The first one to call "Unnies unite" was SM senior outfit CSJH, who feature two members Dana and Sunday in their latest outing, "One More Chance", with JYP's latest girl group miss A following with "Good Bye Baby".
One is a girl group making a comeback after lying low for 4 years (an eternity in K-pop land), while another is one that burst onto the scene last year, capturing the public's attention with their bold front, sweeping awards in the process.
So which impressed more?
The CSJH (Dana & Sunday) song:
The song definitely bears all the hallmarks of an SM Entertainment 2011 production. Sharp instrumentals, employment of vocal processing, and a repetitive line "na! na jom! bwajwo!" (give me one more chance), that fans would follow easily (and employ in fan chants)
Granted it's not in english, as most "sticky lines" are, but it's short and catchy enough to do the job.
So it's hummable, and would sell in loads.
A great formula for SM, but unfortunately one that failed to do the ladies justice. Being a group known for vocals, it was slightly depressing to hear the fine voices covered by endless effects, autotune and vocoding. In fact, the only time I felt some vocal magic was near the end, when the girls belt a high note without cracking, but by the time, impressions that they were coasting through had aleady set in.
Another issue was with the dressing in the MV. Both Dana and Sunday were "forced" to wear outfits more fitting of junior groups like f(x) and SHINee, multi-coloured and crazed pattern affairs. Even SNSD get co-ordinated monotone outfits, to give an air of "maturity". This again took away the air of seniority that they had.
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| Walking around an airport? With just a mobile? |
The video was another weak point, without much of a story or narrative, except for captions and animations to illustrate the point of the song, and some dance breaks.
Still it was not all bad. The lyrics for one, were sharp and clever, touching on 3 main points:
- That a woman can be just as strong as a man, and maybe stronger.
- That a woman can behave like a man, and be none the worse for it.
- That a woman not in love has a love-hate game with the suitors
After some research, it turned out the lyrics were written by a woman, explaining the pull away from a "I need an oppa" feel. This does feel like a positive step forward in terms of K-pop lyrical development.
Also, there was this great dignity with how Dana & Sunday approached the concept, giving it their all and singing to the best of the song, even though the song was clearly beneath their abilities. They were professional enough to fit the concept, even if it was not their thing. If anything, I feel it was not their fault that the concept turned out this way.
To sum up, the song while impressive in parts, always gave the feel of Dana and Sunday being forced to work around it, rather than a song molded for them. It would have been better if a song was tailored to their voices, with the music video better done to bring out the bold concept, rather than just looking like "a romp around Incheon International"
The miss A song:
"Good Bye Baby" was one of those songs that took a few listens for it to get into me, and for me to discover its strengths. The composition is typically JYP, using a simple beat to complement the singing, and adding in some added instruments, a guitar buzz (to give it a harder edge) and a drum beat at the start (to hint at strength).
An added advantage of his simpler mix is the ability to let the girls' voices do their work, showing off their decent harmonisation. Both Jia and Fei do nicely, not being particularly "wow" in range or timbre, but doing okay in terms of musicality and not sounding like pitchy mice, while the chorus allows both Suzy and Min to show their unique timbres (Min being a bit flatter and stronger, Suzy higher pitch scaling a little bit).
This song probably best showcases Park Jin Young's strengths as a composer, to make less sound like more, and to utilise the voices he can work with best.
The video was also another strong point, with a clear narrative, that does not leave us guessing the guy's fate, but evading the censors' snippers nicely. Another strength of the video was its varied allusions to the girls taking power from the man. From being directed on set to controlling the set, from being played in love to exposing the man, and giving the man a taste of their revenge, it was obvious from the video where the song was going.
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| Can someone explain the real meaning behind this scene? |
I still did not get the "blood cherry" eating scenes, and the close ups of them seemed to take away some of the boldness in the video, especially Suzy, who looked too sweet to pull it off.
Another talking point were the outfits, which seemed skimper than prior "black concepts" by other groups, for example SNSD's "Run Devil Run". Still, the taste with which the concept was executed meant the girls looked great, not tawdry.
The lyrics were typical "Good Bye Bad Guy", along with the laundry list of reasons to leave and the signs the girl should have left. Very standard, and no further analysis needed.
To sum up, this song was a very fine evolution from the black concepts of last year. Displaying added boldness, taste and best use of the talent in miss A, the song probably heralds miss A's arrival on the "A-list' of girl groups.
Conclusion (If you tl;dr'ed the rest):
Both songs certainly did advance the female girl group cause.
The CSJH one unfortunately was let down by the sloppy execution and the SM house sound, which does not serve to flatter the fine voices in CSJH. While there has to be admiration from me, in how they coped with SM Concepts 2011, despite probably some murmurs from them about whether they suited the concept. There was some to like about the song, particularly the singing and the intelligent song writing. Still, a nagging thought remains: it could have been so much better if the concept was tailored to them.
The miss A song may have been an evolution of past black concepts, but during the year between those and the release of this song, there have been many tinkerings with the formula to make it work for 2011. Added boldness, tastefulness and a well-executed video pull this off. Plus JYP always seems to have a thing about making his proteges sound better than the sum of their parts. This was a concept well done, and could draw as many eyeballs as "Good Girl Bad Girl" did for 2010.
Rating (One More Chance -- CSJH Dana & Sunday): 3.5 -- Tilt employed in this case, as I was a fan of the vocals and lyrics
Rating (Good Bye Baby -- miss A): 4.0
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