Music / Idols

SPICA: Debuting in Lee Hyori’s Shadow

Written by Guest On January 16, 2012

Two initial thoughts about the debut MV of newcomer girl group SPICA:

Firstly, Hyori’s in the MV! I’ve missed seeing her.

Secondly, what kind of name is SPICA?

According to some sources, it stands for ”Sonic Princesses Infinitely Creating Anarchy”. It appears that bosses at B2M Entertainment decided to randomly throw some English words together because they like the individual meanings of the word. They must have missed the memo that states that names should make sense. Another source states that the name comes from “spica”, which is the 16th brightest star in the sky (although according to Wikipedia, it’s the 15th brightest star). I’m not sure which is true, but I really hope it isn’t the former, although, why pick the 16th/15th brightest star and not the first?Aside from the name, the girls of SPICA consists of former Five Girls/T-ara member Yang Jiwon, Superstar K 2009 contestant Park Narae, as well as Kim Boa, Park Joo Hyun, and Kim Bo Hyung and they’re all being mentored by Hyori. That in itself caught my attention and gave me a reason to check them out. Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Initially, I thought that with Hyori mentoring them, it’d be all “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”-esque in-your-face sexiness and sassiness; however, I was mildly surprised when I heard their song and saw their debut photos. They’re not a mere reproduction of Hyori. They do look like they have a slight edginess to them, but it’s not all about hot pants and tight tops.

Hyori plays the protagonist in their debut MV, and from what I can gather from the video alone, Hyori’s character had a fight the previous night with her man and is mulling over the fight and the implications of it in the morning. It’s not that origina,l but I think the point of this whole MV is Hyori, in her cotton negligee, acting as eye candy.

I don’t think the MV is bad, but you can’t see the girls of SPICA in it so I can’t place the voices with their individual faces. I’m divided on whether this is a good thing or not. As it is their first MV, one would think that a new artist would want to introduce themselves to their listeners, but by having Hyori play the lead in it, it brings the hype needed to bring attention to SPICA and set them apart from the plethora of girl groups out there. Bear in mind that SPICA will have to compete with the likes of 2NE1, BEG, SNSD, Wonder Girls, KARA for a chunk of the already saturated girl group dominated Korean music industry. It’s still too early to see whether they have what it takes to succeed and be bigger, if not better than the other girl groups currently out there but I do hope however that Hyori shouldn’t be the only reason why we should check SPICA out.

The song is a slow tempo song and has a familiar feel to it…like almost everything else I’ve heard it before. I don’t think it’s in any way an amazing track, but it does showcase the girls’ voices and harmonization, which I think is a good thing for a debut single — it shows that they aren’t a gimmick and can sing. It might not be a strong BAM!-in-your-face debut single, but the subtlety of the song will make an impression on the listener and have them replaying the song…at least till they figure out where they’ve heard the song before.

(Review Star)

TAGS: Lee Hyori, SPICA

http://twitter.com/Chouchou103 Michele

‘
I don’t think the MV is bad, but you can’t see the girls of SPICA in it so I can’t place the voices with their individual faces. I’m divided on whether this is a good thing or not. As it is their first MV, one would think that a new artist would want to introduce themselves to their listeners, but by having Hyori play the lead in it, it brings the hype needed to bring attention to SPICA and set them apart from the plethora of girl groups out there’

I think they should have gone the same route as FIX and their Please Don’t Say MV on this. FIX did the same thing with Eunhyuk being the main protagonist of the MV and you don’t see the boys until the end, where you see snippets of them singing during the story and the last scene is them all together. I think that was a good mix of letting the already established celebrity be the main focus of the MV and yet still see the members of the group. Since it’s the MV that will be playing on TV and on youtube, it’s good to have the members in it because if not, non-fans might think it’s a Hyori song and not a SPICA song.

