Saturday, April 11, 2015

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.

22 comments:

  1. Also, I forgot to add that I really like the fan-hands-at-the-hips move from BoA's "My Name" that they toss in at 2:30 and elsewhere.

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    1. Tho the move the do right before it is a less funky version of a move Bestie does in Love Options:

      https://youtu.be/NPqtL1dtrlA?t=1m48s

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    2. BESTie needs another song like Love Options.

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  2. Song is kind of meh.

    The MV was great - simplistic showing off the good choreography. Plus all the girls looked great.
    Even better was the Line Distribution and Camera time for each of the members.

    If Jessica leaving meant each member was more active in the Song/MV, that is probably a good thing.
    Plus Hyo's blue hair :3

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    Replies
    1. Seolady took her prime camera moment to emphasize her boobs. Well played.

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  3. I've come to trying my best to not expect much from very electro SNSD sounding songs (kinda hard to explain) and I'm still quite disappointed. It sounds like modern western dance pop to me, which I can't stand.

    I too noticed the lack of Tiffany, but I'm ok with that.

    Guess I'll just put on some actually good SNSD songs (I really liked Mr. Mr.!) and watch some fancams or normal live performances of this.
    Are any good lives/fancams out yet?

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  4. Right now SNSD needs to focus on the positives. At least they aren't The Wonder Girls.
    I still think SNSD will do a TVXQ and attempt keep their career afloat, at least so they don't have to witness the horror that would be Apink and Girl's Day spearheading kpop *shudders*. We won't be getting rid if these bitches for a while I reckon

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    1. I actually like Girl's Day, but Jung Eunji is the only relevant one in APink.
      Seriously.

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    2. The problem with A-Pink is not the members, it's the fact that they're SNSD-lite, only they've forgotten the part about releasing more than one slightly tolerable song

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  5. Replies
    1. Are you man enough to fill the gap?
      http://i4.minus.com/isyFZvkXw9cQB.jpg
      http://i.imgur.com/ZjvS3.jpg

      Delete
  6. This song sounds like TVXQ's Are You Good Girl and some Super Junior song that I cannot recall...oh wait.... Mr Simple, blended in together.

    I know that many AKF readers hate Hyoyeon but I really have to point out that she looks really good at 3:38, and she is not even my bias.

    Secretly I wish to have another sub-unit starring her, Tiffany (I guess she will always remain my bias, plus, her singing and dancing have improved very noticeably) and Sunny (most underrated singer in the group).

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  7. Perfume are bae sadly their songs haven't been great but Pick Me Up was life . they are the queens of synchronized dancing.

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  8. Perfume are bae sadly their songs haven't been great but Pick Me Up was life . they are the queens of synchronized dancing.

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  9. this reminds me of a porno I once saw where this woman had sex with a horse

    the song is the horse cock, and my ears are her vagina

    i wanted to like it, but at the end of the day it's just wrong, and I'm pretty sure I've sustained internal injuries from the incident

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  10. Looks like they're trying to pull off a sugar free but failed terribly

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  11. HATEFUL EIGHT HATEFUL EIGHT HATEFUL EIGHT

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    Replies
    1. What a great cameo that'd be in a Tarantino movie.

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  12. This shows how the biggest Korean girl group of all time can look like normal human beings, if dressed up in construction worker-ish clothes and simple (but nice) choreography...oh wait...they are!

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  13. I'm gonna head over to Youtube to see what those folks think of this song/MV. See ya guys

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