SNSD - Catch Me If You Can Review

The girls are back! Well... eight of them, anyway. How are the ajummifying idols of k-yesterpop holding up in today's climate? Thoughts after the jump.

Well the MV is 4 minutes and 22 seconds long, which is about how long the film by the same name would have been if the protagonist was black. Layered groundless association jokes aside, I can't say I'm too surprised by what we're seeing here. Generally, when you start entering the age where you might be considered "older" but still want to be "hip with the kids" you have limited options. You can either go EDM, which is a particularly popular choice through Asia, or you can go hip-hop, which Soshi has no capacity to do. Thus, we have EDM soshi. The sad part is that T-ara already made this shift and did it better, and their debut-line idolmates Kara (who seem to have inspired the first set of outfits) are showing a classy capacity for greater things.

One does have to consider a possible strategy of emphasis on holding parity with their Japanese promotions, as Japan is less likely to give a shit about Jessica getting the boot and also less likely to care about their age as they keep going, so in that respect taking the broadest rather than boldest path seems smart even if it's an uninteresting way of letting their legacy go out. So, I can understand if this marks a standard for their final road, but it would be a bit disappointing, but then again that's what they have been since Genie so why would I expect more?

However, they did exceed my expectations and their usual standards in one regard: Dancing. For some time now they've been rather sloppy, even in MVs. I've seen a lot of sones making gifs and taking screencaps to show their astounding lack of coordination as some kind of endearing thing, but I prefer calling it unprofessional for a supposedly top group in a highly competitive market. If you want to be legends, act like it. Perfume is a great example of this, and I wonder if they were an influence on soshi, especially as they move all the more to intricate and even interlocking movements. One is also left to wonder if Sica really was holding them back in this regard, or if they have been busting ass doubletime to try and make it seem that way.

Finally, to end this aimless rambling, let's partake in the traditional practice of ranking them. With Sica gone, I have my usual top picks of Yoona/Tiffany/Taeyeon competing for my affections, and I must say in this case Yoona comes out WAY in front. She's going for broke playing up all her cute and sassy charms, not settling into the "I'm standard-pretty enough to not try" boring-zone. I'm not really feeling Taeyeon for some reason (I probably just want more sexy-tae like in concerts and photoshoots lately) and Fany seemed to fade into the background here. So congratulations Yoona, you win best mom.

P.S. No other authors even had a draft waiting for this. I guess we really don't give a single fuck about soshi.