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EXID ‘Ah Yeah’ Music Video & Song Review

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Coming back after a term of great success can be a surprisingly tricky thing to pull off. EXID faced this after their sleeper hit Up and Down. The members and Yedam Entertainment alike always said they would stick to the formula that brought this unexpected rise to fame and they have remained true to their word. Up and Down’s trademarks like saxophone solos, pelvic movements, jarring tonal shifts, and Hani front and centre are all once again present on new single Ah Yeah. But EXID has not merely adopted the Up and Down formula without first reflecting on it.

Between the music video and song‘s interesting elements come up which are cause for a closer look. Not only has EXID they taken the time to reflect on what worked and what didn’t, but the Up and Down elements themselves have been kicked up a notch.

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Song

Ah Yeah is an incredibly frantic song. It sounds like it is structurally all over the place like Girls’ Generation’s I Got A Boy but it actually takes an average pop structure and packs it to the brim with clashing elements. Ah Yeah’s through line is a hip-hop drum beat which changes in intensity depending on the corresponding music. The song houses four separate vocal styles throughout its runtime: Hani’s sweet, alluring verse and its counterpoint, LE’s blistering, angry rap, Junghwa’s nursery rhyme like pre-chorus and Solji and Hyerin’s chorus. Thrown together these all seem incompatible but somehow the song makes it out in tact.

The best of these is definitely the competing verses of Hani and LE. The two make up the bulk of the song and carry it so well. Hani’s simple melody and slightly affected voice plays up to her charming strengths perfectly. Put beside LE’s forceful rap though, which is accompanied by the reintroduction of the sax and an intensifying of the drums, it seems like a parody of what brought EXID to fame in Up and Down. In many ways this what Ah Yeah is really about.

EXID’s new song reuses and makes comment on Up and Down, or rather the strange success of it and turns it into something new. LE’s rap inUp and Down wasn’t contrasting enough? Let’s have her rap on five separate occasions in Ah Yeah.

The same can be said for Junghwa’s odd pre-chorus. In Up and Down she had a small part which had a nursery rhyme vibe to it which was probably a way of getting around her seemingly weak vocals. In Ah Yeah her part is similar enough except this time it’s repeated twice and has its own twinkly melody. Again, an element from before is being reused and brought up a notch. I think this is the most jarring part of the song, nearly bringing it into incoherence. This fits into the idea of the self parody as Up and Down wasn’t exactly straightforward itself but lets down the song as whole.

The chorus is the most straightforward part of Ah Yeah. Not changing much of the original formula, it does not however, come as a surprise since we already know it so well. It shows the dearth of options EXID have at hand when a vocalist as amazing as Solji is restricted to a chorus. Amongst girl groups, I’d put her in the top five working right now and thought she’d be the person that dragged them to success; it would be nice to see her do something more than the chorus.

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Music Video

The self-reflexion of EXID doesn’t end with the song though. The music video, like the song, uses different elements to comment and react on EXID’s rise to fame.

Again, Hani and LE’s parts work wonderfully together. Hani essentially playing herself, is seductive as she makes eyes with the POV camera similar enough to her famous fancam. LE also could be playing herself or maybe just another side of the argument. Her angry counterpoint plays like a musician’s reaction to EXID’s fame, not happy that a sexy video brought them there over interesting music written by LE herself. She also addresses the POV camera but this time in an accusatory manner. The video is giving us both sides of the story, letting us know there’s more to EXID than sexiness.

This duality theme continues with Junghwa, Hyerin and Soljin’s parts of the video. Junghwa seems to be playing a cam girl of some sort, similar to what you’d see from the Babestation Babes, with pixelated images dotted around her. She appears to engaging in some explicit activities before being revealed to be a news anchor or something like it. The same goes for Solji and Hyerin who are in generic rooms with pixelated images which are revealed to be cartoon images of animals. It also features some clips of EXID’s pelvis movements pixelated. They know they are likely to be censored so went one step ahead and did it themselves, exposing the ridiculousness of TV censors. The pixelation, in a way, makes the situation even worse since it comes across as more explicit than it really is. It wouldn’t seem any way explicit if it was never censored.

