Tag: Stellar

Known for their ‘sexual’ concepts in the more recent years, girl group Stellar marks their return with a new mini album and the title track, Archangels of Sephiroth. Their latest release was fundraised by fans, giving the girls and their company the opportunity to release Stellar’s 3rd mini-album, Stellar Into The World. While the group is not as popular as other girl groups, they must be doing something right as they managed to exceed their fundraising expectations by a fair bit. This is also the girls first time as a 5-member girl group, with the addition of Soyoung to the group.

Sadly though, I can’t make up my mind about this track. A part of me wants to love it and appreciate the uniqueness that the group is putting out there, but at the same time, the song doesn’t sit well. For me, I love the Middle Eastern influences that they have included in the track. That gives it an intriguing aspect, which does draw your attention. For once, I think the verses are probably the highlights of the song because they are done right. But once the song hits the chorus, I shiver and don’t really understand the chanting that they presented us. It takes the song backwards and doesn’t sound nice. Furthermore, it doesn’t match the rest of the song and it cuts the flow from the verses. On the other hand, the chorus does feel like it was to be the impactful moment of the song. But from what I feel, I don’t know exactly how effective it was. Their vocals overall are quite nice (minus the chorus, though). If only the chorus was more dynamic and better than what we got, I feel like this would be the one Stellar song I would love.

Given the title, you would expect to have some sort of storyline to the video. And that is exactly what we got. Essentially, one of the members is being lured to the light or the dark side. From what I can gather, Gayoung and Junyeol represent the dark side, while Hyoeun and Minhee represent the light side. In the end, I think the dark side won, managing to lure the last member, Soyung, by making her think she was going to the light side (but it turns out to the dark side). It is a very interesting video to watch and I thought it was beautifully shot. The contrast between the light and the dark was apparent and didn’t require me to squint my eyes and do a bit of Googling before coming to no conclusion. The scenery in which the video was shot was beautiful and I have to admit, this could possibly be the best video of the year.

I also loved the choreography. Given how the song is, the dance moves fit the song perfectly. There is also a  lot of elegance in the group’s performance. I also liked how there was a sensual side to the performance as well. It made it look cool and fascinating to watch.

Song – 5/10
Music Video – 10/10
Performance – 8/10
Overall Rating – 7/10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ivBktSZ8yQ

 

 

Stellar has returned with another Summer song. Their previous release was at the start of the year (Sting).

I am a little torn about the song. Not saying it is bad in any way because it is honestly a pretty good song. However, it just sounds like a typical KPOP song and I am a little disappointed that the song falls under that description. There is a retro vibe in the song through the instrumental. The EDM based instrumental (which fits the Summer season perfectly) was pretty good, however, it did feel quite bland. Some bass or some other hook in the instrumental (maybe like a different instrument or beat) could have done the song some wonders. I was honestly yawning the few times I have heard the song. The vocal work and everything else is amazing. I could see a large potential in the song. Only if the instrumental was manipulated to be better. It honestly feels like an unfinished song and the producer (who I am pretty sure have put out continuous hits in the past) just forgot to add the bass component to the song. Minus the instrumental, the song is nice to listen to. It flows very well and while I do complain about it being bland, I do find it catchy (to an extent).

Hmmm.. Another video that I probably will never take seriously. Very dramatic video. The video opens up with a dramatic rewind of the ending of the video. It begs the question, what really happened at that poolside that very day. The video then pans to an out of control car, which the girls are driving in. The girls are originally on a holiday. But when they find out that their man is cheating on them, they bring out the water guns and race over to the pool. They plan their revenge by wearing robber’s mask and use their water guns filled with ammo (aka. water, but at some parts: actual gunfire – my guess is that then ran out of actual gun ammo after breaking all the glassware, so they opted for the massive supply of pool water). Once there, they start shooting everyone alike. They shoot the pool girls on the chest, who fall back in the pool. Once the girls are taken cared over, they deal with the dude. While my take on the plotline is questionable, I do find the editing (i.e. slow motion and gunfire) very dramatic and hence my attempt at telling the dramatic storyline. Another thing I noticed about the video, it isn’t overly sexual. Stellar’s videos in the past have been said to be overly sexual, but the most sexual part was the water rolling down the girl’s chest. That scene was probably thrown in there to draw the male demographic’s attention. Overall, the video was okay.

The dance was really bland and boring. I watched a few performance but don’t think the dance is fitting enough with the song. The dance seemed to be made for more of a “lighter” song, rather the EDM kind. Maybe the lack of bass was intentional. But it is disappointing.

Final Rating – 5/10

Stellar has returned with a brand new song. My last review of the group was when they promoted Fool. Since then, they actually did make another comeback with Vibrato, which I tried to review, but it end up getting cut from the agenda due to time constraints. But I shall return to it one day. But now, they have returned with a brand new mini album and their newest title track, Sting.

This is a much better song than Fool. Fool was pretty boring and to me, was more of a step back. Vibrato was that step forward which caught everyone’s attention. Now with Sting, it really is not up to par with Vibrato, but it much better than Fool. The instrumental starts off the song with an addictive and funky sound. I really enjoyed the EDM style instrumental. I love the chorus. It just makes it much more catchy and interesting to listen to. In terms of colour, this song is quite lacking. It really does not make me go wow or amazes me. It barely deviate from the core of the song and feels mostly like the song is going in a straight line, with the song’s style not moving anywhere from that straight line. Think of it this way, a song that I personally find amazing is a song that goes in that straight line, but have those peaks and troughs, like in a roller coaster. A roller coaster would not be fun if it was a straight line. That is what the song feels like. The vocals were great but the rapping once again was a little awkward to listen to.

The music video was a lot more interesting this time around than compared to Fool. Not exactly sure if they used the same music video producers for each music video, but I honestly love the style they going for. I am not going to say it reminds me of the following videos, since I am 100% sure they used the same producer, but Ladies Code’s Kiss Kiss and Fiestar’s One More. The position of the mouses and how they were kind of the main focus of the videos gave off that feeling as in Kiss Kiss and the how the cameras looked like they were filming around corners and such gave off the same effect as in One More. Honestly, I think the video was shot pretty well. Though, I am not 100% what the mouse clicks were meant to represent, the stinging sensation? The girl’s expressions were on point. I love the very pale and neutral colours of the video. I thought it would be bright since they went for that sexy concept again, but it gave off that classy feel and also a bold (or bright) video would not have suited the song.

The dance was not featured in the music video. This dance reminds me of the Vibrato dance. While the girls physically turned around and did their mini bounce in their last comeback, this one was just mini bouncing without the turning around and they were holding their shirts as well. Honestly, I don’t mind the dance. It doesn’t draw me in, but I can’t say it is bad either.

Overall, I think this is a solid effort from the girls. 6.5/10