How's the song?
2NE1 is finally back after a year of being pretty quiet. They put out the single "I Love You" last year, which I loved, but that was all we got from this K-pop power house. That being said, I'm not really impressed with this song. This is a fun song, but it didn't grab me upon first listen like all their other songs have. I will admit that it is catchy, but I think that it might be my least favorite song so far. 2NE1 songs all seems to have this very 2NE1 sound to them, but this one doesn't. It just seems so far removed from what they have put out in the past, I'm not sure what to do with it.
The first thing that I though of when the song started is that it sounded similar to "The Baddest Female". We begin with a man yelling something and then the beat is dropped and then we go straight into this reggae sound. I also felt like CL's rap sounded similar to parts of "The Baddest Female". It is like YG is saying "Hey! Hey you guys! Remember that song that CL just put out? Oh, you do? Okay, just checking." If this is CL's new concept, it makes me a little sad because she is a good singer and isn't just this 'baddest female' rapper.
Overall, this is a fun song, but I don't think that it is a good song for this long awaited comeback from a group that we are so used to singing these bombastic songs.
How's the video?
As per usual, some of the dubbing in this video is a little weird. Especially with Minzy's first solo shot, she's just sitting there with her mouth open catching flies. Minzy is really the only person who suffer from bad dubbing which is better than it was in the "I Love You" video.
Bad dubbing aside, the sets that were used were really pretty. It fit well with the reggae sound of the song and with what the weather is doing right now. I do wish that 2NE1 could have gone to a real beach though.You are in Korea, it's a peninsula, there are beaches everywhere. Break free of the box!
You know what you can probably only find in these boxes though? Golden Game Boys, and not just any Game Boy, but an original one. My brother had one of those except it was purple because I bet YG is the only person who guilds old pieces of technology. It's like in the BAP video "No Mercy" where all of those random objects have been rhinestoned.
And for the best part, this video has Hong Jong Hyeon in it! Yay! I have recently fallen in love with him with his roll as Moo Jin in the drama Dating Agency: Cyrano. He just has this really chic look about him and his hair is just so fluffy!
How's the styling?
I love Dara's hair so much. She's never been blonde before and when idols go blond it can either be awesome or horrible, thankfully Dara falls into the former category. The set she is in with her this styling makes her look like this Grecian goddess and I am totally in love with it. Heck, I'm in love with her, if Yoon Eun Hye is my drama girl crush, Dara is my idol girl crush.
All the other girls were wearing similar white outfits on a gold and watery background. It was kind of a different set, but for some reason it worked for the song and the girls. I fell like it shouldn't, but it does. I also thought that it was a nice touch that there were Roman numeral 21s on the sets.
I am in love with this pink wig that Minzy is wearing. It's a fun pop of color in an otherwise dual colored set.
Is the dance super amazing?
Jazz hands! The dance fit really well with the song because it was carefree and fun. They girls didn't try to be overly sexual in a song that doesn't need it. I think that is one reason why 2NE1 does well, they know how to cater to both male and female audiences by being cute but also being sexy in pretty equal doses.
There was one inconsistency that I noticed because I'm weird when it comes to transitions between scenes. When the girls are dancing, there is one part where CL dance doesn't match up between cuts. It is a really quick cut, but of course I noticed it and have to point it out to others.
Who owned it?
I think that Minzy is really growing in to herself. She is getting more parts and her voice is getting better too. Not that it hasn't always been good, but she's not a teenager anymore and it shows.
I just want to take a moment to talk about line distribution. This was totally CL and Minzy's video and Bom had the chorus and then if you sneezed, you would have missed Dara's part. We need to go back to the old days when the songs were more even. I know that Bom and Dara are "old", but come one! Bom is the main vocal and Dara can sing, but she's always so heavily auto tuned and her parts are so few and far between that we would never know it! It just makes me grumpy.
Did the English make you ears bleed?
The English is fine, it's YG, come on. There are two parts in the songs that I want to highlight though, one that is cool and one that I just find rather confusing.
All the time I listened to this song before I looked up the lyrics, when CL was doing her first rap I always heard "Johnny Depp", but that seemed so weird so I passed it off as a misheard lyric, but no! CL actually says "You're like my Johnny Depp" which I find to be so random. Out of all the people that you could pick, why Johnny Depp? Don't get me wrong I love me some Johnny Depp, but it's just so weird.
Johnny Depp aside, when CL was doing her first rap, the writer did something cool (maybe) by putting in the lyrics "The club is getting ugly, I don't care. Can't nobody stop the fire, let them haters sit and stare." I say this because there are four 2NE1 song lyrics in these two lines.
What else is happening?
Davichi "Missing You Today" - This song is pretty, but I'm not much of a ballad person so it doesn't really do it for me.
MYNAME "Baby I'm Sorry" - I don't like it when the story of the video interrupts my listening, because then I don't feel like I know what the song sounds like. Also, what is this fascination with music video surrounding the concept of a gang war that ends with the death and destruction of everyone involved?
APink "NONONO"
Jewelry "Hot&Cold" - The instrumentals in this song kind of makes me think of something that Eurythmics would have done and I love it.
RaNia "Up" - This is just a commercial music video, but I like the really electric sound of it and the "oh oh oh" chorus.
BIKINY "Please Accept Me" - Well that was super uncomfortable. I felt like I was watching a J-pop video rather than a K-pop video.
SHU-I "Don't Let it Get You Down" - I really enjoyed this song, but the video wasn't anything spectacular. I did like that marionette dance though.
Song Seung Yeon - "I'm Not Crazy" - I'm not sure if I liked the rapper, I was enjoying being carried along by her voice. This song is gorgeous!
Teen Top "Clap Encore" - I wasn't going to put this song in, but then I decided to do it after I watched the video. I felt the need to mock their dives into the pool at the end of the video, then someone threw one of the boys an inner tube. *sigh*
GEEKS "Fly" - I love all the summery songs that come out at this time of year. They just make me so happy and ready to go do fun summer things! I want to go to a pool and barbeque now!
Jay Park "I Like 2 Party" - I was a little scared going into this song, because to be quiet honest Jay Park is a little intimidating, please don't tell me I alone thinking this. I really liked this song though and the video left a big smile on my face. Let's go party.
~ Alora
