First of all, I must apologize for not writing a review in a while. I've been pretty slammed with schoolwork and college apps (the usual excuses), but as the Christmas break approaches, I'll have a lot more time to write articles and update this blog.
Upcoming reviews will include IU's new album, Rania, and the drama Coffee House. I'm also considering writing an article on Tablo's album, Fever's End, even though it's been out for a while now. Chocolat also came back with a new song, minus a member, so I'll have some things to say about that. Coffee House will be my first drama review, and since I'm currently right in the middle of it (episode 9), I'll be updating my reactions and opinions accordingly.
Winter break means more posts! I'm excited, are you?
Happy Holidays, and good luck with school finals/college applications!
I tried very hard to keep an open mind when SNSD started performing their comeback stages, and I have to say that the live performances gave the girls a little boost. I said in my earlier review that the choreography was boring and not very catchy, but after watching their lives I changed my minds. It makes me appreciate all the effort SNSD puts in just to make the choreography look polished. The moves are quite a significant change from their past hits. Their style has shifted into more individual moves during the verses, and then more uniform during the chorus. My favorite part of the choreography is definitely the dance break; I love it when Yuri is at the front and everyone shoots down, extending their left leg.
I also said before that the verses were uninteresting and repetitive. After watching their comeback stages, I don’t mind the verses too much. Even though they stay around the same three or four notes, I enjoy seeing individual members sing their lines. Each singer spices up their lines with unique action.
But even though there are some good parts to the song, the chorus is a huge deal breaker. Is the “new and fresh” concept just an excuse for a poorly written chorus? I’m not sure, but after watching their recent live performances, my conclusion is still the same: SNSD cannot rap. Sure, it shows attitude and individual personalities. Sure, it shows a more mature side of the group. But for me, I firmly believe that all songs should have a definitive and melodic chorus. I won’t go as far as to say that rap isn’t music, because if it’s written well and delivered properly, it can sound pretty good. But as far as “The Boys” goes, the rap chorus does not suit the song very well. If they want to rap, they can rap. They did it in the dance break. (I wanna dance right now!) But stay away from the chorus, please. “The Boys” would have done much better without it.
Live Performance Rating: 8.5/10 (docked off some points just because of the chorus.)
Watch their first comeback stage here:
So, what do you guys think? Tell me in the comments below!
After a long and anticipated wait, SNSD finally releases their new
album, titled “The Boys.” With so much hype, I expected this comeback to be
huge. I thought to myself, this song is
going to be like the next “Genie” or “Gee.” This will be amazing. Guess what? I was sorely disappointed. The concept itself is captivating and beautiful, but the song is sadly underwhelming.
Watch their music video here:
I generally do not enjoy rapping parts in K-pop
songs, and one of the reasons I like SNSD is because their songs have very few
rap parts. When I watched the teaser, I prayed so hard that the rap part would
just be part of the Intro track, or at least be the worst part of the song,
like the “I like it like this, I like it like that” in T-ara’s
“Roly Poly,” or the dub step in HyunA’s “Bubble Pop.” To my despair, the rap
part turned out to be the chorus. Not just part of it,
either, but the whole thing, save for a couple of static “Bring
the boys out” lines. The chorus should be the focus and drive of the
whole song, and it ended up sounding lazy and uncreative.
The chorus is not the
only flawed part of the song, however. Although the verses contain an actual
melody, they are repetitive and boring. The only parts that vary are at the end
of each phrase, where the pitch rises slightly or the rhythm changes a bit. Honestly,
though, I would have accepted the verses and the build-up if the chorus was
actually good. The build-up makes you
anticipate an upbeat and moving chorus, but all you get is a monotone “We bring the boys out” and then a
string of rapping. (Ironically, this effect parallels all the hype that
led up to this release that eventually ended up falling short of expectations.)
Additionally, the tempo is not suited for a rap; the song loses a lot of momentum
during the chorus. I kept waiting for a powerful melody and a strong beat, but when
I finished the song, my reaction was basically That’s it? There are no memorable parts of the song, except for the
(grammatically incorrect) “Girls’ Generation
make you feel the heat,” which just shows how disappointing this song is
for me.
The choreography is decent,
but there are few movements that really stick in my head. The dance break is
mediocre; like the song, there is very little variation or energy. Hyoyeon and
Yuri are, of course, very talented dancers, but I did not get that impression
from the music video. If only the chorus was more exciting, the dance break
would have been just fine, since it’s the more powerful part of the song.
Vocally, the
song does a poor job of showing variety and musicality in the main singers. Particularly,
Jessica’s voice catches my attention; her high note right before the last
chorus sounds like she does not have enough support. She needed the help from
the backup vocals and audio processing. A lot of people describe her voice as
pure and clear, but I disagree. Her voice does have a light feel to it, but there
is also a significant amount of buzzing that adds a somewhat sandpaper-ey feel
to it, detracting from her overall sound. I’m glad that
the producers didn’t process the verses too much, because it really brings out
all of their individual voices. However, the high register of the verses makes
a lot of the girls sound like they were struggling to maintain their voices at
that pitch, although I’m confident that they are capable of doing it.
