[Single Review] Nine Muses- 'Dolls'

Talk about underratedness. Nine Muses are the epitome of underrated, with their stunning choreography, incredible vocal ability, breathtaking cohesiveness and mesmirising looks, yet with such shamefully lukewarm chart performances. I love them. I loved 'News', 'Ticket' and 'Figaro' all for the fact that they share commonalities in that they mirror K-pop when they actually aren't.

Well, they are technically Korean pop music, but their sounds are so much more sophisticated than pretty much any other girl group out there, with their music staying true to the fun essence of K-pop while taking a more mature spin on it. The purpose of the group originally was to create a 'supermodel' group of mature ladies, a concept quite fresh during their debut that ultimately wasn't very appealing to the general Korean public. I for one particularly enjoy this concept.

Many a time, the girls are depicted as very submissive characters, feeling jumpy even at the slight mention of a boy. On the other hand, Nine Muses are depicted as mature women, women who are confident about their  style, a difference I feel particularly relieved at hearing. Since their debut, they have yet to disappoint me, producing songs with incredibly high levels of maturity and sophistication and in a myriad of genres. Disco? Figaro. Latin? Ticket. Techno-blues? News.

With 'Dolls', they have tried out another direction, this time dabbling into the field of jazz-inspired music. And need I say, it works!

The song starts with this weird mystical, glassy feel to it before rupturing into this sophisticated yet delectably smooth trumbone-trumpet hybrid instrumental beginning. It actually is a very short transitional element, one that takes listeners by surprise and starts the song on a really nice high, laced with powerful jazz undertones. The introduction begins its second half by winding down gradually, alternating between short trumpet peaks and drawn-out bass grooves, for a really upbeat continuation of the pace.

The first verse abides the same jazzy guidelines but it has a more classical feel to it. The sudden drawbacks in breath at the end of the lines, culminating in the faux highnote at the end are really nice touches, as they really mirror the coolness and complex sophistication and dexterity that jazz has on the soul.

The next verse follows a similar pattern of variation and ups and downs. This unpredictability makes us rather nervous as to what to expect for the chorus. At this stage, anything could happen really. It could blow up like 'The Chaser' into this retro-jazz fusion, or it could turn generically peppy and catchy like 'Volume Up'.

Instead, 'Dolls' sucks everything in with a pause in pace. This is a very clever move as the chorus is not as explosive as that of the verse or the intr even. But the pause allows us to go back to square one, making the mellow chorus appear explosive relatively.

The chorus is light-hearted and playful, almost teetering on the facetious side of musicality. Laced with trumpets and horns, the jazzy undertones are still very much audible and it almost seems like the chrous would break out into a climax, yet it never does, only breaking out at the end in the form of emphasised instrumentals, akin to a slew of invectives spewing out from the mouth of a pipsqueak.

This is where I must bring in a very conclusive yet key element of the song that makes it such a success. Its reliance on instrumental is incredible, not taking anything away from the stunning vocals of the girls, with emotive intonations that flesh out the essence of jazz. The instrumental really complements, but not in a way that it is in the background, but in that it is on the same level as the vocals themselves. They work together, the vocals amplifying the trumpets, the horns enriching the vocals, to produce a majestic piece of musicality, in every way reminiscent of the mysteriously emotive rollercoaster ride that is present in jazz progression.

A great representation catered to mainstream tastes, albeit not becoming generic or trashy (look at Taylor).

Great job to the celestial nine.