Greatest Hits:: PIXY: Let Me Know

 So with the month halfway over, I'm enjoying the rhythm and tempo of the sequential songs, because I think that this is a good order. How have y'all been finding this month's theme? Enjoying the songs so far? Finding any new ones you haven't heard before? Figured out what the theme is yet? I know you can't see my face right now, but I've got a delightful villainous eyebrow waggle going on.

PIXY debuted in 2021 under Happy Tribe Entertainment as a six-member group. I'm pretty sure that this is one of the many, many, many amazingly talented groups that suffered from being at a small company and never quite managing to get a lot of traction. This song is not one of the ones I have saved in various playlists, but I have it on good authority that it fits the theme for the month, and I hope by the end of this, it gets onto some playlists for y'all as well. I'm going to call this group disbanded only because the company went bankrupt and we haven't heard a final status, but it's a tentative disbandment status I'm giving it because I'll yank it to inactive if I hear a whisper that could justify that. 

Let Me Know is the title track of their first mini album, Fairy forest : Bravery, released in 2021. We have three songwriters that did both lyricism and composing: Kevin Dae (JO1, Kep1er, Yuta, KickFlip, Wanna One, INI, CRAXY, The KingDom, TIOT, young posse, Kim Jaejoong, 8TURN, TAN, IDID, YUHZ, Jo Kwon), Lee Joohyung (NCT, Red Velvet, Girls' Generation, Taeyeon, EXO, TWICE, Bus, BOYNEXTDOORKARA, GOT the beat, OONA, Eric Nam, Oh My Girl, MIXX, TOMORROW X TOGETHER, Super Junior, Ladies Code, Pristin, The Boyz, fromis_9, tripleS, ONF, SM the Ballad, SHINee, Yim Siwan, KARA, Stellar, ALICE, ASTRO, Stellar, Apink, Weeekly, YooA, INFINITE, CSR, KickFlip, Victon, TVXQ!, S.E.S, Rainbow, 2PM, B1A4, Onestar, Bumzu, BOYFRIEND, BEAST, 9Muses, BTOB, APRIL, W3WAY, Lovelyz, and Melody Day), and Jo Youngbae (NiziU, CRAXY, INI, AWU, W3WAY, Hyunsik, and BOYFRIEND).

• Group: PIXY
• Debut Date: 2021 February 24
• Company: Happy Tribe Entertainment
• Status: Disbanded (2025)
• Album: Fairy forest : Bravery
• Song: Let Me Know
• Release Date: 2021 May 20

Ah, a spooky group. You know I love a spooky concept, especially one with a lot of storyline. This actually would have gone well with a possible spooky October theme that I'm considering, but if the songs I'm already familiar with are any indication, I can always do another of their songs later for that.

I do have one thing that I want to say about the costuming first, and it's a huge thank you to the stylists, because it looks like the members who have costumes with bare knees also got knee pads of some sort. Considering how much of the choreography has them on their knees in various instances, I deeply appreciate that small protection for them. 

You know how there are just some colors that have their combination associations? Orange and black are Halloween colors, but so are purple and orange. It can't be any shade of purple though; it has to be that fluorescent, slightly putrescent purple coupled with pumpkin orange. There's also the venomous shade of green, that my mother hates, that you can pair up with black, purple, or orange to also get a call to Halloween. But the color combinations are all slightly different flavors of Halloween and the spooky season. In the case of this music video, what we're looking at is purple and black, which is a Halloween color combination, but it's specifically the witchy subgenre. 

Which is funny, because it's a combination of a pair of colors that, on their own, are associated with death and royalty and says something about the power levels associated with those women. But unfortunately, I'm not here to write a thesis on the problem of women in power in the cultural zeitgeist, which as a phrase is a bit redundant, but I'm not writing that thesis, so I'm not going to worry about it. But please know that it exists in my soul (it can join the analysis on rejection of the artificial in Everybody by SHINee)

Look at the two main colors that the members are wearing throughout almost the entire music video: purple and black. In fact, there's an entire costume set that is purple and black and that's the one that the members spend the most time in. I think they're got slightly more of a fairy concept than a witch concept judging solely by the name of the group and the prevalence of wings in this music video, and the fact that their debut song was actually called "Wings", but clearly "witch energy" is important here.

