Tag: Sojin (Nine Muses)

[Review] Lip 2 Lip – Nine Muses A

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Nine Muses have returned but as a subunit consisting of Kyungri, Sojin, Hyemi and Keumjo. It has been a while since we heard from Nine Muses and since we last heard from them, a few other members (namely Minha and Euaerin) left the group once their contract was up.

Lip 2 Lip is another okay song. Sadly, it is not as memorable as I would want it to be. It has a diva-like feel to the song and falls nicely in within the retro realm. The chorus is not as catchy, but that “la-di-da chu~” steals my attention. Them singing that makes somewhat catchy, but I would have liked more of a hook to the rest of the chorus. It just feels empty and bland. Sojin’s rap is pretty nice. It is very mature and sounds very classy. I don’t know why but the song starts to pick up at the bridge and slows down before getting into the last “la-di-da chu~” part. I felt like that faster beat should have been there from the start and the bridge should have been a simple slow down. However, as I said, it is okay. It is bearable and I do listen to it. If it was catchier, I would have liked it more and probably more people would pay attention to the song. I agree with you, that is harsh, but I think that is what is missing in the song.

The music video depicts a group of girls who gather around and I guess chat about a guy one of them is meeting. This chat makes the main character in the music video discuss with the others about her experiences with the guy (which makes the other girls envy her). However, towards the end of the video, it is revealed that the guy is two-timing with another girl from the group and the girls are angry at that. The ending kind of leaves you on edge a little bit. There seems to be something more to the video and hopefully, this is a sign for a future Nine Muses comeback, so the story can be continued. Interesting story line. One that has been done a few times too many recently. Rest of the video (i.e. the dance shots) were okay.

The dance featured a small part of the music video concept. The end of the dance shows the girls standing around a phone and realising the same thing that occurred in the video. Quite smart. The rest of the dance was okay. It isn’t memorable or anything, sadly. Nine Muses usually do well with the dances. Just not this time, sadly.

Final Rating – 4.5/10

Sleepless Night – Nine Muses

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The song is quite underwhelming. To me, it suits the feel of Autumn but the song is really monotone. Listening to it from start to end, I really could not decipher which part was the verse and chorus. After a few listens, it started to become clear, but that monotone feel remained. To me, I can imagine a straight line running throughout the song, and the vocals really did not deviate from that straight line. The entire song was sung at a high pitch and honestly listening to the recorded version and the live version shows a very big difference. This song is basically suited for only a recorded version, which sounds really good (minus the monotone complaint).  But the girls struggled a lot with the song when singing live. Only the main vocalists nailed the song, the rest kind of didn’t sound up to par as they did in the recorded version. Now I understand that they are dancing and all, but there have been other songs that suit each members vocal style really well, so it was a disappointment. The rapping was another part that was disappointing. It sounds heavily edited and just so whiny. It did not fit in well with the rest of the song. If it was manipulated in a way to sound more sensual and softened, then it wouldn’t needed to sound forced and “over the top”, if you understand what I mean.

The music video looked interesting. So we have Mina which appeared in the video at the very start. It seems that every other member plays a part of Mina (such as her memories). Now, clearly from the tone of the song and the music video, you can tell that Mina is facing some sort of break up and each member (her memories) seem to cause her this pain. The ending, seems to show another member, and probably symbolises that Mina has moved on from her memories. Yeah that last part isn’t that clear. But damn, this video was beautifully shot. The nice rustic feel of the video gives that Autumn look. Honestly, great video.

The dance to this is very sexy and sensual. However, it is not over the top and is quite classy in my point of view. I really love the end where they are all squatting (This by far is the worst word to describe such a sexy dance move) around the chair. It added that extra class I was just speaking above. Once again, the live vocals aren’t that great. Props to them for singing live, but this might not be the right song for that.

Nice song, but not exactly sure it was the right choice for stage performances. 5.5/10

Hurt Locker – Nine Muses

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Nine Muses is another girl group that has returned for the Summer season. And they have done so with a bang with their latest Summer single: Hurt Locker. And it still confuses me how there are 8 members yet the group is still called Nine Muses. It confuses me. Also, I believe they were going to change the line up to Nine Muses but then decided against it. Why I think this? Well, an article was put out before the comeback saying that the line up isn’t going to change. Yeah… The group did return at the start of the year with Drama.

This is honestly a really good song. It is Summer and what other way to celebrate the hot season with an electro/dubstep style song. This is another song I am totally digging and the response from some fans have been quite positive. Not sure if this will be the best Summer jam, but it is totally up there in the list. I thought the instrumental was very powerful just on its own. It is quite sad to see only one member carry the song, while the rest gets 1 or two lines. That could be exaggerated a bit, but sometimes when I listen to the song without the music video, it does feel that well. I liked the slow and fast bits of the song. It added a little depth to the song. I know I sometimes complain about it, but I felt that it suited the song this time around. The rapping and vocal power of all the members was quite strong. The song flowed quite well as well.

The music video was quite cool. Very colourful. As for the lockers, or shipping containers, they used in the video looked awesome. The only thing I was thinking about though: What if one of the members fell into the crack while on top of all the shipping containers? Like, I felt fear while watching the music video. And that stood out quite a bit. I don’t think we have ever saw a group dance so high up before. Hahahaha… But honestly, I thought it was a great video. The way I explain things make it sound very boring doesn’t? I honestly thought during the rapping part of the song: why are they so happy and roller skating when the song was about being hurt and sad? Yeah, that confused me.

