High Up Entertainment's resident rookie girl group STAYC has won the hearts of fans and casual listeners alike with their unique sound. Sometimes bright and whimsical, other times surprisingly dark and retro, the group has something for everyone and their past two titles have been fairly well received, especially their latest one ASAP. Personally, I found their previous titles to be pretty fun listens but with the release of their first EP "STEREOTYPE" and their latest title track of the same name, the girls have truly outdone themselves with one of the best titles to come out in K-Pop this year. Without further ado, let's dive in.
Meaning: Just like SO BAD and ASAP, STEREOTYPE is yet another love song (seems like this is STAYC's forte) but unlike its predecessors, both of which had a far simpler meaning of purely falling in love, our latest track treads into deeper territory. This time round, the members sing about hiding their "natural [selves]" behind "flashy", "confident" exteriors and "bold fashion" but in truth are actually innocent "good [girls]".
The girls are actually warning potential suitors to not "create a stereotype about" them and hope that they can be loved just as they are, rather than look at them "through tinted lenses", which is what the song's Korean title directly translates to. Another way that STEREOTYPE could be interpreted is (much like previous titles) that STAYC's members are serenading SWITHs (fandom name) in the hopes that they'll continue to be loved for their real personalities that are hidden under their idol personas. It's a message that I'm sure many can relate to, wanting to be accepted just as we are, making this song that much better.
MV: SO BAD oozed chic vibes while ASAP was 100% cute whimsy, concepts that're pretty much on opposite ends of the spectrum. With STEREOTYPE's MV though, STAYC go a completely different direction by adopting the classic bright and fun schoolgirl concept. Taking a page out of ASAP's book, their latest MV makes use of added special effects, like floating smartphones which then transform into multicoloured neon butterflies, stuffed bunnies of all sizes materialising out of thin air with confetti in the background or just heart-shaped fireworks in the night sky. Rather than feeling silly though, these over-the-top cutesy effects fit very well with the song's meaning, with the girls' true selves being likened to fluffy cute bunnies, the very face of innocence, that they hide behind strong fronts.
The MV's generally shot in two locations, a school compound and the girls' bedroom. There's not much to elaborate on the former because like I said earlier, we're going with a schoolgirl concept here so seeing the girls in classrooms, indoor sports halls, soccer fields or school canteens were totally expected. On the other hand, we can talk a little more about the bedroom shots because those actually match pretty well with STEREOTYPE's main idea. The first thing you'll notice is that the bright pink room is decorated adorably, with soft toys lying around, photo frames hung up on the walls and pretty much looking like your stereotypical (no pun intended) teenage girl's room. Though we'll cover this more in the next segment, STAYC's clothing also play a huge part in bringing across the song's concept and this is especially relevant in the bedroom scenes.
Unlike the cute and innocent feel of the bedrooms, the girls are dressed more glamorously and give off a fiercer look, complete with somewhat outlandish eye makeup. See the contrast? It's exactly the point that the song is trying to get across, that underneath their more powerful exteriors, the members are fun-loving, bright and innocent, and they want people to be able to look past their external appearance and see the "good girl" inside. It's both lyrical and creative genius, and the MV directors/producers deserve praise for running with this idea.
Apart from the school and room shots, there's one more unique set piece I wanted to address and that's Yoon's solo shot in the 2nd chorus. We see her posing in a high fashion white dress in front of a bright pink convertible and the entire shot is made to look like a model shoot or an advertisement. Although seemingly out of place with the rest of the MV, this scene is actually quite intriguing because it again plays into STEREOTYPE's main idea of hiding one's true self behind a fierce exterior, in this case with Yoon behaving like a chic model with a slick sports car. Great creative decision by the MV directors and overall, I think that this MV is a great effort by all parties involved.
Styling: STAYC's styling team really went all out for STEREOTYPE and I'm living for it. Naturally, the schoolgirl concept dictates at least one school uniform, with the girls dressed in various combinations of white tops and blue plaid skirts. Different accessories also give each member a sense of uniqueness, such as Seeun's huge bow, Yoon's tie, J's pinafore or Isa's dark blue vest, all while still maintaining the perfect innocence that comes with a schoolgirl outfit. Of course, alongside the typical school uniform we also see our girls decked out in blue, yellow and white cheerleader outfits and this is actually my personal favourite of the MV outfits because it wonderfully captures the song's bright and fun sound while also looking absolutely amazing. I love it.
In line with STEREOTYPE's theme though, STAYC are also given more mature outfits that are meant to represent their confident exteriors. Three different styles fall into this category and two of them are pretty similar, mostly using plaid patterns as the base. Short skirts and crop tops are nothing new but in this case, it showcases the increased maturity of these outfits while still being really cute and similar enough to what girls their age might wear. The final outfits we see the members are definitely leaning towards the glamorous side of things, frilly dresses, big hats and huge earrings abound, and very clearly this was meant to represent the most confident appearance they can put on to hide their true selves. In my opinion, all these outfits are great and really fit the song's theme.
