Greatest Hits:: Girl's Day: Something

 So when I was trying to decide how I was going to honor my boys getting discharged, I decided to give each one of them a song to represent another aspect about them other than just as idols. For Minhyun back in December, it was a NU'EST song he was a lyricist for (thank you Submitter, for tossing that into my lap and helping me decide how I was going to do this). For JR back in March, it was a song for which he learned to play the bass guitar that was in a drama he acted in. For Baekho, I'm going to do a song he has writing credits for (y'all are going to be surprised by what song I pick, but you've got about a year before you get to find out which one it is). For Ren, as soon as I decided it was going to be some sort of a representative song, there was literally only one choice I could do: Something by Girl's Day. For those of you who know, of course I'm going to include that. For those of you who don't, look forward to a very funny comment section. I also decided that since Jeonghan got to be first on my wall of photocards I have up to mark my boys' enlistments since he's older by less than a month, Ren gets his discharge post first because he debuted first. Had Ren been first on the wall, Jeonghan's post would have gone up first.

Girl's Day debuted in 2010 as a five-member group under DreamT Entertainment (which is now defunct, but fun fact: its subsidiary was YMC Entertainment, home of Wanna One and I.O.I). The line-up for this song and for the majority of the group's activities were Sojin, Yura, Mina, and Hyeri. Fun fact about this group, because this is the day for fun facts apparently, is that all four of those members were torchbearers in the 2018 Olympics. So they were kind of a big deal. They're currently considered inactive because even though they left the company and the company became defunct, when they didn't renew their contracts with DreamT, the door was left open. I'm not going to be the one to shut that door because I live in a state of constant, quiet hope for another group, and I'm going to extend that same hope to Girl's Day. (Also, congrats on the wedding, Minah!)

Something is the title track from their mini album GIRL'S DAY EVERYDAY No. 3, released in 2014. It snagged the group six music show wins and four end of year award show wins, making it their most celebrated song. It was written entirely by Duble Sidekick (Sistar, MOMOLAND, JBJ, Apink, 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).

• Group: Girl's Day
• Debut Date: 2010 July 09
• Company: DreamT Entertainment
• Status: Inactive
• Album: EVERYDAY No. 3
• Song: Something
• Release Date: 2014 January 03

That's what we call a thumbnail, everyone.

I highly recommend you listen to this song with headphones because the stereo sound system is in full use for this song with the instrumental at the beginning. I was not expecting that and I'm glad I had my headphones on to watch the music video for the first time I watched this music video. Which was for this. 

There's a comment on the music video that's like "This song is the feeling you get after you shave your legs", and I snapped my fingers, pointed at the screen, and said "Yes. You have summed up this song perfectly." Actually, with that vibe, this song is the perfect pairing to Did I Shave My Legs For This? by Deanna Carter. It's a very different flavor of betrayal, but still a song of betrayal.

My job is honestly done because that description is exactly what this entire song is vibing. This is second generation sultriness at its absolute finest. Gorgeous, classy dresses with slits up the side high enough to stun a man, pumps with heels high enough to kill a man, and floorwork to show off their lithe athleticism.

And it's getting dressed up and glammed up to say "I'm done. If you're not going to notice me when I'm right here, then you're going to notice me when I walk." Those aren't actual lyrics for the song, but that's the vibe.

You might think that they're being dramatic, but the guy is actually a great, big cheater pants. The song opens with "Don't you look into my eyes and lie again/I'm sick of being alone", and I don't know how much clearer it could get that this guy is no good. Other than the music video shows them getting the confirmations that he's a dirty rotten cheater. The video camera and his clothes. The car and the camera. Two of them are definitely getting two-timed by the same man because they're both on the phone talking to each other. And Hyeri (the short blonde hair and the gorgeous legs in the thumbnail) is the one who finds out last with an audio recording based on that cassette tape that she yanks out of the casing. I wince every time she does that because girl, that's evidence. Unless she's planning to take the country music route, in which case, yes, girl, destroy the evidence.

And she has been asking him, and in classic liar fashion, he's been like "No, there's nothing going on" where she says there is something going on. The lyrics say "뻔한 너의 거짓말, 그만 여기까지만/Nothing, it's something/Stop it, no", which according to Color Coded Lyrics translates to "Your obvious lies, it’s over/Nothing, it’s something/Stop it". There's also a line in there about him smelling like a perfume that she doesn't wear (which also reminds me of Giddy On Up by Laura Bell Bundy which again is a companion song to Something and we love supportive girl friends in this house). He has been caught with evidence piling up like dirty laundry (another fabulous country song on the same topic, by the way, that also shares the line about perfume). And the fact that this is part of a long line of songs about finding out about cheaters, from opposite ends of the planet, well, you know, that kind of implies that this is a universal experience. Considering I've never been cheated on, I listen to a lot of country songs about angry women who have been cheated on.

