Shinhwa returns with their 11th album, The Classic, and are doing a great service by winning #1 on music shows. At a time where shit from 4minute, Lee Hyori, and B1A4 (seriously, who the fuck is this group?!) are charting near the top, Shinhwa comes back at the right time to restore some respect for the mainstream idol market.
Upon first watching the MV, I thought this was a parody of an SM video and song. All of the elements are there: the Shinhwa members are trapped in a box, trying to use their voguing powers to escape and Eric's rap is littered with the phrase "systematic automatic" throughout. Then I get the sudden realization of how good SM used to be and just shake my head. Shinhwa was one of SM's last good groups, and once 2000 rolled around, SM had lost it when it came to idols. Sure, DBSK came out, but when they debuted, they were the gayest fuckers around and it took them five years to start releasing respectable music. Super Junior, SHINee, EXO...yeah. SM has definitely lost their touch.
Just like a lot of SM MVs, the story here doesn't make sense. What seems to be just a normal dance MV at the onset tries to become a story MV halfway through. A random Japanese girl shows up and absolutely adds nothing to the MV.
Moving on from the nonsense MV, let's get to the song. Like last year's Venus, Shinhwa comes back with a modern sound that you could imagine other male groups, such as B2ST, doing. That isn't necessarily a bad thing; Shinhwa can't release songs like Eusha Eusha in today's environment. This Love takes the best of today's trends while avoiding the awful elements laden in some recent Kpop songs (SNSD's I Got Multiple Personality Disorder, 4minute's What's Your Personality Disorder, T-ara N4's Countryside Schizophrenia, etc.).
What makes Shinhwa click for me is Minwoo and Hyesung. Both of them carry this group as they're the two most talented, however, they're not carrying deadweight. Dongwan, Junjin, Andy and Eric fulfill their roles adequately, and that's all I fucking ask for. I don't need a group like SPICA where every member is talented but the songs are unlistenable after a few a times.
I know some of you were expecting EXO's Wolf, but I had to review a song I liked before tackling yet another piece of shit song.
neiga wolf neiga wolf AWWWWWOOOOOOOO
ReplyDeletewhy didn't they make my lady or even baby don't cry their comeback track both are at least fifty thousand miles ahead of this embarrassment of a song
Deletenobody is ever going to take exo seriously if they don't make their better songs famous
since when did anyone take exo seriously from the first release in the first place?
DeleteI did. They were pretty good, until Wolf came.
Deletei gave the album a listen after realizing that my lady was a track on it and literally every track is better than wolf. overall, it's a surprisingly strong release; too bad exo is absolute garbage at live singing so they have to perform three dimensional vomit like wolf for exotics to make excuses about choreography and fatigue
DeleteMy lady was actually pretty good. Angel was too. Sometime simplicity sounds better.
Deletemy lady, baby don't cry and heart attack are the absolute standout songs, along with maybe black pearl depending on how many times you think it is acceptable for chanyeol to go EHHHH in one song
Deletewasn't angel on their previous release?
So I just listened to them and wow! I liked it, esp. Black Pearl.
DeleteWolf was Shitacular! Heart attack or Black pearl wouldve been better. Heh, maybe have Yuri in th BP mv. Maybe that could have grab Koreas attention coz they b flopping like Hangover 3.
jfc i have heard too many exotics/smtown freaks parroting the phrase "EXO outsold every other rookie by a large margin last year" when exo-k didn't win shit, not even on weekly shows (once and for all proving that it is the ugly stepsister of exo-m) and the only reason exo sold anything was because the three exotics bought every existing copy of MAMA to lick the face on their favourite photo card or whatever
DeleteAside from the "systematic automatic" and the in-a-box MV, it was a pretty solid comeback, not only for this time of the year, when we basically had 10 crappy comebacks and 1 decent, but also compared to what SM is doing lately.. oh, wait. I could jam this for the rest of the week. I swear EXO has something for crappy SF releases. TVXQ is the only hope left, anyone knows when they'll come back?
