Greatest Hits:: Apink: Mr. Chu

 I was originally planning to do something out of my 1300+ song playlist for this one, so I popped into my Junk Drawer playlist (AKA the playlist that has a lot of interesting things in it, but that I'm not quite sure where to put yet and most of which I haven't listened to) to reset that playlist. This was the song that played. I thought to myself "Huh. That would be an interesting choice next anyway, because I don't think I've heard it yet. I mostly know of this group because of Dino of Seventeen's love for them." And then I shrugged and followed my original plan. Hilariously, it gave me a Baekho song, but I can't do that one in April because it doesn't turn two until May. So then I said "Well, let's see what the Roulette Wheel I made can give me." That song was also a 2024 song by a group called APEX (I thought I'd misspelled EPEX in the Roulette master list; I did not and will be coming back to this group later) and another one I can't cover for another few months. So then I looked back at Mr. Chu, shrugged again, and accepted that this was the song I was going to do next. Hilariously, like Paper Hearts which I just covered, this also is a 2014 release, though this one came out in March as opposed to July. It's just funny that it worked out like that considering April is my random song month. 

There is some second gen messiness that happened with this group. Okay. If I understand this correctly, Apink originally debuted as a seven-member group in 2011 under A Cube Entertainment, which was an independent label under Cube Entertainment (hence the name; kind of like ADOR or BeLift under HYBE). It ended up becoming IST Entertainment. Apink has since left and are now at With Us Entertainment as a five-member group (though they didn't have members leave because of that). I told you. There was some messiness going on there. I'm glad the group has survived it though and made it to their fifteenth anniversary, which they will be celebrating in two weeks. So this is actually pretty well-timed. Well done, randomness. I'm going to say that their company was A Cube Entertainment because that's who they were under when this song came out, but I hope you see my conundrum.

Mr. Chu (On Stage) is the second track on their fourth mini album, Pink Blossom, released in 2014. It got wins on five of the six music shows (Show Champion, MCountdown, Music Bank, Show! Music Core, and Inkigayo), earning a total of six wins. It peaked at number 2 on both the Oricon and Gaon charts. It also won Best Female Dance at the 2014 MMAs, as well as a Bonsang at the 2015 Seoul Music Awards. Promotions for the song were halted due to the Sewol Tragedy and resumed three weeks later in May. The song has a solo lyricist: David Yungin Kim (Miley Cyrus, Ariana Grande, XG, TWICE, Jay Park, Jimin, Vic Mensa, BM, J-Hope, BIBI, JUSTHIS, Samuel, pH-1, Baekhyun, The Boyz, Girl's Day, HELLOVENUS, ZE:A, sokodomo, CLC, Wonder Girls, Boys Republic, Dok2, KARA, 4Minute, MBLAQ, and Melody Day); a lyricist and composer: Duble Sidekick (Sistar, MOMOLAND, JBJ, Girl's Day, GFRIEND, ASTRO, MAMAMOO, NATURE, KARA, Gummy, Ailee, Turbo, CLC, VIVIZ, BAE173, TFN, Psy, Bumkey, Chen, T-ARA, Secret, UKISS, Shannon, I.O.I, LABOUM, Lee Seung Gi, NU'EST (!!!!), BESTie, Jeong Sewoon, MBLAQ, Davichi, 2PM (!!!), SKYE, MAMAMOO, DIA, Uni.T, n.SSign, Kyuhyun, ZE:A, CLC, XIA, Boys Republic, MAP6, SPEED, UNB, F-ve Dolls, VARSITY, B.A.P, K.Will, G.NA, Sunny Girls, D-Crunch, Jewelry, Dalmation, WSG WANNABE, and Nine Girls); and a solo composer: Seion (ITZY, Dreamcatcher, INFINITE, ILLIT, tripleS, Wanna One, JO1, Hyolyn, Highlight, Golden Child, MOMOLAND, Shannon, Kep1er, WJSN, Kyuhyun, Lovelyz, CLC, B1A4, April, and Melody Day).

