Review: 4minute–“Ready Go”

4minute wants you to shut up and go away, right after you listen to their song.


Did you like the song?
Oh my God. A group that went to Japan with some freakin’ original singles—singles that are actually awesome. Anyway, in terms of music, I am such a 4minute fangirl. After I listen to their songs enough times, I usually end up loving them (see my favorite songs list for proof). For “Ready Go,” I wasn’t completely sure I liked the chorus (and thus the song) until I heard the best part of it, but it turns out to be no exception. To be fair, this song is not going to change your life or win any awards, but it’s fun, catchy, fast, powerful, and sexy—just like most of 4minute’s songs. I even found that Hyuna’s English accent bothered me less than it usually does.

4minute members: Jiyoon, Jihyun, Hyuna, Sohyun, and Gayoon.
What was your favorite part of the song?
Definitely Gayoon’s third line with the three higher notes. That really sealed the deal for me.

Does the English make you want to rip your eardrums out?
Does Hyuna do the majority of the English in this song? LOL. The grammar is great, and it’s basically in Hyuna’s rapping voice, so if you don’t like that, you probably won’t think the accent is good. She’s far from sounding like a native, but I thought her English sounded fun and cute in this song, especially the line leading into the chorus “Hey, baby, drop it, drop it, time to go!”

Jiyoon, Sohyun, Jihyun, Gayoon, and Hyuna.
Did you like the video?
I feel like the same person always directs 4minute videos, and I am fine with that. (Good branding?) Except for a few exceptions, generally they’re set nowhere and nothing happens; the girls’ “don’t mess with me” personalities carry the entire MV—as here with Hyuna’s “shut up and go away.”

But unlike many SM videos set in a box with nothing happening, 4minute’s videos don’t usually seem repetitive to me. I think the difference is that while some SM artists seem almost cowed by the giant blank stages, 4minute’s stages are smaller, and they do their best to own them. And as long as 4minute has that “I’m a powerful, sexy woman” attitude, it works. When they start to go cutesy, things fall apart, in my opinion.

In age order: Jihyun, Gayoon, Jiyoon, Hyuna, and Sohyun.
Was there a storyline? If so, did it make sense?
My God, just how many abandoned warehouses are there in Korea? And how many of those are not currently filled with hot dancing idols? All these warehouses just sitting there makes me really concerned about the manufacturing industry in Korea, which is clearly at a crisis point. Time for a taxpayer-funded bailout?

(Top:) Gayoon, Hyuna, Sohyun, (bottom:) Jiyoon, and Jihyun.
Was the dance cool and distinctive?
This dance is a wrist and shoulder workout. Basically point at the audience and move your wrist in a circle. Here, Jiyoon and the girls will demonstrate:


Ready go, ready go, ready go, oh oh.
Do the members look good?
They look amazing, as always. However, I was a little uncomfortable with the way some of the members, particularly Jiyoon and Sohyun, were like, trying to seduce the camera in a way that seemed unnatural. I mean, Hyuna does this kind of stuff and more all the time, but with her it doesn’t seem forced (at least to me). But with other people…



What is this business?
I mean, Sohyun’s still seventeen and more cute than sexy, which partially explains the awkwardness with her taking off her jacket there, but Jiyoon is naturally really sexy. There’s no need to forcibly accentuate that with this kind of stuff.

Which member stood out the most?
Full disclosure: my favorites in 4minute are Hyuna and Jiyoon (and I love Gayoon’s voice). For me, Hyuna just steals every scene she’s in, despite the fact that 4minute is usually pretty good about giving everyone fairly equal screentime (although leader Jihyun often gets shafted, unfortunately). Still, for this one, I was very impressed by Jihyun and felt that even though it didn’t seem like she was in the MV much, she really stole every scene she had with her Statue of Liberty headband.

Give Jihyun your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.
Oh, who am I kidding, I just like these moves:


and

*drools*
Do you like it enough to buy the song?
HECK YES.

Any ending thoughts?
This song is being used as the opening theme to the Japanese drama “Welcome to the El-Palacio,” a show based on a manga about female wrestlers. With a song like this, the show is going to literally be kick-ass.

Gayoon, Jiyoon, Hyuna, Jihyun, and Sohyun.
Boyfriend’s one-liner:
“Nothing happened, but at least at no point did I think anybody was going to get hit by a car.”

Sorry if this was more like 4nia fangirly flailing than an actual review. But please comment, subscribe and request a review if you’d like. :)

Speaking of which, LOL I got so many new requests yesterday! :DDD I will do my best to review them all, but fair warning that it may take a while. I’ll try to spread the older ones around, too. But thanks, everybody, for your interest! *hugs you all*