Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Wonder Girls have returned, once again committed to their concept 100% and better for it. This time it’s all about the 80s, and “I Feel You” certainly brings those feels in spades.
Right from the get-go, the instrumental differentiates itself from the rest of K-pop, and the synths are an amazing sound by themselves. For better or worse, they are also basically the chorus, and while that’s not necessarily terrible, I have to wonder why go with an 80s band concept if you’re not gonna go with the 80s power hook? Or if you’re gonna go with a softer concept like The Bangles, I don’t have a problem with that either, but at least their hits had catchier choruses for my money, which was something I really didn’t get from this. That said, while I could understand why a lot of people flat-out won’t like this, the song stands out for me despite having a significant flaw, which is a testament to the rest of the track.
A lot of HOT TAEKS!!! on Twitter and elsewhere are sort of panning the whole endeavor, but I actually think once you get over the expectations of the epic teasers, this was a typically retro and typically cool Wonder Girls comeback. I enjoyed basically everything about this, including the cheesy way the music video was shot (it really needed one of those lame slo-mo hair flip deals to seal it) and the verses themselves (especially Yubin‘s rap seemed to fit somehow).
Speaking of the music video, it’s a glorious throwback in itself. Saying that the music video was lame and dated as a complaint is sort of ironic, as it’s supposed to be, which is spelled out clearly at the start and end, when the old-school MTV chyron pops up.
https://twitter.com/asianjunkiecom/status/628046548681687041
Also, the visuals are fucking ridiculous, especially Yubin and Yenny.
Absolutely fucking ridiculous. I might make another post just for this shit (or assign GFY to do it, whatever).
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This was such a good overall showing by the Wonder Girls, and I hope it gets recognized for the effort, but I can see people having a strong aversion to it as well (for reasons other than my personal jinx). That would be a shame because it’s such a complete commitment to bringing a modern twist to a previous era, and though I really wish they had brought something more with the chorus (fuck you, JYP), this comeback proved beyond a doubt that the Wonder Girls are anything but over.
Oh yeah, and the whisper is back, making this automatically a quality song no matter what.
