kuroswan 2,018 Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 He Said – She Said is a special Soompi editorial that gives male and female perspectives on current topics and trends of the Korean entertainment world. The topic at hand is the current trend of “sexy†girl groups. In January, we were bombarded with more than a couple girl groups who teased us with sensual teasers and then made their comebacks with short skirts and push-up bras. Their message was loud and clear: innocence is overrated and sexuality rules the market. Even with their butt shaking and legs spreading, the reception of this in-your-face sexiness seemed mixed. Does wearing revealing clothes and making breathy moans really make one sexy? Have these once innocent girl groups accomplished their goal of being sexy icons? Two brave Soompi writers will tackle this subject, offering their different (or maybe not so different) perspectives. The thoughtful and articulate Hazelnutthursdays will start things off with her female perspective, and then the funny and koala-fighting Lordbordem will offer his male perspective. After reading their thoughts on the matter, tell us if you disagree or agree with one or both of them. - The Female Perspective by Hazelnutthursdays I think it comes in every woman’s life when she realizes—and insists that she is no longer a girl. She becomes aware of her sensuality, sheds a bit of her innocence, and learns wiles to entice the opposite gender. It’s a fact of life. I don’t know what’s in the water, but it seems the girl groups that came back in the first month of the year have all rushed into that certain point. A few weeks into January, we got glimpses of girl groups making comebacks with “sexy concepts.†We had Girl’s Day kick it off with “ Something .†Dal Shabet followed with “ B.B.B †(or “ Big Baby Baby .â€) Next would be AOA , with “ Miniskirt ,†which I admit was the one that surprised me the most. Finally we have Rainbow Blaxx with “ Cha Cha .†Notice I put “sexy concepts†in quotes, because the question was posed to us—Are these sexy concepts actually sexy? My quick answer is no. But, but, but, you say. They’re pulling their skirts to reveal upper thighs (Girls’ Day). The look like they’re touching their crotches (Dal Shabet). They’re shaking their butts to the camera (AOA). They’re licking cream off their fingers (Rainbow Blaxx). Sexiness is not about the suggestiveness of naughty things or revealing more flesh or being overtly sexual. Those things are a part, but not all there is to being sexy. Sexiness, for me, is an attractiveness that takes not only the suggestive displays of physical attributes, but also charisma. All these have to be taken together. To be truly sexy, there has to be a certain classy quality to it, too. It means, they don’t come off as simply naughty or dirty. It’s being engaging and magnetic, and a pleasure to watch. Girl’s Day is close to approaching what I consider a good sexy concept. I like what they did with the long skirt with a slit—I think this probably has shades of influence from the classic Latin dance, the tango, and it would’ve been more pulled together if there were none of the shots of them dancing against mirrors. I think Lee Hyori does sexy concepts really well, and I would like to cite her “ Miss Korea †as an example from more recent releases. “ Hush †from miss A is also in my book. Ga In and generally the Brown Eyed Girls ’ work are other examples. These are what I consider sexy. I am also conscious that my views may run towards the more conservative side because of my gender. I’m also curious what you think, dear Soompi readers – do you think these recent girl group releases are actually sexy? - The Male Perspective by Lordbordem This is a rather interesting question and I suspect it is going to get a lot of mixed responses. As a fine(?) male specimen of the human race, do I consider recent concepts from AOA, Girl’s Day, Rainbow Blaxx and Dal Shabet to be sexy according to my definition? The short answer is no and the longer answer is noooooo. An actual long answer is that some of these concepts are straddling a fine line between being sexy and being artistically lewd. I guess finding the right middle ground is always going to be tough. In this highly competitive industry, the temptation will always be there to lean towards the extreme. In my eyes, what I actually believe to be sexy is a touch of seductiveness, a hint of suggestiveness, and a sprinkling of charm. Unfortunately, in more recent months, it seems like the trend is to pour in a whole bottle of seductiveness and then just sort of forget about everything else. This lack of finesse and subtlety is one of the biggest issues I have with these new concepts. It’s pretty much become a battle of who can have the more attention grabbing concept. As a guy, I can sort of understand why it happens. We live in an era where we have a lot of things to pay attention to, but not enough time to cover it all. In that regard, one thing these new concepts does brilliantly is to capture a lot of initial attention. Items like AOA’s skirt zipper dance and Girl’s Day’s cat dance, and others are so provocative that it’s hard to ignore on first sight. But that doesn’t mean it’s sexy; it’s just gratuitous and instinctive attraction to a series of visual and audio cues designed to get the testosterone flowing. Sexy is something I believe should have more complexity to it, something that also gets the imagination going and doesn’t have to resort to increasing provocative gestures. The industry has shown that they are more than capable of producing great sexy concepts with plenty of fineness. Park Ji Yoon , IU , miss A and After School have demonstrated this perfectly well in recent times. At the very least if we’re going to be obscenely provocative, being completely self aware about it, such as with Lee Hyori ’s last album and Gary ’s recent album, makes the whole experience much more palatable. What they need to do is to break away from this ugly cycle of one-upmanship. 