U-Kiss has matured greatly in the last four years, evolving from their cutesy “Not Young” days to the aggressive, fierce concept present now. There have been bumps along the road, but I am pleased to see the direction the group is going in, especially after their release of “Neverland.”
As the group wrapped up their promotions in Japan, they revealed that they were to make their Korean comeback with “Doradora.” NH media also released their teaser pictures and concepts for each member. How exactly is “metrosexual” a concept? Aside from the oddity that were the teaser pictures, I was inexplicably excited for this mini-album which featured tracks penned by Jay Park and AJ.
“Doradora” fits the electronica sound U-Kiss is known for, but goes a little further and adds a steady guitar riff and dubstep to the song. It’s an interesting sound, the guitar giving the whole song a gritty feel. It has a catchy hook and the chorus has been stuck in my head for a good week.
Visual and Aesthetic Technique: 3.5 out of 5
The video starts out with the members lounging in a white set with pastel graffiti everywhere, it then quickly flashes to the negative with dark background and neon colors. This only lasts for a couple of seconds in which the video suddenly shoots to the dance scene. The transition between the scenes as a result became awkward and sudden. The dance scene, however, was well done. The smoke and bright flashing lights when coupled with the white outfits of the members gave them an ethereal glow. In fact the flashing lights were a constant presence in the video which complement the shaky camera shots and spiraling scenes adding an element of chaos to the overall feel of the MV. The use of multi-dimesional rooms was also a nice touch to the music video. The blue and white color schemes that contrasted with the darker hues of red and black was also well done. The texturing in some of the sets was gorgeous and gave a lusher feel to the MV.
The scenes with the white background and bright graffiti detracted from the heavy and dark theme the overall music video had. It didn’t fit in with the textured sets and should not have been included. It interrupted the visual flow the song had and didn’t belong in the overall theme the music video was going for. It also bears similarity to a previous U-Kiss song, “Forbidden Love,” which was released in Japan. The scenes of the members on the bed and bright red lights had a striking resemblance to “Forbidden Love.”
Performance and Choreography: 4 out of 5
The best part of the music video was the choreography. The fast and tight footwork complemented the up-tempo chorus well and the overall choreo did a good job of matching the song and dance together. The formations flowed smoothly and were well done. I especially liked how the members would at one moment be in a chaotic formation and seamlessly got in sync the next moment, flowing nicely. While the choreography was attractive the execution, however, was slightly above average. U-Kiss is a group with adequate dancers, but don’t have the fortune of having an extremely good dancer who can hold the group together. The members performed the moves well, but it could have been much better and more in sync in certain parts. I will admit though that my teenage hormones thoroughly enjoyed Kiseop and his body waves.
“Doradora,” like many of U-Kiss’s previous songs, is about expressing dissatisfaction with a woman. The members angst wonderfully on the bed and make appropriate expressions of hatred. The rap break was fierce and better executed than previous songs, but it could have been the dubstep which contributed to that. Hoon was also making some fairly odd expressions during the video that looked borderline derp material which has me slightly worried. Overall the choreography was well done and U-Kiss executed it in the way that most K-pop boy groups do.
Intellectual and Emotional Factor: 2 out of 5
The only emotion I felt was utter despair at the loss of AJ’s glorious long hair.
As previously stated, the song is general U-Kiss fare. The lyrics speak of a man’s frustration after his girlfriend leaves him. He harbors animosity towards her for suffering more than him, even though she was the one to initiate the break-up. He describes his past love as a player and heartless. “Shut Up” and “Man Man Ha Ni” both shared the same Angry-at-Female theme in which the members showed their anger through pelvic thrusts and touching their faces in excess.
The music video had no plot line, which is not necessarily a bad thing. However, the video did nothing to convey the message of the lyrics. The only indication of the theme was the anguished and angry facial expressions of the U-Kiss members. It was a pure dance video with nothing intellectually stimulating to offer.
Overall this comeback music video scored 3.2 out of 5. I commend U-Kiss for taking musical risks and deviating from their normal electro-pop sound, but wish they would do the same with their music videos. They have the potential, as seen with “0330” and “Neverland,” to produce a good music video and excel.
What are your thoughts Seoulmates? Will “Doradora” be the one to finally propel U-Kiss to the top? Leave your thoughts and comments below.
(NHMEDIA)
