Girls Generation - I Got a Boy: Kpop Music Mondays

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Woohoo! Our first Music Monday of the year for a 2013 song, and it’s a HUGE song. It’s Girls’ Generation’s “I Got a Boy” which got a bergillion views and lots of hype. Lots of people asked us how we felt about it, which we stated in the video above. If you haven’t seen Girls’ Generation’s video yet, check it out below, and then we’ll expand on some more of the points we discussed in the video.

For starters, we really like writing these blog posts, because we get the chance to talk about our ideas in a lot more depth. In our videos, we have to balance the need to express our opinions with our desire to entertain. We’re silly people, and like to talk about not silly things in silly ways. Talking for too long, on it’s own, is boring for us, and we want to make the videos fun. These posts, though, let us talk a lot more about ideas that would take us farrrr too long to talk about in video format. So, let’s talk a bit more here, if you’re up for it.

For starters, we aren’t thrilled by the song, and we won’t be convinced otherwise by people telling us what the song means or what it does. I’m also going to argue against potential comments here from people who say that the song is a lot better when you listen to it a lot more. Sure, that may very well be the case. If I listen to it another 20 times, I might start liking it. The problem for me is, I don’t want my pop music to do that. I want to listen to a song and be blown away by it and to be caught up in a mindless fury of dancing. I don’t want to have to work hard at liking a pop song. That’s not why I listen to pop music. Make me dance because I love the song; don’t make me put effort into liking your song.

I like my songs to follow a pattern. This song breaks the pattern of songs, for me. Sure, it’s different, and very original for a Kpop song, but not everything that’s different is good. I remember reading some godawful books in English class simply because they were the first of their kind. Great: kudos for being original, but you still suck, Djuna Barnes (Ohhhh, how I hated reading “Nightwood” What a sack of crap!)

And so it is with this song, though I don’t violently heave at the thought of it like I do “Nightwood.” “I Got a Boy” is not a sack of crap. It started off great, but then falls apart in trying to do too much. In my opinion, it’s better to be great at one thing than mediocre at many things. Electric Shock, an absolutely awesome song, had a solid pattern and sound. They stuck to it. They developed it a bit, but they didn’t abandon it within the song. “I Got a Boy,” though…I…I just don’t know what they were thinking. You might find it’s great, and you might like the originality. We find it forced and unaesthetically pleasing, and feel like if it was given to a band that wasn’t famous, many people would feel the same way, too.

The imagery in the video also doesn’t do it for us whatsoever. But, then again, you know that we’re not particularly fond of SM videos, though we often love their songs. This video: it just upset us on so many levels. Girls’ Generation are women now, not children. Act a little more…mature? Why do they act like fools when the boy rings the doorbell? Is this new technology to you? Why throw all of your stuff everywhere? Uggh! That opening scene was just so…bizarre. The video would have been a lot better without it.

Girls’ Generation dance phenomenally well here. This is probably one of the best dances from a female group that we’ve ever seen. It’s badass, aggressive, and confident, and we don’t see that from a lot of girl dances, right? I just wish they would have stuck with that image of power and assertiveness, and not regressed back into slack-jawed ninnies when the boy is around. When they’re with each other, the girls are rugged and tough. Bring a boy into the picture, and they act like they’re five years old again. That’s not cute. That’s not endearing. That’s ridiculous, and just a dumb message to get across.

Let us know your thoughts. We’re 50/50 with this. It’s got some really good parts in the song, and has really outstanding dancing, and it’s got some really bad parts in the song, and has really stupid imagery.

If you like it more than we do, make sure you pick it up via iTunes and YesAsia. More importantly, though, if we haven’t annoyed you with our review, give us a vote for the Shorty Awards! We’re in second place, and we’re catching up to first, but we need the power of the Nasties to Nastify the Shortys! Do it!

Nominate Simon and Martina for a social media award in the Shorty Awards

And, if you’re feeling like getting in a few more chuckles, you can do so at the expense of Martina’s inability to pronounce some words. She also can’t help but think of buttcracks at times. Oh Martina, you special, special girl :D