[Review] T-ARA - Number Nine

Vocals: 9 / 10

Has T-Ara always been this synchronized in sound? Perhaps it was the melody of the verses and such, but every member’s voice flows pretty well into the next, making it really enjoyable to listen to. Jiyeon’s high notes during the bridge were also not strained. It was interesting that Soyeon didn’t take some of those high notes but I guess having Soyeon sing the chorus makes more sense. Speaking of, all the high notes and belts were well executed overall. Maybe it’s just me but it has been quite some time since I’ve heard a good belt that not only sounded good but meshed with the chorus, and the work at the end of this song is excellent. The bridge also adds a nice crescendo and Soyeon doesn’t disappoint. What does, however, is the unnecessary use of the prechorus’ half-muffled half-robotic “Number nine”, which should’ve been omitted completely.

Appearance: 8 / 10

Hyomin and Eunjung continue to be flawless. Boram and Soyeon look good, but I don’t think the hairstyles they had did enough for them. As far as Qri goes, that shade of red doesn’t work well for her, and makes her look weird and stand out amongst the other members who have darker colours. Speaking of colours, the outfits during the red box were probably the best. Eunjung and Jiyeon look amazing, but in their solo shots with the zebra stripes? Questionable. Outside of the red box clothes and zebra clothes though they looked great all around.

Dance: 8 / 10

The dance also was equally as appealing as the girls’ looks for the most part. The mixture between individual moves and synchronized choreography was of a good balance, and while they were no dance breaks or such, Jiyeon’s parts during the prechorus almost gave the feeling of a dance solo anyway. While having said all that about the dance being good, I felt there could have been some more energy and or power, given the heavy instrumentals of the song.

Rap: 3 / 10

No, no, no, no. There is anything and everything wrong with this rap. What is Hyomin saying? “I’m addict”? “I’m adding”? “I’m headache”? Even ignoring the terrible English, the rap was mediocre at best, with the weird muffled background voices backing Hyomin up. As far as songs like this go, I feel this could’ve been fine without a rap segment (similar to f(x)’s “Electric Shock”) but they just had to add this one in, and definitely a regrettable decision. Considering just how good the vocals were in this song, the rap is a serious letdown and disappointment.

Music Video: 6 / 10

From now on, any stereotypical boring box MV will get a score of 4, and then I’ll add or subtract additional points from there based on various things like eye candy, additional versions, etc. So with that said, this score gets a 6 because of the extra eye candy in both the regular music video and then the second music video, which was shot in Mongolia. Since there was no sort of drama version, and of course being the stereotypical MV that it is, there’s no plot or interaction at all. I did find the intro / first fifteen seconds a little strange, since it’s only Eunjung singing notes with no real substance and is more structured towards a ballad (or at least a softer song) but then cuts (despite the instrumental buildup) right to the “wub wub wub” intro of the song.

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Overall: 68 / 100

While the song is very good, the score doesn’t quite reflect that. Primarily because the unneeded rap was so bad, and because the music video didn’t provide much either. If you only looked at vocals, dance, and appearance, the score would be 25 / 30. Which is a shame, since these aspects were executed so well, but the remaining two weren’t. We’ll be hard pressed to find more solid releases with quality scores in all fields. T-Ara put out a good effort but couldn’t quite make things happen.

[Review] Block B - Very Good

Vocals: 5 / 10

U-Kwon and Taeil are talented vocalists (Jaehyo too for the most part) but this song is very much a Block B song, and so they don’t have many opportunities to showcase themselves. For the portions they sang (excluding the chorus), they did well but I can’t really say much else since they didn’t sing much. How about that falsetto at the end, if you could call that falsetto. Impressive, to say the least, even for a line like that.

Appearance: 5 / 10

Big Bang called, and they want some of their stuff back. Block B has always been very non-mainstream, but this was just way too much like Big Bang for me to think otherwise. The Mickey Mouse hair for Zico, blue hair for Zico, U-Kwon’s mask, Kyung’s popping out from the plate, Taeil’s near-identical appearance to G-Dragon with that hairstyle and glasses. They’ve been “wacky” since the debut with “Freeze” but this was disappointing since it really just looked like a mimic of Big Bang. U-Kwon looked the most “normal”, and the best.

Dance: ? / 10

Similar to Lee Hi and “It’s Over”, I don’t think I’ll be giving a score here for the same reasons. There’s not enough screen time to the dance, and that’s not even considering that a majority of the dance that is shown, is simply freestyle or much flailing of the arms and legs. Which is perfectly okay, given the nature of the song, but as such giving this a score would be unfair to Block B.

