You know nothing, for God's sake

[koganbot]

"Jeon Won Diary" is pretty damn catchy, but it doesn't feel at all like a T-ara song. I'm just puzzled that in sub-unit N4, where we've got three of the four T-aras who anyone really cares about (Hyomin, Jiyeon, and Eunjung, with Soyeon off in the other sub-unit*), the dance throb gets to overpower the stars' identity and to muzzle their charisma, at least sonically. Soyeon and Hyomin are the ones who've defined the T-ara high pitch most, Soyeon the reliable workhorse with Hyomin bringing the pitch even higher in a way that was simultaneously more tenuous and more emphatic, her adventure being the tension between waver and force. Meanwhile, Jiyeon was a gorgeous negative presence — clear, pale, breathy, uninflected — and Eunjung was called in whenever there was need for emotional pangs and highlights. She's been underutilized the last couple of years, and with Hwayoung gone I'd hoped Eunjung would get back to rapping. Instead guest guy Taewoon from labelmate Speed does a strong but not at all T-ara-esque rap, making me miss Hwayoung. Areum is new, young, full-voiced, and wholesome, but like the other three her distinctiveness gets flattened by the surrounding pounding dance.

None of this is necessarily a knock on the song. But when "Bo Peep Bo Peep" played in its insinuatingly provocative way at the start of the video drama version, I felt a pang for all that's missing here. Now should have been the time for T-ara to be making a T-ARA impact.

Instead, the accordion and the screeching-brake synths kinda get to be the main protagonists, with the sax as their playful shape-shifting sidekick: is stereotypically smooth and sensitive leading into the chorus, then turns all squawky and dissonant in the ga-ring-ga-ring-ga part (unless that squawker is some "ethnic" or "traditional" instrument impersonating a sax). Next to it, the accordion chugs along as if it owns the roadway.

When Hyomin sings "Why do you care, none of your business, leave me alone, what's it got to do with you? You know nothing, for God's sake," that's an obvious reference to last year's anti-T-ara hysteria. In translation it covers the bases but doesn't hit with emotional force, except for that final sentence. (Compare to Axl Rose: "Why do you look at me when you hate me? Why should I look at you when it makes me hate you too? I feel the smell of retribution in the air. I don't even understand why the fuck you even care."**)

The dance video makes a lot of my dissatisfactions feel moot, with the costumes so colorful and the frantically cheerful dancing during "why why why" and "why you hating." Hot sparks and vulnerability.

Watch on YouTube

Speaking of knowing nothing, I don't know if the producers should be spelled Duble Kick or Double Kick, or if Duble/Double Kick is just one of a crew of Duble/Double Sidekicks. I also don't know if the song is called "Jeon Won Diary" or "Countryside Life," or if it's merely the song that's called "Jeon Won Diary" while the single as an entire entity (incl. B-side, Instrumental side, Instrumental of B-side, Electronic ver., etc.) is called "Countryside Life" — except they're both spelled "전원일기." Maybe "Countryside Life" is a translation of "Jeon Won Diary." I don't normally think of "life" as a translation of "diary," though I suppose if you're a diary writer, writing is your life. Our strong but bull-headed and often inaccurate buddy Google Translate gives us "Power Diary."

I for sure know little to nothing of what's going on in the drama video. Is possibly a parody of an old TV show, set in the farmland, presumably.*** YouTube commenters claim to be laughing their asses off, are certain that what they're watching is hilarious. I, relatively unmoved (until the desperate dance coda), jotted down the words "rural mishaps," "pratfalls."

Watch on YouTube

Oh yeah, Kim Wan Sun!

*UPDATE: Just now listened for the first time to the seven solo tracks on T-ara's Japanese Bunny Style! project, and of the three really good ones — Boram's "Maybe Maybe," Qri's "Do We Do We," and Hyomin's "Love Suggestion" — two are by singers whom this morning I relegated to the No One Really Cares About Them category. (Will need to hear more solo work, if any occurs, to know how much to credit the singers and how much the producers and songwriters. I know nothing, for God's sake.)

**Of course, Axl was a dumbass for not understanding. When you say things that you know will be taken as racist and homophobic, you're a hypocrite to then get massively pissed-off when people pay attention. But Axl sure yanks you into his situation.

***Perhaps there's also a nod at Hyomin's stint in Invincible Youth, a reality show where K-pop stars were sent up to the rural boonies to engage in tasks and contests and to be lovable dorks and to make wisecracks.

Comments

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Well, reading the characters in the Youtube preview (which are Chinese characters), it means "Countryside Diary" where "diary" is understood in context to be a metonym for "daily life." Like The Simple Life (the reality show with Paris Hilton), or a teen TV show where every episode starts with the girl protagonist saying in voiceover, "Dear Diary..."

[petronia.livejournal.com]

T-ARA's previous (successful) sally into retro Korean-ness was in accordance with a pop cultural zeitgeist, but someone else will have to pronounce on whether this one is as well.

