My favorite rookie group of the year is back with "Piano Man."�In my last review of their debut album 'Hello', I wondered how MAMAMOO would advance into the K-Pop world considering that they made quite a memorable entrance into the industry with an awesome song and MV chock full of big name features. The girls are definitely back with the fun and power, but does this comeback stack up to the debut? Is this a step up or a step down for our talented foursome?
The song is definitely catchy. Aside from the rather abrupt ending, I enjoyed every moment of it. The chorus was already echoing in my head after the first listen thanks to Solar's powerful vocals giving life to her lines. Moonstar's, "To the right, to the right, to the right; the left, to the left, to the left," were also fun and daring my tapping feet to comply, and then Wha Sa's voice and intro was like caramel melting in my ears.�This might be the best song released in 2014.
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Watching their comeback live performance, I was in love with the dance as well. Just like with their debut song, they kept it entertaining by pretending to play the piano and dashing here and there across the stage. That being said, this is an MV review, and unfortunately, as much as I enjoyed the song and performance, I thought the MV itself fell a little flat, especially when compared to that of "Mr. Ambiguous".
Now before you protest that the comparison is unnecessary, I must argue that I think it is. "Mr. Ambiguous" was an obvious introduction piece. The MV acquainted the viewers with the members, with their preparation process, and with the people who believe in them. Although I thought it was an endearing MV, unfortunately, it wasn't necessarily a big hit. MAMAMOO is thus re-introducing themselves with "Piano Man." With Wha Sa crooning from the very get-go, "Are you ready for some action? Are you ready for perfection?" the group makes the bold suggestion that what they have in store is going to pretty mind-blowing. Then comes the intro cuts, complete with names and MV roles. Later the girls even say, "We'll introduce ourselves. We are MAMAMOO." Basically, this is a song and MV that's blatantly meant to showcase the girls to the public once again, this time in hopes that viewers will be wowed and remember who they are.
The song is an ear worm for those who give it a chance, but the MV fails to impress and the fault lies entirely in the visual presentation. While "Mr. Ambiguous" featured vibrant outfits, the cutest mustache rings ever, and awesome editing, working well between moments of black and white and moments of color, "Piano Man" didn't have as much worth looking at, even with B1A4's Gongchan looking like a stud. The girls did their best working it to their song in their solo shots, especially Moonstar sliding across the bar, but aside from their golden outfits, nothing about their look or fashion stood out. Maybe if the MV featured more dance shots than solo shots, I would have been more entertained, as these girls are great at dancing with a sense of humor. But left alone, the MV as it is doesn't have much replay value for me.�
Even during the my first time watching the MV, I felt slightly distracted by the horrible editing of the colors.�As much as I thought the concept of having the girls in color against a black and white background was cute, as it shows that the girls bring life to their otherwise monotonous surroundings, I felt secondhand embarrassment being able to clearly see the uneven border between color and black and white around their bodies. The company has definitely done better with editing colors before, so I'm baffled that the job was done poorly this time. One could argue that this might've been done on purpose to match an old-fashioned lounge setting atmosphere, but the result looks more sloppy than it does vintage. Not even that but there was also a lipsync lag at the 1:15 mark--which editor failed to catch that?! The result is that the MV looks as if it was done on a lower budget, which is not something that will impress viewers.
MAMAMOO's re-introduction to the public is thus not as great as the first. With no wow factor, I had no reason to ogle at the MV as I did with "Mr. Ambiguous." To answer the question I posed earlier--this is neither a step up nor a step down for MAMAMOO. With an awesome song yet a lackluster MV, MAMAMOO will probably stand in the same place where they deserve mainstream attention but probably won't receive it. Then again, I could be wrong. Hopefully, the public will give the song a chance even with the slightly boring presentation because the girls do have a lot to offer--it just isn't shown in this MV.
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