Review: Girl's Generation - I Got A Boy

SNSD is back, starting off the new year with the much anticipated "I Got A Boy".

Music Video
While I knew that SNSD was making a comeback soon, I hadn't really been keeping track of their progress. Still, from the teaser photos I had seen, I knew that they were going for an image change, transforming from princesses to swag hipsters. That was why I was kind of taken aback when the music video opened with what looked like a clip stolen from their old "Gee" video. Question, who is that guy? Is he one of their boyfriends? Then why were they so shocked to see him? Is he a stalker then?! The girls certainly act like he is. But I'm not going to go there since that would lead to even more questions that would need a whole other music video to answer.

Forgetting the first thirty seconds, I still wasn't a fan of the music video. I thought that the concept would be all gangsta and swag, but it ended up with so many different themes that it was nothing short of confusing. And I don't know about anyone else, but to me, whoever thought combining aegyo and swag in the same video was a good idea deserves to be shot. I'm going to admit something here: I have an extremely low tolerance for aegyo. I don't care how popular Gee or Oh! was, it was so overflowing with sickly sweet cuteness that it made my skin crawl. While most of the members managed to somewhat pull off a non cringe-worthy cuteness, a few of them  (I'm So not mentioning names. Jes' figure it yourself) kind of made me want to claw my insides out. Shudder~

I honestly thought that SNSD was done with the aegyo concept for good. But no, they somehow managed to bring it back in a video that was supposed to show swag. By the way, I use the term swag for lack of a better word, because in my opinion they don't have it. Yes, I can already hear Sones worldwide screaming at me. I've read some comments online about SNSD's concept being a rip-off from both 2ne1 and Hyuna's style. While I don't think that is fair judgement - 2ne1 and Hyuna do have their own unique styles, but that does not mean it is exclusively theirs, I have to agree that swag just doesn't suit SNSD. Sorry, it could just be my distaste for the aegyo-ness of it speaking though. If you ask my opinion, I think the concept that suited them best was the one in 'Paparazzi' or even 'Twinkle'. They should just stick with that. And DON'T bring back aegyo.

And as if the clash of aegyo vs punkster wasn't enough, they had to add yet another genre with the spotlight and the mike in the middle of the song (What is that called? Soulful? R&B? Amy Winehouse?). That scene just literally popped out of nowhere. There was no building up to it, no coherence, and then it was gone, also just like that. It was just soooo confusing. I watched the music video a couple of times and I still have no idea what the heck is going on.

Speaking of confusing, the girls' individual aegyo shots presents even more questions. In each shot, the members are cosying up to their boyfriend, who by the way happens to be the same stalker who was lurking at their doorstep earlier on. Girls, what did your mothers tell you about dating that creepy dude who stalks your front door? Anyway, that is besides the point. My question is, why are they dating the same guy? Of course you see this in other music videos where a single extra will interact with all the members in a group at the same time. But you can still make the argument that the members are usually just trying to seduce the same guy/girl as opposed to dating him/her. In this video however, they are obviously a couple. So doesn't that mean he's cheating on all of them at once? And yet the girls are still smitten with him, flashing him cute smiles and shy aegyo. All except Hyoyeon who is mad because he arrived late for their date. Yeah Hyoyeon, you show him! And while he is begging for forgiveness, she leaps up and...slaps him in the face? Really? That seems like a bit of an overreaction if you ask me. What would you do if he cancelled the date then? Kick him in the balls? Unless the real reason for her slapping him is because she found out that he was in fact nine-timing her with the rest of her members. In that case...Yeah, you go girl!

Song and Lyrics
So the first thought I had when I heard the lyrics was: So that's what the video was about! The three parts actually represented three different meanings in the song. Yeah, that explains everything! And then I looked at the lyrics again. And again. And again. And that was when I realized the heart wrenching truth. They don't explain anything. The lyrics were a riddle in their own right. It was like trying to solve a Rubik's cube with another Rubik's cube.

When I look at I Got A Boy lyrics, I see this

So the song starts off with a couple of mean girls talking about how their girlfriend had changed and became this show-offy little princess ever since she met her guy and they resent her for that. Ok fine, the lyrics were all gangsta and really fit the part actually, right up until Tiffany goes "Aiyo stop. Let me put it down another way." So when you said that you were going to put it another way, I assumed that you were going to continue talking about her, only in a different way. Maybe you were going to get out your rock band from Twinkle and continue dissing her on a Broadway stage like in Paparazzi. But no. Instead they change the beat and start singing about their guy who is both aegyo and charming and how they completely fell for him......Right.