It is debatable whether
or not the lyrics match the song well. The Korean lyrics and the English lyrics
have completely different meanings. The Korean version is more about
empowerment and encouragement, whereas the English version emphasizes the fact
that they have the ability to attract all the boys. Perhaps the rapping makes
more sense when you consider the Korean version, but that does not excuse the
lack of creativity in the chorus. The dance break takes care the empowerment
aspect just fine, with lines like “The
boys of the world, I am Athena, the one who gives the number one wisdom. Check
this out!” and “Enjoy the excitement
of the challenge – you already have everything in this world.” Aside from
that, there should a better way to highlight their lyrics with a more exciting
chorus. See the lyrics for yourself here.
Hopefully, their comeback
stage will make up for most of the flaws in the song. I have a feeling that,
although the rapping part is extremely bad, SNSD and SM Entertainment will find
a way to make it very popular. Their large fan base is definitely a great help,
too, since they appeal to audiences of all ages. SNSD has a lot of stage
presence, and since they debuted a while ago, the individuality of the
different members stand out. Therefore, they really need to make a big
impression on stage, since their song doesn’t give them much to work with. I’m
really looking forward to see if they can hold up against the stiff
competition.
Ratings:
Since I’m
only reviewing one song, I’ll rate the different aspects of it. A follow-up
article will include an album rating as a whole, plus a live performance
rating.
Song
(General): 5.5/10 (The majority is terrible, but there are some decent parts.)
Verses:
7/10 (Standard, not too unique or appealing)
From left to right: SoA, Jaeyoon, Tia, Melanie, Juliane
I first heard of Chocolat through Allkpop when they wrote an article about how they
were a fresh, new group with biracial members. So, of course, I was intrigued
since that probably meant they were English-speaking. The first video I watched
was Melanie’s group introduction, and I judged them severely from that video. Oh, they must be all dumb airheads who can’t
even sing or dance properly. Turns out, Melanie’s actually only 14, and so
is Tia. I probably shouldn’t judge them for being young. So later, when they
released their new song and MV, I saw a lot of negative feedback like Too much Tia, I hate the song, WTF is that dance, etc. However, oddly
enough, I found myself following all their performances, and I ended up
watching all their videos on their youtube channel.
Their lives started out
horrendously, I must say. There was lip-syncing throughout the whole song and
the members were off-pitch a lot of the time. The music-removed versions were terrible to listen to. I thought to myself Why are they even debuting when their vocals are this bad? I don't think they focused on singing as much as dancing when they were trainees and as a result, their vocals suffered.
Jaeyoon is the main vocalist with
the blond hair, and as I watched her, I realized that she actually possesses a
lot of talent. She can sing. Melanie
can definitely hit those high notes, too, and she did later on as their
performances improved. I think that’s just because of her young voice, though;
it’s easy to hit higher notes when your voice isn’t as developed. Tia has more
or less the entire package, relative to the other members. Her singing is
mediocre, though, and there’s nothing special about her voice.
Their song, “Syndrome,” has a catchy
tune, albeit with cheesy lyrics and English phrases. There’s something with
Korean writers who misuse English in all the songs. The English really bothered me, especially the ending "Never break, break, break my heart *giggle and shrug*." Also, I really dislike all the "Oh yeah's" scattered throughout the song. It feels really unnecessary and just something the producers used to cheapen the song more and attempt to give it a more sexy feel. There is way too much audio processing, and all their voices sound fake and manufactured, but that's also pretty typical of a pop song. Other than those points, though, I feel like the
song could showcase a lot of their singing talents, if only they improved more.
There are many opportunities within the song to really belt out those high
notes, like in Melanie’s and Juliane’s part. Jaeyoon's bridge actually made up a lot of the bad parts for me, especially when she sang it live. You can imagine how much I cursed the music show PD's when they cut it out in later performances. If only their live performances were a lot stronger, I'd have more faith in this group.
I saw Melanie belt her part live,
and it was acceptable, nothing special, but I was more disappointed in Juliane.
I don’t think I’ve seen one live performance where Juliane has actually hit her
high note clearly and confidently. She attempted it once, I think, and it ended
up being more of a half-hearted wail…and then for the rest of the performances,
she basically just lip-synced her part. And I strongly disapprove of lip-syncing. In a lot of the videos I
watched, many people made excuses for her, saying that since she had a mic
taped to her face, belting out the high note would have been too loud. Since
Melanie had the handheld microphone she was able to hold it away from her face
in order the sing the high note. However, I feel that is a poor excuse for
Juliane’s lip-syncing. I know plenty of stars who perform with taped mics who
can sing their high notes just fine. Take, for example, Miss A Suzy’s ending in
“Goodbye, Baby.” Their choreography requires taped mics, but Suzy was able to
belt the high note perfectly each time. The same situation applies to Chocolat,
since their choreography needs as much hand movement as possible. However, if
Juliane cannot perform her part, I question her role in the group other than
being a space-filler and a dancer.
