[music]
This week's Music Monday is the TEDDY RILEY EDITION with EXO's What is Love
[music]
First off, I'd like to take the chance now to say
how happy I am that this video made it for this week’s Kpop Music Mondays.
As you might remember from our K Crunch Update, I'm totally in love with this song.
This is definitely my favorite song of the year,
The year just started
That’s why it’s my favorite song of the year!
and - even though it's already three weeks old, a
nd we can get bored of songs very quickly,
this song is still completely awesome to us.
Teddy Riley, I feel like you dropped the ball a bit with SNSD's "The Boys,"
but this song makes up for it a hundredfold.
Totally loving the lonestar cowboy minimalistic sound of the beat.
[short cut to Simon doing lasso dance on the spot with Martina’s beat]
EXO fans, I'm not sure what you call yourselves yet, or if you have a fan club name.
I'd suggest calling yourselves the Exo-tics,
because that’s kind of clever, and I like to think of myself as clever
As for me, you know that I usually don’t like ballads,
with the rare exception of a few songs.
So when I first heard this song with it’s cowboy beat
Dun duh nuh dun dun
and all the BABY BABY BAYBAAAYYYAAYY,
I immediately cringed.
I shriveled from the inside out
I lost my mind
But, now, for some reason, I love it. Love the song.
I can't explain it. It goes against everything I believe in.
There's gotta be some kind of subliminal messaging to it or something,
because there's no reason for me to like it
[music]
I LOST MY MIND
BLABLABLABLA
[music]
I LOST MY MIND
NO MU JO MUH OH SOO KAY
HO RIPPITO FLIPPITO SIPPI SLOW MOTION
Simon, seriously? Can you stop.
Oh.
I lost my mind!
Ah, it all makes sense now
I swear, I've sang this song so much that it's become a part of my everyday vocabulary now.
Every time I lose something, I can't help but remix this song to fit the situation.
Whoa, I feel a little bit drafty. Hayo.
I LOST MY PANTS!
RIPPITO FLIPPITO SIPPI SLOW MOTION
That does not make any sense.
I'll tell you what else doesn't make sense:
you might remember from our Girls' Generation "The Boys" review how we were getting bored
with SM's overuse of their 360 degree slow motion cam.
They used it in TVXQ, SHINee, and Girls Generation, SUJU M
Here, though, the song says SLOW MOTION!
Yet, no 360 degree slow motion camera
Why didn't you use it SM!?!? Come on!
It would have been perfect when you kicked that B.A.P. looking guy in the face!
Slow motion 360 degree tassel kick to the face!
But no! GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY LOST!
I do have a small bone to pick, though,
and I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way:
I really don't like the way SM is marketing EXO. Really totally sick of it.
They have now released, supposedly, 18 teasers for this band.
18 FREAKING teasers. Seriously?
I know they're trying to build hype for the band
but there is a point in which you get to the point of getting ridiculous and Overhyping.
Just imagine if after all these teasers, and probably another 18 more to come
Exo releases a bad song
Sure, the die hard fans will love it no matter what they do
They could release the teaser of a sneeze and they’ll be like “OMG IT’S SO PERFECT!”
but people who like kpop for different reasons will not be impressed,
Because, regardless of what the band looks like,
the sound of the music is the only thing that matters
And this whole "Prologue" song business.
For those of you who don't know, this supposedly isn't a single.
This is, according to SM, a Prologue song,
which - to majority of the English speaking world, doesn't make any sense.
If it’s a full song, it’s a song, and if it’s a single, it’s still your single
no matter how bizarrely you market it.
From what I've been reading online, a lot of the excitement for this band has worn off,
and that - to me - is a shame.
If they keep on releasing awesome songs like this,
It’s a prologue, not a song!
......
....sorry
If they keep on releasing prologues like this I'll be extremely happy.
Honestly, I'd rather SM focus on being a music company and not a marketing team.
They’re putting the cart before the horse.
I'd like to think of Exo as singers and hear them sing,
rather then just seeing them as models and actors.
Okay, back to the video.
