[Review] Rainbow - To Me (Throwback)

Oh man, remember Rainbow? Those were good times when all these girls groups I followed actually existed. This will only be the third time I've reviewed one of their songs, as my blog started after their glory days of "A" and "Mach," with this track coming directly after. I kinda forgot this song existed but stumbled upon it almost by chance when digging around for some old-school hits. Let's see where "To Me" stands in Rainbow's library.

Getting the MV discussion out of the way immediately: it's bland. Stereotypically bland. My interest in the world of music videos was highest during this era and I still think I'd have been bored. The girls look great and always have been: Rainbow were consistently a top tier visual threat from head to toe, from leader to maknae. Jaekyung's beauty is eternal and she'll always be my favorite.

[Bonus] Kpop Free Agency: End Of The Rainbow

Another group bites the dust. Rainbow is the next act to say goodbye, and with that it is time to debut a new series called "Kpop Free Agency." It will explore the landscape of Kpop groups and member changes, if only to appease my desire to make the industry more like a game. Though technically, this isn't the first time I've ever written a piece like this (though it is ancient). Also, these will be much easier to write than reviews. But rest assured, those are still coming! There are a handful of November comebacks on the way and I'll try my best to not miss many. Anyways, I'm going to pick a few names from disbanded groups and try and place them into new groups. Mostly for fun, but some decisions will be more serious than others. Let's start!

Youngji to April
Look, by now DSP is a relic of the past. KARA is finished, and Rainbow has now joined them. Youngji made her way to stardom by becoming a member of KARA, so joining April - the last surviving DSP girl group - makes sense logically. Sure, there'd be a pretty significant age gap between her and the youngest member, but that isn't something foreign to groups anyway. Plus, Youngji is certainly capable of turning to the bubblegum pop side. I'd never like it if that actually happened, but hey this is all theorycrafting anyway.

[Bonus] Best Of 2010

I may have been looking forward to the nostalgia trips of 2011 and 2010, but it never dawned on me how difficult ranking may have been. Forget that 2010 was a tough year - not only did it seem thin on hits, but of course, my memory isn't as efficient going that far back. Great songs were still found, so the list must be made. Either way, this is the last stop in the Best Of series, at least until December rolls around and I do the list for this year!

#12. G.NA - I'll Back Off So You Can Live
G.NA has been mostly a miss during her career - which is quite awkward to say, given her career is basically over or on indefinite hiatus at this point. However, her debut was what caught my attention for being a really pretty song that framed her voice nicely. This song was probably one of the best debuts for a soloist I didn't know about. Unfortunately, subsequent releases from G.NA failed to live up the expectations she set for herself with "I'll Back Off So You Can Live."

#11. 2AM - I Can't Let You Go Even If I Die
Korea loves ballads, and 2AM is one of the best at delivering them. They were the premier ballad idol group and their long history shows their pedigree. "I Can't Let You Go Even If I Die" is a lengthy title, but who cares? The voices of 2AM are beautiful and each member got to shine in their own way. This was the song that really stood out to me in terms of both their individual talent and working together with each other for harmonies.

[Review] Rainbow - Whoo

Now that DSP's flagship girl group KARA has sailed off into the sunset, Rainbow's comeback seems like the golden opportunity the girls need. They can rise up to the occasion in KARA's absence, or they can continue to flounder under DSP's jurisdiction. If "Black Swan" was a pivotal crossroads in their career, then the release of "Whoo" is a hundred times more important.

Well, looking at this MV, doesn't seem like it's all that important. I can appreciate the "throwback" to using each member's assigned colour and all that, but there's basically nothing even remotely interesting about this video. You can make the arguments that simplicity works here, but "Black Swan" was a simplistic MV. This is far from the level of that. And again, this doesn't look like close to the level of effort a KARA video would be receiving, just looking at the sets alone (straight up blank rooms). The various props like balloons, food, etc. help add material to an otherwise blank MV. Without them, I'm not sure I'd have even bothered finishing watching the whole--oh who am I kidding. Everyone looks amazing (though Noeul unfortunately takes last and Yoonhye's eyes still creep me out). However it's a damn crime Hyunyoung has to go with the strawberry blonde. That girl rocks the black hair to perfection.

