SotD-MBLAQ’s “Cry”

I seriously love this song. It’s another one of those songs that I listen to way too often. But surprisingly, the first time I listened to it I wasn’t a big fan.

My first introduction to this song was from EatYourKimchi’s review. I watched the review, then watched the video once. I already knew who MBLAQ was, from their “Y” music video (totally catchy song) and from them constantly being mentioned, like, everywhere. Also, their maknae rapper Mir (who totally looks like Lee Hongki) was in Maknae Rebellion (aka MakBanShi) with FT Island’s Seunghyun and U-Kiss’s Dongho. I fell in love with him then, when he had a girl group dance battle with SHINee’s Key. So, so hilarious. Anyways, I wasn’t really watching the video the first time, and the song wasn’t so outstanding that I paid much attention to it.

But then, last week, I asked a friend of mine what song he was listening to on his iPod and he answered MBLAQ’s “Stay” which is their other recent single. The two music videos came out one right after the other, back in January. So I went home and decided to listen to both songs again, because I couldn’t really remember them (or if I had even listened to Stay, though I’d heard of it). I watched Stay first, and while I actually really really liked this song, I wasn’t a huge fan of the MV, which was pretty average. Then I re-watched Cry–really watched it this time–and I fell in love. Everything about it was awesome.

I have three main points I want to talk about. No, make that four. The first one–which is the first thing I ever noticed about MBLAQ as a whole–is that they are possibly the best-looking band ever. Seriously. I’m not even joking. Usually there’s that one not-quite-as-good-looking member that almost throws it off; Big Bang’s Daesung, Infinite’s Dongwoo, etc. Not so with MBLAQ. Honestly, they are scary perfect-looking. All five of them. I think as a whole they’re even better-looking than SHINee (and as you should know by now, I adore SHINee) and FT Island and CN Blue and U-Kiss, all of which I see as very good-looking bands. But to be honest, MBLAQ’s a lot more “good-looking” than “cute,” kind of in a mature way. I don’t know what it is. But I guess I shouldn’t compare, especially when it comes to something as debatable as looks. This is my opinion and my opinion only. But anyways, I only mentioned this because even before I knew anything about, or liked, MBLAQ, I’d labelled them as the super good-looking band. I speak the truth.

Also, I’d like to point out that while some bands seem to focus more on looks than quality, MBLAQ’s got more than enough talent to make up for the possibility of seeming superficial. That’s actually my next point. Their vocals are superb. I really feel like they don;t get enough recognition. Their lead vocal, GO, is phenomenal, and they don’t have that one guy that never sings, like a lot of bands. Everyone sings (or raps) and they all do it well. Thunder even sings and raps. Nice! They can sing in a variety of genres, and they’re also very strong dancers. They’re not all looks–they’re pure awesome.

Before I go any further, how about some background info on MBLAQ? They were formed in late 2009, by Rain himself (Rain is a very popular Korean artist, even in America. He was the star of Ninja Assassin, FYI). There are five members total–main vocal GO (Jung Byunghee), leader/vocal Seungho, and vocalist Joon (Lee Changsun), and maknae rapper Mir (Bang Cheolyong) and rapper/vocal Thunder aka Cheondoong (Park Sanghyun). Thunder is actually the younger brother of 2NE1’s Sandara Park. Ooh. Their name is pronounced “Emm-black.” They say it pretty often in their songs. Sometimes it kind of sounds like they’re saying, “I’m black.” Ahaha. They’re not the most popular band out there, but they’re pretty well known, and they have a lot of fans.

Okay, so onto the video. I love it. One of my favourites this year (next to Hello Hello). I don’t know exactly why I love it so much. It’s just so emotional. And so well done. Awesome! You can find it here.

This brings me to my next point: the dance. The dance is freakishly awesome, somehow. I wasn’t really hooked until the first chorus, where he goes, “You make me cry.” And they fling out their arms, and then fall to the ground. So awesome! Honestly, I love most of the dance. It’s so cool. Simple, but powerful and memorable and really awesome. The dance makes this song. So great! Also, the part where they’re underwater and dancing is pretty sweet. I mean, it’s a little cheesy, but you have to give them some credit. The fact that they can pull of those moves, underwater, and still look perfectly serene and composed is a feat in itself. Plus, it looks totally cool. Admit it.

Which leads right into my next point! Which is this: the water. The band’s use of water in this video was so freaking perfect. Not only does it fit the theme of crying and set a very appropriate, sad mood, but it looks great visually. Whether they’re dancing in it (which looks super-cool) or underneath it, or just singing in the rain, it makes everything 10x awesomer. I love the water scenes. All of them. But I have to say that I especially like the close-ups of the guys’ faces, looking so convincingly sad and sorrowful that I almost start crying myself. It’s almost depressing in itself. You just want to reach out and hug them. Very nice. Wow. I gotta say, all uses of water and rain I’ve seen in MVs (SHINee’s “Ring Ding Dong”, Boyfriend’s “Water Floor”, Beast’s “Breathe”, etc) have been phenomenal. It always works really well, even if it’s a little cliché. I love it.

I do feel it necessary, however, to point out their super-dark guyliner and eye makeup. When I first started watching k-pop, I would have found this really weird. But honestly, I loved it in this video. It looks great. Very intense, very impressive. Not everyone could pull it off (very few people, actually) but MBLAQ did it. Nice.

The English in this song is actually very good. Thunder is a fairly fluent speaker, and his accent is pretty good. All the English is very simple, even though there’s a lot of it, and it all makes sense and is understandable. Well done, MBLAQ. Here’s the romanized and translated lyrics–> link

Lastly, some help for new fans! Members are found as follows: Leader Seungho–0:14 and 1:33 and 3:39. Main vocal GO–0:27 and 1:10 and 3:36. Vocalist Joon–0:31 and 0:48 and 3:34 and 3:42 (he has a lot of good shots :P). Maknae rapper Mir–2:44 and 3:31. Vocalist/rapper Thunder aka Cheondoong (Cheondoong means Thunder in Korean, by the way)– 1:34 and 2:28 and 3:29.

And I think that’s all I have to say. I think it’ll have to be, because I have a test to study for! Ahaha…fail. Next I’ll be reviewing IU’s “Good Day”! But until then, MBLAQ, fighting! Love them a lot, and also like their song “Stay” because I love it. Whoo, go MBLAQ!

-Rebecca