[music]
This week's Music Monday is the Drama Queen edition
with MBLAQ's "This is War"
[Snippet from MBLAQ's "This is War"]
So I didn't find this song as immediately catchy as Mona Lisa,
but then again, when I first heard "Cry" I didn’t really like it
and then it grew on me to the point that I became completely obsessed with it
So maybe “This is War” will grow on me, too.
I, on the other hand, liked this song a lot more than I liked Mona Lisa,
which, to this day, I can't stand.
The electric guitar and orchestral mix
really gives this song an epic feel to it,
which the video was really well matched for.
Was anyone else annoyed, though, that the video stopped the music abruptly?
I want my music videos to compliment the music,
not to get in the way of it.
We felt the same way for T-ara's "Lovey Dovey"
which, to us, only felt like it had 30 seconds of the actual song
Leaving out the whole assassin turned good then bad then turned good again plot,
I really enjoyed the cut sequences in between the video's story.
It really seemed like a slice from a musical,
mixing acting with some kind of interpretive dancing.
I also loved how they overlapped moments from the video into the musical sequence as well,
like when the bullet to the neck brought him to his knees in both parts of the video,
and how they incorporated the live orchestra to accompany the building plot of the song.
I feel like MBLAQ tends to go for very dramatic and emotional music videos,
some of my favourites being CRY and STAY,
but with "Mona Lisa" and now with this music video,
I can't understand why the director can't seem to make a clear script.
Guise: Is it really that difficult to make a video with a plot that isn't confusing?
For example, JYJ's "In Heaven" was a long plot oriented video
but was clear from beginning to end.
Now we're not picking on just MBLAQ specifically for this;
this is just a general complaint we have towards a lot of Kpop videos.
Alright, so we hit the 50 second mark in this music video
and both Simon and I give each other the shifty eyes of confusion.
Does anybody know hy does this assassin suddenly decides
to save the girl that he was about to kill 2 seconds ago?
It seems like there are only two possible options:
1) Was he emotionally attached to this girl so that he couldn't kill her?
If so, then they should have showed that to us
via a simple flashback to their relationship together
otherwise it just seems so incredibly random
that this assassin suddenly decides to not kill his target.
2) Maybe he suddenly feels bad about killing a young beautiful girl.
In which case, he's a really crappy assassin
Why does he run down the building to fight that other assassin?
1) If Joon was going to kill the girl,
and the other assassin wants to do it for you,
why get in his way? Save yourself a bullet!
Oh wait! You're somehow now emotionally attached to this girl
in a way that makes no sense to us.
2) If you suddenly decide that you don't want this girl to die,
I'm going to remind you, that, *cough* you DO have a sniper rifle,
and you are on the TOP of a building,
you could have just shot the other assassin,
which would have prevented that whole fight sequence
and that girl getting a bullet in the shoulder.
On that note, how THE HELL did you get down that building so fast?
Last time we checked, you were looking through your Sniper Rifle
and you saw the other guy cocking his gun.
Unless you, like, Supermanned your way down the building,
there's no reason for that other assassin to have NOT have killed her by now.
[sound effects of a smooth assassin]
Huh? Is that another Assassin…about to take out MY target?
I could just shoot her from here…or I could go downstairs and engage them in MORTAL KOMBAT!
[elevator waiting music]
BANG!
Ah! I knew I should have gone for Option A
And, seriously! What the hell took the other assassin so long to kill that girl?
Safety off, gun loaded, target in sight. I'm ready to go, but first,
What's up Becky? How's it goin? Oh nothing, just the usual.
Well, she's gonna be a real fashion victim, if you know what I mean!
Seriously why would anyone wear that, I have no idea!
Yeah ooh we should so totally do lunch later on!
That place with the little croissants would be great!
Oh shoot she's gone! Ok I gotta go.
And this has got to be our favourite part: why the fight sequence?
YOU'RE FIGHTING with your HANDS while POINTING A GUN AT HIS FACE.
Didn't we mention this last week for Lovey Dovey?
How are Kpop videos messing this up so royally?
Bullets are more effective than fists and feet.
THEY ALWAYS HAVE BEEN AND THEY ALWAYS WILL BE.
Fighting with a gun in your hand is like buying a new car,
holding the keys in your hand, and pushing the car the whole way home.