First of all, the thought of creepy stalker dude doing aegyo is slightly disturbing to me. Secondly, what is going on here? I thought you girls were just putting down another chick for trying too hard to impress a guy and then you go on to sing about how you met this totally awesome guy who has stolen your heart. And again, what is up with that part with the spotlight and the mike? Tiffany sings about how her boyfriend makes her so mad when not five seconds ago they were still all lovey-dovey. Did you guys have a fight? If so, you sure made up quick because thirty seconds into that soulful rendition (I know, I counted), they 'went back to 1.40' and carried on singing about their awesome boy like nothing happened. Ok, now I've got a headache.

Sometimes you get songs which have contrasting lyrics. In Song Jieun's Going Crazy, on the one hand you have Jieun singing about how she's being stalked by this guy. On the other hand, Bang Yongguk is rapping from the stalker's perspective so it becomes almost like a conversation going on between the two of them. And the song was awesome because of it. But the lyrics in I Got A Boy don't just constrast, they downright contradict each other. First they hate their friend for being so obsessed with a guy, but then they go on to talk about how smitten they are with their own boyfriend. And then they say their boyfriend doesn't know how to treat them right even though they had just been going on and on about how wonderful he is. Sigh.

 I don't understand anything!

Contrasting lyrics don't work out when they are being sung by the same people. Taeyeon sings in all three different parts of the song. So basically she is contradicting herself three times over. Wouldn't it be better to split the group into two or three subunits and let them have a face-off, each singing a different part of the song? Or better yet, break the song into three parts, add more lines and put them in the friggin' album as three separate songs. Because the rapping sequence in the beginning and the R&B track in the middle does nothing to compliment the main song. Neither do they add to the meaning of it. In fact, they don't do anything for the main song whatsoever. They are pointless.

It really a shame because when listened separately, each different part is really great. The rapping was fine although they sounded more like mean girls rather than bad-ass gangsters, the main chorus was catchy and the R&B part made full use of some of the members' vocal abilities. Even the sound fit with the lyrics. You have scornful rapping when the girls are dissing someone, then you get an upbeat chorus as they tell you that they got a boy, and then you have an almost angry vibe when their guy doesn't treat them like a woman. My personal favorite was the 1.40 line.

But because they are different genres, it makes the song really disconnected. There is no build up towards the next genre, so you can clearly hear the part where the song breaks off and begins in a new sound. It doesn't sound like one single song. It sounds like someone randomly switching radio stations and this not-quite-mash-up-but-mashed-up concept does not do justice to either genre. Ever heard of the saying too many cooks spoil the broth? Yeah, exactly.

Dance
No question about it, I definitely liked the dance for this song. Compared to the actual music video, I think I liked watching the dance version much better. It was strong, aggressive, and fun, which is something you seldom see in girl group dances. The feel of the dance also changes following the shifting genres of the song but I thought that the transition from one concept to the other was pretty smooth and it fitted nicely to the feel of each part of the song. I especially loved the belly dancing accompanying the Bollywood-esque beat and hair tossing nearing the chorus. I have no complaints. Two thumbs up, it was pretty good. 

Fashion
The trend was a little different from SNSD's usual style since its more hiphop, but it still manages to retain their girly image. I'm not sure if they were supposed to still look girly or go full-on badass, but that was what I thought. Still, they pulled it off well and I didn't even mind the occasional cat ears that popped up here and there. Yuri, I love your sunglasses by the way. And I just about passed out from laughter when I saw Sunny's cap. I don't know about Yoona's black leather skirt accompanied with black tights, but that didn't bother me as much as their style change in the middle of the video. I mean, the multicolored trenchcoats were fine but what was with the ginger hair? And why were their hairstyles completely identical? It made them look like creepy life-sized Barbie dolls. No offense, but they did.

I also have issues with Sunny's hair. My favorite hairstyle on her was without a doubt her short blond cut in The Boys. This fluffy, afro-like do highlighted with varying pastel colors kind of makes her look like a Jigglypuff. Just saying. On a positive note, I love Hyoyeon's rainbow colored hair. Totally awesome.