Battle of the B-Sides:: NewJeans: Super Shy

 Before anyone comes at me with pitchforks and torches and chases me up a rickety windmill before setting fire to it for me to dramatically fall in a blaze of heartrending glory (I've been thinking a lot about the end of Frankenstein 1932 if you cannot tell), I'm labeling this as a b-side because it was a pre-release of an album, not the actual title track. You may also be wondering why, at this point in the year, I'm covering a NewJeans song when according to my own rules, I won't listen to groups if they had too many members debut underage or if they had members debut too young, both of which actually still apply to this group for a few more months but will soon be removed from the U.P list so that I can actually dig into their discography. To which I say, Underage Protocol does not apply to the Greatest Hits or the Battle of the B-Sides. If you're also curious about the timing, it has been almost two years, two very long, stressful years. No matter what I or anyone else personally feels about current events, these posts are for rest and to remind everyone about how good the songs are. And for the Bunny who hoped I'd do this even though I've got my Underage Protocol in place, I've got you. I don't think I've actually heard this song in whole before, only fragmented in shorts on YouTube, but I'm down with this.

Super Shy was released as one of the pre-release singles for their second mini album, Get Up, in 2023, which was less than a year after debut. It was also released shortly before I started listening to K-Pop at all, which is fun. It ended up getting six wins, three of which were a triple crown on Inkigayo. The solo producer for the song was Frankie Scoca, who has only worked with NewJeans on three of the songs from this album and also with V from BTS on Rainy Days from the K-Pop world. Erika de Casier only has songs from this album on her K-Pop credits. Kristine Bogan is the first one to have a wider presence in K-Pop, working on songs for TOMORROW X TOGETHER, NMIXX, EVNNE, WOOAH, Fifty Fifty, and the title track for Monsta X's new album. Gigi has a lot of NewJeans songs, a few V songs, and a Krystal song. Kim Ximya has done work on songs for Beenzino, NCT, Red Velvet, V, SHINee, and Crush. Danielle is the only member of the group to have writing credits, but it's always good to have at least one member of any given group who can contribute to the songwriting, even if they aren't the main writer or producer.

Ooh, it's not often that I get a music video for a b-side. Nice.

I think it's pretty cool that they used Attention at the beginning of the music video. It's a great use of past discography to help kickstart momentum for this song, especially when they didn't have a whole lot in their discography yet because of still being in their first year and whatnot. 

Okay, I'll be the first to admit that there were a couple of points where I laughed. The first time was the little girl with the bubble machine. The second was when the guy was proposing and his hopeful fiancé  abandoned him to go join the group musical number. The third and last was at the very end, when they bow like they're on a theatre stage, and then march awkwardly off. That laugh was loud enough that my dog woke up and stared at me, but he's also a judging butt sometimes (read: almost always) and he hates laughter, especially when he's trying to sleep.

It does cause some problems between the two of us because I like to laugh, but I'm not going to let him yuck my yum just because my dog has been a crotchety old man since he was like six months old. 

The music video is a lot more vibrant than I was expecting it to be. I was expecting pastels, and instead we got vibrant, richly saturated colors in the clothing and in the balloons and just generally in the location (shout-out to Portugal for being so pretty). One of my favorite clothing styles is when you've got a pleated skirt where there is a contrast between the inner and the outer colors, which we get to see in the all-white outfits. The royal blue socks some of them are wearing does a really good job to make them match with everyone else while the white makes them stand out. It's very clever and definitely supports the summer vibes going on, which makes sense considering that this was released in July, which is dead in the middle of summer.

And just from a technical standpoint, the framing on some of those shots are actually regularly seen in horror movies, where you've got the camera focused on one thing which is technically less important than the thing that's going on in the background, but that focus creates a lovely sense of tension. It's that whole "What's going to happen here? What do I need to pay attention to?" problem that this kind of framing creates once people have internalized the genre codes and conventions, which is almost everyone. Hit me up later for my babbling on film genre and the genre film. It's one of my favorite subjects and related to why I consider something being "generic" (meaning: adjective form of genre) to be more of a positive thing. Considering how bright and happy this music video is, it's a fascinating choice to use those shots. I'm kind of curious about the director and what else they've done

There's another point in the music video that has the film nerd in me over the moon because the man with the accordion is playing those notes, I'm pretty sure, which makes the music diegetic. We also get some of that with the dance workout being to Attention and also to Super Shy, but the accordion is a tiny detail to help sell the idea that they're actually listening to the song in real time.

The other thing that's so cool about this music video is that it's a full on musical group number. This is "That's How You Know" from Enchanted or something similar. There are so many of the similar kinds of strokes to it, and a group number from a Disney movie is what this gets the comparison to? That's an immensely high compliment from me. I mean, I love that song in particular. It was one of the first songs I added to playlists back when I first got my Spotify account over a decade ago when I was still in high school. I love that this music video reminds me of that song. 

I will say about just the song itself is that it's incredibly catchy in a cute and sweet way. We've had a couple of either the Greatest Hits or Battle of the B-Sides posts that have been pretty catchy, but none of them have been this cute. It's not quite as energetic as bubblegum pop, but it's still very much like pink cotton candy. Not blue cotton candy. Pink.