Sure, you eventually get to where you wanted to go,
but you look pretty stupid in the process
Later on, bad assassin turned good assassin, goes back to bad assassin
when he sees his, what is she? His ex-wife? His Girlfriend?
His Ex Girlfriend? His sister? His girl that he suddenly has a crush on?
His I don't know know how they're related person…snuggling up in a room with his friend in a room.
Now, we need a reality check moment here,
because you're really over-reacting.
1) Yes, you like this girl you saved,
but, I don’t want to be the one to remind you,
you were about to kill her earlier on.
2) She's into Thunder, your garbage-picking friend,
and I know this makes you jealous because you're a bad ass assassin
with guns and a leather jacket and you an curve your bullet like a Wanted character
while he's just a hipster living in a junkyard,
but you're SO jealous that you're going to fight your friend about it,
using your badass assassin skills and a gun...what?!
Anger Management: that’s what you need MR.
Big Time Anger Management.
Or get a Tumblr account. Tumbl out all that rage.
And three, this girl isn't into you
probably because she spent more time with your warm hearted hipster friend,
so...instead of talking about it...you kill yourself? WHAAAAAAT?
Holy overreaction OF THE YEAR! How about something like
bummer that you're not into me girl I don't really know but probably creep out a little,
but take these plane tickets and be safe.
And the title of this song is a little bit misleading at this point,
since war usually involves a little bit more
than giving your untrained friend a donkey kick to the balls
and then shooting a boomerang bullet into your own neck.
And finally, when Drama Queen Joon is pointing his gun at Thunder
aka garbage-hipster-turned-love interest,
the girl tries to protect her new love by standing in the way.
Thunder struggles against her, but in the end she perseveres
and holds her protective stance.
Honestly now, is it really that hard to move the girl out of the way?
I don't know how to say this any other way but, she's a small Korean woman.
She probably weighs 90 pounds, soaking wet, wearing chainmail and holding an anvil.
Just SHOVE HER.
Is that a gun? Oh god!
No! If you want to shoot him you've got to go through me!
Oh no! You…you should go!
No this is between me and him.
Oh god you're so strong!
I'll protect you!
[music]
There is something about MBLAQ's dancing that is soooo…MBLAQian!
every time I see them dance I'm like, YEAH that move is so MBLAQ
I can't put my finger on it, maybe you guys can help me out with this
Maybe it's because they tend to spread their legs out a lot when they dance,
and they do a lot of chest pumping. I don’t know.
Well whatever it is, I’ve got to say that this dance
is the most MBLAQian dance I’ve seen out of them
It doesn’t even seem like a dance routine, it's more like dance posing.
A lot of heavy pauses, and then popping, and then posing, and then sliding, and repeating
and then at the end of the song there are a couple of ice skating worthy pirouette kick spins that take place.
While it's not my favorite dance from them,
it does definitely match the dramatic feel of this song.
[music]
As for the English of the song, I give Malcolm X a 5 out of 5.
Oh? You didn't notice?
They use a snippet from Malcolm X’s most famous speech at the beginning of the song.
Very moving, very powerful, and I have no choice but to give Malcolm X a 5 out of 5.
MBLAQ, umm, they say don't you cry cry cry bye bye bye bye bye.
So, umm. Also 5 out of 5!
Not really as moving, but I can’t find a reason to dock them marks, so, 5 out of 5.
I don't really know how Malcolm X’s speech fits the video,
or how it matches the Korean lyrics of this song,
which are about a guy being angry at his friend for stealing his girlfriend
which feels like kiiiiindofa small issue compared to what Malcolm X was fighting for,
but I do appreciate literary allusions!
[music]
Last week we asked you which T-ara vs T-ara music video you preferred:
T-ara in Cry Cry, or T-ara in Lovey Dovey,
and it was a little bit close, but in the end, T-ara’s Cry Cry won.
A lot of people said they preferred Jiyeon’s acting
and her character was a lot more badass than the Lovey Dovey version.
I agree.
For this week’s Drama queen edition, we ask you who are the bigger Drama Queens:
Joon in this is War, or 2AM in Like Crazy.
Leave your votes in the comments, or in our Facebook poll,
and we’ll announce the winners next week.
Also, thanks to everybody who requested This is War 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 http://www.eatyourkimchi.com/kpopcharts
AND GET VOTING.
also, don’t forget to like and favorite this video and to subscribe for more Music Mondays
and to tell me how awesome my new glasses are.
Take it away, Spudgy
[music]