The fact that Sistar19 only ever released two songs is depressing. "Ma Boy" was sensational with audio and choreography, so the sophomore release had a lot of expectations. "Gone Not Around Any Longer" was quite a mouthful of an English title, considering how short and to-the-point the Korean title is. Let's see what my thoughts were on it from seven years ago, and how the song holds up nowadays. This review was during the 2nd season of my blog so each aspect of the song was compartmentalized. If this revisit comes off a little choppy, that's why.
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.
I still stand by how annoying this was. Yes, me being a huge Bora fanboy (especially during those days) factored in but you can't tell me that this shit was fair. Considering groups in the current age still have line distribution woes, it's unacceptable that a duo had one member with all of the singing lines. If instead of calling this a Sistar19 release Starship had labeled this Hyorin featuring Bora then it'd be less obnoxious.
Woah. My first post in 2017 will coincidentally be post #300 on the blog. That's pretty cool. Anyway, there are some writings I want to get to right away, but I also wanted to start off the year simple. Here's a blog post that will gloss over what are my hopeful wishes for Kpop in 2017. Like some of my other posts, these will range from somewhat realistic to "please I'd give up my left leg if this happens." I can think of no other way to kick off 2017 with these lighthearted thoughts.
We now embark on a trip down memory lane, for the years of 2010 and 2011 still house some wonderful songs to talk about. Continuing tradition, I'll list my top 12 picks of the songs of the year. This was by far one of the easiest to compile, and subsequently also one of the easiest to rank. There's a distinct hierarchy between the top and bottom half, and regardless of their position all these songs are definitely nostalgic delights.
#12. TVXQ - Before U Go
If you want to look at one of the most important comebacks in Kpop history, the revival of 2VXQ after the JYJ lawsuit is definitely a nomination few would argue against. While "Keep Your Head Down" was the official comeback song, the repackaged album featuring "Before U Go" turned out to be one of three ballads on this list. The X factor was the surprisingly formidable Yunho vocals, which matched pace with Changmin in both power and skill.
#11. Secret - Love Is Move
This song was quietly a top-notch dance number that I felt many people slept on. It had many qualities that combined together for a great performance piece. Relatively catchy hook, frantic (but still clean) choreography moves, and a smooth vocal attack by Jieun. Sure, the Zinger rap is forgettable (hey she didn't change her name yet) but then again so are half of her raps. Like Yunho establishing himself in "Before U Go," Hyosung started to gain traction as a secondary vocalist behind Jieun in this song.
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.
