Review: T-ara–“Lovey Dovey”

T-ara’s Qri and Eunjung get mixed up in the underworld of drugs.


Did you like the song?
T-ara has been busy. This music video is the second part of the story that began in T-ara’s “Cry Cry,” which I reviewed here. They also play most of T-ara’s collaboration song with Davichi, “We Were In Love,” which I reviewed here. Let’s hope that this is the end of it, because while I thought the “long form” music video concept was initially promising, it’s basically fizzled out for me now.

I think I like the song, but I couldn’t get a good feel for it until the credits, as it was so segmented and interspersed with “We Were In Love,” a song which actually fit this storyline well. But when the song “Lovey Dovey” was on, with the exception of the clubbing scenes, the music was so totally inappropriate for the storyline it was almost humorous. The discrepancy between the happy, upbeat “Lovey Dovey” (I mean, just look at that title! Is that not the most cutesy thing ever?) and the sobbing, bloody actors and violence onscreen reminded me of Norazo’s parody music video “Superman,” which is like attending a funeral while listening to Super Junior-T’s “Rokkugo!” It didn’t mesh well at all.

Qri, Eunjung, Jiyeon, Hyomin, Hwayoung, Soyeon, and Boram.
Musically, this reminds me a lot of Orange Caramel’s “Shanghai Love,” though I do like “Lovey Dovey” much better. It has more soul and interesting parts. And I can’t help but compare it to “Roly Poly” in sound, too.

Apparently there will apparently be five versions of this, including…a zombie version? Maybe that’s a joke. EDIT: It is not a joke. It is, however, the most calm and cute zombie infestation ever, similar to Michael Jackson's “Thriller.”



What was your favorite part of the song?
Man, that “lovey dovey dovey, oh oh oh oh,” part is too catchy, isn’t it?

Does the English make you want to rip your eardrums out?
Thanks to this link for the invaluable story version with English subs. Other than the title, though, I don’t think there’s much English. As for why the title is a cutesy phrase for being over the top in love, I’m not sure.

Did you like the video?
Halfway through this, my bf said, “This isn’t a music video,” and unfortunately I’m finding that I agree with him. It’s very difficult to get a sense of the song “Lovey Dovey” from this vid. The video is too long to have just one song. At least in “Cry Cry” T-ara was singing two different versions of the same song, but in “Lovey Dovey” they sing most of a different song altogether (“We Were In Love”).

Drama poster!
However, again, since there will be several different versions, I won’t harp on. And I do have to say, I loved the T-ara girls clubbing. I hope the dance version has that setting. It looks really fun and was filmed in a cool way with overlapping scenes and quick cutaways.

(Back:) Hwayoung, Hyomin, Jiyeon, Eunjung, (front:) Soyeon, Boram, and Qri.
Was there a storyline? If so, did it make sense?
(For Part One of the plot, go here.) So after it was revealed that Jiyeon’s father was killed by Cha Seungwon, she doesn’t shoot him but instead goes after the guy who told her the truth, Ji Changwook. (Whatever happened to not killing the messenger, Jiyeon?) Then she gets beaten up, I guess, because she has some pretty extreme plastic surgery and magically transforms into Qri, who…yeah, doesn’t look a thing like Jiyeon, so I guess those plastic surgeons are really good. But it didn’t seem like Jiyeon needed that kind of extensive work done.

It was also really nice of the surgeons to go ahead and put her extreme eyeliner on at the hospital, too.
(Well, I say they don’t look alike, but this plot point was completely lost on my poor bf, who could not tell them apart due to their hair being in their eyes the whole time. Imagine my amusement during the switching back and forth scene—“Yeah, that was Jiyeon, but then it was Qri, now it’s back to Jiyeon, and now they’re flipping between the two—get it?”)

The-artist-formerly-known-as-Jiyeon (I’ll call her Qri from now on) is still up to the naughty ways that Seungwon taught her. She hooks up with the girl who found her on the streets, Eunjung (who is so confident and attractive here! I love her!), in order to hang out in clubs and pickpocket guys they dance with. I guess they leave before the guys settle their tabs and realize their wallets are missing. Then Qri and Eunjung demonstrate those money-managing skills by wisely saving their money and investing it smartly in a diverse portfolio—

—or, you know, by hanging out at carnivals and splurging on fireworks. Sigh.
And let’s not forget hanging binge drinking out in cold, seedy dock restaurants owned by bounty hunters.

Qri goes on a drinking spree. (There was actually quite a lot of drinking in this MV.)
Of course, one day they pickpocket too much in the form of teddy bears stuffed with drugs. (These are some smart drug lords, huh?!)

You’re never too old to play with dolls.
Eunjung’s character is an idiot, so she decides to hand-deliver the drugs back to them instead of arranging a drop point. To no one’s surprise, she is captured—and, again to no one’s surprise, the drug lord is that dude Jiyeon shot.

I guess he got better.
Qri proves to Seungwon who she really is via their special sign, then pointlessly goes alone to rescue Eunjung. Why on earth didn’t Qri enlist his help? Is she too proud? Anyway, Eunjung ends up calling him after Qri saves her, so I guess it’s moot. Seungwon bamfs his way in but gets shot twice (making it the third time he’s been shot total for this series—man of steel!). He and Qri get into their car, he starts seeing her as he knows her (i.e. as Jiyeon), then he dies and she drives over the cliff (I assume). The End.

Moral of the story: all the actors get to have blood running down their faces.
Cut to a cute making-of, which I thoroughly enjoyed. ^_^ And it’s complete with a hand-written note from Jiyeon and a preview for the Tokyo version.

Was the dance cool and distinctive?
*waits patiently for a dance version to emerge* So it’s apparently called the “shuffle dance,” but I think a more appropriate name is the dandruff dance or something, with the way they’re constantly scratching their heads. Needless to say, T-ara somehow makes it look good, if a bit tiring. Here’s a performance version:



Do the members look good?
I guess? Eunjung looks great.

But the plot point of Jiyeon turning into Qri is a bit weird for me. Why would the plastic surgeons add a mole to Jiyeon’s nose, for example? And why would she start wearing those creepily huge circle lenses?

Doll-like eyes: apparently all the rage in Korea…
I understand why the producers did it (to spread out the screentime more) but wouldn’t it have been a little cleaner if they had just had them be sisters or something from the beginning, instead of one turning into the other? Oh well.

Which member stood out the most?
Again for me it was Cha Seungwon. You sexy actor, you. But I adored Eunjung and thought her acting and Jiyeon’s acting was great. Qri had less to do, and Hyomin might as well not have been in it at all, but their acting was fine, even if Qri was a bit one-dimensional. Maybe it’s all the plastic surgery her character went through.

Do you like it enough to buy the song?
At the moment, I have to give this a tentative no, but I could see myself quickly changing my mind. T-ara’s songs tend to grow on me...

Eunjung, Qri, Jiyeon, Hyomin, Soyeon, Boram, and Hwayoung.
Any ending thoughts?
Re-watching T-ara’s long-form story version MVs has been nothing short of painful for me—even though I enjoyed the songs. However, if they keep releasing lots of versions of their music videos, one of which really focuses on the song, I don’t see how I can complain, especially since it gives some of the girls acting experience.

Boyfriend’s one-liner:
“Those dudes had CRAZY EYES!!” (The bf did not appreciate this 20-minute long MV.)

Thanks for reading! :)

<< Go to Part 1, “Cry Cry”