MBLAQ - SMOKY GIRL
Following exo's "wolf" and b2st's "will you be alright" (audio), MBLAQ had their long awaited (summer) 2013 comeback with "Smoky Girl".
Every song can be analyzed on its own (as if it were the first time I'm hearing/seeing this artist/band) or, au contraire, considering the artist or the band's former creations/performances.
Therefore I shall attempt to analyze it from both stances and try to be as objective as I can.
MUSIC
On a stand alone view-point it's a good song that catches on quite quickly. The melody is simple enough to be remembered easily yet sufficiently elaborated to keep us interested in hearing more.
The beat is simple, club fitted; the tempo fast but nicely suited for dance at any party.
The chorus line "smoky girl" sang a few times in a row could've been changed to something else, but, then again, it is just right for a dance song, not demanding, catchy and easy to remember. Mir's rap part is very well adjusted to the song, appearing as smooth, mature and greatly put up. Mir shows once again his great rapping qualities.
The three notes that the we hear in the beginning, are brought every now and again as a background sound assuring a continuity throughout the whole song, making it this much easier to remember it and recognize it from other songs.
At a first hearing, it struck me as a sad...dance-electro-pop song (?)...which made me feel a little puzzled and the feeling is still there after hearing it a few times (not saying it's a bad thing).
I don't know why it was chosen to be like this but it does stand out from many other dance-electro-pop (?) songs out there (not referring only to kpop).
Analyzing this song considering Mblaq's history I can say it most definitely shows maturity and sophistication. Each member's singing part is well chosen demonstrating an evolution in their singing/rapping abilities.
The song is well chosen for Mblaq but somehow seems different from what we got used to when listening to them; which - is not all that bad - if we consider the ever changing style of Mblaq (while remaining true to their own sound).
DANCE
Personally, I liked the dance a lot. It seemed quite difficult, despite not being shown so much in the video and the boys did not fail to seduce me with their dancing technique. They got me used to great dancing styles and powerful yet sexy, when needed, moves. Mblaq are all talented dancers and every performance of theirs is a pleasure to watch.
For me, the dance seemed to fit the song's melodic line and the lyrics quite well. It completed the song, highlighting it without being too overwhelming or, contrary, too elusive. To me, it made perfect sense. The footwork or leg movement moments were like a bonus that I truly appreciated. I know the dance is a difficult one and I really appreciate how Mblaq makes it seems so easy...like a walk in the park.
I wished I could've seen more of Lee Joon's dance, but I'm not one to complain (much).
IMAGE, FASHION, STYLE
This time around, Mblaq went for an elegant and classy look. I, for one, liked it a lot and thought that this style suits (pun intended?) the boys really well.
The suits they wore had clean lines and clear cuts but each and every one had a distinctive feature for each of the five members.
We all know how crazy Korean Kpop fashion can be, so this time, toning it down felt good. The classy with a twist look made it easier for the viewer to concentrate on the song and on the boys' singing and dancing.
I am not a huge fan of crazy fashion in Kpop, since I consider it drives the viewer away from what truly matters in the song(most of the times). Not all that glitters is gold - so true! Most of the times, to hide away a mediocre song, Kpop's crazy fashion comes to the rescue. With lots of colors (not always correlated), patterns, multiple styles into one mash-up (or mash-down), and way to many accessories, many of kpop song are rescued from a complete failure or, other times, ruin what could've been a good song.
I love the clean acting, attitude and pose Mblaq shows this time.
The only "crazy" feature in this song would be G.O.'s hair-due and hair color and Thunder's hair color. I didn't consider it necessary to give Thunder a neon pink hair (another color might've been better), but it didn't bother me that much.
I also appreciate the nude (manly?) make-up that matched the outfits. Mblaq looked manly and gentlemanly.
LYRICS
Well, here is a different story. The lyrics of this song (a big THANK YOU to all the translators out there who were so quick and did a great job) were close to giving me a headache. Close I say because I had to read the lyrics twice in order to fully understand (or at least that's what I think...that I understood) the meaning and the story I was told.
So, I think the lyrics are about a guy (or, in this case, all five of them) that goes into a club and falls in love (?) with a girl that has shiny hair. Aaaaand...from here on it becomes a sort of a love song?
The guy notices the girl is drinking only lemon juice, which makes the other guys that approached her disappointed (that she's not drunk...probably), and yet he is the one that goes to sit next to her.
He can see the "smeared scars" in her eyes and at first believes that they will have a flaring romance going, only to discover that she never saw him as more than a one-night stand. Hence the "Smoky girl" title - elusive like the smoke.
Ok. There could be more to analyze about these lyrics, but the bottom line is that it's about a boy that wants more than the girl can (and wants to) offer.
ENGLISH - points given from 1 to 5: 3.5 out of 5. The lack of adjectives "she was smoky girl" - doesn't really make sense and I didn't understand that G.O. was saying "juice" until I read the lyrics. Their English is not the worst but I always wondered about one thing and it's not just MBLAQ's situation, but most Kpop artists and bands out there. Why, if you have this many options (a translator, a native speaker, a dictionary, google translate! and so on) do you not use them in order to not make a fool out of yourself, even more so knowing that many of your fans are native English speakers or simply, people who do speak and understand the English language?
MUSIC VIDEO
The plot of the video is simple. No fuss, nothing special. The "room" in which the boys are alone scenes are intertwined with club scenes.The dance moments take place in both locations. There seems to be a "smoky girl" the appears at some moments in the video but she doesn't interact with either of MBLAQ members which is a bit strange (plot wise). She does appear at the end of the video posing for the camera, showing us her face. I did not see the point to that at all. A little interaction with either one (if not all) of the boys would've been great, but they don't even seem to be in the club at the same time.
The plot could've been a bit more substantial and more connected to the lyrics.
The visuals of the video are greatly done with good taste and not at all harmful to the naked eye. The club dance moments (where the club is sprayed with colored paint thus "painting" the people too) were very nicely done, the visual effect coming off as attractive and original.
All in all, MBLAQ's Smoky Girl is a nice song that will most definitely catch on.
For more to come!
Thank you for reading! Be sure to subscribe below for more Kpop and almost any other musical reviews!
No comments:
Post a Comment