sk 파이브돌스(男女共學子團)迷你首專點評 [Review] ‘Charming Five Dolls’ by 5Dolls @ ☭ marselip0910 叶俊华™

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by Rowdyruff on February 21, 2011

5Dolls, the four girls from the mixed group Co-Ed School and a newly added member, have recently debuted with their first mini album, titled “Charming Five Dolls.” 5Dolls is comprised of members Chanmi, Eun Gyo (the newbie), Hyewon, Hyoyoung, and Soomi.
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Track List:
01 너 말이야 (It’s You)
02 입술자국 (Lip Stains)
03 쭈르르르르 (Zurururu)
04 잘났어 (Good For You)
05 거기 잠깐 (Wait Right There)

Depending on your prior experience with Co-Ed’s music, the word ‘charming’ may or may not come as an eyebrow-raising way to describe any forthcoming material from this group.

As all debuts in K-pop go, there was a lot of hype behind Co-Ed before their first single saw the light of day. They were pre-dubbed to be a one of a kind group made up of both genders, who were supposedly extremely talented idols who would follow (or rival?) their seniors with music of epic proportions. That was the basic gist of their hype.

And then they released “Too Late” – the song that made it a point to never buy into hype. In hindsight, it really had nothing to do with the members of Co-Ed, because their primary purpose is to sell whatever songs their agency decides to plop in front of them, but it was more about the quality of their material.

Co-Ed have been in the K-pop music scene for about two seconds, but already their content has lacked substance, artistry, and hasn’t helped them stand out as a pop group in an overly saturated pop industry. Unless, of course, you consider their headache-inducing material unique, in that it’s probably the most over processed music available on the Korean market.

However, and this goes back to the onus not falling entirely on Co-Ed: there is some talent and hidden potential buried deep in the recesses of Co-Ed’s schoolbags. All it takes is the right people who know what they’re doing to assemble the right songs for any pop group to ’succeed’ in K-pop’s music industry ( see “I Love You A Thousand Times“). Core Contents Media just doesn’t have it quite right yet.

Where things get tricky with Co-Ed is the simple fact that they’re a mixed group. Their producers have to keep in mind that they can’t go too feminine or too masculine for the sake of keeping each gender sane and cooperative.

Which brings us to 5Dolls.
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With this sub-unit, their producers have the leeway to explore and give these girls whatever female sound they want them to be known for. That kind of artistic liberty is a privilege in K-pop, and in a way, gives these ladies a second chance to say: “Hey, let’s just pretend our rocky debut never happened.”

“Charming Five Dolls” kind of accomplishes that, but in the same breath, it kind of doesn’t.

On the up side, it isn’t the worst thing ever. The album opens with “It’s You“, the song I first thought was some kind of homage to a woman named Maria or something. The beat is really infectious and for the most part, the processing on the girls’ voices isn’t too brutal.

Right off the bat, “It’s You” establishes a couple of things:
1) Chanmi will forever be the foundation of this group’s vocal competency – she has been from day one – and as long as the other members are made to sound decent enough at her side on the recording, there’s nothing wrong with having her be the voice to rule them all.

2) Their style. It is obviously different from Co-Ed, and that’s how it should be. The point of a sub-unit is to experience enough of a musical departure from the group’s main sound that it feels like a new and refreshing thing altogether. This song pretty much accomplishes that, and because the production is actually better than expected, it makes 5Dolls sound good.

“It’s You” is girly without completely crossing the line into ‘cute’ and ‘innocent’ territory. They’re not the type to pull it off anyway, so it’s a relief that at least someone on their team can figure that much out.

Where this album falters is in the overall originality and freshness of the delivery. It just isn’t there, and one prominent reason is the presence of Brave Brothers on one of the two lead singles: “Lip Stains.”

Not only has the Brave Sound become overly predictable, but because their productions are so repetitive in K-pop, in a way, it has hindered Korean pop music from progressing like all pop music does over a period of time. Instead, you get songs like “Lip Stains” that sounds just like SISTAR’s “How Dare You” and piles of even more Brave-produced pop songs that remain indistinguishable from one another.

As producers, they are a great force and their material speaks for itself. They just need to hold back from ambushing every single idol with the exact same pop formula. What works for one group won’t necessarily work for another, and that’s what Brave Brothers fail to understand.

With or without Brave Brothers though, this album is unfortunately still not special enough to vouch for, at least not when you can pick out two or three other girl groups who churn out the exact same kind of music.

“Zurururu” sounds like anything T-ara would have released before they crashed and burned last year; although, they are under the same label, so that’s expected. The rap breaks and vocal processing in “Good For You” are too reminiscent of 4Minute, and unless auto-tune is tastefully done, it should never be applied to anyone singing who hasn’t proven they can sing without it. It is safe to say that if they had toned down the abundance of vocal distortions, this song would actually sound so, so, so much better (Zurururu, Good For You).
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If anything, Chanmi and her backup singers – er, the rest of the dolls – have released music far stronger and sensible than they did under Co-Ed, but the reality is that they still have a really long journey ahead of them to even step outside of the box. Nothing presented through this debut mini album shows musical innovation, progression, or creativity.

There are some pretty melodies sprinkled throughout this EP, but it takes something more than one brilliant singer and one guilty pleasure to elevate “Charming Five Dolls” above the fold and higher than other girl groups that have so been there and done that.
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Overall Rating: 3.0/5
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What are your thoughts on the album?
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5dolls makes their debut on M! Countdown

by Casper on February 17, 2011

With new member Seo Eun Gyo in tow, Co-Ed’s new female sub-group, 5dolls, made their official bow on stage through Mnet’s M! Countdown on February 17th.

The girls have certainly attracted a lot of attention ahead of their comeback after Jay Park starred in two of their music videos, but now it’s time for the girls to do it on their own stage.

And in what seems to be a norm these days, the girls will be promoting double title tracks, ‘I Mean You‘ and ‘Lip Stains,’ which combine a strong guitar sound, addictive bass, and synth by Jo Young Su, as well as a strong beat, heavy drums, and electric piano sounds from Brave Brothers.

Check out their performances below!

男女共學不平坦的路，5dolls的負面爭論

男女共學從出道開始就有著這樣那樣的負面新聞，可惜的是子組合5dolls也沒能避免這種情況…

首先是假唱的懷疑，有人提出除了燦美外，其他成員活動時都是假唱。並且表示從男女共學時期開始演唱的部分就都集中於燦美的身上，引發了爭議。對此隊長秀美出面解釋說：“我們在舞臺上很努力，聽到假唱的懷疑真的令人很傷心。너 말이야是比Bbiribbom Bberibbom和Too Late都更強烈的歌曲，歌曲本身就很困難。特別是還有複雜的舞蹈，脖子後仰抬頭的同時要消化副歌部分的高音，確實很難。”

“說實話激烈的編舞加上高音，就很難保持漂亮的表情。如果是對口型的話，我們就可以輕鬆地配合歌曲展現漂亮的表情了，但是比起表情唱歌還是最優先的。所以畫面雖然不是很漂亮，我們也盡全力唱歌了。為了展示更好的面貌，我們還會通宵練習，連續3天都熬夜。現在我的嗓子也啞著。希望人們能認識到我們真的是努力地在唱live。”但是沒過幾天又有了5dolls抄襲照片概念的責難。有人提出5dolls封面照片是抄襲了After School、Wonder Girls、miss A等組合的概念。

有網友表示5dolls封面照片的概念、服裝和造型是其他女生組合的拼湊，給出了這樣的評價。