And these women are done. They are so done. So. Done. And what better revenge than to leave the cheater high and dry with a very powerful and sultry image of what he had and lost? This is a whole drama contained in a music video. The only thing missing is the roadtrip with the girls where they find a non-cheating, green flag of a new boyfriend to complete that emotional arc. But this is the first couple of episodes where the women have to deal with the confirmation and the initial emotional reaction before they walk.

While they're in discovery mode, their sleek dresses are in red or black, and matching. Genuinely gorgeous. Then at the end, when they're finally ready to walk, they switch to glittering white dresses. Their emotions are pure and settled here.

And last but not least, I also have to say that I love that when the song kicks in after the phone call, that room is designed to look like a fractured room of eternity. It's an accurate representation for how your world feels after you've had the ground yanked out from under you.

We're starting off with an MCountdown stage (which was the last of their six wins for this song) because I couldn't find a Music Bank stage with the names attached to the lyrics, and my eyebrows raised a little bit because this is the original choreography I think. Or at least it's got the floorwork following the "Drop it" line. 

That light pink with the bright lace in the LED screens behind them looks incredibly stunning, especially with the contrast of the dancers in white.

And this, ladies, gentlemen, and multiforms, has over two million views. The stage. Not the music video. A stage. I've seen music videos with fewer views than that after ten years. I've covered a few of them like that here.

This is going to be the only time I mention it because otherwise I'd be commenting it on practically every video because the details, the costuming, and the camerawork often highlight it. Those dresses do  great job of showing off their thigh muscles. You can just see the lines of the muscle at :47, and a flex from the weight distribution at :54. And at 1:00,  Hyeri's thigh muscle the same specific look that tennis players often get as well, and it always brings me joy because it's a functional strength that has been built there. If I were to think about ranking them, which I don't like to do because then it feels like I'm pitting them against each other and I'm not here for that, Hyeri probably has the best legs in the group at this moment in time which makes sense given the thumbnail of the music video. 

Women in suits and suspenders, everyone! I repeat! Women in suits and suspenders! This one wasn't part of their original promotions and was instead performed at Music Bank in Mexico at the end of the year.

And I had to have the headphones on and the sound turned up, but you can barely hear the fanchant at :24. The fact that you can hear it at all at what essentially amounts to a music festival with a large number of different fandoms (I can see at least four different fandoms judging by the lightsticks.

I just saw something that made me wheeze into laughing. At 2:17, there is a woman who has a B.A.P light stick (the ears and the green are unmistakable, I just don't know what the name of it is) and she is singing along. She's not singing along quite as aggressively as the woman behind her with the Music Bank light stick, but the B.A.B.Y there is clearly singing along.

Something is one of those songs that everyone loved. I don't think this was one of the songs that B.A.P covered, and yet, even the B.A.P (who, how do I put this, is kind of at the exact opposite end of the musical and vibe spectrum from Girl's Day) fans know it and are singing along. 

And Minah at the very end? That run and trill are magnificent.

And speaking of Minah, I found a fantastic stage of her older sister when Lina from Wanna.B performed this on I Can See Your Voice in 2017. 

The audience was shooketh. Shindong was stunned. Roy Kim at :47 literally falls to his knees, mouth open, disbelieving smile slowly growing on his face. Roy Kim might be a Minah fan because when she comes out at 1:50, it reminds me a bit of when KARA's Gyuri surprised TOMORROW X TOGETHER's Soobin, but poor Roy Kim didn't even have a podium to hide behind and just started screaming.

Her voice is so good that I want to add Wanna.B to my upcoming list of artists to cover on here. Which means her voice is so good that I want to give myself more work. And her little bit of a shred to her voice at 1:38 sounds so good.

And then (after apparently lying to her and telling Lina that Girl's Day was having a schedule so she wouldn't be able to come because it was comeback season for them) Minah came out to join her and Lina accidentally proved she was singing live. For that specific part, you'll want 2:27, but Lina's look of surprise with very raised eyebrows after she glanced sideways and saw Minah there is at 2:29, which made me laugh. Then that quick recovery after such a shock was so impressive, especially considering the nerves she had to be under.

But Minah and Lina singing together is a literal marvel. They sound stunning. Fully swoon-worthy. Gorgeous.

Also in 2017, Girl's Day performed this at KCon LA. And since this is a fancam, I'm going to use this as the choreography section because their dance practice is currently unavailable, except as a mirrored dance practice for reference in case you wanted to learn the choreography. Thank you, fan.

