[MV Review] UKISS Tells Me to "Stop Girl" but I Don't Wanna
Better late than never, right?
After gaining massive attention in Japan, UKISS is back in Korea for with a quite new sound and a new mini-album. This also is a new experience for the group since AJ is studying in Columbia University. He promises to come back after five months (which, to me, is already equivalent to a semester), leaving UKISS as a six-member group for the time-being. Last September 20, UKISS released two different versions of the music video simultaneously–a black and white version on their YouTube channel and a colored version on Korean streaming sites, Melon and Bugs.
Although UKISS has been widely known for its use (or overuse) of autotune in their previous songs (e.g. their iconic Man Man Ha Ni and the blasting Bingeul Bingeul), UKISS continues driving on the road of experimentation. During the first cycle of the member change, UKISS decided to do a ballad (“0330”) as a title track. Later that year, they promoted with highly-danceable “Neverland”. Earlier, they explored guitar riffs in the funky dubstep “DoraDora”. And these are just their Korean releases! This time, they venture into the RnB genre–which in my opinion–has somewhat been present in their albums but only as B-side tracks (e.g. “Baby Don’t Cry”).
“Stop Girl” reflects on the feelings of a man breaking up a relationship. He tells her to “stop girl in the name of love” because the love that she has for him was probably never real. The song also comes with an English version, which I think UKISS should have done long time ago considering its roster of fluent English speakers.
Watching both the B&W and colored versions of the music video, it seems that UKISS concept revolves around the colors, black and white. (Yes Soohyun, this IS the reason why your boss made a B&W version of your music video.) I also thought it showed a quite a leap of maturity since the boys, including the forever-young-looking Dongho, were of right age to be suave. The set, the styling and the color palette fit perfectly to the ambiance of the music video. Kudos to the director, for the video was really well-thought of.
In regards to the individual looks of the members in this video, the stylists did the same as to what they did back in “DORADORA”. Honestly, I grew tired of groups looking the same, as if they’re wearing uniforms. Although others would tend to argue that uniforms show unity, I would actually like to see that more in their choreography rather than in their costumes. Following their black and white concept, the boys have their blanc et noir looks. I like how the stylists also chose for some of the boys to wear oxfords because they are just so classy.
They also have another set which is also black with blue accents. I certainly loved to see this highlighted in the Black and White version. Animal and geometric prints added texture and variety, which I think was definitely essential for the B&W version. Without them, it would be really boring.
As for the boys’ hairstyles, there weren’t any changes except for Kiseop, Eli, Kevin and Dongho. Kiseop seems to be following the trend of having 1/3 of the head shaved, while Eli sported a platinum blonde mohawk. I’m pretty sure that Eli’s hair is PLATINUM BLONDE, but the stylist seemed to have borrowed G-Dragon’s hair dye in “One of a Kind” to spray it all over Eli’s hair while lounging in the leather seat. And as for Dongho, I almost smashed my keyboard because the seaweed hair just doesn’t work. (Dongho, you better give that back to Ren.) Kevin looked honestly the most stellar from head-to-toe in the video. The hair, the suits and the shoes–he is definitely sexy without having to take his shirt off.
In one of Kevin’s solo shots, we can see him dancing on a floor similar to the pattern of a chess board with a black knight in the background. At first I thought the knight was supposed to symbolize chivalry. However, the knight moves only in an L-pattern, which could pretty much relate to the song as either LOVE or LIE (or both). In addition, chess was used to portray how love is treated as “a game for two”.
One of the problems in the aesthetics of both versions of the music video was the lighting. Some of the solo shots appeared either too dark or flattering. Kiseop’s solo with the dim lamp and geometric chair kind of appeared dark in the colored version, but grew darker in the B&W version. I wish there was more light that would hit his face because he is such a gorgeous human being (oops, my bias is showing). I also have the same comment towards Dongho with this his bushy-thorny hair. It’s like he aged so much in those shots with the wrinkles and eyebags showing.
UKISS never fails to amaze me with their amazing choreography. For this song, the choreography goes up a notch with the inclusion of the opposite sex. There was a lot of pushing and pulling that visual portrayed the conflict of the relationship. It was tastefully done without being overtly sexual which can be the case of male-female choreographies. The intro, by the way, was absolutely fantastic.
For this song, UKISS decided to work with Ryan Jhun of Marcan Entertainment who also happened to be the brains behind “Neverland”. Although it has been a year since “Neverland” was released, I never got tired of listening to it. The same goes for “0330”, which UKISS took a risk in selecting it as a title track. However, “0330” continues to have this enchanting vibe that is so transcending in terms of the group’s harmony and vocal prowess.
I guess it’s safe to say that “Stop Girl” is my favorite UKISS song as of the moment, because it falls between the energies of “0330” and “Neverland”. “Stop Girl” seems to be in the right range for all the boys with just the right amount harmony in the chorus. Kiseop, who haven’t received much vocal justice in their past Korean releases, finally emerged in this song. And the rap... ohmygosh, I could fangirl on the raps forever! Dongho and Eli seemed to have been taking some lessons on adding the right amount of swag into their voices. And can I just mention how delightful it was to hear Eli’s “hiccup” rapping? I know he did this technique in their previous songs, but this was just tastefully placed.
As I have mentioned earlier, UKISS also released an English version of “Stop Girl” which is perfect for the song has some heavy American influence. Now I am beginning to think if UKISS will ever pursue their US venture. It may have entered their minds, but with America raving over PSY right now, it’s probably not really a good time.
As for UKISS to get #1 with this song, I do definitely hope that their company would just push their marketing to the limit because the song is just amazing in so many ways. I want UKISS to stop jumping from one genre to another because this time, RnB suits them really well. I want them to stick to this formula for a longer time. All they need is just to win #1 to be assured of that.
