Music video
I love ballads. Fast songs are fine, but ultimately ballads are my thing. The more emotional, the better for me. That's why both the song and the video is totally up my alley. It has such a sad and melancholy theme, but not in a dark, depressing way like Rain Sound was. When BAP did Rain Sound, it was the ultimate emo song, where you get the feeling that the guy either can't or doesn't want to move on without his girlfriend. But for this song, the feeling leans more towards the girl still going through the heartbreak, trying to come to terms with the fact that she and her boyfriend aren't together anymore.
Since this is a serious video, I am going to review this with little to no sarcasm if possible. This is a video with real connections with the song, rather than symbolic meanings which you have to scrape at with a toothpick. In the beginning you see Hyorin wandering aimlessly around the bathroom dragging a telephone cord, like a girl clinging to the hope that her boyfriend will call her after their breakup. Also when they sing about the photo containing them and their boyfriend not being in their picture frame anymore, you see the picture slowly disappearing from the frame. As I mentioned before, I really appreciate music videos which make an effort to do that if only they used a Friggin' Effing Different Actor!! Motherfu-
Suggested song title - Gone Because You Cheated On Me With One of My Members, Jerk.
The video was also split into two parts. On one side you see the girls playing around and cuddling up their boyfriend, and on the other you see them slumped against the couch or sitting in the bathtub in quiet misery. It shows the contrast of how happy the girls were when they were with their boyfriend, so the audience can better understand the pain they are going through now that they are alone. Also the video was shot in such a way that it's almost like the girls are in a dream. For example, there are shots where you see the Hyorin and her boyfriend playing around with each other in one room, but when she reaches the next room, she is alone. This suggests either that Hyorin is reminiscing about the happier times she spent with her boyfriend, or that she can't yet accept that their relationship is over and keeps imagining her boyfriend still with her.
Maybe because this is sung from a girl's point of view, but I find myself being able to relate to this song better compared to Rain Sound and Stop Girl, the other two break-up/almost-breaking-up songs I've reviewed so far. And even though most ballads manage to stir emotional cockles in my heart, for me to be able to go "Oh, I totally get that!" is not as easy so good job, girls.
My one problem with the song is not that much of a problem as it is a concern. I can't help but notice a similar theme reoccurring with Sistar's Alone and Sistar19's Gone Not Around Any Longer. They are both about being alone, and they are both subtly sexy. Subunits are a bit like guinea pigs, they can experiment with sounds vastly different from the usual style of the main group. If it works out, the main group can incorporate that style into their songs. If it doesn't work out, there are no negative repercussions to the main group. Now I'm not saying that this song isn't a good song, but I want to see them break out of their comfort zone and try new things. That is the purpose of creating a subunit. It could turn out either way, but at least they're would be giving themselves a chance to stand out.
Another concern: How come Hyorin got way more parts in the song than Bora did? Hell, she practically sang the whole song, with Bora doing only bits of rapping for the begining and the middle. I'm not a Sistar fan, I don't know the positions of each member, except Hyorin whom I know is lead vocal, so I don't know the arrangements for the songs they do as a group. I'm sure that some fans might go "You don't understand! Bora is a rapper, so of course she does the rapping and Hyorin does all the singing!" To those fans, what you don't understand is that if you say that, you're implying that Bora can't sing. And she's a singer. That's not what you're implying, right? Cause to me, that is what the song director is implying.
Dance
Okay, so for me, sexy Kpop dances can be split into two categories. There is the classy sexy dance, and there is the cheap sexy dance (I'm sorry, this is the least offensive word I could think of). Admittedly, there are quite a few female Kpop dances which fall into the latter category, which I won't mention for fear of getting popped...in the head. However I'm pleased to announce that this dance for me is classily sexy. It totally fits the melancholy vibe of the song and even though it may still be scandalous by Kpop standards, it is not over-the-top-falling-into-Trashyville sexy so it's good.
When you watch it for the first time, the dance seems to be pretty simple, since the two main steps are sliding their butts along the glass table, and rolling their bodies in this really sexy way with their hands pressed against their chest. But take it from someone who knows, all that butt sliding and leg lifting on that glass table takes some serious abdominal muscles, especially when they do it so slowly. That part where they lift their legs up really, really, slowly? You could literally do that twenty times a day as abdominal workout.
"1, 2, 3, and stretch..."
Fashion
The girls wear an oversized button-up shirt for most of the video, the kind of clothes one would wear when one is too tired or emotionally drained from a breakup to even get out of bed. So it's relevant to the song. For the dance part, I thought the sparkly accessories (Yay, bling!) teamed up with the simple black and white outfit they wore looked really sophisticated. Also, there was a teeny tiny section of the video where the girls wear hiphop clothes and dance in a studio. Had it lasted longer than a few split seconds, that would have easily been my favorite part in the entire video. However, their black leather and shocking pink outfit has a very gothic feel and it was way too disconnected from both the video and the song for me to like it.
Oh yeah, somewhere in the middle of the dance, I was suddenly distracted by this falling rope of bling at the side of the video. Upon further inspection, it was actually Bora's belt falling off mid-dance. This makes the second video in the month where I caught some weird, random slip-up in a music video (The first being Zhoumi cracking up in Break Down). Not that it's a catastrophe or anything, but don't they have scores of guys in charge of video editing and all that kind of thing? So either the director figured that no one would notice the tiny slip-up, or I just notice things a whole team of experts were paid to notice but didn't.
Cuz I'm just that awesome.
This last bit I'll admit I kind of ripped off Kpop Music Monday but I couldn't help myself. For this showdown, which female subunit song do you prefer? 2Yoon in 24/7 or Sistar19 in Gone Not Around Any Longer? Leave your votes in the comment section and I'll announce the winner in my next blog post. Omg, that was awesome XD
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