Summer Lovin' with 2ne1

So I don't know about any one else, but it is hot where I live. I got myself to wondering when kpop was gonna turn out that amazing summer beach song that just screamed summer and sun. Seems like 2ne1 listened to me, so this week, we're reviewing

2ne1 Falling in Love! If ya haven't seen it yet, get yourself some lovin' here.

This video was released on July 7th 2013 and as of July 15th, had 6,057,499 views. This is the first of several videos 2ne1 will release, one each month, until October.

ALSO, HEY GUYS! So this week, since Em if off globe trotting and staring down massive internet fire walls, WE HAVE A NEW ADMIN! SAY HI TO MATT. (he's a really nice guy, i swear :P)

Overall impression:

Ruby: This MV had 2ne1 written all over it. They keep a consistent stylist, Yang Seung Ho, who lends their MVs a super distinctive style. With the song, they went for a reggae feel since its summer, and the clothing changed accordingly to be a brighter, more comfortable and more revealing style. It’s breezy and funky with cool accessories and rather simple hair and makeup. Yes, there are some exceptions, like really sick nails and I definitely saw some pink hair, but overall they kept their cat eye makeup and pretty natural looking hair. There were 3 major outfit groups with a beachier look, all white outfits, and a set of street clothes. There were a few misses... (Dara's shiny shirt)... but for the most part it worked really well.

Awesome nails and hand jewelry? It's da Bom... ;)

CL and her golden locks and heavy eyeliner. 

Yang Seungho and CL just hangin' out. He's in the group called NUTHANG,
google it. seriously. 

Matt: Agreed – this music video is quintessentially 2ne1. Quirky, fun, and energetic, their latest single is in keeping with the energy of their previous endeavors. Still, it’s been about a year since 2ne1’s last release (“I Love You”), and I have to say, given the quality of their previous singles, I was expecting something a little bit more… interesting. The reggae vibe of the song is definitely fun, but it lacks the catchy hooks and impressive vocal range of songs like “I Love You” and “I am the Best”. At the end of the day, however, 2ne1 still manages to entertain with their exceptionally creative style and videography. I thought that the white and gold motif Ruby mentioned earlier was particularly entertaining. It’s not every day that you get to see pink haired Minzy sitting in a throne sipping from a golden soda cup with similarly gilded men arranged around her throne like statues. (… or maybe it is? I don’t know. I’ve never actually met her.)

Ahem. I asked for DIET coke. *Queen Minzy demands*

She's gotta be a Queen. She's got gold man statues with chain veils....

Other promotional Materials:

Ruby: The photo teasers and the video teasers used the same outfits from the videos. It looks like they posed for the photos separately from the video, however.  Nonetheless, they paired the same clothing and settings without fail. It’s nice and consistent and gives a lot more detail to the clothing. Since it is a dance heavy video, sometimes the more complex patterns got muddled, but the teasers give them clarity. So points for that! I guess I would like to have seen more elaboration, ya know?

Teaser for a summer of fun!

Matt: I think that their clothing is definitely worth noticing, but I’d have to agree with you in that the music video is so busy that it doesn’t exactly highlight the group’s fashion choices. It’s definitely a dance-heavy performance, which is what I think makes their live promotional events so interesting. It’s nice to be able to see the dance without too many camera switches.  Live, not only can audiences see the dance much clearer, but they also have much more time to digest the visuals of the performance – my favorite part of their live promotions would have to be CL’s black and white eye-themed two piece jumpsuit, which can be seen during the second half of the live performance mentioned above.

Live stage outfits are a bit different

Continuity:

Ruby: It’s as continuous as any 2ne1 video ever is. Luckily for them, they have such a consistent and well-developed aesthetic so it feels like a cohesive whole; it’s just that that whole has to be a 2ne1 video. I mean, it’s all quirky, with heavy layers and lots of skin, but not much beyond that stays the same. Still, it was bright and fun and full of details, and with relatively few outfits, the inconsistencies weren’t noticeable.

Very identifiably 2ne1, even if I don't love the outfits

Matt: I don’t have too much to say here that you haven’t already said - - - it’s not exactly visually cohesive, but that’s 2ne1’s unifying concept, which creates a sort of counter-intuitive continuity.

It's okay Bommie, it is very confusing.

Band’s Overall Image:

Ruby: …. Well I kind of jumped the gun here. Oh well. But this is very 2ne1. They have a very distinct look, although it communicates slightly differently in different videos. This is a spunkier version, but you can see Ugly or I Love You in it. It’s definitely different than their “Fire” or “I am the Best”, but it’s still them. I guess I would say it’s got a lot to do with layering, conflicting patterns and textures, heavy cat-eyes and prominent accessories. And that's just been their thing since the beginning really. (Yes, I mean the very beginning…. Lolli-lolli-oh-lollipop!)

Ugly outfits are definitely one extreme as well...

