When I Go to the Club...

I want to hear those club classics. I'm sorry for the misleading title. I'm not talking about Charli XCX's Brat (though I should in the future). I'm a K-pop listener, and I've tried to avoid talking about K-pop here since it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I can't help but talk about a recent release that's been my latest obssesion. On August 30, girl group Le Sserafim had a comeback with their fourth mini album, CRAZY. I briefly wanted to discuss some songs on the album and why I'm so obessed.

Le Sserafim's comeback was anticipated with bated breath after their most recent title track, "Easy," was received with mixed reviews. This is especially after an underwhelming Day 1 Coachella performance, where the group was scolded for using a loud of a backing track. In contrast, the livestreamed version of the performance had a quiet backtrack, and the result was Le Sserafim being dragged for lackluster and poor vocal performances, particarlarly members Sakura, Kazuha, and Eunchae. Fans wondered how the group would respond after the waves of hate following their Coachella performance, and what they did was go CRAZY. The album reinfornces Le Sserafim's key themes, which are being yourself, being confident, and doing what you love.

I'd first like to talk about the title track, "CRAZY." I had been looking forward to this song the moment that it was revealed it would be a house anthem. I've been going through a Brat phase, so I was prepping myself for a Le Sserafim club banger. And they did not dissapoint. The song's got all the fixings of a club song: a heavy beat, catchy hook, and short runtime, clocking in at 2 minutes and 45 seconds. I'm usually not happy about short song lengths (check out my first post about the TikTokification of pop music), but here it feels fitting. With everything being repetitive, the song would drag on. Repetitive isn't a bad thing, though. The main lines from the chorus, "All the girls are girling girling" and "Act like an angel and dress like crazy" are going to be stuck in my head for weeks. What the song lacks in substance is camp. The lyrics are fun and a little goofy, and even better is the music video. They take elements from house ballroom culture in the choreography by incorporating vogueing, and the video features dancers from the Iconic House of Juicy Couture, who are black LGBTQ artists. Le Sserafim dipped their toes into camp with "CRAZY," and from the reception, it seems to have worked in their favor.

The next song I want to talk about is "Pierrot." It samples (and is possibly a remake of) "Pierrot Laughs at Us" by Kim Wan Sun, released in 1990. The song pays homage to influential K-pop artists who came before. I don't even know how to describe this song. I've entitled it "opera trap," something that I'm sure has probably been done in Western rap, but I'm not well-versed in the genre. It has a dark sound and standard trap beat with the girls rap-singing over it with a bratty, almost grating tone. My favorite part is the utter insanity of the chorus with the repetition of the line, "That's my girl. That's my girl, girl," but the last one has an operatic choir delivery. I felt like I was at the circus and at the club. It's complete camp, and I implore you, even if nothing about this album sounds appealing, at least check out "Pierrot."

We end with a treat. Le Sserafim first performed "1-800-hot-n-fun" at Coachella, giving us a preview into the party feel CRAZY would bring. I'm a big fan of this song, not particularly because it's good. You can already tell it's lacking in the lyric department with the chorus, "I like to dance when I party. I like to kiss everybody." The song is in all English, and that can sometimes lead to goofy, cringy English lyrics that can be unappealing, but I think that they can come off as campy and fun as well. The problem is the difference between the Coachella version and released version. The version Le Sserafim performed with the band was more energetic and had the members yelling their spoken lyrics. In contrast, the album version's instrumental has a stellar guitar performance but is less fitting with more composed deliveries from the members. The live performance had more of a club and anthemic feel while the actual version is more dark and muted (if that makes any sense). "1-800-hot-n-fun" is still good, just not my favorite.

I hope you enjoyed this little dive into Le Sserafim's CRAZY. It's noisy, fun, silly, and a little experimental, which is exactly probably how I would describe my music taste. If any of it sounds appealing, consider checking it out. If not, that's okay, too. Either way, I've been Grace, and I'll see you next week!