Monday, August 15, 2016

[MV Review] I.O.I. - Whatta Man



Tasteful concepts for underage girls are no longer an impossible dream!

That's the major takeaway from I.O.I.'s comeback -- oh, and also that they have even a single modicum of talent or appeal. God, Dream Girls was such a crime against humanity.

But seriously, this video is a masterclass in melding cute and sexy to create something that acknowledges that yes, Somi is preternaturally beautiful, but also she is 15.

Just being a chill, regular teen
Now do not get me wrong, I am not criticizing pure sexy concepts. I am all about Stellar (except for their new song but you already knew that). I appreciate half-naked gyration as much as the next queer woman.
See, people in this video still look hot! Don't worry!
And this video also doesn't completely shy away from how attractive these girls are.

Okay, not ALL of them are attractive.
But the girl power/revenge through hotness concept is cute and innocent enough that it gels well with the ages of the group members, without dolling them up in school uniforms for some aegyo dogwhistle bullshit.

Overtly sexual choreography ahoy
Plus, the song is actually pretty good! Granted, the only thing I.O.I. had to do to make this decent was not fuck up too bad. They had a ready-made catchy hook courtesy of Salt N Pepa (among others). And they didn't knock it out of the park. Some of the production choices on this are ... mystifying ... and I would under no circumstances advise that you listen to their live vocals. But overall it's pretty catchy, and I like the tempo switch-ups a lot. Also, 7 members is just so much better than 11.

Waving goodbye to your memory of Dream Girls
Overall, I'm immensely relieved and impressed by the concept and the fact that they actually managed to produce a half-decent song after the unholy trainwreck that was their debut. Shame that they're disbanding in a few months and consigning half their members to permanent nugu-dom!

16 comments:

  1. This song/MV and Crush were by far the best things to come out of produce 101

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  2. No Sejeong, no Chaeyeon, no fucks to give.

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  3. I think they did well with their version of the song. If I were to choose between an original produced song by YMC or a remake, I'd probably choose the latter lol, though with the song's relative success I'm guessing YMC will have a bigger budget for their OT11 song in October.

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  4. Repetitive chorusnand choreo. Did chungha even try

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  5. The song sucks, and the sexualized choreography makes me uncomfortable.

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  6. the chorus is one of the most appalling sounds in kpop, the way the freaking sing it I think idk is fucking ear grating.

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  7. Replies
    1. according to all the sources (read: youtube comments) i've read he's one of leon ent's trainees

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    2. his name is (supposedly) Kim Younghoon

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  8. Pinky has the strangest face I've ever seen in kpop. Doyeon is the shit.

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