Rap: 9 / 10

Block B has a wealth of rappers with vast experience, and because their music is centered on rapping they should have a good score. Kyung and Zico (and P.O, for his little bit) perform up to their standards and the English usage was good. Hell, all of the English throughout the song was pretty well executed and well pronounced. Special note would be the chorus, because while to fluent English speakers “I’m very very good” sounds like common sense, there have a few too many instances of awful English and this could’ve turned out very poorly.

Music Video: 8 / 10

Like the appearances, the music video also reminded me of Big Bang a lot, and since Block B has (in my opinion) put themselves in their own unique category, this isn’t a good thing. The boxes are pretty standard, but the rooms with decorated thrones, the silly colours, the vans containing people with masks, etc. etc. The video was fun and all, but I drew plenty of similarities to other Big Bang videos, and like I mentioned with appearances, just seemed like a letdown, or they weren’t really trying.

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Overall: 70 / 100

As far as Block B’s comeback is concerned, it was good to see them return despite the shenanigans with their previous label, but honestly comparing this song as Block B’s standard to “Be The Light” which was easily out of their comfort zone, I enjoyed the latter much more. Using “good” to describe “Very Good” is applicable, but not so much “very good”.

[Review] IU - The Red Shoes

Vocals: 23 / 25

Talk about a retro sound. IU brings us a portion of nostalgia lane with a snazzy jazzy tune with her voice does a damn well job of it. There’s a gentle mixture of emotion, sass, high notes, and energy throughout, which is really enjoyable from IU. IU hasn’t really dabbled in the deeper ranges since “4AM” so the beginning is a pleasant surprise, but she doesn’t forget her roots and goes up for those lively and lovely higher notes for the chorus, not to mention the pretty falsettos. Unfortunately, the aegyo displays of…whatever the hell she mumbles after the chorus (sounds like “Oompaloompa” I think) blocks this from getting a perfect score. Compared with the tone of the vocals in the rest of the song I feel she could’ve done better without adding any aegyo or cute sounds. Also, while her relatively small use of English was good, her “stop” in “stop the time” really irked me, as it sounded more like “standard time” even after a few listens. Nonetheless, can’t blame her for that.

Music Video: 24 / 25

Wow, this music video is lengthy…and it’s set in France? Oh nevermind, there’s like three minutes of credits and filler. Thankfully, the actual music video is certainly not filler and is more than the time’s worth. I’m not one for the analytics and deeper philosophy of music videos, but this was a good reenactment of the original fairytale. The colours (including the black and white only scenes) provide for easy viewing, and the dancing is not that bad either. IU has never been choreography-heavy but it’s sassy enough to match the theme of the video as well as the song itself. As for her becoming more mature and advancing into the sexy role, she doesn’t do anything “extraordinary” but the hair colours look amazing on her.

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Overall: 94 / 100

Not only has IU made a comeback that was different (in at least a little way), she made a comeback with force, and also pleasantness. Both the vocal work and music video are impressive in their own right, and combined together give this a really impressive score. The red shoes will keep dancing, and IU will keep on singing. 

[Review] KARA - Damaged Lady

As KARA will probably cease to exist as we know it in just under three months, I thought I’d take a look at their last title track as 5KARA. Also since I was inactive during September, I’m making up for it with extra pieces this month, naturally.

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Vocals: 8 / 10

Seungyeon continues to do a lot of work for KARA, but I’m not going to dismiss Gyuri either. The chorus was powerful and easily the highlight of the song. It did, however, get my hopes up for the rest of the song, which the rap (we’ll talk about that later) disappointed me in. The verses however meshed pleasantly with the chorus, especially given Jiyoung’s soft voice (the sound of innocence) and the other girls being capable of matching that sound. Overall the vocals in “Damaged Lady” are not far off from the standards of KARA.

Appearance: 9 / 10

Gyuri, please. That short cut just won’t do. I’m not talking about the short wigs (the ones that gave them the boyish look), I’m talking about the red bizarre cut that not only framed her face awkwardly but just made her look straight up creepy. And honestly, the colour isn’t the greatest on her to begin with. Other than that, KARA lives up to their standards. Seungyeon and Hara look amazing, and Nicole and Jiyoung, too. Everyone’s outfits while on the their thrones looked amazing (again minus Gyuri), and the white T-shirt and black tie look was oozing charisma. No comment on their boy looks.

Dance: 7 / 10

There’s a lot of hip movement, but outside of that it didn’t seem like the dance was particularly interesting. The girls mostly stood straight for a lot of the movements, which doesn’t necessarily make it a bad or lame dance, but definitely affects the visual appeal. That said, I didn’t find this dance on any extreme, which I leave to you on whether or not that’s a good or bad thing. It wasn’t too boring, but it wasn’t overly flashy.