I Love You outfits are closer, i think, but more wintery/formal

Matt: The video is stylistically consistent with the rest of their performances. Yep, starting with Lollipop. Thanks, Ruby… now I have that song stuck in my head. Haha ^_^; In terms of sound, though, this song seems a bit off. I’m not exactly a fan of their reggae style. I’ll always prefer their catchier and more melodic “Ugly” and “I am the Best”.

LOLLI-LOLLI-OH LOLLIPOP!

Trends in K-POP:

Ruby: There have been so many rookies this year that have taken up what people are calling the “2ne1 style”… Usually what they’re referring to is a girl group that dresses with punk or grunge inspired clothing rather than the cutsy/girly or sexy image. The mismatched style has many mutations within kpop, and this is just one of them. But when it’s paired with a less feminine look, its always associated with 2ne1.

GI's "Beatles" is one debut this year that was deemed very 2ne1-esque.

Matt: Going in a completely different direction, I think that the short, clean cut of CL’s beach dress has been increasingly popular in K-Pop music videos over the past year or so. Think of the form fitting, simple dresses shown in Hello Venus’ “Do You Want Some Tea?” or SISTAR’s “Alone”. CL’s dress  is incredibly similar, only… with a fisherman’s net. Hence… she’s at the beach… ? Anyways, the simple, short dresses, either boasting bold geometric patterns or bright solid colors, have been making their way into the Korean music scene with a frequency that only seems to be increasing.

CL's fishnet sun-dress.

"Do You Want Some Tea?" from Hello Venus with their cute lil' dresses. 

Conclusion:

Ruby: 2ne1 is preparing to release a crap-ton of mvs. Like one a month until October or something. So this is really a kick off to their biggest comeback ever. In that role I think it worked really well. It was new, but familiar and identifiable. It sets a good tone for the months and songs to come by allowing for variation but maintaining their well known image.

BOM WANTS YOU TO KEEP ON THE LOOK OUT FOR 2NE1

Minzy is pleased by this.

Matt: Solid visuals, but not as solid a sound as I was expecting. We’ll both definitely be looking forward the videos coming out in the following months, though, I’m sure.

I mean who wouldn't want to party with these dorks uber cool pop-stars

Daily Dose of Daebak:

Ruby: LEE SOOHYUK AND HONG JONGHYUN WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? Handsome boys…… ;3

Matt: GOLDEN GAMEBOYS… WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? Handsome toys……

Leave us a comment and tell us what you want to see 2ne1's comebacks this summer feature for fashion! Or anything at all! We'd loveeeee to hear from you :3......

Thanks again Matt! 

Stay cool in this heat guys! (idk, but its hot where i am so...)

<3 Ruby and Em (AND MATT)

Werewolves wear what?

Exo can help us answer that with their (LONG AWAITED) comeback, Wolf! There are two versions of this dance video (and a promised drama version) one in chinese, one in korean. However, both video feature all 14 members combined. We took images from both, though the outfits are the same between the videos.
As of June 10th 2013, the korean version had 4,443,432 views and the chinese version had 1,778,365 for a combined total of over 6 million views!
If you haven't gotten into the canine spirit yet, simply chose your language and hide your cat and then enjoy the new, wolfish side of exo.....
click for Korean OOOOOOLF
click for Chinese OOOOOOOLF

Overall impression:

Ruby: So there are 3 sets of outfits featured in both the Chinese and Korean versions of this music video. One white, one black and one more colorful but in shadow. Overall they went for a very simple aesthetic which I super appreciate. As much as I loved concepts like Siwon (Super Junior) in neon boxer-briefs and red leather, Exo went a little bit classier. Earth tones complemented the neutrals, a manly-manly-military-man color palette (ignoring the zebra shorts). I think the big thing here was that each outfit had one cool or different accent piece, which provided focal points for each cut scene in the video.

Siwon of Super Junior in NEON BRIEFS WHY promotions for Mr. Simple

My manly manly zebra shorts

Barbed wire detail brings flair without distraction

Em: They did some interesting combinations of different aspects of men’s fashion. There were elements of sports clothes (stripy athletic socks!) and military-esque pieces. They also had manly-gangster heavy gold jewelry. There was a LOT of black and white, which always makes things look dramatic in my opinion, and also served the purpose of tying these elements together extremely well. Most of the clothes were baggy as well, barring a few tighter things in the mostly-white outfits.

Gym socks as never seen before

oh kris and his gangsta chains and hat and cute lil' gloves

Other promotional Materials:

Ruby: Video teasers were primarily scenes from the mv and pictures were promoting the full album, XOXO, and featured mostly school-boy uniforms. They were cute. But I preferred some of the fanmade ones. ;) Their comeback stage was one of the most consistent ones I’ve ever seen. They wore t-shirts and sweatshirt variations with the same print on the front, a jersey style number and the word wolf on the back. Many wore a graphic of the word wolf elsewhere as well, on the crotch (eyebrow waggle) or on a bandana tied somewhere. I liked the consistency and the references to both the mv for wolf and the album. And then there was Kai and Lay. Alright guys who forgot to order 2 shirts…. -.-

FAKE TEASER, but oh so wonderous

one of these things is not like the others....

one of these things just doesn't belong....

