Greatest Hits:: Stellar: Vibrato

 The submitter told me to let you all know that "their company is trash and can burn in a wte plant because then at least they'd be useful but the song itself is fire and i want people to appreciate it. and you can quote me on that if you want". WtE is apparently a waste-to-trash facility, AKA a trash-burning plant. I had to look that up. That's funny, and also I have to compliment the submitter for holding with the metaphor. I don't know if they meant to, but I'm going to believe that they did, in fact, do that on purpose. It's very clever. After digging into the situation a bit (which wasn't hard, by the way, and left me with the idea that a lot of Stellar's fans, on the whole, are really creative with their feelings towards the company), I feel about the same about their former company as I do about TS Entertainment, for two very different reasons, but the outcome is ultimately the same, as is the company defunctness. Thank goodness. So, let's take a look at this fire song, shall we? 

Vibrato is a single-track digital single released in 2015. The only writer listed in Hwang Hyun from MonoTree, who also did one of my favorite Girl's Generation songs (Love Is Bitter), as well as songs for ONF (including my favorite one), Red Velvet, Taemin, f(x), LOONA, Seventeen (including my favorite one here as well), Jonghyun, GFRIEND, IVE, and Ladies Code, but it's surprising how many of my favorite songs by the respective groups (if I've listened to discographies enough to have a definitive favorite) were written by him. 

• Group: Stellar
• Debut Date: 2011
• Company: The Entertainment Pascal
• Status: Disbanded
• Album: Vibrato
• Song: Vibrato
• Release Date: 2015 July 20

You'll notice that that is not the music video (which is 19+). I found it. I watched it. And I'm politely declining to share it because that is what we call gross oversexualization, and given what we have learned since their disbandment, this also proves why I have the two-year rule in place. That being said, the subtlety with this being a music video about a woman losing her virginity was less subtle and more provocative. There's also a not-so subtle commentary on the entertainment industry there at the beginning regarding the male gaze, combined with the lyrics, that feels like it's supposed to be a condemnation, but then they went and did exactly that in the latter half, so I don't know what their actual goal was. Is it the condemnation or the sex that's the focus? 

Honestly, if I didn't know what the company had been doing, I'd love that music video. As uncomfortable as I am about the gross sexualization of the members, the rest of it is genuinely thought-provoking on the whole uncomfortable nature of the female experience. The cactus I thought was particularly condemning. 

I understand why the company did it; desperation led to exploitation and this was the only way the group was getting attention, but that still doesn't make this okay. The only good thing is that all of the members were over twenty. Also, feel free to listen to this because that's a fan upload of the audio. Or you can find the official audio. That's not difficult to find.

The submitting fan was right. The song is fire. If I could get just the instrumental, that would make for such a good cleaning song. There's so much energy here and the brass instruments pop in to just to give the song wonderful little pops of fun and brightness. This is some toe-tapping goodness in a bit of a flirty way, but that's not a bad thing to be. I've done several other songs from about this time period and it's delightful how we can see them being in conversation with each other. Fun, flirty, catchy songs that I could definitely see teenagers singing because they feel grown-up. 

Actually, you know what this song is? It's a festival song. This is the kind of song you'd put in the high energy section of a concert, where sometimes you do choreography and sometimes it's just goofing around with the fans. I can practically see the jumping and hyping at the refrain with "Tell me tell me tell me now". 

I also love what they're doing vocally too, especially in the latter half. Vocals alone should have made them stand out because they're gorgeous. At no point in this song do they ever weaken, and they've all got such lovely vibrato that, divorced from the controversy of the music video and the choreography, it makes this song such a stunning and prime example of that style of second gen music. 

Here's the making of the music video with subtitles, courtesy of a fan sub. The original is a lot easier to find than the actual music video, but also I'd like to support the fans in this. The members also have some very funny moments in that three minute video while simultaneously being kind of adorable. And you, dear reader, get to see a hint of the music video.

I'm sharing this Show Champion stage specifically because I absolutely adore how loud the fans are for this one. I love that. I love that so much because no one knew at that point, so the fans just got to enthusiastically cheer for them. 

This Inkigayo stage, though, I want to talk about it. First of all, I love their costumes in this one. I know a lot of people prefer the costumes for some of their other stages, but this one is sexy without being too revealing. There were some choreography changes, as this is the "censored" version, but it's largely the same and the camera work cuts out a lot of the more provocative angles and movements. Not all of them, but that would completely butcher the core of the choreography. And speaking of core work, this song has a lot going on. But more on that with the choreography video.

During this video, there's a point where there is a list of songs at the bottom. I found the songs and typed up the list but I'm not going to include it because it is straying a little bit. However, if you're wanting to know the contemporary music for Vibrato, then I have that list if you'd like it because music doesn't exist in a vacuum. 

However, I do like dance practices when I can find them, and this has one. As a dance piece, this actually has a lot of cool points to it and a lot of details. Sexual? Yes. But it flows really well, especially with the backup dancers, and it looks like it would be an impressive thigh and workout with the amount of hip rolls and dropping to the floor and getting back up. There's also a lot of tiny, precise jumping, which, again, is going to require a lot of strong thigh muscles, which is absolutely something I want to be seeing as well. The floor work specifically is really impressive because if you look at the foot angles, it looks like the three of them may be fully in sync there. That's impressive.

But! I'm going to send you off with a happy and bright dance practice! Because they had a cute version for the choreography, and I hope I'm not misreading the joy on their faces for this one. And also, because Minhee slips into the original choreography for almost half a second before she corrects herself. And then she just grins at herself. Being able to laugh at mistakes is usually an indication of comfort, and that's honestly what I want to see in the artists: comfort.

Thank you, everyone! I hope you all have a lovely, fantastic time. I do actually really like this song now that I've been introduced to it, I just can't think about it too hard or I get upset at the company on their behalf. Still! I'm glad I found the cute version, because that makes the song a lot more comfortable. 

Thank you to the submitter! I don't know how to make sure this gets to you, but this was a good suggestion. For everyone else, I hope to see more submissions, either in The Form or in a comment somewhere, but more than that, I hope that you enjoyed the song. It's a good song, even if the members didn't get the treatment they should have.