[Review] Dear. Rude – JeA (Brown Eyed Girls) ft. Cheetah

It has been a while since we last heard from Brown Eyed Girls. As a group, their last comeback was in 2015. Since then, solo works have been the main focus of the individual members. But it seems like the BEG drought will be ending in 2019. Reports were published regarding an impending comeback this year. I am very excited about that. And just last week, JeA (the group’s leader) made her solo comeback with a new single, Dear Rude, which features Cheetah. Let’s take a look at this new release closely, as the peek I had over the weekend blew my mind).

As suggested above, this isn’t my first time listening to the track. I am quite concerned because this comeback could have been easily missed, given the limited amount of teasers and lack of promotions for this comeback. But that is a discussion for a different day. Dear. Rude is a powerful track filled with the message of female empowerment. From the very first second, it aims to be striking and bold, which it succeeds in doing. The instrumental doesn’t stop to ease the momentum, which builds throughout the track. JeA’s vocals just continue to come at you. Cheetah’s rapping is powerful, strong and packs a punch. If I were to describe the song as a real-life scenario, I would say that the song backs you (the listener) into the corner, forcing you to hear the message of the track. I found the track to be thrilling and suspenseful from start to end. As mentioned previously, I have been blown away with this return and anticipate any future releases in a very eager manner (let’s hope I don’t miss them).

As a song about female empowerment, the music video and its accompanying story is quite twisted. If you don’t like 19+ concepts (not the sexy kind, but more of the gory type), then this video isn’t for you. But if you like a little zombie or vampire action in your movies, then do contribute to the views for this music video. The video revolves around zombies. Each male zombie represents a figure in society that looks down or have previous;y ‘controlled’ females. The older zombie is like a father figure, the more normally dressed zombies are like society. They are turned to vicious monsters and act like animals because of this behaviour. A female neighbour came by and ends up getting turned into a zombie as well. But she appears to be more civilised and receives a balloon from JeA. As for JeA, she becomes the Queen and leader of this little zombie crew. The tables have turned and she uses the animal-like behaviour of the male zombies to infect the world, going back to the message that she can do whatever she wants. It is a dark video and it is a very different way of putting female empowerment into context. I liked the black and white shots throughout the majority of the video before the golden colour comes in at the end, suggesting the start to a new day and JeA as a new sun.

Song – 10/10
Music Video – 10/10
Overall Rating – 10/10

Warm Hole – Brown Eyed Girls

Oh dear, oh dear. I don’t think Brown Eyed Girls do subtle. I can’t say the song disguises the sexual innuendo at all because well, it is on the surface of the song, it is within the song and I am guessing when we read the lyrics together, it is also between the lines. And if you have no idea what this is about, well here is a line from the song “fire in the hole, when you touch me down there, I’m not feeling very well, so hot in down there“. When that part first hit me, I was trying my best not to laugh but it was impossible. The song has this nice funky and disco vibe to it which mirrors the music found back in the day. It has that early 70s feel to it. I have to be honest, the song is quite catchy and addictive. Miryo’s rap and the chorus combined together is a tune that I cannot get out of my own head at the moment. Once again, this is a style that I think only Brown Eyed Girls can pull off like it is nothing. This particular, while it is bit sexual, has that Brown Eyed Girl style, just not the exact type of song that we all expected.

Holes, holes and more holes. This whole music video is full of different holes and a lot of spinning things. Holes in apples, records spinning on the turntable, blenders making smoothies, those really cool tunnels that form when you put air into them. It was a very bright video that has funky and disco vibe to it, making it fit hand in hand with the song. I absolutely love how intrigued they look when it came to the holes. JeA’s part was just a little too innocent. I don’t think climbing into a washing machine is that safe and furthermore kind look over the top for me. I absolutely love their rabbit ears and tails. It all fits into the video and comes together as a great concept.

The dance was anything but sexual. I thought it was very classy. Their costumes indicate otherwise, but the dance on its own really does not scream out slutty or anything that vulgar. Their bum wiggles are cute and fit in very well.

This part of their comeback goes really well together. The only big complaint that I have is: cannot take the song 100% seriously as soon as Miryo starts doing her lines. Not saying she is bad, just the content of the lyrics. 9/10

Brand New World – Brown Eyed Girls

Every single song that I am hearing in November is giving me chills and Brown Eyed Girl’s latest releases have been exactly that. It wasn’t something that I personally expected and thought it sounded really weird. Not the same colour that I expected for a Brown Eyed Girl’s songs, but it is growing on me. I now believe that this song has a style that probably Brown Eyed Girl’s can pull off. But anyway, yeah it is a weird song. I honestly cannot think of a way to describe it as a whole. There are elements of electronic and funk in it, but there is more to it which I cannot identified (I think I identified the more obvious genres that are mashed up into it). It also has a futuristic sound or a sound that I would have associated with the portrayal of space back in the 80’s or 90’s. I absolutely love the chorus, with JeA’s and Narsha’s fast pace singing. Miryo’s rap is kind of iffy for me, but after listening to it a lot, I think she handles it pretty well. The creepy “Hey~” that are featured in the track actually that really nice touch, even though it sounds really creepy.

The music video is one a whole new level. Yeah, those back up dancers with Gain at the start in those shorts, it took me some time to figure out that they were men. And that is what I love about Brown Eyed Girl’s music videos. They seem to always attempt to push something upon us that isn’t considered as typical. The video has a lot of sophistication in it. While it suits the futuristic sound that the band is going for, I absolutely found those bright lights on some of the dance scenes really obnoxious. It is something that has always been a part of me and every time a video has it, it just annoys me. It seems to be the girls go time travelling or something that bends light. I love the concept and thought it was very interesting. I love the special effects of the random shapes that pop up from time to time during the video. Beside those lights, I love everything about the video.