Em: Comeback stage was nice, it was an even more simplified version of the mv outfits. I noticed the wolf  on the crotch pretty quickly too…I wonder if someone’s going to get a new nickname along the lines of Dubulge.  The schoolboy teasers were odd and didn’t really seem related to their concept. I felt like they made the teasers before they actually knew what the song was going to look like. Odd. I mean I get the XOXO thing…schoolboys…whatever. Still kind of a stretch to wolves.

exo yearbook teaser

what are your pants implying sir? how... wolfish.

Continuity:

Ruby: Honestly I thought it was rather brilliant in this category. It seems obvious from watching super junior videos that the answer is simplicity, even uniformity, if you’re going to have that many people in one group. But recently sm has really been innovative about clothing these massive groups. I thought small details, like the fringe jacket, the red numbers or that rope jacket kept it unique while it maintained the balance. 

the numbers seem to be completely random, but look cool anyway

rope jacket, like a straight jacket, only more fashion forward

Em: They did do a really good job with making the group look like, well, a group, while not just taking the easy way out and putting them in all suits (see: Spy). Not that I’m complaining about suits , but it’s nice to see some variety without it being overwhelming. It was interesting without making my eyes bleed, which is always nice.

Super Junior in Spy promotions, and suits. lots of suits.

us after some kpop videos. 

Band’s Overall Image:

Ruby: Exo tends to be sportier than other bands. With the teasers and the mvs they released last year, they clearly know how to dress up and look manly. However more often than not, their stylists opt towards stretchy harem pants and hoodies. For me the hair got weird this time. Rainbow dye and cornrows just don't belong together.

WAIT WAIT WAIT, could this be???? a veritable harem of harem-pants?

its okay to be confused kai, we don't know why they put the cornrows in either...

Sehun during the mv, its okay just kind of out of place...

and then they dunked his head in acid.

Em: Agreed on the cornrows. Ew. I liked the pink hair though just because I have a thing for pink hair. The band has also ended up with a lot of fantasy-ish themes, from the magical powers in Mama to the wolves here, and I think it affects their clothing in interesting ways. They draw from the quintessential mysterious cloak as well as fantasy futuristic metals. Wolf had fur everywhere, for obvious reasons, which is also a little bit manly-wilderness-adventurer. Not to mention the recent outbreak in fantasy novels with wolves in them.

see this pink hair is okay....

magical movie wolf magic

Trends in K-POP:

Ruby: There are some older trends, like high or thick collars, but summer is beginning so I think there are some new trends that are forming as well. Fringe seems to be something sm is latching onto, part of the recent boom of 60s/70s era clothing in kpop. Also large scale details, like the rope have featured in a few videos. We’ll see if earth tones are more popular this summer, but they haven’t been dominant recently, and I am not personally convinced the they’re destined to come back in the kpop world.

giant turtle neck (and we're going to ignore how many times the make up artist missed your eye...)

fringe jackets are fancy

but not as fancy as this corset jacket worn by Joon from MBLAQ in their recent
single, Smoky Girl 

Em: Fringe does seem to be becoming a thing, along with fur like we saw in CL’s The Baddest Female. Fake tattoos have been EVERYWHERE—we talked about them in our review of 4Minute, but they’ve been showing up since Big Bang’s Fantastic Baby. I’ve also seen more harem pants than I really want to see. I guess they look dramatic and swoopy? Idk. Do not want.

Fringe, fringe everywhere for Girl's Generation in their recent japanese single,
Love and Girls 

Fur hat. For the summer.

CL from The Baddest Female, rocking that fur

Fake tats from 4Minute's What's your name?

Conclusion:

Ruby: Honestly, I was really impressed by the concept and styling for this comeback. It still feels like the exo from their debut but this is much more refined and cohesive. I think it really stands out in the midst of other male groups right now; they just seem to be getting weirder and weirder. Even so there were a lot of unique details, some I liked and some I didn't. But I think the biggest complement I can pay exo is this: I watch a video probably 10-15 times throughout the process. Normally I am frustrated or bored by the fashion by the end of that, but even now, at the end of the review, I keep finding cool pieces I’d missed and small, impressive details. You make watching the same 4 minutes 20 times fun exo, and that's hard.

with all this chaos, too many details would have been even more distracting.

Em: I thought it was cool. I think Exo has been fighting the cheesy a little bit, and they walk a fine line between dramatic and silly. Here, the clothing walked on the right side of the line, and I thought they really pulled it together. (The wolf ‘claws’ were another story) I like that Exo hasn’t gone for a cutesy image yet, even though some of the bandmembers could easily pull of aegyo, and they’re slowly finding their niche. I hope they keep up the consistency and interest.

WOLF HANDS, rawr.....

Daily Dose of Daebak:

Kai was raised by wolves. Sure sweetie.

The giant claw thing on the ceiling was awesome. I want one.

Please leave us some love in the comments and let us know what you want to happen in the drama version! 

Or anything that comes to mind!!!!! 

Thanks for reading.... 

Love, 

Ruby and Em <3