I'm in love with the post-chorus at the end though. I'm going to come out and say it. The way that it's their voices echoing through the arena as the audience quiets down and the instrumental quiets is a little bit on the magical side, especially since they're all singing together.

Before I do, look at their legs. Three years have made them even more visibly powerful, which is impressive because of how far the camera is zoomed out, and with the jean shorts and the pumps and the crop tops and the fishnets and the flared jeans, the styling is gorgeous. Gold star. And well done Girl's Day for getting stronger.

Having the choreography let them do snapping with the audience participation snapping was genius on the choreographer's end. That "Drop it" part and the subsequent floor work is just unequivocally sexy, and I didn't realize it for a couple of watch-throughs but there's a little bit of a rotation and swivel with their hips.

The move at 1:01 reminds me of when you pick something up in front of your crush, which is impractical since you're lifting with your back, but it works with the song.

And at Minah's part at 1:20, I love how her choreography is to direct the other three in where to look. Love that.

So, the chorus. It admittedly is a little bit silly, especially since they look a little bit like they've all got neck pain, however, they're also doing the equivalent of when the male idols grab the front of their pants, for balance of course.

Yura has a very cute heart towards the audience at 2:28 (also her vibrato is genuinely quite pretty during that part).

And I haven't mentioned the famed maknae yet because she didn't have any solo lines for the song, which I am a little bit surprised by because she was nineteen when the song was released. Here she's still the odd one out in the flared jeans as opposed to the Daisy Duke shorts of her unnies. But if you watch her perform, she flows across the stage, smiling and graceful and hypnotic. It's the maknae effect, I swear. Maknaes across groups develop a need to prove themselves so that they don't let the elder members down, which is why the maknae is so often the strongest member of a group and regularly an all-rounder. Think about how many groups you know, and then consider the maknaes. And this is a reminder that I always bias the leader, but I also have mad respect for maknaes. Honestly, for the most part, if you want to learn this choreography, watch Hyeri, because she makes it look effortless.

It's time, everyone.

It. Is. Time.

Over nine million views on this stage.

There have been a lot of groups and artists that have covered this song (Jungkook and BamBam brought a lot of people to Girl's Day in particular). But this performance is the reason why you're getting a girl group for Ren's discharge.

For Show! Music Core's 400th episode, Minhyuk from BTOB (1:31), Seungjin from A-JAX (1:39), Hongbin from VIXX (1:57), and Ren from NU'EST (2:14). (I'm pretty sure I'm right, I looked up pictures of the two I'm less familiar with from 2014 and that's the order that the names are given in the introduction, but I could be wrong.) 

Fun fact, that's Ren's real hair with some extensions. Look, the first time I saw his face, it was in the FACE music video with his clipped up blond hair and I genuinely thought he was a girl and that NU'EST was co-ed. The realization that at this performance, that is an eighteen-year-old, who is the youngest of these four by a whole year and the senior because NU'EST debuted before BTOB and VIXX and A-JAX, just brings me so much joy seeing people have the same confused reaction that I did.

But Ren steals the show. Ignoring for a moment how pretty he is (and as one of Pledis's pretty boys along with Jeonghan, he's so pretty it actually gives me chest pains), he throws himself into this performance like that is his song. His dedication to this song and performing it seriously is the reason every time I hear Minah's part at the end, I think about him. His expressions? His gracefulness?

I mean, just watch him at 2:32. He has made it his song so fully that he's not even playing to the camera like Seungjin is. To use current slang, that eighteen-year-old is locked in. He ate and spared no crumbs.

If you want entertainment, go check out the comment section. 

Ren has proven time and time again that he, like Seungkwan and Gikwang and Jongho and Changbin and Key and Heechul, is a girl group dancer in a boy group, and nowhere is it more prominent than here with this cover. Or the way he trips over himself over Lady Gaga songs. But that's a story for another day.

I cannot wait for Ren to get out, and it's so close! It's so soon! Four of my five boys will soon be free again, and I've got less than a year to wait on the fifth. My twin! Welcome back!

I'm also happy that the song itself is so gloriously rich, even if I don't hear about it get mentioned in K-Pop spheres very often anymore. It's a great song, and it's part of a rich tradition of songs by women about cheating significant others, this time showing what the cheater has lost with second generation sultriness. And Girl's Day has an incredible set of vocals across the four of them.

If you've got a song you'd like for me to cover (especially if it's for a discharge, enlistment, or anniversary), do let me know. You can drop it in the comments, you can drop it in The Form, or if you found this on one of the social media sites I post on, send me a message there. These posts give me the most joy to do on principle. 

Thanks for reading!

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