Moving on to the individual members themselves, of course, their visuals don't disappoint but to me, the standout members this time are Sumin and Yoon. Leader Sumin has always had a megawatt smile and looked amazing the previous two eras but she's really climbed up the visual ladder with this title. I've said this countless times before but I'm not the hugest fan of bangs, they're generally quite unflattering but I'll be the first person to tell you that Sumin's wispy bangs work so well on her. Couple that with her simple dark hair and you get a visual that allows her to switch between innocent and flashy seamlessly.
With Yoon, as we all know she's pushed as the group's visual, being called a real-life Barbie and this comeback is no different, with her svelte figure and insane visual putting her front and center. One gripe I had with previous comebacks was that she's always put in weirdly coloured wigs that only mask her beauty so thankfully that doesn't happen this time round. Her hairstyle hasn't really changed that much from ASAP, she still has her blunt bangs and all (something I'm not a fan of) but I will say it works very well with one particular outfit, the cheerleading one. I don't think I need to explain it, once you watch it you'll find out why I think she looks best there.
Song: As I've mentioned up top, STAYC's titles so far don't follow any formula, with SO BAD and ASAP being very very different from each other. STEREOTYPE is no exception because we're getting something totally different from the dark retro of SO BAD or the cuteness of ASAP. With their latest comeback, the group has gone for a more relaxed sound, with a very gentle instrumental woven throughout the song and together with the girls' melodious vocals, this is a title track that's very easy on the ears. With the previous two titles, I needed a couple listens to really like them but the very first time I listened to STEREOTYPE, I immediately decided it was my favourite STAYC title track.
I really like how the song blends together well and doesn't sound disjointed at all. Verse flows into chorus flows into verse and so on, and the entire song sounds very well put together. This is also the first time that STAYC's title doesn't have a rap in it and I find it a very refreshing change. I'm so used to hearing rapper J's low, husky voice in a rap verse that it was really nice to hear her sing more. In the same vein, after hearing the whole group sing their "STAYC girls, it's going down" group catchphrase together, I was really surprised to hear that that one line was assigned solely to J this comeback. Overall, STEREOTYPE is their best title yet, an awesome song that's a step in the right direction for STAYC.
Line distribution: STAYC continues their trend of having pretty fair line distributions, especially for a 6-member group. Although the distribution isn't equal all 6 ways, the amount of lines each member gets befits their position within the group. As stated in previous posts, the group has only confirmed main/lead positions for their vocal line and as you would expect, the top 3 spots in the line distribution are taken by them. Main vocal Sieun comes out on top with slightly less than 28.3% while lead vocals Yoon and Isa have slightly over 17.6% and a little over 16.4% respectively. For the most part, Sieun and Yoon take most of the chorus lines, with Isa only coming in in the last chorus to serenade us with her sweet voice and a stripped-down backing track. Not to worry though because Isa gets a ton of MV screen time, shares both pre-choruses with Seeun and also does a bunch of adlibs so overall, each member of the vocal line got a decent amount of the song befitting their status.
In 4th place is maknae J at just over 14% and I'm absolutely living for her lines this comeback. Like I said before she doesn't rap this time round but instead gets many killing parts throughout the song so I think it's alright. Right behind her is leader Sumin at just under 13% and although it doesn't seem like she has many lines, her parts are nicely spaced out and quite impactful. At the start of the song she gets half of an entire verse to herself as well as part of the bridge and to top it all off, she gets featured a lot in the MV so everything balances out. Finally, we have sub-vocal Seeun at just under 10.7%, which doesn't seem like a lot but actually isn't that far behind first place Sieun. Although her only lines come in the form of sharing both pre-choruses with Isa as well as some bridge lines, I think that she delivers them really well and doesn't really fall behind the rest of the members. All in all, the line distribution could be improved numbers-wise but in terms of how each member delivers their lines, I think they've done very well this time round and I hope that they can continue this trend.
Final thoughts: At the time of this post, STAYC has already gotten three music show wins with STEREOTYPE. That's right, three wins within three days and one of these wins was against JYP mega-boy group Stray Kids. Absolutely amazing and I'm so glad that what I consider their best title track thus far is also what got them their first win. Everything's great about this comeback, from the girls' styling to the song itself, from the MV production to even the song's very message. Again, they don't come from the biggest company around so it's a huge feat for them to get as many wins as they did with this title. At the end of the day though, the most important thing is the song's message so just like the girls sing, take off your tinted lenses when you view people and see them just as they are, without any STEREOTYPEs. Thanks for reading.
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