2014 is going to be a very interesting year for girl groups. According to these writers, it seems that the key to sexiness is to have both seduction and charm, and it looks like this new trend is lacking in the charm. Although they offered their perspective from opposite genders, they agree that the current trend is not as sexy as the girl groups intended it to be. Do you agree? Have the writers been successful in representing the general public, or do they you think are out of touch on how other people feel? Share your thoughts below. Are these “sexy†girl groups, actually sexy? Cr: Soompi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NappeunGZB 3,075 Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Completely random but, her lip gloss in the first pic is perfection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junkrat 5,683 Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 they need a body like this to be sexy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eescorpius 5,300 Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 I think Lee Hyori does sexy concepts really well, and I would like to cite her “Miss Korea†as an example from more recent releases. “Hush†from miss A is also in my book. Ga In and generally the Brown Eyed Girls’ work are other examples. These are what I consider sexy. This is my point of view too to be honest... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
denizen mars 5,911 Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 As if 'sexy' is an objective qualifier. What's more important is that these concepts all appeal to straight male sexuality in some way. If you find it distasteful or not is a matter of personal opinion, but it is what it is. Why are people still writing about what the 'right' way to do 'sexy' is? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
✴✧SeoulYoon✧✴ 6,513 Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Girls Day - quite sexy imo Rainbow Blaxx - imo they didn't quite pull off the sexiness. I don't feel the sexiness from them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abra 40,910 Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 I don’t know what’s in the water, but it seems the girl groups that came back in the first month of the year have all rushed into that certain point. But GsD, AoA and Dal Shabet have all done 'sexy' before... On the topic at hand: GsD's and AoA's choreos were just awkward. BBB was sexy, despite not having a 'in your face' choreo or showing much skin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmn 2,622 Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 lol, it's got absolutely nothing to do with being sexy. It is ONLY about being controversial in order to get attention. (as in media and people in general start talking about nugu's outfits/choreography, opposed to nobody caring about nugu) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJJ 2,139 Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 I agree about the classy thing but they should have mentioned Sistar if they are talking about classy sexy. This is why I always say Sistar's sexy concept is different than the most recent ones. It is not in your face type of sexy. The recent sexy concepts don't annoy me though but I agree they aren't considered classy at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoddessNikesButtLover 575 Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 I find Gain not sexy lol Girl's Day is sexy yes Kinda neutral about Miss A they need a body like this to be sexy And also sex tape Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darius 8,485 Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 I've been saying that for the longest time. However, it should also be noted that most if not all of these so-called sexy concepts are not actually attempting to be sexy but simply provocative to rile people up for attention. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Your Juan and only 5,432 Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Hush falls into the same sexy as GsD, AOA, Dal Shabet and Rainbow Black though why use that as an example. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night_D 537 Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 they need a body like this to be sexy Like this: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikiangel 938 Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 One word -Sunmi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