The dance, while it is something that does not scream Brown Eyed Girls, it manages to do the job and goes hand in hand with the song. To me, this dance just shows the girls ages. It really isn’t that strong compared to in the past, and reading articles about the girl’s bodies seem to just confirm my suspicions. My absolutely favourite parts? The creepy “Hey~”. How to make an entrance according to Brown Eyed Girls 101.

Overall, amazing song and video. An okay dance. 8/10

I will be reviewing Warm Hole and releasing the review tomorrow. I chose to do them separately, mainly because I want to share a laugh with you all about Warm Hole. if you don’t understand, it is time to play Warm Hole and listen carefully to some parts. I’ll tell you the rest tomorrow.

 

Sign – Brown Eyed Girls

As many of you know, I am a huge fan of Brown Eyed Girls. Sign was released in 2008 after their hit single Abracadabra, which still serves as one of the biggest and well known songs in the KPOP industry to date. Sign was released as a repackaged album for their third studio album.   This song was later released in Japan in 2010. After this song, they went on a break and later came back with hits like Sixth Sense and Kill Bill.

Not as great as Abracadabra or their later hits, but it still was pretty good. The piano instrument and electronic sound blended really well to make the song so good. Their vocals were superb and the rapping by Miryo was once again, probably one of the best raps ever. I really like the “sexy” bridge part. Gain’s voice sounded so sexual (this is not a complaint). But like I said before, this song really was not up to par compared to Abracadabra which was such a big hit. It just  did not have the feeling of “most popular”. Actually, I am sure some people thought Brown Eyed Girls would become a one hit wonder. That being said, the song was popular in South Korea to a degree and since the band went on to release in Japan as well, showed that the song did achieve some of kind of value for the band. When I first heard this song, I was disappointed. But when I continued to listen to it a lot of times, it grew a lot on me.

This music video was a little controversial when it was first released. It literally made headlines from what I remember. So, the Korean version is a drama version. The reason why it got a lot of criticism because there was a scene in the music video where Gain drowns. Yeah, even though such a scene is confronting to watch, I see no problem. There should be a warning sign on the music video somewhere. I guess that is why they now have a rating system for music videos. The music video shows this man bashing some people up to help save Gain from dying. He, from what we know, completely fails and she sadly turns up dead in the music video. It is a solid plot to an extent. The Brown Eyed Girls members become ghosts throughout the video and sing creepily behind the fighting scenes. As for the Japanese video, they focused mainly on the dance.

The dance was pretty solid. It became a pretty popular dance and I love how they used the beat and incorporated that into the dance with the fans. Not people fans but “it is so hot” fans. Yeah, you probably get me. But it was a cool dance and I enjoyed it a lot.

Overall, a nice song. It just was not good enough compared to Abracadabra. How many times have I said that today? 8/10

Happy New Year!!!

 

Hi all, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Wow, 2013 is finally over. Can you believe it. With days to go, I will be unable to update this over my “break”. Beside that I have scheduled a whole heap of reviews. I promised you guys an End Of Year Charts, and with that very day 3-4 days away, I think it is time unleash the beast. Party hard! Welcome the new year in style! I will wish to see you all back on the 2nd of Jan 2013 (subject to change). At the very bottom of this post, there will be two links. One is a playlist for the winners of the BOB’s and the other is the top 20 songs of the year, as selected by this chart. Yay!!!!

Position Title Artist
1 Female President Girl’s Day
2 G.R.8.U (Your Impressive) VIXX
3 Tonight Spica
4 Hush Miss A
5 Damaged Lady Kara
6 24 Hours Sunmi
7 Voodoo Doll VIXX
8 Give It To Me Sistar
9 Expectation Girl’s Day
10 Only One Gummy
11 Be Ambitious Dal Shabet
12 Red Shoes IU
13 Number 9 T-Ara
14 Very Good Block B
15 Everybody SHINee
16 Kill Bill Brown Eyed Girls
17 Destiny Infinite
18 I Don’t Know FIESTAR
19 Only You VIXX
20 U&I Ailee
21 Madly FT Island
22 Love Blossom K.Will
23 Love Options BESTie
24 What’s Going On? B1A4
25 Growl EXO
26 Gone Not Around Any Longer Sistar19
27 Yoo Hoo Secret
28 While You Were Asleep JeA (Brown Eyed Girls)
29 1.4.3 Henry (Super Junior M) Feat. Amber F(x)
30 Dream Girl SHINee
31 Wild Nine Muses
32 Thriller BTOB
33 Goodbye Dasoni (EXID)
34 Insane A-Jax
35 One Shot B.A.P
36 Lonely Christmas Crayon Pop
37 Confused AOA
38 Bar Bar Bar Crayon Pop
39 Glue Nine Muses
40 Twenty Four / Seven 2Yoon
41 Jeon Won Diary T-Ara N4
42 I Like That GLAM
43 Tell Me Tell Me Rainbow
44 Stupid In Love Mad Clown ft. Soyu (Sistar)
45 Rocking Teen Top
46 No No No A-Pink
47 Why So Serious? SHINee
48 Baby I’m Sorry MYNAME
49 Dreamer History
50 The Letter Davichi

PLAYLIST 1: 

PLAYLIST 2: 

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM KPOPreviewed!!!