[Review] DIA - Somehow

At first, I thought the Flavor Flav sample would be the only great thing about this debut song, but I was so, so wrong.

When DIA first released their teaser, I just thought they'd be another rehash of A Pink. Shit, they even have A Pink's producer, Shinsadong Tiger, in on this, but they somehow manage to have their own identity, and that's mostly because A Pink hasn't done this style of song in a loooong time.

"Somehow" is the A Pink song I wanted this year. Don't get me wrong: I like "Remember," but it's not as great as "My My" was. That's what "Somehow" reminds me of song-wise. What I liked about "My My" is that it incorporated hip-hop into what would have been a very saccharine and sugary '90s pop song, and K-pop has enough of those. I liked "No No No" as well as "Mr. Chu," and I finally thought they were going back to incorporating hip-hop in their songs with the great "LUV." But "Remember" was basically a '90s summer anthem. There's nothing wrong with that, but still ...

"Somehow" takes the sugary pop tune and adds spice to it by adding some umph, and I'm not just talking about the P.E. references. Instead of going for a trap (thank God) or a dubstep (that GOD) breakdown, it goes for a hip-hop breakdown that actually matches the song verses just being inserted in there out of left field. The verses could be stronger, but every other part of the song makes up for it right down to the "Dee Ahh Ehhh." This is truly one of the best and strongest tributes to the one underrated style of '90s pop music from a K-pop girl group in a long time. I've been replaying the crap out of it.

As of now, I've only talked about the song, so onto the video. I actually first heard "Somehow" on SoundCloud, because my phone doesn't play videos well and I still wanted to listen to the song. The video is fairly standard for this concept. The only thing really spectacular about it was that it was shot in Hong Kong, which I think is pretty damn cool. It appears MBK is trying to focus more on the Chinese market overall. The only other thing worth mentioning is the members actually do A Pink's "My My" butt dance during the "Nananana" parts; however, the baggy jerseys prevent any actual ass from being seen. If you like how the members of DIA look, then you should enjoy the video just fine. I know most people will take a liking to Seunghee, but I find myself liking Euijin more.

All the members wind up looking good. I really like the sequined clothing they wear. Only one of them winds up getting shafted, and it's because of her piss-blond hair. I really wish these companies would stop with the blond hair, because most of them aren't getting it right. Instead of trying to make the blond actually go well with the performer's face and skin-tone, the stylist just go for the "Took a piss on your head" or "I poured actual bleach on your hair" look. MyB is an example of this.

Lastly, I'd like to mention the group's name and how confusing it is. At first, I thought it would be pronounced "Dee-ahh," but according to the hangul in the video, it's pronounced "Dahh-ee-ahh," like the beginning of "Diamond." However, they even wear shirts that say "DIAMOND" across them, and their symbol is a diamond. So why didn't MBK just name them Diamond? What's also confusing is that DIA is an acronym for "Do It Amazing" (lmao). They should have just been named D-A, so they could fall in the same pattern as T-ara and F-ve Dolls. It would have been soooooo glorious.

I guess since MBK knew that netizens would shit on DIA just for being associated with T-ara they did a track featuring Qri's microdot, "Lean On Me," which is a more salvageable version of GFriend's "Glass Bead":

Overall, I enjoyed DIA's debut, and although it's pretty standard video-wise, "Somehow" is still one that I see myself replaying a lot the rest of the year.