[Review] Jieun - 25

Secret’s lead vocalist Jieun has always had a place in my heart. She has one of the clearest / most crystal voices in the industry, and I would place her at the #1/#2 slot in regards to that (for those wondering, Sera would be the other member). With the recent incredible release of “Don’t Look At Me Like That,” the following track would showcase a more poppy and peppy side of her that “would be a refreshing change of image.”

Unfortunately, I didn’t buy that one bit, seeing as she’s part of Secret and their identity crisis is something that plagues their effectiveness as a group, and especially for Jieun, whose talents go to waste in some of their songs. Nonetheless, I wasn’t ready to give up quite yet.

This is indeed a more lively side of Jieun and could have very well been a Secret song. The classy saxophone reminds me of “Poison,” and in general I could easily visualize the other members’ roles. Hyosung would share a verse, Hana would grab the “pretty age 25” “rap” bridge, and Sunhwa would get some filler. That being said, since this is all Jieun all the time, the song sounds fantastic. I still don’t like the rapping considering how it’s only a single line being repeated ad nauseam but the sheer quality of Jieun’s vocals override that. Her English is also very crisp, and since the words “Beautiful young and free” and part of the chorus, she executes this rather splendidly.

Even though there’s plenty of choreography, the MV roughly clouds the dancing but it’s still just your average video. Jieun indeed looks beautiful and young (maybe not free, given the boxes, ha). I’d have preferred some interaction like in “Don’t Look At Me Like That,” but I suppose one can’t argue against more eye candy. And Jieun is absolutely gorgeous.

In the end, I think Jieun showed us many sides to her and her abilities. She’s cute, sassy, playful, sexy, and pure at the same time, and if there was ever a song that should convince you she could be a star soloist, this would probably be the song.

[ Score: 85 / 100 ]

[Review] T-ARA - Sugar Free

With the recent collapse of Girls’ Generation, T-Ara find themselves as a group of the previous guard with the original roster in tact. Despite the additions and removals of a few members, T-Ara returned with “Sugar Free,” which at a glance seemed like some promotional campaign for healthy lifestyles or something, and I keep hearing soda cans being opened.

The song is quite bland. Soyeon has the bulk of the work but not only does she carry the chorus but she shows up in the verses, too. The chorus itself is pretty bland, and the verses a mixture of rap-singing from Hyomin and Qri. Based on that, I guess the prechorus is the best part of the song, though the intro is strong, too, thanks to the instrumental. Speaking of which, this is what saves the song. The instrumental is killer and really generates energy and power for this otherwise mediocre song.

I’d like to see more vocal diversity in future T-Ara. Eunjung, Hyomin, and Jiyeon aren’t spectacular but they also aren’t pushovers. Qri and Boram are somewhat filler material but aren’t awful, either. A medium-paced dance track with more evenly distributed lines would probably hook me, honestly.

The video is a complete clusterfuck of seizure-inducing eye candy. That’s the simplest way I can describe it. I remember the first time I watched the MV for “I Go Crazy Because Of You” and I thought that was ridiculous, but this is probably worse. And when you consider there are multiple versions of the MV for some reason, the effect is compounded. Oh and don’t worry, all variants are just as crazy colourful and switch perspectives more often than you’d like. The choreography seems particularly lazy, but when your eyes hurt so much from the constant scene changing, you don’t get to see the dance too much. Again, the intro was pleasant but everything else looked very basic and unimpressive all around. This is a shame, since the instrumental is so damn good that I expected more out of the dance.

T-Ara stock will continue to rise as the aftermath of Girls’ Generation, combined with the death of Wonder Girls, restructure of KARA, etc. They are one of the 2 relatively unscathed flagship girl groups of the previous era (the other being 2NE1).

[ Score: 82 / 100 ]

[Review] Ailee - Don't Touch Me

The diva who competes for the title of “Korea’s Beyonce” returns with “Don’t Touch Me,” and as a follow-up to the likes of “I’ll Show You” and “U&I,” I’m…somewhat disappointed.

Ailee is known for the explosive vocals that we’ve seen from her since even before debut. However, I think this is one of her weakest showings yet, but let me clarify. The problems i have with this song are all in the chorus. It’s usually a distinct line between when a singer is hitting the notes and when she (or he!) is reaching for them, but to me almost all of the high notes in this chorus are reaches, and they are not graceful reaches. To be honest, there may be and probably are other factors to why I feel this way. Her high notes in previous songs like “I’ll Show You” were also reaches, but I never really had problems with them. It’s interesting, to say the least.

The verses are absolutely divine. Ailee’s least impressive area had always been her lower register, and “Don’t Touch Me” brings out her lower notes powerfully and smoothly. The bridge is also pretty solid, in a year where I consider a majority of the songs to have stronger starts and weaker finishes, Ailee comes in the middle for both.

As for the video, it’s nothing special. The set for the first chorus reminded me of some of the backgrounds in “U&I” which unfortunately reminds me of how much weaker I think this song is in comparison. But the key difference in this video and the others is how damn skinny Ailee has gotten. Apparently she lost 22 pounds for this comeback? Why? Ailee always possessed a healthy image, and like Hyosung, there was no real reason to lose the weight. Her appearance is much more frail, almost to the point where it’s unsettling. This is especially true during the bridge, I could hardly bring myself to watch. Please bring that weight back!

I do not think this was Ailee at her best. The chorus is unstable and the bridge is forgettable. Curious weight loss hurts her image and makes the supposed standard eye candy a little painful. That being said, she’s made impressive progress with her low range and that manages to hold the song together.

[ Score: 80 / 100 ]