As a rookie group, Sistar (씨스타) has shot up in popularity not because of their looks, but due to their talent at performing, especially with Hyorin’s powerful voice. Sistar has released their first album after just over a year since their debut, with their new single “So Cool.” Following up the hit that was Sistar19′s “Ma Boy,” can the group’s new single stay cool in this heated summer KPop competition?
The song is produced by Brave Brothers (용감한형제) who also produced their three previous singles, “Push Push” (푸시 푸시), “Shady Girl” (가식걸) and “How Dare You” (니까짓게). It is almost your basic cookie cutter electronica driven dance track starting out with your English intro with a rap by Bora about halfway through the song. It is a very upbeat and energetic summer song that tries to show the girls’ cool and sexy side. While I don’t have anything against cookie cutter songs, this one is a pretty generic one, and one I was disappointed with.
The song starts out promising with a heavy beat, a snare build-up, and the aforementioned English intro with the girls saying that they “wanna rock.” The intro continues with the girls energetically saying “Rock it like this.” The song then continues into the verse with a basic clap beat and a decent melody. The chorus itself is probably the weakest part of the song, with the girls repeatedly saying “So Cool.” I counted about 25 “Cool”s in one pre-chorus and chorus alone. While this is no different then a song such as “Gee” by Girls’ Generation (소녀시대, 少女時代), it is the song’s production that causes the chorus to sort of fall flat. Still, it is kind of catchy and I know some people, maybe even myself included, will have the lyrics of the chorus stuck in their heads, albeit probably not as long as a song like “Gee.”
Right after the chorus is Bora’s rap, where she claims to be as cool as Ice T to which I literally loled. It’s a pretty normal rap you would expect from a KPop song. This leads into the second verse, pre-chorus and chorus. The bridge has what sounds to be Brave Brothers saying Sistar and counting in Spanish, which I thought seemed a little out of place, but it’s a nice change I guess. The middle eight is, as expected, one of the best parts of the song in my opinion, as it is where Hyorin demonstrates her vocal ability which I always enjoy. The song ends kind of abruptly going straight into the outro with Hyorin ad libbing over the girls energetically saying “Rock it like this” again.
The music video is probably the hottest mv they’ve released yet as a four piece group. The girls are outfitted in very short and tight sequined dresses for most of the video, while doing their dance which includes another move that emphasizes on their butts. With the crazy short skirts, all the bending, and the ass (or should I say “S-line?”) focusing by the camera, I guess Starship realized with “How Dare You” where Sistar’s overall best physical assets are. This time instead of rubbing their butts, they sweep across it with a waving hand motion. Whatever keeps them cool I guess, but hey, I’m not complaining!
Another very cool thing that they had in the music video was having the girls do track and field type events in dress gowns. Maybe it’s just me, but I really enjoyed seeing the girls running and jumping hurdles in large gowns with sneakers on. Bora even did the high jump which made me love her even more.
They also had DJ DOC in the music video, which I thought was cool, and it had me wondering if this collaboration had anything to do with both groups performing together for the Korean Music Festival this year. Their role in the video was supposed to be to coach the girls, but it seemed to me like they did what any straight red-blooded male would do and that is oogle the girls as they run, jump and dance in various outfits. I know that’s what I would be doing!
They had three basic sets which included the dance set, the track and field set, and the makeup/vanity room set. There wasn’t really a story. I thought the video was well done with the nice sets and cool outfits. It really showed what the girls wanted to show, which was their cool and sexy side, and I thought they did it well.
Overall, the song is pretty generic in my opinion. Also a bit short, with a runtime of 3:21, I thought it was kind of funny that the girls keep talking about rocking, but the song is very electropoppy. I think it would be interesting to hear their vocals in a more rock type song, ala 2NE1′s “Ugly.” The reason for my disappointment isn’t that it’s a terrible song, it’s just a very normal one when my expectations were set very high for their first album. The music video was also very fun and done pretty well, and as a guy, I know I’ll be replaying it more than a few times. Although Sistar’s biggest strength isn’t exactly their recorded tracks, but their live performances, I totally expect their live performances to greatly increase my overall opinion of the song, and seriously, we can never get enough butt caressing, can we?
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