In the past year or so, the world has been changed forever by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of us have spent our days staying at home, socially distancing when in public, engaging in numerous video calls for both work and leisure purposes or wearing masks when out and about. Of course, the virus has all but made holiday travels a thing of the past, whether it's air travel or otherwise, heck my last plane ride was in December 2018 (although this has to partially do with me being conscripted). Why am I talking about such a depressing topic? That's because this theme of how COVID has affected our lives is front and center in fromis_9's latest comeback.
8 months after the release of their third EP, Off The Record Entertainment's sole girl group has returned with their second single album "9 WAY TICKET", continuing the rookie girl group's development into 4th generation K-Pop powerhouses by adopting a far more mature sound as compared to the bubblegum pop from their earlier releases. This also marks the return of member Seoyeon, who was absent from their previous comeback due to a leg injury, bringing the group back to their full strength of 9 so without further ado, let's dive into fromis_9's latest title track WE GO.
Meaning: WE GO takes a lot of inspiration from social distancing measures that many people take to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and somehow that manages to work out really well for this song's concept, with teaser pictures having had the girls in "mask fashion". Most importantly, the song is about being able to have fun and enjoy yourself with your friends even if you aren't able to meet up in person. This idea is supported by the MV itself, which (with the exception of group dance shots) has the girls either alone or in pairs at maximum, only interacting with the rest of the members through video calls.
Within the first verse itself, Gyuri sings about not wanting to take airplanes and instead checking into others' social media feeds while team captain (fromis_9's term for leader) Saerom tells us that "in one second, we can go here and there" as she scrolls through various photos depicting different members enjoying themselves while on vacation in the past. These lyrics are very on-the-nose and the MV plays into that very well (although I'll elaborate more on the MV in the next segment). A particular line I find very interesting is sung by center Jisun and Saerom in their respective pre-choruses, which goes "we don't know when to end this surfing, there's so much to do". On the surface, this could be interpreted as literal surfing but in today's climate, the girls are instead singing about surfing the Internet, which as we know offers a plethora of options to fill your days with entertainment. This is further supported by the MV showing Jisun surrounded by various computer screengrabs.
WE GO's chorus personifies this "socially distant fun" concept very well, where the girls sing about wanting to "go farther, just the two of us", emphasis on the fact that there's only two of them, and that their "hearts have connected even more", with the song name itself being repeated multiple times. WE GO is clearly a representation of how people can still feel connected to others in the trying times we're all experiencing now and with their latest title, fromis_9 encourages to have fun with our friends in a safe and responsible manner befitting the current COVID climate.
MV: WE GO's MV has to have one of the most unique premises I've ever seen, in line with the song's unique concept. As I mentioned up top, the MV primarily revolves around fromis_9's 9 members having fun with one another while practicing social distancing. I saw an article that described it as the girls having a "virtual vacation" and that's totally accurate because we get shots of the girls photoshopping themselves into all manner of vibrant backgrounds, riding a motorcycle through a desert with a beautiful sunset, relaxing on a beach or camping under the moonlight. Probably the most interestingly creative choice (and also something I said before) is that except for very few dance sequences, we don't see the girls grouping together in anything larger than a pair, with most of them actually being alone, exceptions being Seoyeon and Chaeyoung, Gyuri and Jiheon, as well as Saerom and Nagyung. This is unlike most K-Pop MVs where we'll get way more shots of choreography but I get why they did it this way because of the concept they were going for.
There're some other pretty adorable moments in the MV that matches this concept super well and are also super relatable to many people around the world nowadays as the girls communicate with each other via video call. In fact, it was pretty cool that the MV director chose to have the girls do their post-chorus dance sequence in video call format, the screen split into 9 rectangles (1 for each girl) and we get a good view of all the girls. Another pretty interesting creative choice we get a couple of times throughout the MV was the misleading image of the girls sitting next to a plane window overlooking the wing but upon zooming out, we actually see they're sitting next to a washing machine. It's a nice juxtaposition of everyone's longing to travel with the reality of being stuck at home, physically apart from your friends.
Styling: What I really like about fromis_9's styling is that as their sound starts to mature, their styling follow the change as well, going from their earlier matching schoolgirl outfits to something that I can only describe as their own style. As I mentioned in the previous segment, a good part of WE GO's MV has the girls chilling and relaxing in pairs or alone at home, with very few dance sequences. In many of these chill solo shots, the girls are lounging around in comfortable clothing, just like something you would wear at home, and it's a perfect representation of how many are dressed when stuck at home nowadays. In the shots where we see the girls in their photoshopped backgrounds, their outfits fit the background pretty well, such as Jisun and Hayoung wearing bright summer dresses while in a, well, summery environment or seeing Jiwon, Seoyeon and Chaeyoung dressed in beachgoing outfits while at the beach (of course).
Unlike many MVs, where idols can be dressed in up to 4 different outfits in dance sequences, fromis_9 instead only have 2 specific styles for those scenes. The first is fairly simple, with most of the girls dressed in white tops and denim bottoms. For this style, Gyuri is the only one not wearing a white top, instead dressed in a predominantly blue tube top with white accents. This outfit isn't too plain though because many of the girls have various accessories, with some of them having different coloured fabrics attached to their waist among others. The second outfit is drastically different from the previous one, with none of the girls having the exact same colour scheme. That's alright though because the style really fits the fun vibe of the song and really accentuates the girls' youthful visuals. As compared to earlier fromis_9 comebacks which either had completely matching outfits or more cutesy styles, WE GO definitely showcases a more "free" vibe with their mismatched yet fun outfits.
