January 22, 2014
IU - Friday
The video features many cameos, including Jang Ki Yong (who recently starred in The Red Shoes MV), Sunny Hill’s Jang Hyun, K-pop Star’s Yoon Hyn Sang as well as Jang Yi Jeong (as mentioned above) and it is a one-take music video. It is overall pretty well-timed and filmed, with IU both lip-synching and acting at parts, with a good mix of acting scenes and effective camera work to keep us entertained from the beginning to the end. The overall colour scheme of the video created a warm ambience that complimented the song well.
As for the song, I just really like this song. It’s lacking so much in all the components that have come to become commonplace in k-pop - the dub steps, the auto tune, the electronic sounds - yet it still sounds brilliant. As compared to her previously self-penned song Peach, I much prefer Friday because of its medium tempo that keeps the song moving forward. Friday starts off with a solo acoustic tune, which remains as one of the main background instrumentals throughout the whole song, while IU’s lovely vocals floats at a notch higher. In a really sweet melody, IU sings about how she can’t wait for Friday to see a loved one, whom she can’t help falling in love with. Towards the end, her supposed love one replies to her in his own chorus, and I found that quite unique an idea yet great for this song.
Ailee - Singing Got Better
The music video stars MBLAQ’s Lee Joon and it features scenes revolving around 2 main time frames - one from when Lee Joon and Ailee were happy together until things got messed up between them, and one on Ailee's side where she is now all successful and classy, having moved on from the heartbreak. At the start, we see Ailee all smartly donned in black and being led into a black car while flanked on both sides by bodyguards on a rainy day. This is presumably in the future long after everything happened. After which, we are led into the past with relationship between Lee Joon and Ailee. There are scenes of their happy days spent together, and how they are being united by music. But Ailee chances upon Lee Joon being kissed by a girl, and that's when breakup starts happening with all the pillow throwing (and this is where the bridge comes in as well, with the background instrumentals building up towards a climax).
Singing Got Better is a pop ballad about breakup, and how Ailee has suffered (all of the song lyrics / seemed like my story so I sang them to death) but is eventually moving on (little by little, my tears dried). It is definitely not as catchy a song as compared to U&I and I'll Show You, but I think that it showcases Ailee's improved vocals really well. The song starts out simple with a piano instrumental, and even with Ailee's vocals added on, the song remains on a rather low note. As the song builds up towards the chorus, Ailee nails a high note and the song levels up to a notch higher. It is only towards the bridge that the song starts to really build up. However, everything still remains relatively toned down with the absence of a drum beat and a baseline. The only thing keeping the song anchored is Ailee's vocals, which is great because throughout this song, Ailee's vocals were truly impressive. The half sound half air technique was quite well done and even at the higher notes, it wasn't a scream but an emotional song that came through.
Girl's Day - Something
The music video opens with the introduction of the telephone ringing (doesn’t this scene ring a bell?), and then moves on to the dance sets, which were all pretty neat and suitable for the somewhat dreary yet suggestive mood. There’s the glass-pannelled dimly yellow lit set for solo dancing scenes with a floor lighted by row of white bulbs, the dimly purple lit box with Girl’s Day in purple neon lights under the glass-panelled floor for the dance The outfits were quite well designed to be appropriately suggestive, especially the black costumes, with the crosses to reveal the midriff and the back, black mesh at the top and along the long sleeves, and the slit along the maxi skirt for the choreography. The lip-syncing scenes were quite well done too, and I found that I was thoroughly drawn in by their expression of pain and hurt. The choreography was overall pretty okay, though one part of the choreography that definitely has to go is the bouncing one (I'm sure you know this).
Somethings is a pop-ballad song about a girl who knows that her boyfriend (I hope not husband please) is cheating on her (Your shaking face and words / Seems like something is up / A strange scent is all over your body / Seems like yore possessed by something) and so she wants to end the relationship with him (Your obvious lies, it’s over / Nothing, it’s something, stop it) though of course feeling hurt by him (Let go of my hand / Don’t lie to me). It is a rather heartfelt song, reminding me of Expect Me in many ways. The song opens up with that repetitive tune comprising of a few notes, and this remains present throughout the song as a background instrumental. Like Singing Got Better, this song lacks a baseline and a strong drum beat and has minimal background instrumentals, above which the 4 members deliver the half sound half air technique for most parts of the song. I especially loved Minah's lines towards the end of the chorus where she bursts in with her full voice. It injects a whole load of emotion and colour into Something, providing a strong contrast to the rest of the otherwise potentially dreary and lifeless song.
Cover Photo Credits
What are your thoughts on the 3 songs?
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