Tuesday, June 19, 2012

[MV Review] After School - Flashback



Straight from Pledis, they're the baddest, After School make their Korean comeback after months of fucking around in Japan. 

Their new song and MV is called Flashback, and it's meant to hearken back to their sexy concept when they first debuted. Although I'm pretty sure they've continued to be mildly sexy in all their releases (Ah, Diva, Because of You, Bang, Shampoo, In The Night Sky), I'm not about to say no to an extra helping of sexualization in K-pop. Will this song and MV propel After School back into relevancy?

Check out the review after the jump.

Condescending Kahi.
VISUALS

I don't have to say much. This shit writes itself. But I will anyway. As you can probably tell from the teasers AS has released so far, these babes are SMOKIN'. Seriously, they look like they could be the best looking girl group from this MV. But then again, if you dress a bunch of leggy Asian broads up in sexual clothing and slap a pound of make up on them, they're probably going to look hot. 

Let's Be Real, put most girl groups into these outfits with this concept and people would be raving about how hot they are too (besides certain groups like 2NE1). ESPECIALLY the group I don't have to mention, because everyone knows that they're still the hottest. Piggy Dolls. Unf.

But I have to give After School credit. They look NASTY. Especially Nana and Jooyeon, their outfits just emphasize every curve on their bodies. So delicious. E-Young is also looking very tasty with her suspenders. Observe:

I wait for you oppar, to put your bulgogi into my dolsot bibimbap.
They had to take down all the mirrors in the dorm so Jooyeon would stop doing this.
STORY


This MV has a really well written and acted story. So after being savaged by online reviews, After School dress in their sexiest outfits and track down the composer of this track, tie him to a chair and proceed to film a video of their exploits while also lying around being sexual because they got drunk before the shoot. The members take turns cussing out the man for composing such a mediocre song while UEE and Jooyeon threaten him with a gun.


Bitch, you said that this song would make us relevant again! Fuck this autotune shit, what are we, 2NE1? LOOK AT US. 
I AM NOT A MACHINE!
Now being the expert criminologist that I am, I would have suggested to them that recording a video of them kidnapping someone and shooting him with their faces in full view is probably a bad idea. Then again, Dal Shabet have already recorded both a gun massacre AND a bank robbery, so I guess this is tame by comparison. 


Another weird thing is it looks like they recorded a dubstep dance break in a sketchy looking warehouse, possibly the same one used by Sistar19 during Ma Boy. 


So eventually they finished editing the MV and upload it online in the hopes that their awesome visuals make up for their decidedly poor song. Uh, good plan I guess?


CHOREOGRAPHY


This choreography doesn't really stand out, nor is it super complex. It is sexual though. 


It's mostly a lot of body waving, led spreading, bending over, hip gyrating action. Like this:


She's called Queen Young now apparently.
And this:
This one is called "Wet Dream."
And THIS:


I call this the "Blue Baller."
And of course, some of this:


I call this one, "Not Even Close Baby."
COMPOSITION

I feel this MV falls a little short in how it's shot and edited. After School just added a new member, and the previous addition is still a nugu. Unfortunately, they get almost no face time. This is almost literally the extent of Ka Eun's appearance:

Who do I have to blow in this company to get some lines and screen time?
Furthermore, while popular members like Nana and UEE (shudder) get a lot of shots, those shots are usually pretty short, not long enough to appreciate their outfits or appearance. In fact, the entire MV is cut quite rapidly, so there isn't a lot of time to focus on a particular member before UEE's mug appears on the screen. I guess this is a problem with large groups, but the other large girl group that I won't mention is usually proficient at giving all the members a decent amount of face time. Rainbow. Unf. 


SONG


Ah, the least important part of K-pop. The song itself! Well, I was disappointed. It's completely autotuned, the chorus is not catchy, the voices don't stand out, the verses are forgettable, there is a bro-step breakdown (ugh), the high notes seem out of place, the song begins with an autotuned talk rap from Nana and the line distribution sucks. So basically your run of the mill mediocre, low tier female K-pop song.


They said Ka Eun could sing. Well? I AIN'T HEARING IT! She is limited to like a few words. That is poor.  I don't think this song will do much to lift After School out from Tier 4 along with other has-beens like 4minute, and worse of all, the song is just disappointing. The teasers were so awesome, but of course, they were only visually pleasing.


VERDICT


+Strong visuals
+Super sexy
+They look NASTY
-Poor editing
-Terrible line distribution
-Mediocre song


Song gets a 5/10 (at the moment).
MV gets a 7/10.


Bonus Points for Lizzy Cleavage?

26 comments:

  1. "Let's Be Real". I see what you did there. "Hehhhhh".
    Dolsot bibimbap is overrated as hell. Shit is dry.
    Too much UEE, needs more Jooyeon.

    Regardless of how sexy this comeback was, one thing will always remain the same:

    Rainbow > After School.

    YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH COME AT ME.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. rainbow is awesome, i love hyunyoung <3
      but yea, flashback is kinda weak

      Delete
    2. I only liked the runway parts and the snippets from the trailer :P

      Delete
  2. Luv dis article. So true.
    + points for Jooyeon and Queen-Young focus. You know my shit baby ;)
    Still aint buying the nugu. From a cat-voiced Kahi, now we have a cat-faced Gaeun

    "I AM NOT A MACHINE" RAHHHHHHHH

    ReplyDelete
  3. wow i never thought id hear more out of place brostep assfuckery in a kpop song again but there it is

    ReplyDelete
  4. If I weren't asian and into Kpop and shit, I would've thought these bishes were white.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jung Ah looks like qri @ 1:24

    ReplyDelete
  6. Pledis spent this year's song budget on Hello Penus.

    Ara and Lime would've been wasted on this group ;_;

    ReplyDelete
  7. Probably irrelevant but... Who DAHECK hold guns like that? The recoil of would damage the joint @ the elbow. Bend arm inward, not outward. They probably never even throw a punch before, not talking about holding guns yet. Well, they are girls. Anyway, The MV director is an idiot for not notice this, a horny perverted idiot, to be accurate.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The MV director probably didn't notice not only because he's an idiot but because he ain't got a clue about things like that either, just like the girls themselves. Plus, details like that don't really matter as long as stuff looks good... People aren't supposed to focus on the gun (much less about onshe holds it) in her hands but on her bra-pushed-up tits.

      Delete
    2. *how she holds it (damn typos)

      Delete
  8. You are right, It's just that the gif make me focus too much on trivial details. Didn't even see the guns first time watching it. LOL

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. *laughs* Nah, I didn't think the detail trivial per se. It's actually really face-palm worthy but I admit I hadn't noticed it myself until you pointed it out. So in a sense I suppose the MV director has been sucessful in covering all the little erros with lots of naked skin and naughty choreo XD

      Delete
  9. To be quite honest, I didn't think any male author on this blog would manage to write a proper review of this.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I would have accepted this challenge, but 2 reviews on the same video is redundant.

      Delete
    2. What can I say, I'm the least biased person on the planet.

      Delete
    3. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
      Jokes. They are funny.

      Delete
  10. To be quite honest, I didn't think any male author on this blog would manage to write a proper review of this.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I wanna know how you can get an MV banned for not crossing the road properly, but guns are suddeny okay?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I guess Korea is highly militarized like that.

      Delete
  12. Nice article. I liked almost everything in the MV. I could have done without the choppy camera work though. Also didn't like how the girls looked so oily. Theres sexy glow and then theres i just rubbed chicken grease all over myself

    ReplyDelete

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