ReplyDeleteI think DBSK is focusing on Japan right now. They keep breaking their own records in Japan, so may as well stay over there.
DeleteNo korean album could ever reach up to their Japanese discography, except for Mirotic. Miss those days.
Deletemirotic as a production was where kpop reached its highest point for me
DeleteMinwoo, Dongwan & Junjin should jump ship and create their own, superior group.
ReplyDeleteHyesung's plastic surgery looks like shit now that he's middle-aged (not that it ever looked natural). Eric has 0 musical talent. Andy, who? I love Shinhwa, but useless fuckers are useless.
On the other hand, Minwoo is a sex god.
TOO BAD Minwoo's short :/
Deletebtw: b1a4 is a group with no good looking members, all of whom have neither outstanding talent nor personality. they sometimes release mediocre songs like baby goodnight but even their best songs aren't worth the time and effort
ReplyDeleteI know, I tried liking them cause everyone is like "oh, they have flawless vocals, their ballads are the best &co." but they are just too boring. Remind me somehow of 2AM.
DeleteI think Jinyoung is cute, but all that aside, they are boring. Their Engrish doesn't help either.
DeleteThe song is great. I never heard much of Shinhwa (started listening to K-Pop way after their era) but I liked "Venus" and I certainly loved "This Love" I listened in on their album but ended up liking only one more song ("Hurricane").
ReplyDeleteAs for this one, well, dance-in-the-box aside, the choreography is totally superb and very refreshing as opposed to the hoppedy-hop bounce-round-the-stage thing most boybands are doing (not that I mind, most of them are good at it). They look (and sound) even better performing this one live, I watched a couple of "This Love" live performances by now and I enjoy this vogue-ish choreography more each time.
All in all, real good release. Along with 2PM and SPEED, this is one of the comebacks I really, really enjoyed this year.
Speaking of SPEED, since I remember you had an article where you sounded very sceptical about this one's comeback. Well, I'd say they are certainly nothing of what they've been during their Lovey-Dovey Remix days; great improvement. From "It's all my Fault" to "It's Over" and especially "Pain, the love of Heart" they quite rapidly became one of my favorite bands. Good stuff, good stuff.
i gave that last song a listen. it sounds like a more talented version of teen top's to you (seriously though why can't bravesound just make a new fucking song when he is asked for one)
Deletei'm going to have to pay more attention to this group.
Mediocre. Andy's rap was as weak as a wall made out of wet toilet paper. The song is incredibly safe, and I'm saying "safe" the same way I say "waste".
ReplyDeleteBasically a 4 year old reject from a low tier DJ's original mix with Korean overdubs.
At least it didn't try to shove in unnecessary trends like excessively resonating low frequency oscillators. Thank heavens for that.
7/10 for a pop song. 4/10 in actuality.
am i the only one that think the girl in the MV look like Fujii Mina? i might be way off....
ReplyDeleteBecause it is her.
DeleteI love this song but this is only the second time I listened to it. It is a pretty solid comeback but there was no need to have a rap part in it at all as much as I love both Andy and Eric. Also Minwoo was the best out of all them when comes to the dance and the song. It's awesome they did some voguing instead of whatever young'uns do this day 9/10 for me
ReplyDeletedbsk as a group wasn't bad though, and super junior/shinee/snsd didn't start out being terrible.
ReplyDeletei can't say the same for exo or f(x) however
When I first heard Into the New World by SNSD, I stanned the shit out of it. It wasn't in a box, the girls weren't doing some creepy ass aegyo concept, and the song was pretty.
DeleteI remembered one song from SM that's really good "SM TOWN - Let's go on vacation" was OP
ReplyDeleteWe live for DISSSSSSSSS lovee
ReplyDeleteLove that part.
DeleteEven though this song is standard 2013 K-Pop, no other group could have done it as well as Shinhwa
ReplyDeleteFuji Mina is so fine. She's the best Japanese chick of all time.
ReplyDelete