Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Review: A Pink–“My My”



A Pink spends a lot of time getting Naeun ready for a date with a mysterious person.


Did you like the song?
Rookie “fairy dolls” group A Pink is back with “My My.” (They previously released “I Dont Know,” which I believe was their debut song.) The song is a cutesy yet tasteful track that recalls SNSD’s “Gee” with a 90s feel. (It’s also similar to S.E.S’s “I’m Your Girl.”) But it lacks the catchiness of “Gee” and also has a dance break that, while interesting, doesn’t match the overall tone of the song, making it a pretty forgettable track for me.

A Pink My My members Snow Pink

Hayoung, Eunji, Naeun, Chorong, Bomi, Yookyung, and Namjoo.

I’m still learning the members’ names, so please let me know if there are any errors in the way I’m tagging them. Thank you!

What was your favorite part of the song?
I like Eunjing’s high note in the last chorus—“saranghae”!

Does the English make you want to rip your eardrums out?
The main English is “my my my, you’re my...” and just leaves you hanging there. It’s clear that what they mean is “You’re my love! I love you! You’re in my heart!” But that English needs an ending word!

However, I’m willing to totally overlook that because there’s also a perfect part by Yookyung. She studied abroad and was a cheerleader in the U.S., and as a result, she sounds like a native—“Dear boy, I fell in love on a snowy day. I’ll be yours forever as long as you’ll be mine.” Aww! *hugs her* I love her English.

A Pink My My members jean overalls

(Back:) Namjoo, Yookyung, Chorong, Eunji, Hayoung, (front:) Naeun, and Bomi.

Did you like the video?
This video has two concepts simultaneously running, and both are fairly successful but not particularly unique. The first concept is the cutesy picnic thing, which reminds me a little of SNSD’s early videos—so cute but so dull. The second concept is less innocent with the girls wearing long basketball jerseys and short shorts—and this concept reminded me a lot of Girl’s Day’s “Twinkle Twinkle.” But “Twinkle Twinkle” at least had a relatively creative plot, while “My My” is just A Pink looking sweet and getting ready for a date. So I found it pretty boring, and I also had a hard time learning the members’ names.

A Pink My My gif

Here you can see the juxtaposition of the two concepts.

Was there a storyline? If so, did it make sense?
A Pink live in a cookie-cutter soundstage world, and the girls are playing around doing adorable things, like blowing bubbles or having a tea party without food or just sitting on a swing. I guess I’m the only one who thinks that sets like this, which try to mimic the outside world, are kind of creepy instead of cute. It reminds me of a mental asylum for children, giving the illusion of fun times outdoors while actually trapping people inside. And seriously, who keeps their clothes and shoes on a rack outside, anyway?

A Pink My My world

A Pink in their disturbing soundstage room.

Then one day Naeun gets a secret love letter…in English only…unsigned. Or maybe she wrote it herself and is going to give it to her beau? It’s not clear. At any rate, the girls spend the rest of the music video getting Naeun ready to escape for her date.

A Pink My My Naeun

Looking over the mysterious, secret card.

And then, totally unrelated and having absolutely nothing to do with anything, the girls are dancing in sports jerseys in a brick room with graffiti all over it. I…have no explanation. Aliens? Spontaneous transportation to a different timeline? This is their dream? I can’t even think of a silly reason for it. I got nothing.

A Pink My My sports jerseys

How did this happen?!

Was the dance cool and distinctive?
There’s no one move that defines it, but it’s definitely fun to watch the dance.

A Pink My My members sports jerseys

(Back three:) Hayoung, Naeun, Yookyung, (front four:) Namjoo, Chorong, Bomi, and Eunji.

Do the members look good?
There are a few really standout members, but the rest are just generically pretty instead of both distinctive and attractive—which is fine, and they definitely look fresh and clean instead of sexy. But I’m so used to formerly “cute” groups suddenly and without warning switching to sexy concepts that I’m getting a bit wary of girl groups who debut with that concept. Falling into the pattern of thinking a group is tied down to one concept—particularly a childlike one—is how people get traumatized when the members get older and switch to a sexier concept.

A Pink My My members panorama

In age order: (top:) Chorong, Bomi, Eunji, Naeun, (bottom:) Yookyung, Namjoo, and Hayoung.

Which member stood out the most?
Two members stood out really strongly here: Naeun and Eunji. Of the two, even though Naeun was clearly the focus of the video, I liked Eunji best.

A Pink My My Eunji

Eunji

Do you like it enough to buy the song?
Not this one, sorry. It’s a cute song, but it’s just not my style.

Any ending thoughts?
I’m not a big fan of this type of cutesy concept (with girl groups, at least), but I was impressed with A Pink as a group, and I definitely feel like they have what it takes to become successful in the future, with better songs.

A Pink are also starring in a show with Infinite called Birth of a Family where they foster abandoned animals. Can anybody say “awww”?

Boyfriend’s one-liner:
“This finally clears up the basketball rivalry between Duke and North Carolina—according to Kpop, North Carolina wins.”

Thanks for reading! Please share your comments below! :)

7 comments:

  1. You know, A Pink reminds me a lot like SNSD during their debut days. Cute and more innocent than fresh, though. At least they're giving people some new music with the 90's feel.

    And the part where they changed into jerseys... yeah, I don't know what to say about it. I'm as clueless as you are.

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  2. I'm definitely getting the SNSD debut vibe too. Hopefully they will have as much success as SNSD, too! But honestly I was a little disappointed with A Pink, as I ADORE 4minute and BEAST, and they're all from the same family. I just think Cube does "sexy" better and more convincingly than "cute" a lot of the time...but maybe that will change.

    The sports jerseys thing didn't bother me the first few times I watched it. For some reason I thought they were just going to go on a group date to a sports game or something. But then it's clear Naeun is the only one going, so I got really confused.

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  3. The basketball part really didn't make sense to me, until you mentioned the mental institution thing. That cleared it up right away. hehe

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  4. Oh, great! Glad to help. (It's really the only thing that makes sense, don't you think? That or aliens. Completely logical.) :D

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  5. Hooray for the SNSD vibe! And also for me remembering that I have a disqus account specifically for forums like this and don't have to type RavenLin anymore! And also hooray for Eunji. While I  remember and match a name to only a handful of A Pink members at a time (so far my max is 3) I love Eunji's voice and she's super cute. While all of A Pink reminds me of debut!SNSD, she reminds me of Girl's Day's Minah.

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  6. Yay for SNSD and Disqus accounts! Good catch on Eunji being like Minah. She kind of reminded me of Secret's Hyosung in her demeanor also. :)

    Thanks for your lovely comments! They really make my day.

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  7. I think it is obvious that boy gave her the letter  because: first she is SO excited to read it and that it shows all the chasing, second all are araund her and exited too, so I don't understand what the problem is. 
    I agree with the basketball things although  I find it adorable and attracts a different audience,boys.I think a good strategy to take more auddience. Anyway I love Apink and I think they are super cute and his songs are excellent. 
     Naeun act his role perfectly and  I DON'T think that Eunji is the main.And if it's like SNSD (i don't thik like  this)what's the problem .if you think a lot, ALL kpop's girl grups are the same ,although i love kpop it"s truly like this.
    SORRY BUT I LOVE APINK AND THIS SONG IS ONE  OF MY FAVOURITE'S ONES.
    PD:if some things are wrong written SORRY i'm from uruguay and my language is not english althoughi go to a bilingual school.  
    :D

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