[MV Review] 4Minute - Crazy

Crazy? What's crazy is me releasing an MV review on the same day it came out.

To be honest, I was completely dreading the upcoming 4Minute comeback because everything since Volume Up has been complete and utter garbage. I had lost faith in Hyuna and Her Girls, because everything CUBE was giving me filled me with revulsion. I mostly blame Brave Brothers for that, but a lot of the blame also goes to whoever was supposed to butter that fucker up to convince him to give 4Minute the good shit because that person obviously didn't do a very good job.

Thankfully, CUBE has realized that Brave Brothers will shit the goddamn bed if he isn't properly compensated so they've decided to use the talents of Seo Jae Woo joined by Big Sancho and Son Young Jin for the lead single this time instead. Seo Jae Woo is fairly well-credentialed if not well-known. He was responsible for tracks like Hyuna's Red (also with Big Sancho) and Ailee's Don't Touch Me, so I for one am glad to see him getting work over Brave Brothers at least. Couldn't find anything on Son Young Jin but whatev.

The song they've given us is really good, and I can say with firm conviction that it's their best offering since Volume Up. Yeah, it's not that hard to take that particular accomplishment home considering how garbage 2013 and 2014 were for them but it's a victory nonetheless. I know it starts off with one of the worst introductions in KPop to date, but give it a chance.

"Yeah, I'm tha FEMALE MONSTA. Ya know dat?"

It starts off with fairly standard fare for 4Minute so far regarding Hyuna's serviceable raps (she's come a long way) and Sohyun's verses, but sorta like where Volume Up shined, it's the pre-chorus anchored by Gayoon that's really excellent material. This is where the instrumental does its work and hypes you up with some good ol' high octane electronic beats and double kick pedal. Maybe it's my lowbrow common denominator taste at work, but that shit really gets my blood pumping. The chorus itself is more evidence of KPop's recent infatuation of trap beats, but whoever made this particular one did an okay job in my opinion. I do wish that it went in harder or did something to make it stand out more from the instrumental used during the verses, but it's aight as is I suppose.

Like many people have noted so far, 4Minute have also managed to shit all over 2NE1's style in this particular comeback. Not that it's particularly hard to do so these days since 2NE1 themselves seem content with sandbagging the shit out of their comebacks, but the point still stands. The general visual impact combined with the song's "EDM + trap" fusion beats smacks of 2NE1's general direction in the last year and a half, but they've done it far better than 2NE1 could have dreamed of while trapped under the musical influence of G-Dragon's left testicle. Let the salty Blackjacks whine about how everyone's copying their "queens," non-Hyuna-only 4Nias can finally dust off their lightsticks and come out of the woodwork.

Jiyoon's rap makes me laugh though. Her nasally tone was used pretty decently throughout, especially with with her little "New York Paris Milano Tokyo London" bit in my opinion, but the overall delivery and impact is equal parts funny and aurally pleasing to me. I dunno what it is, but the lilt of some of her delivery (most particularly in her "London") has a certain je nais se quoi about it that's hard to explain.

Sure wish they styled her better though.

Worst part of the song has to be Jihyun's verse though. I don't know why they decided to throw in such an awkward slow break in the song, especially at the end, but it throws off the pacing and atmosphere of the song until the beat starts setting up the drop. As much as I love Jihyun, that had to be one of the worst excuses to include her in this song. I mean she already doesn't do much except look hot, but to shoehorn her in like that at the end leaves a bad taste in my mouth ALMOST (but not quite) unrelated to how boring her verse was. 

I mean look at it [UPDATED]:

[KR]

neon naege michyeo naman mitgo
neon naege michyeo bwa
neol naege matgyeo naman mitgo
neol naege matgyeo bwa 

amugeotdo mutji malgo nawa nora
oneulmaneun ttarawa
oneulman nal ttara michin cheokhae

[ENG]

You’re crazy for me, just trust me
Go crazy for me
Trust yourself to me, just trust me
Trust yourself to me 

Don’t ask anything and play with me
Just follow me for today
Just follow me for today and pretend to be crazy

She literally says 12 words 30 words. 12 30!! EDIT: So it's not as bad as 12, but her verse still feels shitty to me... JIHYUN WAS ROBBED OF NOT ONLY QUALITY LYRICS, BUT SCREENTIME TOO. Goddamn it, I waited almost 3 YEARS for more Jihyun and all I got was 23 SECONDS of solo time. 23 FUCKING SECONDS...

I mean she's still really gorgeous and well styled, but STILL.

It's a goddamn travesty. At the very least, we get an... interesting sequence of choreography for her.

SO UNORIGINAL

The Jiboobies are still as excellent as ever.

I have no idea what this is supposed to be.

I can't really say Jihyun's choreography is the low water mark of the MV either though. Nothing else really stands out as far as technicality or originality goes, but we do get this particular gem that comes from a combination of good angles, cinematography, and choreo as Sohyun literally backs dat ass up into the camera.

I must say, nearly everyone in KPop looks goddamn tragic trying to twerk

I dunno if it's the styling or my mind playing tricks on me after not seeing either of the two in so long, but Sohyun's giving me Minzy (#freeMinzy) vibes in this MV. They're both vocally competent, solid dancers, and the maknae of their respective groups at the very least, so maybe I'm not exactly going off on a limb here. Then again, ass focus aside, Sohyun can't really hold a candle to the Yung Minzy (#freeMinzy). But she sure can try.

Speaking of visuals, mostly everyone manages to look decent in this. Hyuna is as ravishing as ever since she stumbled upon the magic formula of make-up and styling that worked for her in her A Talk solo (look at her hair tho!!), and Jihyun is just perfect in general. Sohyun takes a solid third over Jiyoon because Jiyoon just got screwed over somehow where she usually takes top marks.

Gayoon on the other hand is a straight up trainwreck in most cuts. Whether it's the horrifically ugly set of mom capris, the white bootleggers and Nike sweatband(?!) combo, or the ode to chola fashion, Gayoon just got butchered in every regard.

I don't know what this expression is supposed to convey, but my
guess is forgiveness from all her Hispanic/Latino fans for this travesty.

Speaking of which, is anyone going to raise a stink about cultural appropriation here or are we reserving that particular card for the Black community only?

TL;DR:

The song's a certified banger and long-time 4Nias can finally show their faces around the internet again with this one.

+:

• the song's fantastic
• Gayoon's pre-chorus slayage
• Hyuna
• Jihyun is flawfree
• Jiyoon's rap makes me laugh
• booty backing up choreo point

-:

• tragic twerking
• chorus could go harder
• Jihyun's verse sucks

I give this MV a 4/5.

(I also recommend you check out the rest of their mini album which is fairly good throughout. 1절만 하시죠 and Show Me in particular are my favorites aside from Crazy)