[Review] Sistar19 - Gone Not Around Any Longer

Vocals: 5 / 10

Yeah, I’m giving Hyorin 5 (read: not 10) points in vocals. You know why? Because of that fourth word: Hyorin. She is everything and everything in this song and by everything I mean Bora has no lines sung for three plus minutes. At least she got something in “Ma Boy”. Yes, Hyorin sounds absolutely divine. Yes, her high notes are fancy, pretty, and charming. Yes, the variation work is quite lovely if but a little awkward structure for the ending. But that’s all Hyorin, no Bora. Bora got some measly lines in “Ma Boy”, and that is always better than none at all. Hyorin is already the vocal juggernaut in Sistar, leaving Bora out so miserably is really unacceptable.

Appearance: 10 / 10

These are members of Sistar, and they have arguably the best healthiest bodies amongst girl groups. They’re not skinny to the point where it can scare people and obviously not “fat”. Outfits matched, yadda yadda. Nothing else to see here, move along.

Dance: 10 / 10

“Sistar19 comes to your house and wipes your desk with their butts.” I wonder if a Sistar choreography will ever not include their butts as the focus haha. The dance was slow, matching pace with the song. Nothing extraordinary until the dance bridge I guess. They added some power there and Bora’s belt falls off. The use of backup dancers was interesting, and so were their outfits. They did not receive the luxury of benches though, probably to keep the highlight on Hyori—er, Sistar19.

Rap: 5 / 10

Oh, the rant about disproportionate distribution continues here. Bora comes in after the chorus to rap. It’s a fine rap, you say. She isn’t the best rapper so this was good enough, you say. I can agree to those points, but the later half of the rap is what pisses me off. Bora’s indeed still rapping, but can you even hear her soft low voice when Hyorin is “lightly” harmonizing to make the rap singing combo? If the whole rap was 50% of the song (which it wasn’t), Bora only actually got 25%. Since the rap was about 25 seconds, Bora had 15 of them. For the entire song. She even had to rap in a blank room for crying out loud.

Music Video: 7 / 10

Yeah, I’m not really sure what I should be saying here. There are most certainly boxes, and even boxes that open up to reveal bigger boxes. There are the scenes where Hyroin / Bora are with the man of interest all happy and joyful, and then the ones where they’re deeply contemplating and emotional. It’s just run of the mill standards for the music video. It’s the first time I’ve seen a Kpop idol stand on top of a piano though, so yay?

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Overall: 74 / 100

This song is absolutely pleasant to listen to, yes. There is no denying that. However, the distribution of lines was pathetic and Bora is nothing more than a backup dancer with a miniscule moment and lots of close ups. The structure of the song, with the dance bridge in accompaniment also didn’t help, leaving Bora’s rap a mere afterthought. The song title should really have been called “Hyorin (feat. Bora) - Gone Not Around Any Longer” but I guess that’d be a really lengthy title.