Listen to that crowd and the fanchant. Well done, Inkigayo crowd.

One of the strengths of this group is how similar they all sound to each other, which creates a very cohesive sound. It does mean that the fans probably have very good ears to be able to differentiate between the members. It also means it may be a little bit more difficult for someone less familiar with the group to be able to differentiate them.

I can help out a little with that. 

At the end, Danielle's hair gets caught on Hanni's mic. Hanni's surprised little jerk is adorable and is a cute look at the non-stage version of her. I love when we get the little breaks and honest reactions to things.

I'm looking forward to the dance practice if they have one because I'm seeing some things I definitely want to talk about.

They do in fact have a dance practice so look forward to that.

This video is actually a two-song performance from the 2023 Billboard Music Awards, and Super Shy comes up first, so no time stamp is needed. Lovely.

I do need to address the vibe of the very beginning of the video, before Super Shy actually starts, because, given the ages of the members at the time with the youngest being fifteen and only two of them actually being old enough to go into the adult nightlife locales in Las Vegas that the beginning reminds me of, I have to question the performance-planning and decision-making being done by the adults around them. 

But the rest of the performance is fun. 

The stylists also did really well by keeping everyone matching in what's definitely a Cher from Clueless look, and that fits with their whole Y2K aesthetic they've generally got going on. The members and their dancers all have roughly the same style of skirt on, and everyone has at least part of the legs covered by their socks and shoes. Haerin is the only one who does not have the entirety of her calves covered. The dancers have the same fluffy white...I almost want to call them legwarmers, but I'm not positive that that's what they are. For their tops, they've got a little bit more variation, with all of the dancers in either white or black variations of the same top and their hair braided with a ribbon going through it (which stands out well with their dark hair). The members get the most variation and color, as they should since they are the stars here. 

Hanni does that first "You don't even know my name do ya?" and she ends that line with a cheeky little grin to the camera, which definitely made me smile in response. 

Interestingly, while they do the same thing as at the end of the music video (the bow and the march to exit stage right), some of them are still doing the sharper marching from the music video, while others are much more relaxed with it. That's a cool detail to make it a little bit more varied from the music video performance, which also separating it from the comeback stages they'd done. 

Okay, I'm only including this specific video because it popped up first before I realized it was the fancam version (which means a wonderfully static camera to take a look at the choreography, but I'm waiting for the dance practice). There are two things I will say about it. First, other than the all/mostly white outfits from the very beginning, this was my favorite costume from the music video. It reminds me of tennis. Second, at about :19, Danielle does the most perfect ponytail flip and it's so clear here because of the static camera. 10/10. No notes.

Okay, here's the actual performance, and this is why I included the fancam version! You miss the perfect ponytail flip! You would never have known it existed!

Thank you, Music Bank, for releasing both. Also thank you for including the members names with the lyrics. That helps me out tremendously in being able to identify specific things that each of the members do without having to compare it to the lyrics and figure out who is singing what part when.

I think it's really cool that all of the members have white stripes in their hair. It's a fantastic detail, and a lot of the dancers also have a lot of white accessories or accents there as well. It's kind of like a precursor to the Billboard performance that would happen later that year. 

Hanni winks a lot and it's so cute. Hyerin also has her own little wink after her rap section, but I kind of love that she's the one that gets to lead them off the stage. 

There was a point when Haerin was singing, and the look on Minji's face just seemed fond, before she put her attention back to the crowd/the camera. I'm pretty sure she's the oldest, and I think Haerin is the second youngest, so that is one of those moments of the older ones interacting with the younger ones that I'm personally so fond of seeing.

I do also have to shout-out the camera work. There's one angled overhead shot where you still get the members' faces, but you can also see that the choreography formation has formed a star, which is something that you cannot get in a static camera.

Okay, it's time for this choreography because I have been waiting for this. And it's the fixed version, because that's what you'd be able to see if you were actually watching them perform it live.

But the very first thing I need to talk about is something that caught my attention the first time I watched this. When the dancers are moving off to the side at the start of Hyein's rap, they're stomping to the beat. Oh, that's satisfying. There are a couple of other points as well when you can hear the deliberate stomps, but that first spot had me perking up my ears like a hound.

The choreography in general reminds me of a cheer routine. Even in the thumbnail, that's a cross between gymnastics and cheer, which, again, keeps that very bright look to a very bright-sounding song. The waaking is a surprise because that's not a style I would necessarily associate with something that isn't very disco, but this is a clubbing song, albeit a mild one, so it all works out in the end. I did pause it a couple of times during the waaking to take a look at the arm angles, and I like the fact that they weren't all perfectly in sync, even the dancers, because that really helps to support the organic feel of the music video. 

For the Bunny who asked me to do this, thank you for the suggestion. I hope this was what you were looking for, because I enjoyed getting to know a fairly popular song by a group that has been getting a lot of press lately, and not always the kind of press we'd like our groups to be getting. 

For everyone, if you've got a song that you'd like me to do for either a Greatest Hits post or a Battle of the B-Sides like this one (or even a regular review on literally any song), drop a comment, shoot me a message, or give me the fully anonymous submission via The Form.

See you next time!