Rating

EXID took a slight risk reusing nearly the identical formula as last time. Unfortunately, Ah Yeah could be mistaken as a mere rehash of Up and Down.

It could also have been a failure on the charts as Up and Down was. While Up and Down is a great song, that was not the main reason for their popularity. EXID really went for it though and came out with something very similar but on a different level. Self awareness in pop music is a rare thing and really helps a group feel more invested in their music.

This is in large part thanks to the songwriting prowess of LE. Not only is she one of the best Korean female rappers working today but she has had a hand in writing every one of EXID’s songs. Her level of artistry lifts EXID from possible flash in the pan success to a group that could become one of the all time greats.

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Hello Venus and Sexism in K-Pop

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The release of Sticky Sticky has completely transformed what kind of a group Hello Venus is. This is not a new type of change either; it is one which we have seen more and more in the past two years. The sexy concept has become a staple of the K-Pop industry to the point where if a girl group is not doing so well, they immediately revert to it. I think this comes from Sistar‘s success with Alone, which may not seem too sexy right now but it was at the time. After Alone, Sistar gradually became one of the most popular girl groups in Korea. So naturally other girl groups would follow but at what price?

Hello Venus had been one of the more popular girl groups who debuted in the busy year of 2012. Their quirky, cute sound stood out in a crowd of groups who offered nothing new to being cute. What Are You Doing Today? was one of the songs of 2012 and Would You Like Some Tea? got to number six on the Gaon music chart. These songs were also interesting enough to foreshadow Hello Venus becoming big. I imagined them growing gradually and maturing in a similar way to Girls’ Generation who had started slowly and became megastars, with the multi-talented Lime becoming their star of Hello Venus. This was not to be though, as a big change occurred that caused Hello Venus to change.

Pledis decided to pull out of the deal with Fantagio to co-produce the group and took the Pledis members, Yoo Ara and Yoonjo, with them. Fantagio kept the other four members and the Hello Venus name, so added two more members and decided to continue with their promotions. It also gave Fantagio a chance to alter Hello Venus’ style quickly in order to pander to current trends. As I said, they went the sexy route and went for it in a big way.

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As this trend grows, it becomes more of a problem. There was a time when sexy concepts were used to differentiate from the regular and shock an audience. Even at this time it is a tenuous subject as there is always a problem of objectification and fetishization of the body. As sexy songs continue to sell, women’s bodies will continually be used as objects to help these sales. This activity reinforces a sexist agenda in society and punishes women who do not conform. It even punishes those who act on sexuality, even though they are taught this is what woman should be like. Especially in a conservative country such as South Korea, girls cannot be seen to be sexually active even if being sexy is the hot topic of the time.

If this type of performance is allowed to become normal, the sexism of the K-Pop industry will never stop. Girl groups will forever have to strip in order to succeed. Female idols will forever be seen as sex objects to sell records. Their bodies will forever be fetishized into whatever their company decides. There is already criticism of these things in the K-Pop industry to some degree, and girl groups becoming sexier to sell their music will just make the criticism even worse.

The reason I’m singling out Hello Venus for now is because they are the most recent group to go this way, and also because of the increased effort they are putting into grabbing attention with their “sexiness.” Hot off the viral success of a fan cam of EXID’s Hani, Fantagio obviously saw an opportunity to drum up some publicity for Hello Venus with their own viral hit. The recent release of a dance practice video to Jason Derulo’s song Wiggle Wiggle, in which the Hello Venus girls danced along to the song, was their attempt at creating a sensation. I am not condemning the girls themselves here but those who led them to this. I fully believe people can do whatever they want with their own bodies but this video does not show us a group of girls who are just dancing for fun. This is blatant pandering to a male audience to stare at young girls gyrating their bodies, a cheap way of drumming up attention by essentially exploiting these girls.

