Miss A: A Brain In Every Muscle
New Miss A vid, with song and album attached. Miss A are natural dancers, while their singing often feels like a struggle. This struggle imparts charm, puts me on their side. I hope there's a true payoff, an evolution into total awesomeness before they're eased out of the pop world as happens to all idol groups.
[If there are no English subtitles, click CC.]
This single, "Good-bye Baby," is a light breeze atop a nice little swing rhythm (what those of you who are still wet behind the ears call "schaffel"), even if their voices have to huff and puff a bit to catch up. Jia's rapping is excellently precise. The thing will be a grower, though its immediate merit is in how its light bounce helps propel their feet. Overall I'm disappointed: their digital single "Love Alone" from earlier this year was simultaneously warmer and more glistening, and "Breathe" last year was astonishing, r&b jammed into Gilbert & Sullivan, exuberant and adorable and hilarious with a live dance to match.
Although Miss A's YouTube site describes the "Good-bye Baby" vid as suspenseful, the only real suspense is wondering when they're going to start the song already. The dancing is terrific, of course, not trying to overimpress us this time, just playing natural movement against stops and poses. Min especially - the short one with dark hair - seems to have a brain in every muscle, movement her fundamental state, a good round flow that even feels present when she stands stock still.
Am waiting for the live dance routine, though, which I hope does try to impress.
Here's a dance vid Mat found of Min's training days in the U.S., when she was being groomed for a potential r&b career here that never panned out (and there's a lot more where that came from):
The album, A Class, has seven of the eight songs from their two EPs (strangely leaving out "Looking At Each Other (딱 마주쳐)," one of my favorites), plus four new tracks and a remix. Of the remaining three new ones, "One To Ten" goes for the same lightness as "Good-bye Baby" but feels more like air freshener than a breeze; the effort from the women gets this by, sorta, along with a bass that keeps pushing on the offbeat. "Help Me" needs ease from the singers and lushness from the arrangement, doesn't really get either. But "Mr. Johnny" is my favorite of the new tracks: acid squelches, up and bubbling roughness, while the voices provide disco fizz on top.
Click to view[If there are no English subtitles, click CC.]
This single, "Good-bye Baby," is a light breeze atop a nice little swing rhythm (what those of you who are still wet behind the ears call "schaffel"), even if their voices have to huff and puff a bit to catch up. Jia's rapping is excellently precise. The thing will be a grower, though its immediate merit is in how its light bounce helps propel their feet. Overall I'm disappointed: their digital single "Love Alone" from earlier this year was simultaneously warmer and more glistening, and "Breathe" last year was astonishing, r&b jammed into Gilbert & Sullivan, exuberant and adorable and hilarious with a live dance to match.
Although Miss A's YouTube site describes the "Good-bye Baby" vid as suspenseful, the only real suspense is wondering when they're going to start the song already. The dancing is terrific, of course, not trying to overimpress us this time, just playing natural movement against stops and poses. Min especially - the short one with dark hair - seems to have a brain in every muscle, movement her fundamental state, a good round flow that even feels present when she stands stock still.
Am waiting for the live dance routine, though, which I hope does try to impress.
Here's a dance vid Mat found of Min's training days in the U.S., when she was being groomed for a potential r&b career here that never panned out (and there's a lot more where that came from):
The album, A Class, has seven of the eight songs from their two EPs (strangely leaving out "Looking At Each Other (딱 마주쳐)," one of my favorites), plus four new tracks and a remix. Of the remaining three new ones, "One To Ten" goes for the same lightness as "Good-bye Baby" but feels more like air freshener than a breeze; the effort from the women gets this by, sorta, along with a bass that keeps pushing on the offbeat. "Help Me" needs ease from the singers and lushness from the arrangement, doesn't really get either. But "Mr. Johnny" is my favorite of the new tracks: acid squelches, up and bubbling roughness, while the voices provide disco fizz on top.