[MV Review] Spica - You Don't Love Me

I was going to scrap this review after lagging on it for so long, but I made gifs already... Might as well not let them go to waste.



Spica, Spica, Spica. When this group debuted under the direction/influence of Hyori and blessed with a multitude of vocal chops if not visual beauty (with the exception of Narae for sure or Jiwon on a good day), I was expecting great things from them. Since their debut though, they've hit the bottom end of rookies for the simple reason that they simply aren't charismatic or attractive enough to make a dent in the market. Their songs are solid, and You Don't Love Me is no exception.

The MV is a solid dance in a box MV with the random close-ups we've come to expect from safe releases, but the concept has me torn. It's a definite retro throw back, but I can't decide whether or not they're parodying sexy concepts or playing it totally straight.

When you give me scenes like...

or

What I wouldn't give to touch dat booty.

I can point to it (heh) and say, yep that's defnitely a sexy concept. But when you juxtapose it with weird, potentially sexy (for the right person) things like...

Cheeseball masturbating??

Laundry dumping is the new shower scene of sexy.

It confuzzles the genitals. The huge butt pads would indicate a leaning toward parody, but I suppose you could make a case either way. The disjoint is very odd regardless. It would have been much better if they picked one way or another, but that's just me.

I'm certainly not complaining about what I do get.

In any case, the final product's dance routine is very bare bones and simple, as per standard fare for Spica. They do include a few nice bits for the easily titillated viewer though.

You bitched about the lack of ass in KPop, Spica delivers.

Narae is trying way too hard, bless her soul.

That's perfectly fine for a group like Spica anyway who prefers to let their vocals do the talking. The song itself is a very retro throwback with minimal accompaniment aside from the odd brassy note for flare. It really puts the vocals on center stage, and the croons and cries of Spica are very well done. Like I mentioned earlier, the group possesses probably the highest average chops per member of any group (save maybe the Brown Eyed Girls, but I digress).

All that is well and good and all, but there's not much here that really blows me away. It's an extremely safe song in the sense that it sticks to tried-and-true pop formula and doesn't really have any particularly exciting
bits to convert new fans. That odd rap bit is stupid too, a vocal group of this talented caliber does not need to relegate their butchiest member to token rapper status just to fit in goddamn it.

At least Narae is still smoking hot.

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaas.

TL;DR:
Spica's latest sexy/parody/confused outing is safe, if not particularly exciting.

+:

• Spica's overall vocals are still very good
• Boa's crooning is so nice, she's criminally underrated IMO
• NARAE IS QUEEN
• NARAE IS LIFE
• some sexy bits are nice
• brassy band accompaniment that is very minimal and complementary, rather than overwhelming

-:

• the song is pretty boring overall
• confusing concept that doesn't know what it wants to be

I give it a 2.5 out of 5. Sorry Narae.

Posted by Tutik W