Greatest Hits:: EXID: Hot Pink

 So I handed up Up & Down to the LEGGOs over on Reddit, and one of them gave me a list of (checking my playlist where I keep track of all my suggestions) four more that they really liked. I already did one on Every Night, and I feel bad about taking so long to get through the list. So, before I get to the next one from The Form (which will be by F.T Island, by the way), I'm just going to do one of those suggestions. Love the enthusiasm from that fan, by the way. Way to keep the group love alive. I am all about that. Plus, EXID is one of my 2012 groups that I'm fond of because of their debut year. 2012 was a good year for K-Pop. It hadn't gotten super saturated yet (the uptick in debuts had only happened a few years earlier) and a lot of them ended up being fairly successful, at least for a few years. Some of them, it took a little bit before they hit the successful stage, and this was one of those groups!

Hot Pink did get added to an album later, but it started life as a digital single in late 2015, the first in the post Up & Down fame. So, this song is one of the late and great Shinsadong Tiger's works, which does say a lot for it because he had a lot of hits across groups. What I find interesting about this song is there's an original version and then the song we got for release. I'll bring up the original version later down in the cool bits, so look out for that. There are only a few lines changed, but it's still cool. LE, as expected, did her own rap lines. And, the best part is that Hot Pink managed to snag

• Group: EXID
• Debut Date: 2012 February 16
• Company: Yedang Entertainment
• Status: Hiatus
• Album: Hot Pink
• Song: Hot Pink
• Release Date: 2015 December 11

And so it begins. Okay, everyone. Let's have a party, shall we?

This is another good, strong dance song coming from the group, and I, as is obvious, absolutely love the cowbell. It's one of the first things you hear, so it's the first thing I'm going to talk about. If you listen closely, the cowbell shows up later, which is an absolute delight. Love that. 

You can hear shades of Up & Down in certain parts of the song, and the first time I heard this song, not going to lie, I thought they were actually saying "위 아래" and I had to take a quick dip into the lyrics to make sure I was hearing wrong.  The words are actually "Pink hot" instead. This is good because if you have a song that saves a group, that is popular, you don't immediately pivot from that kind of sound, you know? Versatility is good, but that's something that can be done in b-sides. Viral hit songs need to have the momentum continue for a bit. So this is good. This is smart. I love this.

The other thing is that my brain keeps expecting the song to go "Everybody dance now", and it doesn't, so I'm briefly distracted, but it's also fine because having an association like that is really high praise. And another place where my brain is expecting a different song is every time I hear the words "Hit Me", I think of 2YA2YAO! by Super Junior. I really enjoy it, and it really does cement this song as a party anthem. It also works really well as a workout song, so that got added to that playlist.

But let's talk about this music video, shall we? On first watch, you may be thinking, "Just your normal, sexualized music video." And, to be fair, I also did kind of think that, and I laughed about it, right up until the cops showed up. And then I was laughing for a different reason. That was what we call a plot twist. I love that. I love that so much. The entire thing is pink and almost hyperfeminine, you know? Some of them even have pink hair, which makes sense considering the name of the song. You understand what's going on from the get-go, and it relies on so heavily on the male gaze, or your awareness of the male gaze, to disguise the actual plot of the music video that it ends up being an effective red herring, much like with Ocean's Eleven. Honestly, there are a lot of similarities going on with that, and I deeply love it. 

Okay, you've watched it, right? Because I'm about to go into specifics.

Last chance. Spoilers for the ten year old music video are coming up in 3

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Criminal girl gang (because that's actually important) sells soap (possibly lube) instead of oil. Iconic. If this had come out in the last couple of years rather than almost a full ten (it turns ten this year), this would have gone so viral, it wouldn't even be funny. (I'd still think it was funny, because let's be real, this is an incredibly iconic song. Not even just the music video, but the song itself is so catchy). This is effectively the definition of gatekeep, gaslight, girlboss. Yaaas, queen. Slay. Now that that's out of my system, apologies for that, there's a quote from Morrigan in Dragon Age: Origins that I think particularly applies to this music video because of the heaviness of the male gaze to it: "Men are always willing to believe two things about a woman: one, that she is weak, and two, that she finds him attractive." The entirety of the concept and story of this music hinges on this kind of idea, and feels like a bit of an upgrade from both Every Night and Up & Down. And now, having seen three of these music videos that are all roughly in the same genre, I'm kind of down with this being the group's schtick, you know? 

Okay, now it's time for the extra, fun stuff.

First, as promised, the bit where you can hear the original. I jumped it right to it, but feel free to start at the beginning because the entire thing is less than three minutes long. They're kind of adorable.

I'm also going to drop the making of for the music video. Because I love seeing things like this, and once again, this one is short. Unfortunately, it does require knowledge of Korean that is better than mine. Still, they're all very pretty and their talking voices is fun. Again, this one is short and quick. Also, LE looks like someone... This is going to bother me, but if I remember, I'll add it when I remember.

You know who would do a really good cover of this song? ITZY. Also, imagine for a second the dance challenges. We were a little bit robbed by having this not come out during dance challenge era (thanks, Zico). Interestingly, the comments are turned off, which is annoying for those of us who are me for the purposes of this. But that's also fine. It also starts right off without any sort of a lead-in or set-up. But we do have some cool little effects and camerawork for it, so that's fun.

Y'all. The core-work in this choreo. You need a workout, learn this because yowza. Like, that is so impressive. And I also would like to give a shout-out for that ending pose.

So this is interesting costuming. The female back-up dancers look like they're almost in lingerie, which made me raise my eyebrows a little considering the whole broadcasting thing, while the male back-up dancers are in suits. Then, the members are in black, pleather bodysuits and pink crop tops, which is quite striking, actually. 

So, it's interesting. While I was watching the dance practice, I did wonder about the thumbs at their mouths, but this explains that, and I think it's actually a cool way to incorporate the hand mics. Also, doing that choreo in those heels? Respect. So much respect. They are the chonky heels, and I love them.

And as a very cute note, LE was singing along. That's why she's got a hand mic.

I think I like this set of costuming better. Also, shout out to LE for being absolutely gorgeous and quite sexy. This was a good era for her.

Thanks once again for the suggestion, LEGGO over on Reddit! I'll drop this one off for you there since that's the only place I know I can find you.

If anyone else wants to drop off a song suggestion for me, leave it in a comment or in The Form, if you don't mind! And if you want me to make sure you see it when I get it finished, I need somewhere to leave it or a username to tag somewhere.

Have a lovely time! See y'all soon.