The winner of this week’s K-pop Music Video breakdown had no competition, with second place coming in at only a third of the votes that this video received. The video itself offers a dazzling array of costumes, excitable high school students and one very out of place American teacher. Have you guessed what it is? Yes – it’s JJ Project‘s ‘BOUNCE’!
The video has a loose story, which just leads us from the classroom to the rooftop, bouncing along the way. The craziness is innocent though; they did wait until the dismissal bell had rung before they caused havoc around the school. Even so, nothing really happens. So there isn’t much to talk about here.
What stands out most are the bright costumes that the duo sport during the video. Adidas seems to be a big label in South Korea, since you can usually pick out at least a couple of Adidas items in most K-pop videos these days. ‘BOUNCE’ is no exception to the rule, either. From shoes to basket ball top/dress things (..?) to track tops, these boys are well kitted out. The stylists took a really interesting route though, as seen on the picture above. It isn’t just colours and patterns that are mixed but textures and materials, alongside lots of layers of clothing and jewellery. Maybe this has derived from original hip-hop style, and sounds similar to a lot of hip-hop concepts within K-pop, but I can’t recall ever seeing outfit combinations this colourful in the videos of western hip-hop artists. Which surely means that these outfits are just Korea’s own take on the style, so congratulations to them! What they do might not be everyday-wear but nobody is denying that they look awesome in music videos. With the only exception being to those PVC leggings (I kid you not), nothing is fitted and the bagginess of each item of clothing would back up the hip-hop concept.
The song has hip-hop elements, mostly in the verses, but ‘BOUNCE’ is a mash up of three musical genres. The smooth segway between verse and chorus leads us to a dance-infused beat, which is later joined by that reoccurring rock section. The one that shouldn’t reoccur. Or even occur. This might be down to opinion – maybe I’m just picky – but it’s really irrelevant to the song. An electro song doesn’t need a heavy guitar section; although it isn’t bad by itself, it kills the tempo and feels almost as out of place as the middle aged American teacher. (Okay, it might be an English class but then why are all the signs around school in English?) The guitar phrase could have been made into another song, much more suited to the genre.
When they’re not bouncing along school corridors, the duo are dancing in what looks like a school gym. The dance looks pretty simple in general, though through lots of practice I’m sure they made it look easier. The most iconic moves are actually the simplest, for example, the little shake, which everybody can join in with. In fact, the whole song urges you to get up and go crazy. The best part about the video being that everyone can get up bounce or shake a little (or a lot) and party with JJ Project, or so they would have us believe, since many of us don’t actually live in Korea… Regardless, the song is fun, period!
Check out the music video!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yvic9sAg64&w=560&h=315]Vote here for the video you’d like to see for next week’s breakdown!
