Hugo: It's so ballsy, and it's great! Gwen: This is everything I've ever wanted Hugo: right!?
Umu: Okay so the first group that we're reacting to is EXID (I pronounce their name exid) and their name stands for EXceed In Dreaming
Umu: This girl group debuted in 2012 with 6 members, but then a bunch of stuff happened- people left, people joined, etc, etc
Umu: And now there are 5 members
Umu: Ages 22 to 26
Umu: A fun fact is that one of the members of the group was the vocal trainer for the rest of the group
Umu: So the main vocalists have similar technique
Umu: So today we'll be reacting to their song, called 'Ah Yeah', which was released in 2015 Gwen: Ahh yeeeaah
Umu: One of the members, L.E., the main rapper, helped produce this song so it isnt, you know- Gwen: OH THATS COOL Umu: Not 100% company produced
Umu: The song's music video is created to criticize the censorship in Korean entertainment industry
Umu: And the lyrics, which will be up on the screen while you're reacting, are about confronting unwanted sleazy attention from men
Stephen+Naoki: OOOOOOHHHH
Davis: Alright, so, double whammy on the social activism, with, censorship which is super important, especially in music
Davis: And also...
Peyton: Men being dumb.
Davis: Men being dummies
Davis: You heard it here first!
Peyton: Davis and Peyton
Umu: Go ahead
Katie+Jarod: *Being extra*
Umu: One day you're gonna pause it
Katie: WE JUST DID
Jarod: You can take it Katie: No, no, we'll do it together. We can do it, we can do it. 3, 2, 1
Fiona: I like the whispering
Lindsey: Oh that's really creepy! I love it
Lindsey: "where do you live?" Fiona: I love the creepy-
Lindsey: OHHHH MY GODDDD
Kevin: Oh. My gosh
Yunyi: Yeah. There it is
Jarod: ooh that saxophone, yeah!
Jarod: I just feel like taking off my shirt right now, like, the saxophones just like..
Naoki: I'm liking the harmonies though
Stephen: I'm digging this beat, it's pretty sick
Lindsey: AH YEAH girl
Emiel: Wow Henry: Wow
Fiona: Oh my gosh, this is awesome!
Fiona: Cuz it's like, you have every right to be, like, feminine
Fiona: And sexy
Katie: I am obsESSED Jarod: WHAT THE FUCK K: Fuck yes
Kevin: I like the transition from band member to band member
Naoki: Nice Stephen: Very nice- ooOHHHH YEAH
Stephen: There you go Naoki: I'm liking this chorus
Fiona: They just totally just changed the background, like that just took- Lindsey: OHHH MAN ITS GOT SOME HORNS IN THERE
Lindsey: Like trumpet, I mean, like, a horn line
Stephen: I just can't get over that groove
Naoki: I'm just gonna turn it up a bit Stephen: Sure
Hugo: It's so ballsy and great! Gwen: This is everything I've ever wanted!
Jarod: This is hot...like Katie: Frick yeah
Jarod: The music is hot, like, I would take this music out to dinner
Jarod: Very nice restaurant. If I was 21, I would order it drinks. COCKTAILS
Umu: Henry? Thoughts?
Henry: Wow
Henry: I'm 100% absorbed in this
Stephen: I like the contrast between polite and sassy
Naoki: Yeah, it's like, between singing and rapping
Stephen: It's pretty sick Naoki: Those contrasts Stephen: Compositionally savvy, you know?