• Group: Apink
• Debut Date: 2011 April 19
• Company: A Cube Entertainment
• Status: Active
• Album: Pink Blossom
• Song: Mr. Chu (On Stage)
• Release Date: 2014 March 31

I just learned that the fandom name is Pink Pandas, which is just one of the cutest things ever, and their color is strawberry pink.

One of the big things about Apink is that they debuted during a time of the wide-spread Girl Crush concept, spearheaded by 2NE1, one of the biggest girl groups of the second gen line-up, and echoed in groups like Brown Eyed Girls, miss A, 4Minute, and even Girls' Generation and After School on occasion. 

This song is not that. Apink's image in general is not that, though they have also dipped their toes into Girl Crush. Instead, this is a warm, spring-like song, the kind of song that gently opens up like flower buds on an apple tree in mid-spring, which is nice because it's a song about the early moments of falling in love, where it's all butterflies and blushing and the promise of what could happen later. It absolutely wouldn't be out of place in a kdrama like Boys Over Flowers. 

In other words, this is such a cute song that honestly, with the time of year that I'm posting this (and when it was originally released) and the fact that I can look out the window and look at said apple blossoms, I'm glad that it was chosen for now. 

I'd also like you to know that I've been sitting here with this song and I've already starting singing with the chorus unconsciously, very quietly and very much under my breath, but I'm still singing along. So that's where we're at.

The absolute vibrancy of this music video though. You know what's really cool though? Almost every single set they're using uses pink, blue, and yellow. The tennis court has pretty saturated versions while the one with the lockers while they're in the school uniforms is in a pastel arrangement. Then, because we get so much pink and blue normally, the sections where they're actually in the presents, it's almost all yellow to help balance out the overall percentage of the colors that take up the screen. 

Pink is still the dominate color though. As it should be.

I've heard things about the choreography for this song though, and according to some of the comments on the music video, the choreography for this one was something just about every middle school girl (especially) wanted to learn. Which increases my curiosity a lot, you know? We don't get much of it, because it's a lot more focused on presents and confessions. 

As always, I like to start with Music Bank if possible, but this may be before they included the names of the members. 

Also, I like this because it includes Mr. Chu's win.

But for the chart because that's included and I find that fascinating, we have 2NE1, Lim Changjung, Girls' Generation, Baechigi, Busker Busker, Orange Caramel, Soyou x Junggigo, Lee Sunhee, and Park Hyoshin coming in second place with Wild Flower. I'm very excited because most of these names are unfamiliar to me and they've now been made potential for this. 

Anyway, I love their outfits for this. They match with the same basic (red skirt, black socks and heels, white shirts) outfit but slightly different details for each member, and I like that individualistic sameness, if that makes sense. Sometimes I see costuming where it's like "Yes, they're on the same movie set in roughly the same location" and that's fine. It works. But because of the way the choreography functions here, it's a stronger statement to have their costuming be so obviously matching like this, but with smaller individualism. I'm excited to talk about the choreography and why these costumes need to be this way, but that's for the dance practice.

Eunji is also the thumbnail for this performance, and I recognize her name, although I can't place where I know her from. She's got a very cute moment at 2:08 when she's behind the other member, and it's absolutely adorable. It is bothering me a little bit because I recognize her name.

MBLAQ joined the list of top ten on the chart that week, which also made me perk up a little. It's another Music Bank performance, but I think this one may be one of the best stages from their promotions.

The amount of pink in this stage. I believe we saw these outfits in the music video, and even the outfits are flowery here. I do have to say, since we have a little bit of contrast between tighter skirts and looser skirts for this stage, that the looser skirts look so good with the choreography and the amount of spinning that they've got. It feels slightly more individualistic here, but that's fine because do you see how pretty they are? I don't know if they'd gotten a lot of sleep the night before or what but they're practically glowing and it fits so well with the song concept of just pure loveliness. 

I'm holding off on the vocals because I just found out that there's a Killing Voice where they performed this and I have a feeling it may make me cry from how amazing they are (on top of the fact that it's, you know, ten years later and the vocal maturity is going to send me out the front door and bouncing down the street like a meatball (Shel Silverstein reference)). So, I'm looking forward to that.

Occasionally, when we get a camera change, particularly at the beginning of the chorus, there's this cool, little flash effect that's great to see. There are also sparkles and all sorts of effects. It's kind of incredible just on principle.

