[Review] Taeyang - Ringa Linga

Vocals: 4 / 10

This…is something different. I would like to say that for this instance “different” is a good “different”, but…it’s not. I tried my hardest to like this new Taeyang, but either I’m too nostalgic for my own good, Taeyang was too strong with his old solo stuff, I don’t like the autotune and dubstep nature of the song, or any combination of the above, and for that I had a really tough time with this song. The introduction had me feeling pretty good, but between the heavy autotune, bizarre-sounding high-pitched background voices, awkward and quick shifts from the lower range verses / rap to the higher prechorus, nothing really came together. Which is a shame, because like I mentioned earlier, Taeyang’s previous solo work didn’t disappoint. Even “I’ll Be There”, which has the most similarity to “Ringa Linga” was way more enjoyable than this. The saving grace is absolutely the bridge, which trails back to more of Taeyang’s roots as a solo singer (and really nicely, too), which keep this score from getting a measly 2.

Appearance: 6 / 10

I remember when Taeyang had such short hair that he couldn’t even do anything extra with it. Hell, even in “I Need a Girl” or “I’ll Be There” there wasn’t much variation. But there was more changes in this music video than all of the previous releases combined. Anyway, it’s the “standard” faux hawk but in blonde, which doesn’t look bad, but with some shots where he has really long hair (or extended) Taeyang looks pretty silly (like a lion with a mane or something). At the same time, Taeyang’s a member of Big Bang, whose style and such shouldn’t bring much of a surprise anymore with how wacky and weird some of their stuff has been.

Dance: 10 / 10

Just about the only thing going for “Ringa Linga” (more on that later) is the beast choreography. Taeyang has always impressed with his dances and this song is no exception. There’s a mixture of high energy moves and more simple or “medium level” stuff. I don’t even know enough to feel right commenting about this. Really awesome work Taeyang.

Music Video: 5 / 10

Most of this MV was choreography-centered, so I cannot fault the score too much. But between the weird outfits and costumes and colours, bright lights and the glow-in-the-dark shenanigans, it’s just about a mediocre MV at best. Anyone else not surprised that G-Dragon found his way into the MV? I’m sure I wasn’t the only one. Taeyang is also of course, shirtless at one point in the video, which is eye candy for fangirls everywhere. All in all it’s just about the standard Big Bang-esque video, but not to the same quality as something like “Fantastic Baby” was.

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Overall: 50 / 100

I hate to say that “Not impressed” is how I feel about “Ringa Linga”, but “not impressed” is exactly how I feel about “Ringa Linga”.The vocals are subpar, the chorus is subpar, the autotune is too strong, the rap talking is mediocre at best, and the transitions were lacking. The dance is definitely amazing, but you don’t hear the dance when you’re only listening to the music. We’ll see if Taeyang’s teammates in T.O.P and G-Dragon can impress further with their latest releases.