Greatest Hits:: EXID: Up & Down

 I was actually really excited to get this suggestion via The Form, because this song has apparently been sitting in my Junk Drawer for ages, which means that I get to clean out the playlist a little. That feels a little illegal, but who cares? Thank you, dear suggester, for giving me an excellent excuse to move a song out of that unwieldy playlist. They also directed me towards a fan cam from Music Bank for this song and mentioned that it was the reason they got into the group at all, so I'm excited to see what this fan-inducing fan cam was. You can get some incredible shots on fan cams, and I love them because they're usually the raw audio that's been unaltered by the program or agency to make the groups sound better.

So, EXID is a 2012 group, which I'm very delighted for obvious reasons. They sit between B.A.P and NU'EST in age, being a February debut as well as my apparently preferred debut year of 2012. I like this. I also really like their logo because unless you actively look at it, you're just going to see a pair of circles, as I did originally. Up & Down also gets to have the distinction of being the first win the group got! Which is interesting and I didn't realize it until I started writing this, but n.SSign just got their first win as well close to this group's first win anniversary. So the timing is great, and again, thank you to whoever submitted it. Perfect sense of timing. Up & Down eventually got three wins from the music shows, but all of them about three months after this song was actually released, which makes that fan cam the equivalent of a Hail Mary pass. Whoever you are who recorded this, thank you for that as well. This song turned ten last year. Produced by the late and great Shinsadong Tiger, this song and that fan cam completely reversed the trajectory the group was going, which makes me smile for the 2012 group that had a total change of fortune late in the game and with disbandment breathing down their necks. 

• Group: EXID
• Debut Date: 2012 February 16
• Company: Yedang Entertainment
• Status: Hiatus
• Album: UP & DOWN
• Song: Up & Down
• Release Date: 2014 August 28

This music video is in the "weird" category, which is one of the funnier things about this whole thing. I think this music video is a model assembly demonstration. The members spend almost the entire music video in half with various doll parts scattered around. And that intro? That is one way to make a mermaid. Everything is in half. Them. The fruits. The doll. The fish. Everything is just in half. I was absolutely not expecting the limbs all over the place, nor was I expecting there to be a doll head in the avocado. And the funny thing, right, is that I've seen the intro before in a YouTube compilation of K-Pop's weirdest music videos. I just apparently didn't remember which song that intro belonged to. I think my favorite part of it is the second-long shot of the two playing cards, with the queen on top. 

It's not a subtle music video. 

But it is awesome.

And oh, good land is this a catchy song. Good news, I'm unlikely to forget what up and down are in Korean. Bad news, I now have to go through life with this available for my brain to scream at me at the most inopportune moments. I'll be at work and suddenly start "위아래"ing. I'll be driving and start "위아래"ing. Grocery store? Movie theater? Another group's concert? These moments are all now at risk of being consumed by the "위아래". It's hardly an appropriate song to be thinking about at all moments of the day (case in point, I was watching TV while I was doing this, got distracted and started "위아래"ing), but that is what my life is now.

I imagine I'm not the only person to now discover this and be left going "Yup. This is my life now."

But can I also just say how much I love the saxophone? It's so much fun. No, but seriously, this is so catchy.

And now, obviously, it's time for The Fan Cam, which also means an opportunity for the vocals. I don't typically do a fan came this early, but this is a special case. If you're under the age of fourteen, I can't stop you from doing anything. But also, the choreography is...suggestive. If you've seen the music video, then you know what the fan cam shows, but it's just that all the way through. So, while it's not necessarily something I'd let someone under the age of fourteen watch (my rule of thumb is "Would I show my grandmother?"), you do you. If you choose not to though, that's okay! Or if you do, that's also fine! I'm not in charge of y'all. 

I can definitely see why this went viral. Holy hell in a handbasket. The coolest part of this is that whoever filmed this clearly started off focused on, I think her name is LE, but within seconds of the song starting, switched over to Hani. Do I blame them? Absolutely not. First of all, her facial expressions are incredible. Challenging and sultry, and boy howdy, she's impressive. You'll also likely spend a lot of time staring at her legs, and I absolutely love that she's got some defined muscle. But even with that obvious sexiness, she's still got cute moments where she waves and tosses hearts to the audience. It's pretty cool duality.

Also, someone has a live mic and an incredible set of pipes on her. Which honestly is one of the points of a fan cam. 

A music video for the Japanese version happened, which is kind of funny. And it's very weird as well, but a different kind of weird. 

There's also a Chinese version, courtesy of their company's deal with a Chinese company to help promotions. This is an incredible amount of variety. I just want you all to know that.

Here's a stage from Music Bank, not where they got any of their wins, but it was at a Music Bank that the fan cam was recorded, which is why I'm sharing this one, even if it was from the later set of promotions. Also, their costuming is incredible. I really like the look of what their stylists put them in for this stage.

I'm also going to include the eye contact version of the choreography video. There's a sexy version, that I'm going to drop the link for as well, but the eye contact version is impressive enough.

So, now that this song is going to be stuck in my head from now until the end of time, this is Fangirl signing off! As a treat, I'm going to include BTS dancing to this song because apparently a lot of people migrated over to the music video because of them. It's mostly Jimin and J-Hope being dorks, and I love that for them. Thank you once more for the submission! I'm off to go have it in my dreams for the next two months.