On another note, I really like the song and Lee Hyori is really gorgeous in that MV.
http://twitter.com/Chouchou103 Michele

‘
I don’t think the MV is bad, but you can’t see the girls of SPICA in it so I can’t place the voices with their individual faces. I’m divided on whether this is a good thing or not. As it is their first MV, one would think that a new artist would want to introduce themselves to their listeners, but by having Hyori play the lead in it, it brings the hype needed to bring attention to SPICA and set them apart from the plethora of girl groups out there’

I think they should have gone the same route as FIX and their Please Don’t Say MV on this. FIX did the same thing with Eunhyuk being the main protagonist of the MV and you don’t see the boys until the end, where you see snippets of them singing during the story and the last scene is them all together. I think that was a good mix of letting the already established celebrity be the main focus of the MV and yet still see the members of the group. Since it’s the MV that will be playing on TV and on youtube, it’s good to have the members in it because if not, non-fans might think it’s a Hyori song and not a SPICA song.

On another note, I really like the song and Lee Hyori is really gorgeous in that MV.
Anonymous

I think mostly every Korean group missed the memo that states names should make sense… and not just this group. Lord knows how utterly ridiculous some of these other groups’ names are pronounced and stand for.

On another matter, I found this group’s debut song quite refreshing. In an electronic-driven music industry of today, SPICA takes it back to simple orchestrations and strong, powerful vocals which are sorely missed from the rookie groups that pop up with debuts every week, and more importantly, they made their impressions through their music, without the help of flashy visuals, dance moves, or in this case even their own face. Their debut reminds me much of the Brown Eyed Girls’ debut… an R&B ballad-esque song with strong powerful vocals showcased in a music video that didn’t feature any of the members in it. I think many people will find them unique in this way, and will garner attention by the fact that they take it old-school. Oh, and I’m sure they’ll take some Infinite fanbase with them seeing as their vocalist was Infinite’s former vocal trainer. I believe they’ll have bright days to look forward to.
http://twitter.com/LucidBom Hyorin

I don’t think this was their actual debut single if I remember correctly.
asianromance

Like the song! In the beginning, the singers sound like a better version of Hyori.

It’s going to sound negative, but I wonder how long it will be until the pressures of the kpop idol industry push them to go for popular, gimmicky sounds and promotions.
Anonymous

I’ve never been able to watch the whole music video because the song is boring and the video seems like a BTS for a Lee Hyori photo shoot. I don’t see how the Lee Hyori thing will help them, Eric’s disaster of a group was a bigger disappointment than it would have been without him.
Bstar5

I got the impression that this was more like a teaser MV that showcases SPICA’s vocals first while at the same time bringing attention to the group by featuring Hyori. Pretty much like Hyori releasing the “Swing” MV before she dropped her title song “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”.
Revy

I actually like the song an it shows they can sing. The only voice i can recognize is Jiwon since i heard her sing in What’s Up?. I think this was just a teaser to garner interest in the girls so when they do come out with their song to promote people will know them
http://twitter.com/flickaddi Felicia Addison

i really like the song and the fact that they’re not in the MV allows you to focus on their vocals and not their appearance
http://twitter.com/flickaddi Felicia Addison

i really like the song and the fact that they’re not in the MV allows you to focus on their vocals and not their appearance
http://twitter.com/lily_of_west CLover/Infiknight

personally i checked the song out and watched the mv…i liked the song and i liked the fact that they didn’t go for and upbeat tempo song for their debut like almost every other group..they have potential and i’ll keep and eye out for them but i disliked the idea of hyori in the mv…i adore hyori for me she’s the embodiment of a kpop goddess however, i think it would’ve been better to see the girls in the mv…to remember their faces..i know they were aiming strategically to generate attention but it wasn’t the right way to go…at least in my opinion…hyori takes all the attention because well she’s hyori and the mv and the song go unregistered because of it…i wish them luck and i think they might actually become the 3rd kpop girl group that i’ll like next to 2ne1 and beg
Jules

Hyori placed them in my radar so I’d say it was a good thing.