[review] man in love - infinite
so i've seen a lot of people do reviews on their blogs and i thought that as a way to reactivate my inner blogger, maybe i'd do the same. this also gives me the opportunity to improve on my writing, so... yes!
i'll be reviewing what i feel like reviewing, so don't expect anything too extravagant q v q!!
lets start with the first review, then: infinite's title song for their latest mini-album, 'MAN IN LOVE'
CLICK TO WATCH
so this song is of that generic, super kawaii boyband genre-- it's all about love and how a man's heart goes dugeun-dugeun whenever he's with the girl he loves and how he wants to give everything to this lucky lady and all he wants is for "noona/dongsaeng to notice me". there is, of course, a twist, in terms of the sound, that makes this song infinite's own. infinite never fail to impress me with how they take that older 90's pop sound, chock-full of synths and fast-paced beats and accompanied by high-pitched singing that always makes me think "seriously, how does a guy sing that high?!". of course, they pull their signature pitch-change at the end of the song that we heard in "the chaser", "she's back", "paradise", "be mine", and basically every song that they've promoted... but that's one of the best things about infinite-- how distinct they are, how you can tell that a song is theirs simply because of the sound. not to mention, the lyrics are the cutest things ever! here, have the chorus:
"When a man’s in love, he wants to stay by your side
There’s always so much he wants to do for you
When I’m in love, I want to give everything in my life to you
With just one expectation, your heart
When I’m in love"
did you squeal?
did you clutch at your chest and bend over and cry?
was it because of the overwhelming amount of adorable in this stanza or just because you're so forever alone?
(I know that feel)
but, you see what i mean, right? adorable.
all in all, though, i have absolutely no problem with the song. it isn't as strong as "the chaser", but then again, i don't think infinite will be able to trump that in awhile. my favorite part of the song is definitely the bridge, where woohyun follows sunggyu up perfectly with that long note, and the consecutive synths afterwards really pact a punch! if i had to choose one real issue i have with it, i guess it'd be how i'm suddenly alert whenever the song comes on shuffle because i always think that someone's trying to rickroll me....
the music video is, okay, seriously, like, the cutest thing i've ever seen. ever. EVER. because really, who can resist dongwoo smiling shyly while professing his love for you in a notebook, or sungyeol baking fortune cookies with cheesy messages inside of them for you, or hoya being ridiculously handsome while attempting to shop for a gift for his girlfriend (and failing, hoya, you don't try on girls' shoes, and you dont make faces at prices either, no matter how shocking!), and lets not get started on sungjong. because sungjong. and kitten. sungkitten.
oh my god.
sungjong is unfair.
the video has no direct storyline, as it is a collection of stories that are member-centric and have to do with them dealing with love (though there are a few interactions between the members that twist your stomach and make you ask woollim "why are you fueling the slash fiction, though?" because come on, sungyeol running out of woohyun's classroom all bashful, dropping his groceries as he stumbles offscreen (because why was sungyeol even there)?
call me crazy, but im pretty sure that's woollim fueling the wooyeol couple. other instances where members cross paths include myunggyu's meeting at the university, where myungsoo is trapped in a state of euphoria and sunggyu passes him, looking at him with a scrunched face while thinking to himself "man, kids these days are weird."
the editing in the video is great, and is very suitable in relation to the theme of the song and mv as a whole. the sets are... interesting. i don't know where the weird beach set came from, but i'm not hating it, and that grey room looks like something out of a super junior video. the cute sets during the more domestic, member-centric episodes make up for the random dance sets, though, and i'm especially loving sungjong's apartment, sungyeol's kitchen, and sunggyu's roof. all the sung's nailed it this time around, huhu. the cuts don't bother me, although i do wish that the shots of the boys singing on the weird beach set were longer, everybody looked gorgeous (especially hoya. no i'm not biased). this brings me to our next topic of discussion-- the dance and the styling!
Let's talk about styling first.
Woollim, did you, by any chance, steal SHINee's cordi-noona? Because all I see is SHINee's latest wardrobe from Dream Girl (although I do prefer a few of the outfits in Man in Love over DG, like Dongwoo's black-and-white pinstripe suit with flower motifs, which is definitely not the best, but i've definitely seen worse. taemin, i'm looking at you.
i'm not saying that Infinite "plagarized" anyone, if that's what your thinking, because floral prints have always been in, and SHINee weren't the first-- the first time i saw these floral prints would probably be when Boyfriend came out with "Love Style".
