MAMAMOO – Décalcomanie + Tears

— EDITED November 7th —

There’s no longer an elephant in the room, I suppose then~

Hahaha, elephant in the room~ yes, it’s rapey. And if not reaching the actual act, at least, a form of sexual assault. I’m not really here to over-analyze symbolism on a pop music video, but we do live in a world that has etched into their subconscious that the iconic V-J Day in Times Square photo is the symbol of romance and celebration of freedom, despite (or maybe because) of its circumstances [1][2][3][4].

“It wasn’t my choice to be kissed. The guy just came over and grabbed!” “I did not see him approaching, and before I knew it, I was in this vise grip.” “You don’t forget this guy grabbing you.” “That man was very strong. I wasn’t kissing him. He was kissing me”

But that was another time and era, Amy!

In a world where Uber taxi drivers (or any drivers) “get the idea” that they can drive you to isolated areas to rape you, casting couch practices and people from the entertainment industry are accused of multiple rape charges [1], and even actually confess to having raped a woman because “he couldn’t control his urges” [1][2]; yes, it’s a problem to continue to have romanticized notions of sexual assault in mainstream pop culture.

And the only thing Hong Won-ki (홍원기) and Kim Jun-hong (김준홍), of Zanybros who directed the video [so go bother them, if you want [kr]], had to do was let Solar walk away, even though throughout the whole video she seems mildly interested in the guy, giving you that awful idea that “yeah, she wanted it, anyway.”

I’m kicking the elephant out of the room now~

Mamamoo is back, yo~ despite the fact that they released their first full length album, Melting, early this year; and they’ve released a bunch of songs throughout these months [1][2][3]— this is the Korean version of a comeback. Their first track is called Décalcomanie (데칼코마니), and is the main single of their upcoming EP titled MEMORY.

The quality of the MV is glossy, as expected from Zanybros, but the best thing is the song, though. It starts out with those sultry jazzy vibe, only to throw in there some swing and claps before they give you the pop hook. But then, then it gives you a bit of a western honky tonk vibe with Moonbyul’s rap, and they clap their hands wearing perfect tuxes. I think that’s why many people are very emotionally angry with the above mentioned.

It’s so good, and then you’re angry.

The video is also available on CJ Entertainment Music Channel and Mamamoo’s V Live.

— EDIT November 7th, 2016 #2 —

The Dance Version of the video has been uploaded to Mamamoo’s V Live. Plus, they’ve uploaded their performance of the Fan Showcase they did earlier.

And to appease everyone, almost like they knew what the reaction was gonna be like, they’ve also released the clip for Tears (놓지않을게, I Love You Too), which they sang at their Moosical concert and will also be included in MEMORY, alongside Angel and DAB DAB.

And the baby radishes cry their moomoo tears when their parents come up on the big screen, saying words of encouragement. The most touched is Solar, obviously, because her parents had been against the idea of her coming into the industry. Plus, she’s big on emotions— she laughs hard, screams to death, presses her cheeks in utter shock, so I’m not surprised her tears run like a river. Tears.

Tears was composed by Papa Radish Kim Do Hoon, with additional lyrics credits by Moonbyul, Solar and Hwasa. While Whee-in’s got her own solo composition in the new album with Moderato.

There’s also a CJ Entertainment Music and V Live uploads.