Song: fromis_9 spent their first 4 titles dabbling in a very typical bubblegum pop concept. While I definitely appreciated their cutesy vibes, it's definitely a good thing that they're starting to move away from this and developing their own sound, something they tried with their previous title Feel Good (Secret Code). WE GO has extremely refreshing vibes, a chill pop song that perfectly matches the concept they're pushing for, of being able to relax at home but yet still have fun. The entire song is a whole bop but the best parts for me are the chorus and the post-chorus, which are super addictive and really get you grooving.
Something else of note is that this marks the return of main rapper Seoyeon to her rapping roots. Funnily enough, out of 6 titles thus far, she's only rapped in 4 of them (although Love Bomb's debatable) and in their previous title, Jiheon was the one given rap lines rather than the people actually in the rap line. Seoyeon is a pretty good rapper as far as 4th generation girl groups go, with her huskier voice perfect for rap so it's nice to see her picking up that mantle once again.
Line distribution: WE GO is an awesome song, which is why it's a bit of a shame to see that the line distribution is quite unfair, with the difference between 1st and last place being more than a whopping 16%. As expected, main vocal Jiwon comes in 1st at slightly under 21.6% and that's totally fine because she's undoubtedly the best vocalist in the group so it stands to reason that she would get a ton of adlibs, whistles and high notes (as is usually the case in most of fromis_9's titles anyway). That said, it's still almost a quarter of the lines to just her, so it's no surprise that the other 8 members would get way less lines. Nagyung comes in 2nd with a little over 14%, with Saerom and Gyuri tied for 3rd with slightly less than 11.1% each, followed by Seoyeon in 5th place at almost 10%. If it wasn't clear enough by now, Nagyung's usually given a lot of attention in their titles, primarily because of her insane visual. You wouldn't be blamed if you thought she was the group's center because she's often placed in that position in choreography, although the official center is someone else (more on this later). In both WE GO and previous titles, Nagyung is given lots of chorus lines and with her sweet vocals, she really kills them so even though she's just a sub-vocal, she definitely deserves the lines she gets.
As lead vocal, it also makes sense for Gyuri to place highly in terms of line distribution, especially since she's also the face of the group and has had a lot of recent exposure in both variety shows as well as acting. Saerom tying with her is a little bit of a shocker but purely by hearing the song, I could definitely tell that the team captain would get a bunch of lines, sharing half of the first verse with Gyuri, singing a bunch of the post-choruses as well as having a chunk of a pre-chorus. As one of the group's visuals, I guess the company wanted to push Saerom front and center as well. Even though there aren't many rap lines in the song, it's great to see Seoyeon coming in 5th especially because she's one of the better vocalists outside of the group's vocal line. In fact, many times Flovers (fandom name) have thought of her as a lead vocal, with her often getting chorus lines in the past.
Now we get to more disappointing territory with the bottom half of the line distribution. Lead rapper Chaeyoung places 6th at slightly over 9.6% and by ear, it was pretty obvious that she had few lines this song. She does get part of the final chorus as well as a few adlibs and a little bit of the 2nd pre-chorus to herself though so it's not all bad. Interestingly enough, I was always under the impression that Chaeyoung had one of the lowest voices in the group but I was surprised to hear her reach a fairly high pitch with her adlibs. Right behind her is Hayoung, a huge surprise for many. While officially considered lead vocal, she has typically been given many many lines and high notes in previous titles, with her often being considered the group's second main vocal on top of being main dancer. That's why it's very surprising to see her get so few lines in WE GO, with only a little under 9.6% of the lines to her name and no adlibs at all, so it's quite evident she was sort of shuffled into the background this comeback.
Remember what I said about the group's official center earlier? Well, that position is held by Jisun, who unfortunately comes in 8th with slightly under 7.6% of the lines and is barely even center most of the time. I'm a little surprised that she didn't rank higher in the line distribution though because she got half of the 1st pre-chorus to herself as well as leading half of the final post-chorus. I do hope that in future Jisun will be given more opportunities to shine as it seems to be a trend for her to be overshadowed by other members in fromis_9's titles. Finally, I don't think it was a shocker that maknae Jiheon comes in last place at at a little less than 5.5% because even when I was listening to the song, I questioned myself whether I missed out any of her lines. There were just so few of them, with her only getting one line in the first pre-chorus, half of the post-chorus (which isn't even solely sung by her, she leads the entire group in that part) and a third of the bridge. This is somewhat reminiscent of Jiheon fresh out of debut, when she got peanuts for lines as compared to the other members, but it's not out of the realm of possibility, especially since she's just a sub-vocal. It's a shame too because in recent titles, I felt that the producers did a much better job of assigning lines to the girls and making sure it was somewhat fairer. Thankfully, I do think each member of fromis_9 shone in their own ways with WE GO so I take heart in that fact.
Final thoughts: It's rare that I encounter a K-Pop group where I've really enjoyed every single one of their titles and I can only count two that fall into this category for me, with one of them of course being fromis_9 (the other is Weeekly). I've been following the girls since their debut 3 years ago and it remains a mystery to me how they haven't gotten their 1st win yet after having released so many bops (although they got close with Love Bomb). I'm certain though that as one of the foremost 4th generation girl groups, they'll eventually taste success. With the disbandment of ex-labelmate IZ*ONE, Off The Record Entertainment can now focus all their attention on fromis_9 and with that, I fully expect our girls to continue soaring to greater heights, releasing more crazy good songs and wowing us with their amazing live vocals. Stan fromis_9 y'all. Thanks for reading.
Comments
Post a Comment