There's also a strong sense of dualism going on in this music video, because as much as we have a lot of darkness both in the sets and in the costuming, there is some almost blindingly light to go with it. But Lola's is the most interesting. She's got crystals dripping around that are aggressively sparkly in the light, but she's at the center of it in darkness. Even the shade of her lipstick is almost vampirically dark. I'd actually be really interested to see what Lola's role is over the course of their lore, because I'd be willing to bet that she goes a bit vampy if this is any indication (red and black is the vampire subgenre, and even her black hair is tipped in red, and her red lipstick has black at the center). 

And then right after that Satbyeol is all brightness and smiles, and she reminds me of one of my dormmates in college, but more sinister, and I can't decide if that's an accidental montage effect of having her follow Lola like that or if it's a deliberate one. Also, kudos to the editor for having her disappear behind whatever that is with the line about disappearing. 

And then there's Dia. Dia feels like the main character of this music video for a number of reasons. First of all, the choreography starts with her being lifted up by the others in almost a sacrificial similitude, which is interesting enough on its own and also goes back to the strong witch energy this music video is laced with. She's got two-toned hair in black and gray, which puts her in between light and dark. She's got a Doberman, which is a guard dog, and is also two-toned. Then, in an incredibly stunning visual shot and well done to everyone involved with it, because she's the center following the wonderfully unsettling bridge with its restrained power, she's the one with the flaming wings behind her. Then because of the heavy numbers of butterflies and moths throughout the whole thing, sometimes very thickly included and sometimes only as a singular entity, we can include the idea that there is some sort of a metamorphosis happening. So, whatever they did to Dia at the start of the choreography, because she's the one attached to the wings later, she's the one who went through a great change. What sort of change? I don't know because that seems lore specific and I don't know all of their lore. 

But just look at that thumbnail. That's literally what I am talking about.

And my favorite element of the song itself (which is stunning and dramatic enough that the music video is an excellent supplement to it), is the slight body roll inherent in the movement of the melody. It's a strong, evocative element that will settle into your body if you let it. It also reminds me a lot of Problem by Natalia Kills, which I only know because of Pitch Perfect 2. I had to look up that song for this because I had no idea what it was called, but it's specifically the "Tattooed knuckles on my thigh, boy, boy, boy" part.   

Starting off, as I like to do, with Music Bank, because they have the names with the lyrics, I decided not to do that this time. Instead, I went for the other program that gives us names with the lyrics: MCountdown, solely because I love these outfits. They remind me of low budget 1980s mermaid-themed science fiction, and I adore that beyond all reason and comprehension. With her red hair, Dajeong looks a little bit like Ariel from The Little Mermaid. But the science fiction version.

Also, the way her thigh muscles flex at 2:13 is fantastic. As is the way you can see the definition in Ella's thighs at 2:35 as she's getting up. Regardless of whether or not this is live singing (it sounds like it could be, but every time I get a look at their throats, I'm not seeing the tension and movement that I normally see when we get live vocals), they're still doing some ridiculously difficult choreography that involves a lot of level changes and requires a lot of power and control in their legs.

Satbyeong has the same kind of voice as Moonbyul, and we love Alto representation in this blog. Just take a minute to enjoy her part at 1:35 and also at 2:17 and 2:55.

And the visual look of Ella during the bridge at 2:45, with her in the silver and teal while sitting on the backup dancers in black is just stunning.

This performance on Simply K-Pop CON-TOUR (which is one of the few remaining places for rookie and smaller groups to perform on official and fairly large platforms) (both descriptions applying to a group that was three months old at this point) is interesting for a couple of reasons. First, they're in the purple and black from the music video, which is my favorite of their music video costumes.

If the costumes from the previous stage reminded me of science fiction mermaids, then Satbyeol's jacket here fully embraces that. If you've ever read the book The Rainbow Fish, that's exactly what her jacket reminds me of. She glitters under the stage lights the entire time, and I am here for that. But I also love how this looks once the confetti goes off and they're all kind of glittering purple. 

I have to give a specific shout-out to the professionalism of the maknae, Dajeong in this stage. The black leather harness can't withstand the ferocity of the choreography and breaks. I'm not sure exactly when something malfunctions, but at 1:48 as they start getting into their new positions, she's readjusting her hair to cover the harness, and then you get a very good look at the broken harness starting at her part in 2:07. I wish Arirang K-Pop had given us all the fancams, but it could be that they didn't include hers because you can see when that part of the costume breaks on her fancam, so they didn't upload it. 