Naoki: Oh yeah Stephen: Very appropriate
Hugo: I love the censorship Gwen: This bridge musically is very unexpected
Henry: Wow Emiel: Wow
Henry: It's pretty on the nose, in terms of the censorship thing
Jarod:Choreography's good
Katie: I like the in the pocket, and *dances*
Katie: I also dig the combat boots
Jarod: I also love the melodic lines they use for the ballad
Jarod: The "ballad"
Emiel: He's like, so into it, he can't even Henry: Everything about this is just spectacular
Davis: It's very very clear with how they produced this video- *SHAKING IN HIS BOOTS*
Davis: Woah, that was a good note
Davis: Beltin' it
Davis: And then... creepy guy
Fiona: *hits the high note*
Fiona: her voice is just SOARING, do you hear that? Lindsey: YEAH
Kevin: What???? Yunyi: Yeah, censors aren't actually anything, I got it
Fiona: It's like, inspiring, and it's ... the music just sounds like 'we have a struggle but we got this'
Lindsey: But like. Boys. Stop Fio: yeah but also like *im-gna-beat-you-up face*
Emiel: Cool sax, gritty sounds, with, like, good bass tracks
Emiel: There's a lot of bass
Emiel: Damn
Henry: Yeah Emiel: That was cool H: Wow
Katie: WOMEN! ARE! NOT! OBJECTS
Jarod: YEAH
Jarod: YEAH, YEAH, YEAH
Katie: Oh my fucking god
Yunyi: Cause like, when you put the censors on, you'd think it's something that's, you know, inappropriate
Yunyi: But it's actually nothing, I wonder if that's just kind of a general statement
Kevin: It just turns out there's a dog- a drawing of a dog in the back of her skirt
Yunyi: Yeah, I wonder if, like, that's a message on how femininity in society is inherently sexualized, even though it is not supposed to be
Yunyi: Females are sexualized by simply existing, you know?
Yunyi: I wonder if that's a statement on that
Gwen: That was SIIIIIICK Hugo: That was so good Umu: Overall, the composition of the song, what'd you think?
Hugo: AW it was dope as SHIT Gwen: It was cool, they had Hugo: The rapping sections were, like
Hugo: BRUH Gwen: They had stuff that was pretty melodic, but was always interrupted by these rap sections
Gwen: Which I think made it really cool, and, like Hugo: And the rap section were Gwen: DOPE
Hugo: Dope as fuck, so to speak
Gwen: That pre-chorus that, like, kind just jumps into a weird tonal zone and then comes back?
Hugo: Yea Gwen: I liked that
Stephen: Ah yeah, that was very Naoki: Oh yeah?
Stephen: Yeah. Very nice Naoki: Yeah
Stephen: I, uh, yeah really, really enjoyed rhythmically how everything was going
Naoki: Oh yeah? Stephen: Oh yeah, I did Naoki: Oh yeah
Stephen: I'm the drummer, so I don't harmony, I just know that his groove was- Naoki: That's so bullshit
Yunyi: It was good Kevin: It was good
Kevin: nothing beats a little bit of saxophone! except instead of, like, an alto or more higher register saxophone, this one keeps it at the alto-tenor range which I like
Yunyi: You know, actually, what this reminded me of? In the chorus?
Yunyi: Was Please Don't , cause they...
Yunyi: cause they had, like, a similar melody Umu: Oh really?
Yunyi: *Imitates melody*
Yunyi: Do you hear that? Umu: yeah
Kevin: oH
[HOOOOOo USUALLY I WATCH THE VIDEO BEFORE DOING SUBS BUT I DIDNT AND IM S H O O K]
Umu: OH MY GOOODD
Yunyi: 'Don't know why, don't know whyyyy'
Kevin: you've been listening to this Yunyi: Yeah [exposed]
Yunyi: yeah and then you've got this *plays ah yeah*
Umu: godammit Kevin
Katie: I really like the use of instruments in it
Katie; Like, the saxophone, um... especially cause I feel like, most times a saxophone is a symbol of sexiness
Katie: And they were definitely sexy, but it was like, in a 'don't treat me like a piece of meat' kinda way
Katie: And I really dug the trumpets too in the end, like holding the chords
Katie: Gave it a big band kind of feel
Jarod: Absolutely, cuz what it emphasizes, and what I think this piece does really well is- this piece? this SONG
Jarod: Contrasts itself so well
Jarod: Both visually and aurally cause it's like, one minute it's innocent, kind of like singsong
Jarod: And then all of a sudden it's like BAM, in your face, here are the issues, here's the REAL deal, here's reality
Jarod: Reality's tough, you know? I feel like they capture that essence really well
Fiona: It, like, totally changed vibes a couple times, whenever they we all wearing kinda more white
Fiona: I was just like, what just happened?