Thankfully, the song itself is extremely pleasant to listen to. It's an energetic dance number that's driven immediately by the electric guitar and drums in the background. Perhaps it's only right that "A" was also like that. Anyway everyone in Rainbow has respectable vocals so nobody sounds out of place, with the exception of the "clap clap" use in the hook. While I won't say it's a major contributor, I'm not sure what else could've been used, or if silence for those few seconds would've been better. Rainbow's less active members in Noeul, Seungah, and Yoonhye get charitable amount of lines. In fact, I'd say everything was balanced quite well as to not have anyone overshadow anyone. Even Woori takes the "clap clap" spam to bulk up her presence. On the opposite end, this may the best we've ever heard the Hyunyoung and Jisook combo. Hyunyoung may forever be an undiscovered singer but her work here is very smooth, and her velvet voice matches up quite exquisitely. The dance of "Whoo" is equally as fun as the song audio, with portions of more mature direction. When you see the vocals and the choreography together, Rainbow comes off as playful and sensual at the same time. Watching the live performances brings a smile to my face.

Like "Black Swan," "Whoo" shows us there is hope for Rainbow future. It's a fun and lively song with a good hook and potentially mesmerizing choreography. They just need to be able to promote for more than 2 weeks or whatever ridiculous amount was given last time around. If my biggest complain is that the MV needed more substance and choreography shots, I'm okay with that. The girl group current is rising up again so Rainbow really need to get their act together or they will never escape the depths of obscurity. "Whoo" can help deliver them back on track to the glory days of "A" and "Mach."

[ Overall: 85 / 100 ]

[Review] Rainbow - Black Swan

 is back! This group has toggled between sexy and cute for the last couple of years, with nothing really able to stand up to the raw power and success of "A" and "Mach." This comeback and "Black Swan," however looked promising in terms of visuals and music, so let's see how they delivered.

Can we just appreciate the instrumental for a moment? It's very simplistic in nature but works really well to bring out the vocals of Rainbow, and is genuinely powerful. No one in the group is a power vocalist, so keeping the instrumental basic definitely helped the song. Hyunyoung sounds really good, and honestly has the rest of the team on her back. Jaekyung and Jisook have nice supporting roles but it's really Hyunyoung who is the star of the show in pretty much all aspects. The vocals by itself aren't anything too impressive, but with the crazy good instrumental, the lyrics sound much better by association. The combination of velvety voices and killer instrumental make for a pleasant combination.

However, the song starts to falter in the 2nd half. Nothing new is introduced and the drop for the rap by Woori was underwhelming to say the least. It was pretty much on Woori to put on a strong showing and have a good lead into the final chorus but she didn't deliver. The rapping was too slow and despite Hyunyoung's best attempt at recovering with the lovely belts the last minute or so just doesn't measure up to the beginning. This was Woori's last chance to show me some convincing evidence to put her above other rappers like Hana (psst! Updated Girl Group Rapper Power Rankings are coming in March!) but it's a shame that didn't go through.

The video is pretty much all we expected out of the teaser. It's creepy and beautiful, scary and elegant. Rainbow looks the best they have in a while, ever since the rather peculiar appearances of "Tell Me Tell Me." The entire MV is essentially fanservice and pretend peekings at their inner selves, some of which are apparently serial killers playing with blood? How eerie. The dance during the chorus is just your usual leg-revealing butt-shaking dance, but man does Hyunyoung look really damn good doing it. Must be all those hours spent at the gym.

In the end, what Rainbow showed with "Black Swan" is that they definitely have the potential to be a strong girl group contender. But, when you consider this was their strongest release since the days of "A" and "Mach," that doesn't look very good on your resume. Still, it's a catchy electronic number that unfortunately weakens in the latter half of the song.

[ Overall: 83 / 100 ]