School desks and chairs, giant cubes, and now smartphones, rolling chairs and skateboards, you name it, Weeekly has probably used them as a stage prop in their live performances. Being one of the few K-Pop groups in recent years to do this, Play M Entertainment's rookie girl group has given us some of the most creative choreography in K-Pop. Known for their cute youthful schoolgirl concept, Weeekly has found their way to becoming one of my favourite girl groups of all time and they've finally returned with title track After School from their third EP "We Play". Let's dive in.
Meaning: If the song's name wasn't clear enough, After School is about the girls having fun after school. Now that school's out, they're free to do whatever they want, skateboarding, rollerblading, taking selfies, anything that teenage girls consider fun, and they can run around and have fun all the way until sunset. It's a good thing, nowadays kids are so plastered to their devices that they seem to have forgotten how to play outside sometimes (although COVID-19 definitely isn't helping). It's a little bittersweet to see the girls doing this too because having been idols or trainees since they were in school, I'm sure most of them spend more time in the training studio than in school, so being able to run around and have fun with their friends after school might be a luxury they didn't really get to experience.
On a deeper level, the girls sing about basically having a friend who's so close to them that they're described as "[melting] into each other" and "[feeling] like another me rather than a friend". It's a super adorable song with a very pure meaning to it and honestly, I feel like lots of us can relate to the lyrics in terms of having a super close friend that almost feel like extensions of yourself.
MV: There's just something about watching anything with Weeekly that just puts a smile on my face and this MV is no different. They are just the absolute cutest and perfectly personify a cute schoolgirl concept without any of what people might consider the "cringe" bubblegum element that's synonymous with cute concepts. Maybe it's because all the girls are either still in high school or graduated not long ago but they actually fit this concept perfectly. It's very refreshing to get these kinds of concepts nowadays, especially with the massive influx of far more mature vibes and girl crush concepts in K-Pop, and the MV for After School represents that so well.
The sets are painted in bright colours, lots of red, orange and purple, and we get a couple of shots with the girls in front of a blue sky dotted with fluffy white clouds. Everything just gives off a really happy and chill vibe, and it's very relaxing to watch everything. The members look like they're having a lot of fun too, rolling around on skateboards and rollerblades, and even shooting hoops with a basketball. Yes, the skateboard is part of the choreography but it just adds to the vibrant atmosphere of the MV and the song. It just personifies everything Weeekly is and it's just super adorable.
What I really like is that just like in all their live stages, the girls have lots of different expressions in the so-called "storyline" MV scenes and it really immerses you into their performance, almost as if you're watching a short musical. It also helps that they're super cute while doing so and watching them really plasters this stupidly huge grin across your face, or at least that's what happened for me.
Styling: I'm a little apprehensive in embarking on this section of my post because about half of the girls are minors in South Korea, with the maknae line consisting of Jaehee, Jihan and Zoa being below the adulthood age of 19 (Soojin is 20 while Jiyoon, Monday and Soeun are all 19). Taking that into consideration, I'll try and manoeuvre around this subject a little more carefully.
What I appreciate the most is that in all of Weeekly's MVs thus far (as well as their live performances), the girls are dressed appropriately for their age. A lot of times in K-Pop groups, both boy and girl, members are often decked out in outfits that leave little to the imagination and are relatively revealing or sexy. It's fine if the members are adults or extremely close to adulthood but oftentimes a group that has a large number of members with ages spanning from being in their mid-20s to only just becoming a teenager, you'll see the entire group dressed similarly. I'll use the example of the 12-member IZ*ONE, whose oldest member Eunbi is 26 this year while maknae Wonyoung is 17. Being a proper adult, it's fine if Eunbi is decked out in slightly more provocative clothing because, well, she's an adult but if Wonyoung is dressed in similar clothing, then something is wrong. It gets even worse when people start to oversexualise idols who are minors and yes, it's wrong to do that even if they're adults anyway but it's completely horrendous to think of a minor in that way (even if you're a minor yourself).
