Kara, I would say is one of the top 4 girl groups in Korea, as claimed by many Kpop fans internationally. In all honesty, I never really thought they deserved a place within the 'Big 4' since their compatriots in that prestigious category were the unique and utterly confident 2NE1, the eternally harmonized Girls' Generation, and of course, the youthful veterans of the industry, Wonder Girls. All these groups had a very evident strength, be it in stage presence and vocal talent (2NE1), harmony and beauty (SNSD) or remarkable consistency (WG). But Kara, to me, did not seem to have a really defining factor which enabled them to stand out.
Their debut single was a failure, but what truly propelled them into the spotlight was 'Mister' where their ridiculously difficult, and sexy, butt rolling attracted girl crushes and induced heterosexual fantasies all over the globe. Besides the butt rolling, that song was not impressive. I mean, the song had a decent hook and all but everything seemed so generic and the rest of the dances looked a bit base, and weak.
When they released 'Lupin', I was extremely impressed. I liked their change of concept. The aegyo concept of girl groups was really starting to become quite the overused fad, and I for one was certainly not impressed in the least by any of the rookie groups who had creatively instilled the concept into their debut singles. Lupin was powerful, with a blaring trumpet background and a rocking hip swinging dance, oozing with pure energy, power and confidence, a side of which I was dying to see in many of the new female groups which debuted.
But since then, Kara has appeared to have gone back to their 'cute' concept, with 'Step' and 'Jet Coaster Love' portraying as rather naive females, easily attracted to undeveloped relationships and night partying. I don't understand why the aegyo concept existed at first, for Kara especially. Sure, they debuted as teens, but didn't DSP know better than to promote their group in a way copied so many times before? And now being grown women, the cute concept is completely inappropriate and reflects on the groups' agencies as rather materialistic in some ways.
With 'Pandora', they have seemed to have taken that message, going with a slightly darker song with epic background music from Sweettune. In the teasers, what really got my attention wasn't Jiyoung's hair or Hara's eyelashes or Nicole's crawling on all fours. Rather it was that mess of sounds in the back, a sick electric guitar riff, noisy violin rapidfire sections, more awesome trumpet blares, and they added a form of complexity to the song, in that it gives the impression of quick movement, that the song is surging forward, urging the listeners to move forward with it to gain the impression of the dominance the song has over their souls. The lines were equally distributed, a norm for Kara, but a problem I am facing is that lack of distinguishable quality between the members' voices. They sound the SAME, which brings forth the rather obvious fact that Autotune was used to quite an extent in the production of the song, taking away credit from the true potential of the girls. (well, Seungyeon and Gyuri at least)
What I liked about this song was its hook, which seems to be a constant in all Kara songs. They always have a repetitive one/two syllable hook (eg. Hallo hallo, La la, Up and up ah ah), and it just worms its way into your head and take control over your body's nervous system. I, for one, have been singing it all day without giving two poops about the stares I have been receiving in public. I also loved the chorus, it seemed very harmonized which brought forth depth in their tones.
While I love this new concept by Kara, as well as this song, I would say that the thing Kara needs in order to justify its position within the Big 4 in my books, would be variation. All their appear to follow a strict pattern:
Hook ---> Short Verse ---> Chorus ---> Short Verse ---> Chorus --> Awkward Slow Part ---> Chorus
It works in a way, but perhaps they could try a ballad next time, if they are so insistent on implementing a slower section into their generally fast-paced tracks. They really do throw off the pace quite a bit and just seem out of place. In SISTAR's 'Alone', their rap (fast) melded with the melody (slow) very well by intertwining with one another, yet Kara seems to take them separately like heterogenous substances, resulting in uneven pacing.
In all, this song is a step in the right direction for Kara, and I sincerely hope they could try out new concepts in future, while staying true to the traits which make Kara essentially Kara.
Final Score: B
- The Kpop Philosopher
No comments:
Post a Comment