirky but clean styling, the posh vibe, the more or less nonsensical scene selection. I'm totally cool with the MV, it really suits the whole hip-hop concept.

The song on the other hand . . . I have reservations for it. The slow verses are not my style but they could work, the pre-chorus build up is actually great, and the drop to the chorus is pretty nice, but the 'Unnie' section at the end of the chorus . . . it falls flat. The bridge is nicely transitioned into but it doesn't seem very necessary and it doesn't have the impact it could have. The second half of the bridge proves that much, that section is really nice. Lyrically it's pretty empty, and they don't make good use of all the various sections.

What I think happened is that CL got so excited about her solo production that she tried to make a dozen songs in one. There's just too many sections, too much to keep track of, too many pieces that don't quite fit together. I've seen it happen to plenty of great musicians, and all of them have managed to improve tremendously the moment they finished their first track and moved on to their second. I think she's got incredible potential. But this is not my favorite track this summer.