May 2015 in Review

You’d think once school ended I would suddenly become totally free, but that has surprisingly not been the case at all. I feel like I have barely posted anything this month.

There haven’t been a whole lot of comebacks from really big groups that I wanted to talk about, but there were a bunch of comebacks from smaller groups and solo artists. BoA made her big two-year return, 2AM’s Seulong went solo, and Seventeen finally debuted!

Without further ado, here are the comebacks from May.

BoA “Who Are You”

• Song: 4.5/5
• Story: 3.5/5
• Cinematography: 2/5

The chorus of this song reminds me of Demi Lovato’s “Without the Love.” Random, but it’s the first thing I thought of. The song is nice, but unfortunately the music video is… “strange” is the best word I can think of. Because of all of the CGI and slow-motion effect, this feels more like one long cell phone commercial rather than an actual music video. That coupled with the cringe-worthy acting makes this video disappointing for me.

Sidepoint: I really don’t like the reaction they have the girl make to being on a date with the “ugly” guy. If it’s not okay for guys to do that with “ugly” girls, it’s not okay for a girl to do it with a guy.

Overall Final Score: 3.3/5

BESTie “Excuse Me”

• Song: 4.5/5
• Story: 5/5
• Cinematography: 3/5
• Dance: 3/5

This is such a fun and interesting video. The girls of BESTie are enjoying a girls day out, flirting with the guys in the restaurant, but once one of them finds some weird X-ray glasses, they see the real versions of the greasy, creepy guys. To match a fun and creative video, we also get a fun song. This video is enjoyable from start to finish.

Overall Final Score: 3.9/5

BoA “Kiss My Lips”

• Song: 2.5/5
• Cinematography: 3.5/5
• Dance: 4/5

Oh BoA, how I’ve missed the sound of your voice! Unfortunately, her voice is just about the only thing uniquely BoA about this comeback. This song is very old-school, with a lot of vocalizing but not a whole lot of melody. I really tried to like it, but I just can’t. The video is also lackluster. The feather dance is creative and pretty, but the video as a whole doesn’t really have anything else memorable. While BoA does look beautiful with her makeup, the wardrobe and dance seem too childish for her maturity and talent.

We BoA fans kept telling people that she is the Queen of K-pop, but then she comes back with these two less than impressive videos. 😦

Overall Final Score: 3.3/5

N.Flying “Awesome”

• Song: 4/5
• Story: 2.5/5
• Cinematography: 4/5

They remind me a lot of FT ISLAND, but in a good way. This is a great song. As for the story, it was definitely going somewhere, but by the end it just falls apart. They see one of the members totally failing at getting a girl’s attention, so they set up a time machine and apparently go back in time, however what happens after that remains a complete mystery. What was the point?

I believe this is the group’s debut, and while the story may not have gone anywhere, I am very impressed with their singing and rap skill and I will definitely be looking forward to this group’s future activities!

Overall Final Score: 3.5/5

Seul Ong “Tell Me Baby”

• Song: 2.5/5
• Story: 3/5
• Cinematography: 4.5/5

This went from cute to terrifying very quickly. We follow a girl chilling with her friend, and throughout the video there is a sense that she is being followed, but at first it appears to simply be her imagination. However, about two-thirds of the way through the video, in a matter of seconds, she realizes that a man has been following her around for the entire day and he ends up chasing her and catching her, only for her to wake up and realize that it was a dream. Just when you think it’s over, at the very end when she leaves the coffee shop to go about her day, she runs into him again. Creepy. The video does a great job at getting the scary feeling across, but I just don’t understand why the video took such a dark turn. Does anyone know why Seulong decided to make his video like this?

Overall Final Score: 3.3/5

UNIQ “Luv Again”

• Song: 3.5/5
• Story: 3.5/5
• Cinematography: 4/5

Of all of the videos on this list, this one is probably the most cliché. It is about a member of UNIQ who misses his chance to talk to a crush but spends the rest of the day with his friends who help him forget about her. It has that nice friendship-over-romance storyline that always makes you feel good. The song is pretty good too. It’s weird, but this reminds me so much of English songs, and I can’t pinpoint exactly why.

Overall Final Score: 3.7/5

Eric Nam “Dream” (featuring Jimin of 15&)

• Song: 3.5/5
• Story: 4/5
• Cinematography: 5/5

I was very excited about this comeback, simply because I love Eric Nam and I was excited about an ErMin duet, but this music video was definitely much more than I was expecting. I absolutely love sand art, and I was so surprised to see it used in this music video. I think it is so beautiful. Through sand drawings, the video tells a story about a boy daydreaming about a girl, drawing her, and then falling into a real dream in which he meets her. It is simple, but told in such a beautiful and magical way.

Overall Final Score: 4.2/5

Seventeen “Adore U”

• Song: 3.5/5
• Story: 4/5
• Cinematography: 4/5
• Dance: 4/5

Seventeen is finally here! I can’t even remember when the idea of a seventeen-member group was first put out there, but since then I have been so excited for them to debut! Now that the video is out, I can see myself being totally drawn into this group. The song is fun and upbeat, though sometimes borders on the messy side. However they definitely have some strong vocalists and rappers in this group. I really like that most of the scenes include a little window in the corner of the singing member. It helps in getting to know who each member is. 😉

This is a young group! I hate to say this, but the oldest member is a whole two years younger than me, and the youngest member is born all the way in 1999! Man, I remember when BTS was the youngest group in K-pop. I don’t know what I’m going to do when these K-pop artists starting being born in the 2000s. *shudder*

Sidenote: Vernon reminds me so much of Nathan Sykes (from The Wanted)! Apparently he is half American, of French descent, which is pretty cool! Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think we’ve ever had anyone in K-pop with European genes.

Overall Final Score: 3.9/5

I’ve got two more reviews coming from May, my Throwback Thursday posts, and a Big Bang and EXO review coming for you all within the next two weeks! Happy June!~

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QUESTION OF THE DAY:

Thoughts on BoA’s big comeback?

Do we have any new Seventeen fans here yet?

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#NowPlaying: Baby by EXO-M. I was babysitting this week and it reminded me of this song. It is really sweet.

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Wanna talk K-pop? Follow me on Twitter @mystification86!