I gotta thank SM for doing one thing majorly different:
they have freed their singers from the confines of bizarrely lit rooms
and let them roam free into a bizarre world.
A whole new world! Don’t you dare lose your pants!
A new pantastic point of view (the pants are forever!)
We were so happy for that,
I was actually at the edge of my seat like “OOH! Look at those stones!
Look at that puffy dog! Where are they going?!
Such a strange treasure hunt!
Though this video doesn’t really have a clear plot,
I'd like to think of it as a bunch of artsy vignettes,
all leading up to the cheesy eclipse which,
BTW guys,
you’ve all permanently damaged your eyes
by staring at directly at the eclipse...
you might want to check in at an eye doctor,
cause I’m pretty sure you all have permanent retinal damage.
OMG! DOCTOR! 12 VERY GOOD LOOKING BOYS
HAVE ALL OF A SUDDEN GONE BLIND.
They’re so dreamy! What do we do?
Oh dear God! GIVE ME 12 CCS OF I TOLD YOU SO,
and my polaroid camera, and a pen for autographs, STAT!
Back to the video, the rustling of the leaves,
the kite-flying in the marshlands, the weird stones etched with clues
and the treasure hunting in the rolling meth-lab,
That’s right, I watch Breaking Bad
all give this video a very Exo-Tic feel to it.
Get it, Exotic!
Some scenes, though, are a bit ridiculous,
like when the two guys are standing in front of the big puddle,
with a random IKEA desk somehow brought out to that location
I have no idea who would bring an Ikea desk out to the wilderness,
but if I saw an Ikea desk, I’d be kinda freaked out
That’s just me.
And then the camera pans around them as they slowly stand and stare at each other
while one of them holds a kite.
It totally felt like we were watching a final class project out of a college film major's class.
[artsy fartsy music time]
Ooh Exo! You’re such dirty hipsters, aren’t you?
Hey! Who wants to go for some vegetarian falafels?
and go to some secondhand shops
while we talk about obscure indie bands?
You’d love to do that, wouldn’t you?
Oooh you so nasty!
[regular music time]
Now, this song doesn't really have a dance to follow,
but it does have a small dance sequence,
including the versatile genie stand/sit dance.
Oooh I’m buying the instructional video now
And, our favorite dance, of course, is the Forever Alone dance
...done with
...your own clothes
I’d also like to point out that the guy you’re dancing with doesn’t have any pants on
Just a shirt and a hat
I guess you can say he lost his pants.
I LOST MY PANTS!
DU NUH BADUM FADUM KAY
OH RIPPITO FLIPPITO SIPPI SLOW MOTION
[music]
As for the English of the song, we give this a 5 out of 5.
That's right! Super high marks for an SM song.
Have we ever given them something this high before?
Maybe SHINee Ring Ding Dong? No? I dunno
There's not a lot of English in the song,
but there's a bit at the beginning and end of the song,
and a couple of phrases in there otherwise,
Their pronunciation was perfectly fine. Awesome!
I'm a bit confused by the "get in slow-motion"
Not sure how someone gets in slow motion, though
but maybe it’s poetic, so still 5 out of 5
[music]
Last week we asked you which nearly identical plot video you preferred
FT Island’s Severely or JYJ’s in Heaven.
And the winner was JYJ
But I think the votes were a bit biased because most people were like
I like Junsu’s butt when he jumps in front of hte car
and that was not the question!
We did not ask you which butt you preferred
Anyways, JYJ won. Great job John Sue for working on that butt.
John Sue.
Junsu!
For this week's Teddy Riley Edition, we ask you which Teddy Riley SM song you preferred:
EXO's "What is Love" or SNSD's "The Boys"
You know where my vote lies, what about yours?
Leave your votes in the comments, or in our Facebook poll,
and we'll announce the winners next week.
Also, thanks to all the Exo-tics who voted for EXO for this week's Music Monday,
if there's a video you want to see us do for next week's Music Monday,
head on over to www.eatyourkimchi.com/kpopcharts
and get voting!
And lastly, don't forget to like and favorite this video,
and to subscribe for more Kpop Music Mondays.
Take it away, Spudgy.
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