Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Dal Shabet is one of those groups who always seem to be on the verge of breaking out but can never quite get over the hump, and “Joker” basically epitomizes their struggle.
Their concept is Harley Quinn, but it heavily involves Heath Ledger‘s version of the Joker, because that has gotten revived in Korean entertainment like every year since 2008. The outdatedness of this whole reference just sort of speaks to the struggle of Dal Shabet trying to find something, anything that can break them out, but sadly it’s as if they’re just a bit out of touch with trends or something.
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The song is actually an easy listen and I got through it without any major complaints. However, I was struggling to care much on the second and third times through, and after I went to take a dump, I had forgotten what almost all of the song sounded like. Appropriate.
Hilariously, easily the most catchy parts of the song are these lyrics, “I WANNA GIMMIE WANNA BABY GIMMIE WANNA BABY” and “I WANNA SHOW ME WANNA BABY SHOW ME WANNA BABY“, which is both amazingly cringy Engrish and still underutilized in the song.
But at least this can be saved by their visuals, right?
Wrong, because the director and stylist are fucking useless. The choreography is pretty generic as well, but I honestly don’t think the music video takes advantage of the group’s hotness at all except towards the end when they’re in a spotlight … in darkness. Point proven.
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After the viral successes of EXID and Crayon Pop, you can never really tell when a group is about to hit it big, but I just don’t see it happening for Dal Shabet with “Joker” because it lacks the aspects of everything that would make a track stand out. This isn’t a disastrous comeback or anything, it’s just that it’s disappointing when the song, visuals, music video, concept, and choreography all range from solid to mediocre, because forgettable is the last place Dal Shabet want to be.