versace 9,204 Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 I agree about the classy thing but they should have mentioned Sistar if they are talking about classy sexy. This is why I always say Sistar's sexy concept is different than the most recent ones. It is not in your face type of sexy. The recent sexy concepts don't annoy me though but I agree they aren't considered classy at all. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAA Sistar girls have been shaking their butts since the beginning of the career ) dont forget about So Cool(butts) GNAAL(More butts) MaBoy(Skimpy clothes) One Way Love (Crab dance?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJJ 2,139 Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 HAHAHAHAHAHAHAA Sistar girls have been shaking their butts since the beginning of the career ) dont forget about So Cool(butts) GNAAL(More butts) MaBoy(Skimpy clothes) One Way Love (Crab dance?) Those aren't in your face concepts and I consider them to still be classy. If you look at Sistar's concepts and MVs and then at recent concepts from other groups you will see an extreme difference. Sistar never crawled around on the floor or etc (not saying it is a bad thing to do that). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
versace 9,204 Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Those aren't in your face concepts and I consider them to still be classy. If you look at Sistar's concepts and MVs and then at recent concepts from other groups you will see an extreme difference. Sistar never crawled around on the floor or etc (not saying it is a bad thing to do that). but they were lying on the led floor in the Alone MV The banging bodies of the Sistar girls can also be a reason why they dont need to hump things 24/7 since most of the other "sexy" girls dont really have the same assets as sistar does, they have to rely on other methods of expressing their sex appeal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJJ 2,139 Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 but they were lying on the led floor in the Alone MV The banging bodies of the Sistar girls can also be a reason why they dont need to hump things 24/7 since most of the other "sexy" girls dont really have the same assets as sistar does, they have to rely on other methods of expressing their sex appeal You know what I'm talking about when I say crawling on the floor. It's just that some people have a certain charisma in the way they carry themselves that can determine if they come off classy or not. It's about the choreo, the outfits, the way the choreo is executed, etc. I don't think AOA or GsD or etc are trashy but since they are all pretty much doing the same thing in the same way (they all pretty much dance in the same style with the same type of outfits) they aren't really able to be set apart from the cluster of 'sexy concepts'. Sistar on the other hand has been set apart from that for a while now. They have their own style. Alone can't be duplicated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seulo 4,828 Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 These editors & I share the same POV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
denizen mars 5,911 Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Sistar on the other hand has been set apart from that for a while now. They have their own style. Alone can't be duplicated. Brave Bros himself appears to disagree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
as-nana-playboyz 12 Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 miss A, 9MUSES, BEG, After School are the queens of the sexy concept Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJJ 2,139 Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Brave Bros himself appears to disagree. He can disagree all he wants, it won't change reality. Most people from what I've noticed both in Korea and internationally are tired of the Alone imitations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
denizen mars 5,911 Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 He can disagree all he wants, it won't change reality. Most people from what I've noticed both in Korea and internationally are tired of the Alone imitations. I wasn't aware that a group that had absolutely no involvement in the composition, choreography, or filmmaking of the release had any claim to it as their own original work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJJ 2,139 Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 I wasn't aware that a group that had absolutely no involvement in the composition, choreography, or filmmaking of the release had any claim to it as their own original work. ? It's not about that, it's about what the group makes of the concepts they are given. Alone was SISTAR's breakthrough. I'm not saying groups are trying to be SISTAR or that other groups are terrible or etc. That's not true either. I'm saying Brave Bros isn't being smart by trying to give that to all the other groups as well. You trying to deny SISTAR's impact on the entire 'sexy concept' is just ???? they did influence it (otherwise people wouldn't think they could duplicate the success Alone received). But that doesn't mean I'm saying other groups are trying to be them. I'm saying, the original article mentioned classy sexy. SISTAR is the leading classy sexy girl group, and not just because of Alone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kpoposaurus 252 Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 overly pretentious imo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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