G.NA's new MV for "G.NA's Secret" (or "Pretty Lingerie") is just chock full of hilarious, majorly awkward scenes that are impossible to not snort loudly at. I'm just itching to discuss this video and pick it apart so here's a forewarning: This review is blunt like Kim Gu Ra. Excuse me while I throw the formalities out the window. Okay, I'm back. Let's get to it!
In the video, G.NA has inevitably fallen head-over-heels for a man she just saw get out of his car. And thus begins G.NA's perilous journey to finding the perfect pair of undies at a lingerie boutique where she is greeted by the creepiest lingerie boutique owner in the world. Her trek was all in vain because guess what? She buys not underwear, but a yellow dress.Girl, you want to please the man you just saw through the window with some lingerie but you buy a dress instead? Um….I am a bit confused.
Also, since the literal translation of the Korean title is "Pretty Lingerie," I was expecting to see Miss Choi G.NA prance around in pretty lingerie (and get to admire G.NA's flat abs and her toned thighs and wonder if there is a way for me to get toned thighs like that without exerting myself too much). That's what the title implies. But what do I get instead? I get Kim Min Gyoacting like a byuntae (or pervert) as he peeps through the cracks of the dressing room doors for a gander at G.NA while she's changing (his eyeballs almost pop out of his face). G.NA catches him in his criminally offensive act, but instead of being horrified, she only seems mildly startled. Then she walks out all la-dee-da giggling with her girlfriends, completely unaware that she was sexually assaulted. One thing is for certain. If that were me in the dressing room and I discovered a perverted man peeping at me, I would not nonchalantly walk out. I would kick him in his face with my high-heeled shoe and scream "Byuntae alert!"
The concept of the video leads me to my next point. The video appears cute and innocent but the topic of the video and song, if you think twice about it, is quite mature. The lyrics in the beginning explicitly state, "At the lingerie boutique across the street / Should I buy this or not? / Several times I pick it up and put it down / I become embarrassed." The subtle (or not-so-subtle?) lyrics reveal the daunting ordeal of shopping for underwear all women must go through one point in their lives to look sexier for their man, who—let's be real here—won't even notice. Maybe the director/producer of the video assumed the Korean FCC would declare buying underwear to please a man an unsuitable theme for all the tweens that watch. Hence, they sublimated the "offensive" theme with a scene that doesn't involve buying any underwear even though…you know…the song is called "Pretty Lingerie" and the lyrics speak of "wanting to get more dirty" (it could be me just over-analyzing again).
I am aware that the song overall is about making over yourself so you look prettier for your guy and purchasing the perfect pair of lingerie is a part of that overall objective. Then my question becomes, why just emphasize the lingerie part with the song title but don't even show G.NA actually purchasing lingerie at a lingerie boutique? Why did G.NA try on thathorrid, pink, leopard-print underwear when she wasn't even going to buy it? The video should have instead shown G.NA visiting beauty parlors such as hair salons, nail shops, spas, etc. etc., in order to make herself over to impress the man she fell in love with in a span of two seconds. That would have fit the lyrics a whole lot better, which, by the way, only mentions undergarments in the first two lines. The rest of the lyrics are as awkward and haphazardly put together as the music video. For example, the lyrics start off all nice and G-rated with lines such as "I must have fallen in that corny, predictable thing called love / I keep wondering. I want to look prettier to you." And then suddenly, just as you are fooled into believing this is a harmless song about love without any hint of libido, the lyrics turn full-blown PG-13 (the blasphemy!) with, "I want to turn dirtier."
The song itself, a bubblegum-pop song with a simple piano laced melody and ever-so-faint trumpet, is not a song I would put on my playlist. It's too…pop-y for my taste. I've never been a big fan of bubblegum pop or grown women acting too cute for their age. I'm disappointed; G.NA is twenty-six. She's better than this, G.NA should ask her management company to stop trying to package her into this unbearable, at times befuddling, "cute" image that only works for little kids. Her talent seems to be wasted on such efforts. I got nothing against you G.NA, but please give me more sassy songs like "2Hot" or "Bananas."
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