Weeekly's stylists have always done a good job of giving the girls outfits that fit their concept and age, so far they've adopted the school uniform-like clothing for Tag Me (@Me) and Zig Zag as well as having dabbled a little bit in stuff like Harry Potter outfits or a typical school physical education attire, but everything has fit their concept. Despite the fact that the outfits for After School can potentially be said to be a little bit more mature, befitting the song itself (more on this later), it's nothing different from what girls their age are wearing nowadays and thankfully, it's not super revealing. It looks good on them and accentuates their visuals well without going overboard. After School also marks the first time that any of the members have hair other than black or dark brown, with Jaehee having blonde-ish hair. It looks good though and maybe marks the girls potentially moving away from forever sticking to the schoolgirl concept. I'm going to refrain from overly praising any particular member's visuals because again, I feel a little weird with doing that, especially for the minors.
As Weeekly become more experienced in the industry, I'm sure they'll change their styling as their music matures even more but until then, I'm satisfied with their styling team.
Song: As I mentioned up top, After School gives me very chill vibes, making me just want to relax and have fun. This is especially prevalent in the chorus itself, which adopts a very old-school R&B beat to it. After I listened to the song a couple of times, I felt that it somehow felt very nostalgic and for some reason it sounded like another song I've heard before, whether in K-Pop or elsewhere. After scouring the Internet a little bit, I saw a comment that I totally agree on and it's that Monday's lines in the chorus sound kind of similar to the chorus of American pop singer Ava Max's So Am I. Give both a listen and you'll know what I mean. I also got very similar vibes to STAYC's debut B-side LIKE THIS, both songs just feeling very nice and chill.
In general, After School is a super addictive song that'll make you want to replay it over and over again. Weeekly just has the power to do that I don't understand why but all their titles are like this. The rap in this song is sick, with Jiyoon, Monday and Zoa really giving us a super rap flow. Soeun's hook in this song is absolutely killer as well and when she croons it out, it adds an extra layer of sass to the song. Speaking of that, After School somehow seems more "mature" than their previous 2 titles, I can't really explain it but it just somehow feels like they're growing as a group. Maybe it's because of their styling or the slower pacing of the song but either way it's great. Monday and Soeun do possess a stronger girl crush vibe than the other members (while not going all the way), and After School perfectly demonstrates the contrast between these two members' stronger vibes and the other cuter members like Jihan or Zoa.
Line distribution: If you couldn't tell from their names, Weeekly's central concept revolves around, well, a week. Every member represents a day of the week and so far, their MVs have all been released on consecutive days, with the member representing that particular day being pushed for that era. Tag Me (@Me) was released on a Monday and so Monday (haha) was the most prominent member for their debut, being given the most lines plus the only rap lines. Zig Zag was released on a Tuesday and Jihan being that day's representative was put front and center for that comeback. See the trend? After School was released on a Wednesday, which you might think makes Jiyoon the star but unfortunately no, the cycle is sort of broken here.
In fact Monday once again gets the most lines at around 23% of the entire song, while Jiyoon comes in fourth with 12.8%. In general, I actually thought this line distribution was pretty fair, even if maknae Zoa came in last with around 8.6%, pretty far behind Monday, because each member really shone in their own way with the lines that they were given. Even though this era is theoretically meant to be Jiyoon's, I thought that After School put a pretty heavy focus on Soeun and Zoa, with the former actually coming in second with around 18.3% of the lines. Like I mentioned up top, Soeun's hook has completely killed viewers and is probably a huge part of why she has such a huge presence this era. As for Zoa, she gets loads of screen time in the MV and I mean loads. She's literally everywhere and is completely adorable. The last shot of the MV is literally a solo one of her and if that isn't proof of her power this era, I don't know what is. All things considered, this is a pretty fair line distribution compared to some of their previous outings.
Weeekly are monster rookies, there I said it. They have yet to have a single title track that hasn't been a massive bop and even their B-sides are awesome. How they haven't gotten a single win yet is beyond me and it probably has to do with their rookie nature or maybe their schoolgirl concept. I fully expect however for After School to take music shows by storm and potentially get them their first win. People really need to start appreciating these girls more because they're seriously one of the newest and best talents that the industry has to offer, complete with a nice fresh concept to boot. Thanks for reading y'all and remember to stan Weeekly.
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