Greatest Hits:: miss A: Hush

I don't actually know much about this group other than they're a JYP group and some very general details. I think one of their songs was covered on a survival show I've seen, which doesn't help. (This is also proof of the random wheel generator because if I was going to go with a second gen girl group, I'd have gone with After School or ChoColat or SNSD. I like my Pledis groups, SNSD is legendary, and I'm just a huge fan of ChoColat and they deserved more). So let's go back to 2013 and take a look at Hush, shall we?

Hush was the second track for this album and only has two writers to it. Personally, I prefer fewer writers on songs because it helps keep the songs clean without being pulled in a thousand different directions and lets the song not have too many cooks in the kitchen. But, on the other hand, a lot of them allow more checks on the song and can help to compensate for any weaknesses using the hive mind. Anyway, one of them is Min Yeonjae (lyricist and composer), writer of such songs as MAMAMOO's debut song, Back Hug by Sechskies, Shadow by Taemin (one of my favorite songs by him), and Come and Get Me by Sistar. The other one is E-Tribe (solo composer), who wrote for Girls' Generation, LOONA, Super Junior, MBLAQ, Dalshabet, and Se7en. It hit number 5 on the Gaon Chart in South Korea and number 4 on the US K-Pop Billboard Chart, so that's impressive. What's also impressive is that Hush got miss A their last three wins on music shows.

• Group: miss A
• Debut Date: 2010 July 01
• Company: JYP Entertainment
• Status: Disbanded (2017 December 27)
• Album: Hush
• Song: Hush
• Release Date: 2013 November 06

The introduction is the least viewed part of the entire music video, which I think is a shame because of the amount of worldbuilding that's going on in the first twenty-two seconds. But it's also understandable because the song itself doesn't start for twenty-five seconds. 

All four members are introduced in ruins. A ruined shower block, perhaps at a gym or a dorm. A flooded apartment or kitchen with evidence of some fire. A derelict train car. An abandoned store with mannequins and one of the members posing as one. Those four locations are the locations where the music video takes place. It's the expressionless close-ups that give the song that special little oomph, especially there at the end when their faces transition into each other. 

But let's be real here. This song is so incredibly catchy, even when it would have been so easy for it to tip over into too much repetition, and part of that is the choreography. There isn't a dance practice, so we can't end this post on that. That also means we're going to have to talk about the choreography in the stages, which is fine, but a lot of the reason for why this song avoids the repetition trap is due to the fact that it has constantly changing choreography. It's the perfect balance. It really is. Provides strong repetition and stability without being too rigid and while promoting flexibility.

And the ad-libs! They're so brief, but they inject so much into the song, especially since they punch up and out from the rest of the melody.

2011 was back in the day when promotions went on for a while. This is from Show! Music Core roughly a month after the song was released, which may make this one of their last shows. I'm starting off with this one because I like the individuality of the costumes here. They're kind of paired up, with Min and Jia paired up and Fei and Suzy paired up. Both Min and Jia have long sleeves, just the wine-colored hot pants that I doubt actually are leather but look it, and no stockings. Fei and Suzy have bare shoulders, sort of a mulberry skirt over the wine-colored hot pants, and black stockings. But then, within those two duos, there are little individualities that make each stage costume distinct. Of course, all four of them also have face cards that don't decline, so the combination makes the entire stage very visually appealing. 

The reason I had to look up specifically who was who is because Jia has this interesting little hop where she pulls herself up using the bar and runs in mid-air at the "Hurry, hurry, boy" line. And I wanted to know who she was so I could point that out specifically for doing something that reminds me of Mickey Mousing (which is a phrase for when what is going on in the song matches the movements of what's going on on-screen). It's kind of the exact opposite given that Mickey Mousing is visual first, then music, and I'd be willing to bet that this was music first, then visual, but it's the same concept in a different order.

The camerawork also helped out with that. The use of the zooms on specific emphasized words and the drums makes the performance feel so incredibly dynamic. Very well-done there. I'm less pleased with some of the camera angles, due to the fact that Suzy was still fairly young (though admittedly an adult) and with her especially she had some low angles where you could see her safety shorts. She's not the only one with the low angled shots, but that one was particularly unnecessary. 

Again, this is from later in their promotional cycle (this time from MCountdown), and we've got a lot of individualistic bits to the stage costumes. These remind me a bit of something out of Pretty Woman, which makes me laugh a little and I'm pretty sure that's just a my brain being weird thing, but they look comfortable to wear.

And this song came in third that week for MCountdown, which is really cool. 

And, something that I wanted to verify with two different stages, these sound neither like the studio recording nor like each other. In fact there's a very distinct difference between what is backing track and what is live vocals. The vibrato is fighting this song because they don't really get notes long enough to let the vibrato out, but just that conflict when you can hear it, which goes throughout a lot of the performance, proves the live vocals. 

2013 MBC Gayo Daejeon! I knew I'd find this performed at an end of year awards show somewhere.

Really leaning into the sexy ballad potential of the opening showed off those vocals incredibly. I mean, the entire time we've got such good vocals going on, just a tiny bit of husky voices from a couple of them, but with the concept for this stage, it completely works. And good heavens, that fan chant is loud. There's one fan that I can hear perfectly clearly and I worry for her throat the next day. I know it's been, you know, twelve years. But I feel like the concern is sill valid.

This is one heck of a stage. It's got drama and sass and the cool detachment of the original has been fully shed in favor of table dancing and a full party. Also, the most viewed part of the video features Suzy, but I'd like to point out the dancer to her right during that part. Starting at 2:16, she falls into the arms of several dancers and the one on the right is mouthing the words along with her. It's just delightful.

(I actually kind of like this stage better than the original...What? Who said that? Definitely not me.)

Okay. I found a performance (from 2016 JYP Nation) that was not what I was expecting to find. There have been tens of covers of this song since it was released by other idols and groups, but this one is part cover and part collaboration, because while it does include two of the miss A members (Min and Fei), it also includes Jo Kwon of 2AM and BamBam of GOT7, their labelmates and two of the biggest male divas to come out of JYPE, said with all the love and affection I can possibly possess.

This is an incredible performance of this song because Jo Kwon and BamBam match the energy so well. I'm a bit surprised that Jo Kwon was not in his heels, but considering he is taller than both of the miss A members already, I understand why he is not. It's kind of awesome that he does all of that so incredibly well, and then does a pull-up, and holds it, while singing. That's possibly one of the most impressive things I've seen in a hot minute.

And BamBam? Mmm, girl! Slay! I know he's a dude, but that performance inspires that part of my soul to fountain forth in response to it. His hip work for this stage is a work of art. And he gets the running part! His floorwork is really good too. He really did such a good job with respectful hands to the sunbaenims.

Hush easily ranks among one of the most iconic songs released by a K-Pop artist. Eleven years after it was released, it's still one that fans and non-fans alike return to, and fans of new groups should know.

In miss A's discography, there are few songs that stand out like Hush does. Not only is it a return to the brash and bold sound of their rookie days, but that chorus is incredibly catchy. The entire song is and manages to get away with repetitive lyrics that from a different group would have turned the song into an aggravating nightmare, but from miss A? Nah, this group has the gravitas and voices to pull it off. There's a hypnotic touch to the song that lulls you in to forgetting how repetitive the lyrics actually are. Which, realistically, they are. But this thing comes together so well that it ultimately doesn't matter. Just about every time the lyrics repeat, the harmonies change a little, which creates the most intriguing sense of textures to the song. And it's incredible.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this particular post and would like me to cover another specific song, feel free to leave a comment or drop something in The Form for me. I'd love to see what you come up with.

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