koganbot | 2NE1 I AM THE BEST on the Jukebox

2NE1's "I Am The Best" reviewed over on the Singles Jukebox. Oddly enough, several people were disturbed by the supposed lack of a chorus. I'd say Nae Ga Je Il Jal Na Ga clearly IS the chorus, while the Bum ra ta ta-ta ta ta-ta-ta ta me-and-my-gun section acts as a separate refrain; these constitute a lot more chorus/refrain than you get on "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag" and "Subterranean Homesick Blues," to name two of any number of examples. And this song doesn't need any more chorus than those do. It's basically hip-hop. [EDIT: Actually "Papa" and "Subterranean" aren't the best examples, since they're both in blues form anyway (albeit idiosyncratic blues) and you don't expect blues to have choruses*; but "I Can't Stand Myself (When You Touch Me)" and "When I Hear Music" and "Spoonin Rap" and "Anarchy In The UK" (to name four songs in my all-time top ten) aren't in blues form and have far less chorus/refrain than "I Am The Best" does.]

Don't see how anyone can resist it. It's like "Whole Lotta Love"; even if you're determined to hate it, you can't stop it from rolling in and rolling you over.

Here's a dance cover:

Watch on YouTube

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*But one of the things rock 'n' roll did especially well was to figure out how to achieve "choruses" when using a blues format. E.g., "Shake Rattle and Roll" and "Johnny B. Goode" had verses that were in 12-bar blues form and then a chorus that itself was in 12-bar form, the chorus distinguishing itself as a chorus by being chant-like or singalong or more tuneful or more distinctive in some other way, just like choruses in songs that don't use a 12-bar form.

"Jailhouse Rock," which was 16 bars, had a different solution; the verse would be the first 8 bars, and then when the chord goes to the IV and Elvis sings "Let's rock" we're now in the chorus, which goes for the next 8 bars.

"Subterranean Homesick Blues" pulls off something really impressive. It's an 18-bar (!) blues plus whatever bars he felt like inserting, and on the 8th bar (or so, depending), when we go up to IV, Dylan sings "Look out kid" followed by a line that rhymes with it, and that functions as a recurring refrain.

In "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag," James and the accompaniment come to a full stop on the 10th bar, followed by a phrase (usually but not always "Papa's got a brand new bag") and then a fast guitar strum, the line and the strum being the refrain. (Plus he throws in some breaks as well.)

This issue is personal, since back when I wrote songs I almost never had choruses. I blame it on James.

Cartoon teaser for "Hate You," 2NE1's next single/video, which is due Thursday; despite the title and the apocalyptic video, the track sounds like it'll be a real pretty dance/trance thing. I look forward to it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLE6oFS5RYY

And for those interested in the further adventures of Dara's hair, in their latest live appearance it looks like a freshman beanie in front and a horse's tail in back. And the group look like they're having loads of fun:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjTQWKmwD6w

Last week Dara was wearing her intergalactic telepathy transmitter, while the crowd tried to see if it could chant louder than the band could sing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uboO27yzlLA

Here they are in Japanese, except "Nae Ga Je Il Jal Na Ga" remains in Korean, and many of the verse lines become English (but they lose "billion dollar baby," for some reason):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuZvSi7LlYE

Dara's doing thangs with her hair/head in the OTHER next video/single, Ugly http://oneasiaa.wordpress.com/2011/07/19/2ne1-reveals-photos-from-%E2%80%9Cugly%E2%80%9D-mv-set/

If you get the hair right you become Dara:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4DEPIogwD0

Last week Dara was wearing her intergalactic telepathy transmitter, while the crowd tried to see if it could chant louder than the band could sing

What I meant was that the crowd tried to chant louder than the band could sing (as opposed to the transmitter trying to chant louder than the band could sing).

2NE1 I AM THE BEST on the Jukebox

Look out kid, don't matter what you did

I will go 2NE links for this group

Re: I will go 2NE links for this group

Clarification