Geeze, how did I not know about this band?? Ok, their singing talent is pretty good, but I haven't seen them doing any really impressive dancing. Their songs are good and Highway is one of my favorite music videos now! But more on that in its time. First up, Do You Feel Me!
The words aren't anything particularly special. They're nice. A love confession. Cutey patutey. Whatever. They have a cool oldy's thing going with the fedora hats, waist coats and microphone stands. And while their dance steps were generally in sync, I couldn't help but compare Mr. Mr.'s mic dance to Shinee's microphone dance in Dream Girl. Here's a small example in case you don't remember or haven't seen it...
I, personally, liked the Do You Feel Me song better than Dream Girl and I definitely liked Mr. Mr.'s clothes better than Shinee's, but when the most memorable part of your dance in tapping your toe on the floor like Gil Ra Im in Secret Garden (If you haven't seen that, watch it. It's cute) you may want to hire a new choreographer or practice your dancing a little harder so that they can give you more complicated steps. I could get in line with Shinee's dance moves done by Mr. Mr. in Do You Feel Me. That would have made it even better.
So yeah, not blown away by the music video, but I really like the song. It wasn't catchy in the way that I found myself singing it to myself for days after I heard the song once. It was more that I liked it enough that I wanted it to be stuck in my head. I listened to it several times in hopes that it would stick enough that I could do justice to it while out walking or doing dishes.
The English is only half bad. Heh, sorry. I forget that humor doesn't carry well in writing. Actually, the only part I laugh at is the 'My heart's blowing up!' And not because they say it funny, because they don't, but because I've never heard this expression used in the west. I can see how people who don't speak english might think that this means what it was supposed to mean, which I think was that his heart is expanding, or beating really hard or something to that effect. Ok, I'm not really sure, but that's what makes it funny, right? ...Just me? Really? ....Oh well.
I know it's a little cheesy, but I liked the snow in the video. Sure, it's in a building, but if Nu'Est can have fog in their school then Mr. Mr. can have snow in their mansion! That's the rule.
It was a little different than the usual rain or outdoor snowy scene.
So pretty
May I take a moment to ponder that scene at around 1:38, where the girl seems to be sitting on a flight of ornate stairs that go...nowhere?
I mean, they're not even pushed up against a wall where you might need to hang a painting or under a chandelier where you might need to change a light bulb. The stairs are just... there. Like an extra set of really uncomfortable, vertically climbing chairs.
At least they're getting some use.
Do You Feel Me: 7/10. That being said, I'm learning it and have it on repeat more often than any other song at the moment.
And next, Mr. Mr.'s Highway!
Woohoo!
Ok, so in the opening scene he's driving this unconscious looking woman really fast at night and then they're in a room where she doesn't look too happy to be. She's looking out the window longingly while he's unpacking a couple guns and trying to offer her a can of food. What is one supposed to gather but that he has kidnapped the girl and is holding her against her will! Well that's new!
I mean, not brand new, as Kan Mi Youn did it in her music video, Crazy (and she kidnapped Lee Joon from Mblaq! A little jealous) but new in that it's not often done.
Then he leaves the room and his guns on the table. At this point I was thinking, 'Wow, that's really inept. Please don't let the girl stare at them stupidly until he comes back like she would if this were a Hollywood production.' And no, she grabs the handgun! Yeah! I laughed out loud when he dropped the bag when he got back and she pointed the gun at him, like he was shocked. I figured this must be his first kidnapping.
But then he walks toward her! And she gives him a warning shot! The hesitation before she points it at him again was when I started considering looking at things in a different light. Which was confirmed when he guided the muzzle to his heart so that she could not help but kill him if she pulled the trigger.
'Oh. A twist! Awesome!' I love twists. The last one that really surprised me like this was Please Don't by K. Will.
I thought the blood on the back of his hand was a little even. I am guessing it was supposed to represent that he has blood on his hands figuratively, and that's all well and good, but it didn't look like his hand had been dipped in or splashed with blood, but more like some make up artist had taken a paint brush of artificial blood and evenly distributed it on the hand and all the fingers. Sigh.
And then, to make matters worse, that group of guys comes in, and where are all boyfriend dude's guns?? Where'd they all go?
Ok, I could forgive that. It's not like you can live you're whole life with a gun within easy reach, even if you do know that someone out there is trying to find your girlfriend and kill her. What I will never be able to forgive was the bad guy holding the gun sideways, all gangsta'. Really???
Ugh. So dumb. Hold it right.
You're wearing a suit for goodness sakes. Who wears a suit, shiny shoes, and that much hair product (not to mention the subtle make-up) and then holds the gun like they think they're on the streets of LA?
And that was not my only complaint about this video. Could they not have found a better actor to play the girl? There were a few times that she actually took me out of the scene because the acting was so obviously acting. Sigh.
I can't say that I understand the music video even now. I still have some questions. For instance, if boyfriend does have blood on his hands, whose is it? And if he was knocking people off, as the picture next to his girlfriends with the big red X through it suggests, why is he killing them? And why didn't the group of perfectly made up gangsta's shoot both of them, or even just her when they found the couple the first time? And how did the girl know where to find them when she went to turn herself in? These are not all my questions, but they're the main ones.
I liked the uniform-esque clothes, though they were just a little too shiny. And the street clothes were well chosen as well. All dark and dangerous, which was supposed to be the message of the song. Well done!
Again the dancing was a little lack luster, but it was better than Do you feel me, so Yay!
So this is my favorite video right now mostly for the twist. And there's something about a sad ending, isn't there? In a world where one grows up on Disney, there's just something about something actually ending on a sad note with no hope of things working out. Don't get me wrong, I would NOT want that to be the norm (like it seems to be in Japan. Seriously, I've seen only 4 Japanese movies but they've all ended with a death or where the couple doesn't make it and no one's happy about it. Gah, it's depressing) but every once in a while it's nice.
'Sad is happy for deep people.' -Sally Sparrow (Doctor Who)
And that's all I've got for now.
Thanks.