The styling, however, isn't that great. The pattern-on-pattern method that the coordi's used resulted in unattractive and clashy outfits, especially on the more chrome dance set, where i am most terrified by sungjong's ensemble and woohyun's petrifying pinstriped pants (alliteration yeah!). i am most definitely not a fan of sungyeol and dongwoo's flashy color-blocking outfits, and think that metallic blue coat makes sungyeol's outfit exceptionally tacky.
creys bc tacky
hoya is my saving grace on the colorful set, with his adorable blue suit, and beautifully-styled hair! speaking of hair, the hair for this concept is really great, i'm loving how hoya and sungjong look, although i must admit that i do miss dongwoo's pink from his "infinite h" promotions. i'm really liking myungsoo's styling throughout the entire mv, though, and am a huge fan of his preppy yellow look during his centric-scenes and the mint green button-down with the floral collar is stunning. his flawfree complexion is simply a plus in this video! sungjong is also working his casual outfit, pink, navy, and beige look lovely on him and complement his innocent maknae image. grandpa looks good everywhere, props to the stylists for blessing sunggyu with a wonderful closet! casual looks in kpop are extremely lacking, so i definitely enjoyed the casual outfits the most.
infinte are known for their great dances, with eatyourkimchi even proclaiming that they're the second-best after SHINee (and for some reason, the words of simon and martina tend to become the word of the entirety of the kpop fandom after awhile), and "man in love" definitely lives up to this expectation. the dance consists of a lot of foot-dragging moves (i dont know what to call these ;A;!) and spinning and flamboyantly flinging your arms into the air while, of course, staying sharp, because infinite are all about precision and precision, which is probably one of the reasons why infinite are so famous for their dancing. i'd like to see something more hip-hop and B.T.D-ish after this, though! i know they can pull it off! one of the bits i enjoyed the most was actually the "im-going-to-stand-around-and-look-pretty-while-singing" part that occurs after the bridge, because kpop groups actually standing still is so rare. i liked seeing a bit of j-pop in this video, thanks to the choreographers for yet again setting infinite apart from the rest of the crowd!
all in all this is definitely a song that i'll be listening to for awhile. i have also just downloaded the mini-album, and i'm loving it so far, especially the 6-member version of sixty seconds! seriously, it doesn't help that sunggyu's mini was one of my most favorite things ever. infinite have been coming out with very solid releases for the past year or two, and i look forward to seeing how they will grow after this. welcome back, boys!
i'll be reviewing what i feel like reviewing, so don't expect anything too extravagant q v q!!
lets start with the first review, then: infinite's title song for their latest mini-album, 'MAN IN LOVE'
CLICK TO WATCH
so this song is of that generic, super kawaii boyband genre-- it's all about love and how a man's heart goes dugeun-dugeun whenever he's with the girl he loves and how he wants to give everything to this lucky lady and all he wants is for "noona/dongsaeng to notice me". there is, of course, a twist, in terms of the sound, that makes this song infinite's own. infinite never fail to impress me with how they take that older 90's pop sound, chock-full of synths and fast-paced beats and accompanied by high-pitched singing that always makes me think "seriously, how does a guy sing that high?!". of course, they pull their signature pitch-change at the end of the song that we heard in "the chaser", "she's back", "paradise", "be mine", and basically every song that they've promoted... but that's one of the best things about infinite-- how distinct they are, how you can tell that a song is theirs simply because of the sound. not to mention, the lyrics are the cutest things ever! here, have the chorus:
"When a man’s in love, he wants to stay by your side
There’s always so much he wants to do for you
When I’m in love, I want to give everything in my life to you
With just one expectation, your heart
When I’m in love"
did you squeal?
did you clutch at your chest and bend over and cry?
was it because of the overwhelming amount of adorable in this stanza or just because you're so forever alone?
(I know that feel)
but, you see what i mean, right? adorable.
all in all, though, i have absolutely no problem with the song. it isn't as strong as "the chaser", but then again, i don't think infinite will be able to trump that in awhile. my favorite part of the song is definitely the bridge, where woohyun follows sunggyu up perfectly with that long note, and the consecutive synths afterwards really pact a punch! if i had to choose one real issue i have with it, i guess it'd be how i'm suddenly alert whenever the song comes on shuffle because i always think that someone's trying to rickroll me....
the music video is, okay, seriously, like, the cutest thing i've ever seen. ever. EVER. because really, who can resist dongwoo smiling shyly while professing his love for you in a notebook, or sungyeol baking fortune cookies with cheesy messages inside of them for you, or hoya being ridiculously handsome while attempting to shop for a gift for his girlfriend (and failing, hoya, you don't try on girls' shoes, and you dont make faces at prices either, no matter how shocking!), and lets not get started on sungjong. because sungjong. and kitten. sungkitten.
