Doube S 301 - "Pain" [MV Review]

Before you ask, yes, this is a song that exists.

So this post is a good three months late but I've only listened to this song recently and I've been pretty much addicted to it. Now you must be thinking, who the hell is 'Double S 301'? Why is the name so long and difficult and retarded? And is this another one of those noname nugu groups? No, they aren't nugu. Well, kinda. More like a group that used to be a legend years ago but took a long ass hiatus and are now somewhat at the nugu status. And no, their name is not retarded. It has a very deep, distinct meaning and it stands for "Super Star - three united as one" (mind = blown). Double S 301 is actually a sub-unit of the group "SS501" and if you're new to K-Pop you probably won't know who "SS501" is either.

Well, let me break it down to you.





SS501 is a five-membered boy group that debuted back in 2005 under DSP Media. They were pretty damn popular around 2007-2010, but shit happened over the years and they left the company for reasons I don't care to find out (you can always go ahead and Wikipedia all that if you give two shits). Kim Hyun Joong, the group leader, who you may recognize from the countless Koreaboo articles, got into a huge scandal where he allegedly abused his girlfriend and got her pregnant (again I didn't care to look into the details). Bottom line, he and another member enlisted into the military and the three remaining members, now under CI Entertainment, finally made a comeback during February of this year.

Now let's talk about the actual song. This song is everything I like about K-Pop. A catchy tune, great vocals, random mandatory rap breaks that are terrible but actually kinda freaking awesome, and a dance that is so spectacularly creative without being too overwhelming (as in you don't see them doing cartwheels and back flips all over the place, the choreography is more downplayed and elegant). I mean, look at this tie dance. It's subtle, but definitely one of the best pieces of choreography I've seen in a while.

And don't even get me started on those hip thrusts.

I am especially impressed with how they pulled off those unconventional tempo changes between the verses and the chorus without making the song sound like a disjointed mess, while also keeping it sounding interesting. I especially like the part in the middle of the chorus where they suddenly go up an octave at 1:00 and it just sounds so damn right. Every time I hear that octave change, I feel like a baby just got born, the sun just came up, a flower just bloomed, all the sasaengs in the world died and Donald Trump got eaten by a bear. I feel like my life is complete, and I could die happy.

I think in the end, the best thing about this song is that it reminds me of the old K-Pop days. The whole thing is shot in a plain box set and there's the signature random face closeups and the silhouettes. This MV would have looked really cheap had they not owned the shit out of that song and dance. And lets not forget, the incredibly terrible engrish that we all know and love. I feel like we're not getting enough engrish these days to give us a few good laughs. Take a look at these lyrics.

"I'm so pain
I'm so pain
Tutururu
*something in Korean*
So pain, so pain *Korean*
Tutururu Tutururu"

Mind = Blown (Again).

I think it's really cool how they retained their old SS501 sound even though they were missing two members. I'm honestly glad they didn't just disband and while I doubt they'll ever get as popular as they used to be, I still hope they keep making music.

Now, I'm only waiting for an After School comeback. I know it's futile at this point but, please make it happen, Pledis.