Rap: 4 / 10

I thought the rapping throughout could’ve been omitted entirely. While previous rapping in “Lupin” and “Pandora” was appropriate, I felt this one in “Damaged Lady” wasn’t. The rest of the song is very high energy and or loud, emphasized by the vocals and chorus, but the rapping never really got anywhere besides sounding low and out of place. The one “saving grace” of the rap in “Damaged Lady” is that it was probably the best closing option available to them, since the chorus was so full of energy and the verses were fast.

Music Video: 8 / 10

KARA gets a lot of free points here for not having the standard boring MV. It’s cute to see them distressed at their pathetic excuse of a boyfriend(s) checking out other girls and not paying attention to them, and the eventual ditching and getting a bit of revenge. What did Jiyoung or whoever shoot at a guy anyway…? Questionable random water sprinkler scene though, fanservice aside. This was also the first MV for KARA where I felt their fancy closed boxes were maybe a little too small. For a group that has five members, you’d think it’d be hard for them to make a box set look crowded but I felt that way for a few of them.

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Overall: 72 / 100

Despite my comments about the excellent vocal showing in the chorus, I find “Damaged Lady” lacking in terms of getting your attention. Perhaps it was because of the subpar rapping, or maybe they lost a few points in the choreography, but I don’t forsee myself coming back to this song as often as I have others, but maybe I’m merely wallowing in the nostalgia of “Lupin” and crying that KARA will lose Nicole and possibly Jiyoung for next year.

[Review] 9MUSES - Gun

Vocals: 10 / 10

Am I the only one who thinks this song could segue into “Give It To Me” or something of that caliber very well? There’s a mixture of pop, retro, and sass that makes this song ridiculously catchy. While “Wild” uses energy for the hook, “Gun” uses smoothness. Seriously, the voices blend into each other beautifully and the bridge by Hyuna and Hyemi was delightful. There’s no crazy belts or high energy which while may have been nice, may not have fit the song or instrumentals as well as without. Line distribution is also excellent in this piece, something rarely seen in groups with this many numbers.

Appearance: 10 / 10

Damn these girls look amazing. Kyungri, Hyuna, Sera, and Sungah were flawless in this video. I was mainly attracted to the eyes this time. Hyuna and Sera have gorgeous eyes and they’re simply two of the best. This group as a whole could easily compete with KARA in terms of eye emphasis and beauty. I thought it was a little unfair that some members’ solo shots gave them fancier outfits than the others. Hyuna’s blue dress was stunning, but Kyungri only got a similar outfit to their other stuff.

Dance: 7 / 10

Choreography has always been solid for 9MUSES, but it has never been that pronounced or the main focus of their music (for example compared to groups like TVXQ or 2NE1). The usage of chairs and “splitting” up the group and choreography was pretty neat. You sort of implemented the members on the side as pseudo-backup dancers and the main dancers in the center. Similar to “Wild” though, there’s nothing that really stands out in the choreography. So for that, an average score it is.

Rap: 9 / 10

Erin has one of the best rapping voices out of the girl groups, despite the rapping in “Gun” not being standout. It’s low, husky, throws a little energy around, and ends nicely. While her rap in “Wild” was easily one of the best in 2013, this is a good rap that keeps consistent pace with the song and so isn’t out of place.

Music Video: 7 / 10

I don’t really understand this music video. 9MUSES owns a gas station? Seemingly in the middle of nowhere? And some handsome actor-man-guy-person shows up, gives the girls and interested look and the girls return (Hyuna!) but the lyrics of the song are reflected in the video, the man isn’t good(?) enough and doesn’t approach any of the girls. Outside of that, it’s your standard dance scenes and solo shots compiled into a MV full of eye candy. While the vocals of the bridge matched the rest of the song very well, the same doesn’t apply to the music video. It was nice to see the girls in pure white, smiling and frolicking through the fields…but where did that come from? The entire rest of the video had been them on a deserted wasteland at a gas station. Suddenly, fields. I just found that confusing. Also, didn’t they just steal the guy’s motorcycle at the end? Or they abducted him or something. I wouldn’t mind getting abducted by 9MUSES.

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Overall: 86 / 100

This is an excellent title track amongst a blend of other really good songs on the “Primadonna” album. The song is just so ridiculously catchy and flows so well that you’ll find yourself looping this song for hours without even realizing so. The music video is a little underwhelming, but in hindsight they could have taken the theme to a much worse outcome.