This one is supposed to be a fully live performance. Hence the name: it's KPOP LIVE. I like that it starts with them out of breath and monitoring the performance. I like that it shows the effort.

It's also amusing because this shows off how much taller Lola is than everyone else. And the background is purple.

Lola has a puff into the mic at 3:06 that caught my attention. Dajeong has a weird air thing as well at 3:46, where it's not quite a puff into a mic, but it definitely doesn't sound studio. And at 4:03, it sounds like Dia might be a bit out of breath. Fully understandably. At 4:57, we've got some puffs as well. At 2:11, it sounds like Dia might be a little bit ahead of the track.

Ella seriously carries that bridge like she's part of Bridge Four. She wasn't very well lit here for that part, but that's okay. But I think you can hear the exact moment that it stops being live vocals and becomes the backtrack and that's clever, actually. Start listening at 4:44. She only actually holds that note for a single beat and then it's backtrack. That's brilliant because it takes some of the strain off her but lets the listener still get a held note.

I was debating about whether or not to include this, when I was looking through the performances, but there are some cute little moments that I thought needed to be pointed out that you will only see with a fancam and won't see with the professional camera people.

And shout out to the man who shouted out "PIXY best choreography" because that was fantastic. I don't know if this is the best choreography they've got, but this is pretty dang good. 

First of all, Dia directing the others and then carefully laying down on their feet was adorable. She's also the one to trigger the music if you noticed her little hand wave.

Second, I need more women in suit pants, and along those same lines, Satbyeol has some gorgeous hips on her. 

Fourth, at 2:24, I do not remember if the choreography is supposed to be synchronized here or not, because I've been focusing on other things until I can get to the dance practice, but that's very much not. It makes for a very human performance. However, there's also a tiny mistake there. At 2:27, that is a missed hand. She recovers quickly and fixes it with a very small shift, but it's cute. 

Relay Dance!

You can see the bruises and the marks on their knees so clearly from this position and this close. 

I just really like relay dances, because you can occasionally get a lot of really funny moments from them. PIXY doesn't give us a lot, which I'm not going to mark against them because they're three months after debut and it's the very rare group that is already willing to toss their idol image out the window to play aggressively, but during Ella's bridge part, they're clearly the most relaxed because there are smiles and a little bit of play. Also, if you're looking to learn the dance, this is probably one of the best ways to do that. 

Props to the choreographer for giving everyone in the group a spot to shine. The good news about this choreography is that skirts would be very difficult to wear and not flash literally everyone, safety shorts or not. 

Sorry, that was my anti-skirt agenda coming out. 

So one of the criticisms that I often see leveled at choreography where there's a member who's almost always hidden from view behind another member during the choreography, is that it, you know, hides a member. This choreography uses that same kind of formation to conceal what's going on behind the members in front and also to let members pop into view. 2:45 is one of those spots, but it's also the bridge and it's visually so satisfying. 

I really like the spot at :39, especially during some of the above stages, because the cameras tend to be angled from above down onto the performance and we get a look at what it looks like, which is something that I think is supposed to be flower-like, but it reminds me of a sea anemone. It's incredibly flowy, and their legs remind me of tentacles rather than petals. 

There's a bit of a cascade effect at 1:10, which is one of my favorite moves to see.

But the flow from Lola to Satbyeol to Dia is incredible. That stretch starting at 1:29 is gorgeous, but considering how fast Dia's part is, having the choreoraphy be that fast ups the difficulty so high. Dia's pretty impressive. 

I love the choreography at the very end. It's very big, very powerful, and the perfect way to end the song on a bang rather than a whimper.

Thanks for reading, everyone! I hope you enjoyed the song! I enjoyed getting to know the song like this because there are so many interesting details that I almost wish I could write a couple of papers on this one. Alas. You all have to deal with this micro version of what it could be.

Still! If you've got a song you'd like me to cover, feel free to drop a comment or you can always hand it to me via The Form. I'd love to see where your thoughts are. I was not expecting the song I got a couple of days ago, nor was I expecting the one you're going to be getting next month. 

Thanks for reading!

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