The dance was pretty cool. The chorus featured the “opening the locker” dance. I have no idea what they called it, but some people have been saying it is that. I like how they changed from fast to slow moves for the right parts of the song.

Amazing comeback. This is definitely something award-worthy. Time to get these girls some recognition. 9/10

Ticket – Nine Muses

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Nine Muses returned with Drama just weeks ago. But let’s go back into our time machine and look back some of their past hits. Further than 2013. Maybe back to 2012 when they released Ticket. This was a song that gained the girls some popularity in the industry, but it was not until 2013 when the girls released Dolls, Wild, Gun and Glue, that they became big names and a rising team. Interesting fact, this is the one song that got me to into Nine Muses. And I am probably going to tell you how in the review.

This song is really catchy. Who hasn’t heard the world ticket and started to sing this song either out loud (if you are brave enough) or in your head (to avoid being judge)? “Ticket One Way. Ticket One Way. One Way One Way One Way Ticket“. This song has a really retro sound to it. I can’t pinpoint which era it came from, but it does sound like something that came from the past. Maybe 70s? Despite that, I really enjoyed the instrumental. I love the rapping in this song. It is sad to not see both the rappers now, since they have left the band, but the rappers here (Eunji and Sera) sounded really amazing and powerful. Likewise, the vocals were pretty strong as well. The song itself describes the feelings the girls have about their emotions and likens their love to a one way ticket.

The music video was a little to the boring side. I remember watching it back then when it came out and not look back once at it. We see a man buy a ticket from the ticket booth, where the attendant seems to have some other thought. As he baords the train, we see the girls look up at him and they also seemed to be travelling on the train themselves. Some come late while the others come early. This music video for some reason reminds me of that movie where the lead actor is revisited by the lovers of the past. This music video may have been based off that. We see him cry when he realizes he can’t come back (?) and the girl who comes late walks off disappointed. Yeah, not entirely sure about the plot of the video. I loved the eerie train yard they are in and the darkness gives it that more creepy feel to it. But as I said, there really much happening this video. There is really no interaction between the girls and the guy to prove my plot. That being said, this music video can be interpreted anyway.

The dance was hella catchy. I think we probably all tried this dance at least once. I just love the main dance with the spinning arms (I think they are made to look like train conductors or something along the lines of that), but I also love the dancing at the end. It gives more life to the dance and shows off the girl’s moves.

One of the catchiest Nine Muse’s songs ever released and something that gives me a lot memories to. 8.5/10

Catch Up Review #1 – Red Velvet, Nasty Nasty, Strawberry Milk

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I am back, and there are so many songs that I have missed out on. So the next few days (probably weeks), I will be writing mini reviews for a bunch of songs. These are going to short and they probably be quite brief. Also I will be playing around with the site in the next few days trying a new look (for a new me hahahaha…) But let’s go!!!

O.K. – Strawberry Milk 

The new subunit from Crayon Pop has officially made their debut with O.K. The rock instrumental is surely a winner here, cause it is what appealed to me when I listen to the song. Also the girls voices, were not so aegyo and actually is quite enjoyable. None of that really whiny stuff I keep hearing nowadays. The music video was also quite cool and their outfits look absolutely cute. Though, I am kind of weird out with the gigantic fork and knife. The dance is a little lazy, but these girls make it look really cute. Needless to say, I thought this was a really cute song and overall a really cute and pretty fun comeback. I’d give this a 8/10.

Knock – Nasty Nasty 

Ummm… I really don’t like the subunits name. Yeah… This subunit is made up of Kevin from Z:EA, Kyungri from Nine Muses and a trainee, Sojin. The three banded together for a “sexy” concept and the teaser made it seem that it lived up to the standard. Everyone literally thought that this was going to be a really controversial video and whatnot. But I was so freaking disappointed with the music video. It was not even sexy, unless sexy is a video about a guy dating two girls and that he has some split personality, but really, I expected something that made me uncomfortable and draw my attention away from the music. So yeah, the video was a tad dark, so for me, I couldn’t see that much. Maybe I need to adjust my brightness. Sojin should have gotten more lines and this subunit is Kevin centred a little too much. not that it is a bad thing, it just really disappointing. I liked the song and I thought the dance was nice with the “naughty hands”, just if only the music video could have been better… I give this a 5.5/10.

Be Natural – Red Velvet

A much better song than their debut to be honest, though this band is quite lacking. This song was a remake of S.E.S however it was rather mediocre. It was not appealing and it was not as great. To me it was monotone all throughout the song and that is what disappointed me. Their vocals were just so so and maybe the “sexy concept” in this case really should not have been applied. Maybe they should just stick to happy songs that get you excited, not diva type music just yet. As for the music video, I haven’t watched it yet and I am quite sure it is going to be boring after looking at so many images while trying to find good pictures for the top. As for the dance, it was something different with the chairs and it showed off their style. It liked the performance, just the song doesn’t seem quite right at this very moment. 5/10

To see the music videos of the reviews that I have mentioned, please click on the blue sub titles. Next set of reviews are all Epik High reviews. (As you may have noticed, I kind of a little problem putting these ones into categories, but from now on, each set will have a theme.