This is not specific to Hello Venus though. We have seen recently Girls’ Day move from their cute comedic songs like Twinkle Twinkle to sexy songs like Something, Expectation and Female President. This change also brought Girls’ Day new success to the point where they are winning weekly music shows. AOA had a similar change of fortune when they adopted the sexy concept. Miniskirt boosted their sales in a big way and only grew with subsequent singles Short Hair and Like A Cat. It is clearly a trend which is in full flow but all trends eventually die, whether it’s a few weeks or a few years. So do we wait and let it pass over?

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I think we should not. Another trend will take its place immediately after and the issue will be forgotten. Allowing this to pass over means the patriarchal reign on K-Pop will always remain whether through sexy concepts or something else. I don’t think sexy performances should be completely eradicated but I think the decision making has to be changed to allow female idols to speak up if they do not agree. At this moment in time female idols are not at an equal level to their male counterparts. We as fans must speak up against this; we must not allow this to continue. It’s time for there to be a level playing field for genders in K-Pop.

What do you think about Hello Venus’ comeback and of the sexy concept? Share your thoughts in the comment section below and be sure to subscribe to the site and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr to keep up with all of our posts.

Let’s Discover: EXID

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The five-member female group EXID recently made a comeback with Up & Down. And with their new single out, it seems like these girls should be receiving a lot more love, and this article will hopefully help build upon that.

Although EXID started out as a six-member group, they are now a five-member group with three original members. For this article’s sake, the focus will be on the current five-member group and their music collection starting from their debut as the reformed EXID.

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I Feel Good. Everyone loves to say those words because it says exactly what you feel. And who doesn’t love to feel good? EXID chose to promote I Feel Good as their debut single in the summer of 2012.

The song itself is an upbeat club track that showcases the talents of each of the ladies of the group. The music video shows EXID enjoying their day and night after a few hiccups, but nothing too serious. Throw this song on at a party of the club and everyone will soon be singing the chorus.

After I Feel Good, EXID released their single Every Night, which was a completely different feel from the debut single. Every Night is a slower track that utilizes elements of R&B and pop music. It again perfectly showcases the vocal abilities of each individual member.

This quintet offers something that a lot of other girl groups do not. They have amazing vocalists (all of them) and rapper in the group. Not that other girl groups do not boast superb vocalists or rappers, but the quality of the EXID members’ abilities is above many other groups.

Let’s take a look at sub-unit Dasoni, made up of Solji and Hani. They released their debut music video in the winter of 2013, and although they did not promote the song or the sub-unit for that matter, one cannot overlook the amount of talent Dasoni has. They perfectly showcase their strong and controlling vocals with Goodbye.

As mentioned above, the vocal abilities and talents are not the only thing that makes EXID impressive. Their resident rapper LE always flawlessly showcases her rapping abilities on each of their tracks. That should be expected of someone who was member of an underground rap group.

In every EXID song, LE’s rapping is phenomenal. After she collaborated with BEAST’s Junhyung and Bigstar’s FeelDog on You Got Some Nerve, it became much clearer that LE can clearly roll with other rappers as well as with male ones. She showcases her unique sound in You Got Some Nerve and she more than holds her own on the track in the music video with Junhyung and FeelDog.

Aside from the talent of EXID, they’re just like the rest of us. They have an online series titled BUTBUT TV that shows the group members’ personalities and what they do during their time off.

EXID’s song Up & Down (release date August 26th, 2014) begins with a peppy saxophone that brings to mind Jason Derulo’s Talk Dirty. The music video is reminiscent of an Orange Caramel-style video and the dance features hip thrusting as the ladies’ wear skin tight pants and crop tops.

Up & Down is an appealing and fun song with a strong beat that is perfect to listen to at a party or when you just want to have a good time.

EXID only debuted two years ago and they do not have an extensive music collection, but with their latest comeback and the singles they do have, it is clear that their talent is deep and it is only a matter of time before they gain more popularity.

Are you guys fans of EXID or are you new to them? What is your favorite EXID song? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below, and be sure to subscribe to the site and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and Bloglovin’ so you can keep up with all our posts.