oh my god.
sungjong is unfair.
the video has no direct storyline, as it is a collection of stories that are member-centric and have to do with them dealing with love (though there are a few interactions between the members that twist your stomach and make you ask woollim "why are you fueling the slash fiction, though?" because come on, sungyeol running out of woohyun's classroom all bashful, dropping his groceries as he stumbles offscreen (because why was sungyeol even there)?
call me crazy, but im pretty sure that's woollim fueling the wooyeol couple. other instances where members cross paths include myunggyu's meeting at the university, where myungsoo is trapped in a state of euphoria and sunggyu passes him, looking at him with a scrunched face while thinking to himself "man, kids these days are weird."
the editing in the video is great, and is very suitable in relation to the theme of the song and mv as a whole. the sets are... interesting. i don't know where the weird beach set came from, but i'm not hating it, and that grey room looks like something out of a super junior video. the cute sets during the more domestic, member-centric episodes make up for the random dance sets, though, and i'm especially loving sungjong's apartment, sungyeol's kitchen, and sunggyu's roof. all the sung's nailed it this time around, huhu. the cuts don't bother me, although i do wish that the shots of the boys singing on the weird beach set were longer, everybody looked gorgeous (especially hoya. no i'm not biased). this brings me to our next topic of discussion-- the dance and the styling!
Let's talk about styling first.
Woollim, did you, by any chance, steal SHINee's cordi-noona? Because all I see is SHINee's latest wardrobe from Dream Girl (although I do prefer a few of the outfits in Man in Love over DG, like Dongwoo's black-and-white pinstripe suit with flower motifs, which is definitely not the best, but i've definitely seen worse. taemin, i'm looking at you.
i'm not saying that Infinite "plagarized" anyone, if that's what your thinking, because floral prints have always been in, and SHINee weren't the first-- the first time i saw these floral prints would probably be when Boyfriend came out with "Love Style".
The styling, however, isn't that great. The pattern-on-pattern method that the coordi's used resulted in unattractive and clashy outfits, especially on the more chrome dance set, where i am most terrified by sungjong's ensemble and woohyun's petrifying pinstriped pants (alliteration yeah!). i am most definitely not a fan of sungyeol and dongwoo's flashy color-blocking outfits, and think that metallic blue coat makes sungyeol's outfit exceptionally tacky.
creys bc tacky
hoya is my saving grace on the colorful set, with his adorable blue suit, and beautifully-styled hair! speaking of hair, the hair for this concept is really great, i'm loving how hoya and sungjong look, although i must admit that i do miss dongwoo's pink from his "infinite h" promotions. i'm really liking myungsoo's styling throughout the entire mv, though, and am a huge fan of his preppy yellow look during his centric-scenes and the mint green button-down with the floral collar is stunning. his flawfree complexion is simply a plus in this video! sungjong is also working his casual outfit, pink, navy, and beige look lovely on him and complement his innocent maknae image. grandpa looks good everywhere, props to the stylists for blessing sunggyu with a wonderful closet! casual looks in kpop are extremely lacking, so i definitely enjoyed the casual outfits the most.
infinte are known for their great dances, with eatyourkimchi even proclaiming that they're the second-best after SHINee (and for some reason, the words of simon and martina tend to become the word of the entirety of the kpop fandom after awhile), and "man in love" definitely lives up to this expectation. the dance consists of a lot of foot-dragging moves (i dont know what to call these ;A;!) and spinning and flamboyantly flinging your arms into the air while, of course, staying sharp, because infinite are all about precision and precision, which is probably one of the reasons why infinite are so famous for their dancing. i'd like to see something more hip-hop and B.T.D-ish after this, though! i know they can pull it off! one of the bits i enjoyed the most was actually the "im-going-to-stand-around-and-look-pretty-while-singing" part that occurs after the bridge, because kpop groups actually standing still is so rare. i liked seeing a bit of j-pop in this video, thanks to the choreographers for yet again setting infinite apart from the rest of the crowd!
all in all this is definitely a song that i'll be listening to for awhile. i have also just downloaded the mini-album, and i'm loving it so far, especially the 6-member version of sixty seconds! seriously, it doesn't help that sunggyu's mini was one of my most favorite things ever. infinite have been coming out with very solid releases for the past year or two, and i look forward to seeing how they will grow after this. welcome back, boys!