[koganbot]

That makes sense. I gather that Jeon Won Diary (or whatever) was a long-running Korean TV Show.

(By "T-ARA's previous (successful) sally into retro Korean-ness" I'm sure petronia is referring to the great vid for "Roly-Poly," which came along on the heels of a number of flicks set in the '70s and '80s, most notably Sunny, which I still haven't gotten a chance to see but from the clips it looks terrific. As a video, the drama version of "Jeon Won Diary" pales by twenty shades next to "Roly-Poly," but I have a feeling the song will stick reasonably well as a dance track.)

[askbask.livejournal.com]

I like the T-ara song but HIRING a rapper for a T-ara single annoys me as well. Obviously a promotional move but no less annoying because of that.

Better than 4Minute's song, at least after a few listens. The beat suggests some exciting ideas, but Brave Bro or someone else involved has totally misunderstood 4Minute's appeal and their need to be powerful, loud. "Lalala"s are no good for this group no matter how much the beat bounces.

4Minute currently #2 on the Instiz real-time chart, T-ara #4. unpleasant, but

[koganbot]

Like you, I'm disappointed w/ the 4minute single, but the video seems real interesting: see actsofverbosity post here.

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

The video is so cheesy, but it's pretty cool, too. I really liked the "zombie version" of Lovey Dovey because it was such a smart metaphor for what obsessed fans look like from the stage. 4minute's version seems less effective to me - undercut by cheesy Bollywood acting where every other shot is a wink at the camera - but maybe some people like the heartwarming version of this story more than the scary-creepy version. Anyway I left a comment about this at the link, XD.

[askbask.livejournal.com]

I have to say I didn't find the video too captivating, but the colors are nice.

Speaking of, hm, interesting videos (and lyrics (well, they're pretty straightforward, get across the point quite clearly)



My post above should've cut off before "(not) unpleasant, but", which was something I'd written about the guy at top of the instiz at the time, Roy Kim, who does some of what's made cafe indie like Busker Busker so hot but with a touch of country. 2nd highest debut week after Psy's Gentleman.


I'm excited about Younha doing really well digitally with her new track as well. I dig it, don't necessarily see you being into it. Hard to actively dislike her voice, though.

[askbask.livejournal.com]

There's also the interesting case of 'old' pop star Cho Young Pil (who peaked in the 80s) returning to great commercial success and also increased 'legend' status with an album largely composed by western 'for-hire' composers like maybe some SM idols of today http://music.daum.net/album/main?artist_id=1313&album_id=682599

[christophe andersen (from livejournal.com)]

This is a disappointing single. I also find the rapper really distracting in this single, though I don't really find anything else about the song captivating either. The way the wobbly bass blends into the accordion is a nice touch so maybe the whole thing will start growing on me.

[davidfrazer.livejournal.com]

When Kim Wan-sun pops up in the drama MV, she sings the opening lines to her debut song Tonight (1986):

Original music video (low quality) with Kim doing aerobic dancing and rocking a big mullet-fro

High quality audio rip

According to Ask A Korean (BTW I remember that you took issue with his claims about how Kim's aunt treated her):

Kim -- then a 17-year-old -- sings a song called "Tonight", with the lyrics that say "Tonight, I am scared of the dark." It is about as blatant as a sexual advance can get from a woman in mid-1980s.) Kim's smooth and sinewy dance was nothing like Korea had ever seen at that point. Calling her "Korea's Madonna" (as her fans like to do) might be an overstatement, but like Madonna, Kim defined how female sexuality is to be packaged and sold through mass media for a good decade.

...

The venerability of the composers for Kim's songs is shocking to those who regard Kim only as a vacuous dance musician. Her debut song "Tonight" was composed by Kim Chang-Hoon, member of Sanullim -- unquestionably one of the greatest rock bands in K-pop history. One of her greatest hits, "That Dance in the Rhythm," was composed by the legendary Shin Joong-Hyeon.

[koganbot]

I think it was someone else who took issue with the Korean's discussion of the aunt's treatment of Kim Wan Sun, since I don't know anything about it, really; unless I questioned whether he was citing sources or simply believing what everyone else believed. But I don't remember saying anything about it. But maybe I did!

[actsofverbosity.livejournal.com]

I agree on T-ara N4 sounding overpowered here. I feel it's somewhat made up for in the "live" performances by the fact that the girls seem far more engaged and excited than in others I've watched of the group as a whole. However, there's something that really bothers me about the way they mixed the vocals together - to me it sounds like far too many people are singing, an army rather than a band of four. Perhaps this was the intention -- T-ara N4 leading an army against the "haters" -- but especially when spliced with the visual of the four girls in the video, it really throws me off, my ears insisting that something doesn't add up here.

Begs the question of whether we need the other members? I do miss Soyeon's impassive aegyo.