Umu: Right, so verse to pre-chorus to chorus? Fiona: Yeah
Fiona: I was kinda confused by that but it was fine
Fiona: I really loved it whenever they had the.. that last whisper-y part
Fiona: which was really cool
Umu: Was there a specific musical moment that you liked or disliked? Hugo: All of it?
Gwen: You disliked all of it?
Hugo: Yeah, that's what im- NO I liked all of it, I thought it was great
Hugo: Like, truly. It was really, really well put together
Davis: I really like the drums, especially when they changed to the angrier member? I really liked the percussion change
Davis: It definitely made it sound like, put me on edge a little bit more, which I'm sure was their desired effect
Peyton: Yeah, I really digged the dance club vibe that they were kinda giving off
Peyton: Cause, I mean, 9 times out of 10 most of the idiocy occurs, unfortunately
Peyton: Which makes it hard for girls to go out, and enjoy themselves, which I think is kinda crappy
Peyton: but, yeah, I guess musically the sax in the background was really cool, I really dug the...
Peyton: They were kind of layering it under a lot of the pop sounds
Peyton: And you kinda have to be like, having your ear out for it
Peyton: But if you catch it, it's like really cool, really cool sound in that
Naoki: I liked the contrast between the singing and the rapping and then followed by the building stages
Naoki: into the chorus, it was a good structure that worked in this case
Stephen: Yeah, I really liked that, I really liked the contrast and how, musically speaking
Stephen: whatever differences in the song was also shown in the music video, which is nice
Stephen: I really just liked, once again, how tight the ensemble was, the groove-- it made me want to dance
Umu: How do you think the visuals supported the music?
Lindsey: Oh, it was awesome, it worked really really nicely, because-- Fiona: It was cool
Lindsey: --and I liked how they, you know, they censored it at first but then after they were telling the newscaster guy
Lindsey: telling him off. Then they started, slowly-- things becoming uncensored, and it was like--
Lindsey: And then there were those mannequins with the sashes that just said NO
Lindsey: Like, that's awesome Fiona: I liked how they showed it in a workplace too
Fiona: sexual harassment can happen anywhere
Lindsey: It happens a lot, but it shouldn't
Fiona: I thought it was a great message, and like, they did it in such a cool way
Gwen: So, the music video and the lyrics were definitely going for different things Hugo: Yeah
Gwen: But I think that it wasn't--they weren't clashing Hugo: No
Gwen: I think it was just like, two different facets, so I was okay with that
Hugo: I think it worked really well
Gwen: I think so too, and I really liked how they used the music-- and how I mentioned, the costumes--
Gwen: they used a lot of different things to kind of differentiate what's actually happening/inner monologue, cute/badass
Gwen: that differentiation was super cool
Henry: I thought it was completely cohesive Emiel: Good. It was pretty good
Umu: Even the video and the lyrics? Even though they were talking about two different things?
Henry: Yeah
Henry: It was the symbol of "you keep trying to hide me and cover up parts of me"
Henry: speaking "me" being a woman
Henry: You keep trying to like, cover up the things that you deem 'unfit'
Henry: but then all I ever get, ALL the time, is people berating me"
Henry: "stop teasing me." it's like, "something that YOU'RE doing," you know?
Henry: It's really fucked up, how so many people try to control the image of a woman in popular culture
Henry: So. I mean, I guess maybe there was a little bit going on of the "okay, maybe this feels like it's two different things"
Henry: but I wasn't really perceiving the duality, necessarily-- I thought that it flowed.
Jarod: Hey guys, thank you so much for watching, we hope you enjoyed the video
Katie: If you want to see what other Kpop songs we're going to react to, make sure you check out our reaction schedule. The link is in the description below
Jarod: And if you're curious about the songs the we're going to react to that haven't been scheduled yet, click right here or check the description
Umu: And of course, a huge gigantic thank you to all the Patreons that have helped us make our content better.
Umu: If you want to support us by being a Patreon, click right here, or check the description for more information
See you guys next time!