Up10tion - 'So Dangerous'

Up10tion recently debuted with "So Dangerous" earlier this month (Sept. 10) and have peaked my interest because after watching the MV just once I couldn't get them out of my head.

It must've been the editor side of me, because I was quite impressed with the editing of the music video. Most rookie groups have terribly edited stuff, such as Hot Shot's "Take A Shot." After just finishing up a short film production (and five pages of documentation analyzing said short film), it was pleasant to watch a video with some nice edits. It was technically pleasing; I suppose that's why it stuck with me. Anyway, the 10-member rookie group show some potential, though probably will just remain in the background for music shows. I'm sure they'll carve out a nice niche audience for themselves. Their title song is an upbeat dance track with I'd say some edm influences. But I'm bad with genres, so I'm avoiding that. If your worried this song has carved out rap breaks, fear not: There's not really any.

The music video release included the intro song, "Tension Up," which allowed the boys to highlight their dancing and synchronization skills. Their actual title track, "So Dangerous," starts 48 seconds into the video. It reminds me of Monsta X's "Trespass." I'd give it like a 3.5/5, because it's catchy and flows from verse to chorus to whatever else smoothly enough. It also just makes me want to dance. The song is catchy in a good way. The "no-no-no-now" part keeps getting stuck in my head. But it's one of those genres where you have to listen to it at least twice to really figure out if you like the song or not.

With 10 members, there has to be a member for you; that's just how k-pop works. The more members the higher chance of you picking a bias and falling in love with them.

Jinhoo:

Kuhn:

Kogyeol:

Wei:

Bitto:

Wooshin:

Sunyoul:

Kyujin:

Xiao:

Hwanhee:

Strictly speaking about the music video visuals though, I have to say I'm proud of the stylists for not turning them into utter monsters like the prior photos. Their outfits match, but all of them have different variations of the style, which is always a good choice. My only complaint would have to be the outfits with the red on them:

It's to be expected, though. No male group can ever have a music video without one of the outfits looking stupid.

The dance also showcases their practice and has nice variation in it, as most moves are generally separated into groups where one group does one thing while another does something else. In this note, it isn't boring to watch. It reminds me a lot of BTS's concept trailer for "O!RUL82?" and Exo's "Wolf." So what I'm saying is the dance cuts are nice to watch.

The first song in the video is in black and white except for the yellow lights in the background, allowing for the focus to be on the dancers as their outfits are two toned and in this way are eye catching. The rest of the music video shows some rather jarring camera angles, but the editing of the group shots is quite on point. The shifts from having one member to more and the transitions from one outfit to another in the group shots work really well. I'm not particularly one for constant camera movement, but with the slight zooming in and out within these shots, it works.The only flaw I really have with it is the camera angles. The constant use of diagonal shots for the chorus probably was not the best choice.

Up10tion's mini album, "Top Secret," shows a different side of them vocally:

"Come as you are," the third track, is a chill, slow, happy song. It's nothing special, but it is one of my favourite songs on the album.

If "So Dangerous" wasn't the title track, "Never Ending" would've been. It's more upbeat than the previous song, a solid track.

"Phoenix" isn't the best track on the album. It starts off going one way, and then it gets to the chorus and sort of ruins the track. If you can get past the chorus, it's actually a good song.

"Come With Me" is a standard vocal song that ends the mini album, a slow but pleasant track.

***

With pretty solid songs, good visuals, great editing AND the added bonus of not shitty styling, these boys will stay on my to watch list. They're meant to be doing both Chinese and Korean debuts, so I hope we get a Chinese version of "So Dangerous" at least.