You might have heard Bumkey‘s name around recently. He recently officially debuted with his single, and his song shot up the charts, easily becoming a nominee for winning a couple of music shows. Prior to this long-awaited debut, he was rubbing shoulders with some of hip-hop’s best, featuring on songs and composing regularly. For that reason, it’s not surprising a bunch of those artists congratulated Bumkey on his solo venture in a video uploaded on Brand New Music’s YouTube account.
For his debut single, Bumkey worked with Primary, Zion.T, and Supreme Team‘s E-Sens–the last also features on the song. They seem to have caught the “bad girl” fever of the summer as the song is titled “(Crazy Love) Bad Girl.” Helping him out in the music video are Bumkey’s three buddies from Troy, an upcoming group from Brand New Music that will also include Bumkey. Two of them–Kanto and Chang-woo–also aid by rapping in the live performances for the song.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFDD_3IV7fU&w=560&h=315]The song lyrics play with the idea of a man aiding a woman with her affair and the guilt and disappointment he feels from their arrangement. He wants more though he knows he shouldn’t because of this woman’s “bad girl” behavior. The music video uses three different men (the other members of Troy) to convey the multiple feelings. Kanto is the man tied up and restrained by the woman; Jae-woong is the man that isn’t attracted to her; Chang-woo is the one that’s chasing her.
Kanto is visibly uncomfortable being tied up by a red ribbon, handcuffed, and weighed down by ball and chain while the woman attempts to seduce him, acting somewhat innocent down to the angel wings on her back. The situation portrays that uncomfortable aspect of the relationship with the woman, feeling trapped by her attraction yet wanting to go away. Chang-woo openly attempts to win the woman over, but they are all shot down. Jae-woong probably has the most entertaining set, though he’s the worst of the three at acting it out: he consistently rejects the woman’s advances, only to have his face light up when a man walks by, indicating his sexual orientation.
Throughout all of this, Bumkey is in the director’s chair, comfortably singing with a crown on his head and doing little actual directing. What livens up the music video are the intrusions into Bumkey’s set. There’s Kanto still trying to get away from the woman and trying to grab Bumkey’s hand to make him help him–Bumkey only half-heartedly aids. Chang-woo tries to give the woman a present, only to have her throw it down and stalk away. Jae-woong is seen running from the woman, going around Bumkey’s chair in an attempt to introduce an obstacle into the chase.
The music video clearly presents the woman as primarily a sexual object, frequently zooming in on her butt and legs or showing scenes with her bent over a ridiculous amount. It doesn’t help that in most of the scenes the man is sitting down while the woman is standing to help facilitate frequent vertical pans of the camera. While it does provide the very male point of view that fits with the perspective of the song, those aspects joined with the shaky cinematography gives some parts of the video the sense of a high-quality private video, a sense that cheapens the music video and really should have been excluded.
The unfortunate shaky camera strikes throughout the video, becoming an annoyance by the end. The editing was similarly shoddy. Perhaps the rookie cameraman vibe was the goal, judging by the limited amount of equipment and cheesy feel to the overall setup. But it wasn’t conveyed as well as it could have been, instead creating a shabby effect. The only moments where this isn’t the case are in the brief dance cuts. Though seemingly otherwise unrelated to the music video, the black and white shots of movement do bring in a pop of action that fits the stronger beats at the times of their inclusion.
The video’s highlights are the three individual scenarios and how they spill over into the director’s area, or backstage. Fortunately that is conveyed well enough to match with the song and bring humor to the situation, keeping the viewer engaged.
The song fares considerably better than the video with its smoothness and the seamless transitions into E-Sens’s raps and back. The song picks up when more beats are added, eventually slowly morphing into a funkier style near the end. The song holds a good amount of intensity that is paired well with Bumkey’s crooning, especially during the chorus, all of which matches well with Bumkey’s R&B style. The track is a strong debut for the singer-songwriter and hopefully represents the start to more songs of his own.
Overall Score: 3/5