Chocolat also filmed a documentary about their backgrounds and their
training during pre-debut days. Although I watched it without subtitles, I
realized that just like any other group, they went through long and tiring practices in order to function smoothly as a group. I saw tears, exhausted
faces, and many foot blisters. I also realized that Jaeyoon
isn’t a dancer, and that she was trained to be a singer. She needed help from
both Tia and Melanie to perfect her dance moves. Melanie talks and acts like a
little kid, and Tia is the face of the group. Watching the documentary made me
realize that they aren’t that bad, and behind all the pretty costumes and
makeup, they are real people who went through a lot of struggles.
As Chocolat’s promotions continued, I tried to monitor all their lives,
and I am happy to say that they actually are improving. They look more
confident, and each member has improved slightly. Their vocals are no longer as pitchy as before. Jaeyoon is more confident
when singing her high part, and Melanie’s and Tia’s singing have become
stronger and more stable. Juliane has been lip-syncing less, and honestly,
SoA’s singing has become smoother as well, even though she doesn’t really stand
out for me. Now, I am actually hoping that their next single will be able to showcase their talents more. I never thought
I would become a Chocolat fan when I saw their teaser and music video, but after seeing
lots of improvement in their live performances, I see lots of potential in the group.
Recently, the two-member girl
group, Davichi, came back with a new album entitled “My Love, My Delight.” And
it’s pretty good. The three songs I like the most are “Don’t Say Goodbye”,
“Love, My Love”, and “Do Not Find Me Again.” So, because those are the three
songs I’ve been listening to the most, I guess I’ll talk about all three of
them, in addition to Davichi’s promotions on the music shows. All right, let’s
go!
Their title track is “Don’t Say
Goodbye,” and they’ve been promoting this song for around a month now. It
starts off with a 90s type drumbeat and a piano melody. Then, the strings come
in for that cool, feminine feel.
The verses are pretty
straightforward; it has a really pleasant melody. The chorus is what really showcases
their talents, though. It ascends into a beautiful long and high (but not too
high) note that allows both the girls’ vibrato to come out nicely. I love their
live performances of this song, because Lee Haeri’s voice is totally different
from Kang Minkyung’s voice. In the CD recording, Haeri’s and Minkyung’s voices pretty much blend into one as a result of the audio production, making it hard to discern their voices. However, in the lives, you can definitely hear the difference. Minkyung’s voice sounds a lot purer and younger, and when she sings her high notes, it sounds really effortless, which I prefer a lot more to Haeri’s voice. Haeri’s voice has more power to it; when she
reaches the high notes, her vibrato is very pronounced, but she also has a slightly unpleasant buzz
in her high notes.
“Love, My
Love” is the song they sang live a few times during the first few weeks of their comeback.
The piano introduction is probably what hooked me, even though it sounds like a
typical piano intro to a pop song. I’m not a fan of the “Oo, oo, oo” in the
intro, though; it’s a little too old school-sounding for my tastes. I also do
not like the “Chu ru ru ru ru” in build-up to the chorus. Again, it’s probably
too old school-sounding, and the syllables are a weird choice as well. The
chorus is okay, though, since the phrases lead into each other well. A lot of
pop songs have weird choruses that don’t really fit. SNSD’s “Gee” has an
amazing chorus, since all the lines fit together, and it makes sense musically.
But songs like Miss A’s “Goodbye, Baby” or A.S. Red’s “Hollywood” don’t have
very strong choruses, since the phrases are more disconnected and don’t really
flow too well. Okay, back to Davichi. I think “Love, My Love” is just a pleasant
and relaxing song, not too stellar. It might lean more to the boring side,
though, if you listen to it too much.
My favorite song by Davichi right now is
“Do Not Find Me Again.” The beats to
this song! Listening to this with in-ear buds is amazing, because, first of
all, the beat is pretty bass-heavy, and then when the chorus is about to
arrive, the beat stops, making the build-up epic.
It’s a similar technique to what Teddy used with 2NE1’s Ugly. The verses of “Do
Not Find Me Again” start out soft and melancholic. But then, as the second
verse starts, the beat starts to come in slowly, and the background gets more
and more intense. The build-up rises in pitch, and the background pauses for a
bit. Then the whole thing launches full force into the bass-heavy chorus. The
best part, though, is the second chorus, where the background actually grows
more intense during the chorus. The "beat kick" comes in full force after they sing "Dashin chatjima."
Davichi is
definitely a really talented group, and I’m glad they stuck with just singing.
It makes them unique and more memorable, especially the performances with the
orchestra. I have to say, though, I really don’t like the dresses that they’ve
been wearing lately, with the sheer overlay…It just doesn’t look good. And
there’s something about Minkyung’s eyebrows that are weirdly triangular. Keep
singing, ladies, and keep impressing!
Check out these links to Davichi's live performances (and song):
K-Pop life is a blog that reviews new releases of Korean pop music, dramas, variety shows, and anything else you guys want me to review. Sometimes I'll post my thoughts on certain trends in Korea, whether it be fashion, food, or news.