Holy Moly, do you hear how loud that fanchant is? I think it's absolutely amazing that occasionally when it cuts to the crowd with their light sticks, the fanchant is actually added to the screen. And the members finish the song saying the last bit of the fanchant! Be still, my soul. That's so precious!

This performance is three years later in 2017 for The Show. I don't know why. I don't know what Fan PD is or what their On Stage section is, but it was only uploaded to YouTube a couple of years. So I'm glad to be seeing it.

And those mics are definitely live. Listen to that at :48.  That's new! And at 1:47. And you can hear a definite texture difference at 1:01 as well. But there are also the kind of slight wobbles and instabilities as you'd expect from a live performance, as well as vibrato differences to the studio track, littered throughout the entire song. Like, occasionally someone will hit a note a little louder than the normal volume and it'll stand out very strongly, and the ad-libs specifically are very present. 

I do have to talk about the ad-libs here because the section for Killing Voice is at the beginning, which sadly means no ad-libs. But oh, they're so pretty. Sometimes they function as a harmony, sometimes they're an entirely separate part. But they're really just so pretty that I'm just happily basking in them.

Not that I think the other stages weren't also live, but this one was so obviously live that I had to say something. Not as obviously live as the next one though.

Okay. This is from some K-Pop concert in 2024. I'm not sure. I don't recognize that Korean word.

But this is basically a cappella. You can hear the backtrack technically, but it's so soft that it might as well not even be there.

This song is practically a cappella with a bunch of the choreography, vibrato running rampant, the members saying the fanchant at the end. If I wasn't getting the wobbles that we hear, I'd be suspecting that a different audio track had been layered on during post. Some of them are obviously more stable than the others, but that's fine. Again, that's one of the beautiful things about live performances.

But look at how unbelievably adorable it is at 2:17. The smiles on their faces while play is happening on stage gives me life. 

And now it is time for Killing Voice. Theoretically, that should dump you out to where Mr. Chu starts, but if it doesn't, you're looking for 7:56.

Oh the harmonies. It might just be because I think I'm coming down with something and I'm exhausted, but I had to pause it and have a tear slowly sliding down my face. The harmonies in this song are absolutely transcendent, and even in this short section we get proof of them. I'm a little sad that we didn't get the end with the harmonies.

It's also, as one of my favorite things that I mention regularly, they're doing the choreography in tiny while they're standing there.

Can we take a minute to enjoy the fact that they warm up to what sounds like hip-hop? This song is kind of the exact opposite. And they're just in comfy clothes and bare faces (or minimal makeup), and I will always support the idols in that. Comfy clothes are life.

I say that, but I've been known to sleep in jeans because I think they're super comfortable.

I love this static camera. Look at how pretty this choreography is. They're just constantly flowing their way through the song. Those feet almost never stop flowing. We've also got whack-a-mole moves and cascades, both of which I traditionally love, and continue with that tradition here. I can see why so many girls wanted to know this choreography when it came out. It's beautiful and cute at the same time, which is no mall feat.

I have to give a specific shout-out to Bomi. She's the one in the black with the sweater that's off her shoulders at least half the song. She's living this song like she's never known anything else.

But even when they're doing group, synchronized choreography, they're are tiny individualistic elements like differences in hand positions or foot positions. And I love that, because again, a lot of the stage costumes for the promotional stages are matching sets, but with small differences. 

Surprise! I'm not done with this song!

The beginning of each segment is so ridiculous, but if you wanted the actual choreography in bits, taught to you by the members.

Enjoy. It's adorable. I love this.

For the record, one of those stages saw one of the members with an in-ear out because it was bouncing. If you already noticed it, well done. If you didn't, about two-and-a-half minutes into the actual performance of one of those, you can very clearly see a bouncing in-ear. I smiled because I love how charming that is. 

I'm enjoying the April randomness a lot while I plan out May. It's fun so far. I hope you all are enjoying it as well. If you've got a song you'd like me to cover, drop it in a comment or you can always use The Form. (And if the song happens to be on theme for May, I may include it then; if not, then I'll grow a good spot for it).

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