Confusing Yet Catchy: Welcome to Momoland's "Jjan Koong Kwang!"

We've discussed Momoland's history as Duble Kick's girl group from the MNET survival show "Finding Momoland" as well as their simple yet quirky image and concept for their debut music video "Jjan! Koong! Kwang!" Today, let's talk about how Momoland's song and choreography are consistent with the girls' image and lead them to their future concepts.

Musically, "Jjan! Koong! Kwang!" starts off with a certain kind of cosmic swell. I found their intro more fitting for a group like WJSN/Cosmic Girls due to that namesake, but I think Momoland is doing a fine job of adopting that outlandish sound for themselves. Usually when groups try to imitate a certain feel for their music, they end up sounding too much like other groups. However, the drip drop effects following the intro and staying consistent throughout the song add to Momoland's out-of-this-world-and-into-a-new-land image.

The song stays pretty consistent with the bright, fun, and energetic concept, but the transitions into slower parts of the song give listeners a glimpse into the future musical possibilities with this group. Personally, I find these interjections of ballad-y parts in bright songs even more confusing and out of place than rap parts. Clearly, Duble Kick wants to showcase Momoland's musical scope, so the ballad-y interjections are understandable. It also helps that the backtrack stays consistently poppy for both the ballad-y parts and the energetic parts of the song.

The choreography for this song kind of took me by surprise. For such a fun, bright, and energetic song, there are quite a few sensual points in the choreography. The sensual moves, like the shimmy previously seen in AOA's "Miniskirt," are juxtaposed in Momoland's "Jjan! Koong! Kwang!" by the fun 'applying makeup' move and the gwiyomi-esque point-choreography in the chorus. Duble Kick is once again emphasizing Momoland's possibility in versatility through subtle teasers of future concepts for this group.

Overall, both the song and choreography are showing different sides of Momoland, but through the consistent backtracking and choreography themes, they're able to showcase Momoland's bright and quirky image in a catchy and addictive manner. 

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Momoland's "Jjan! Koong! Kwang!" Music Video: A Simple Yet Bright and Quirky Debut

Momoland's debut music video "Jjan! Koong! Kwang!" displays the image that "Finding Momoland" winners Hyebin, Nancy, Nayoon, Ahin, Yeonwoo, and Jane portray the best.

The music video is kept simple and clean with a white background but avoids staleness through the brightly accented furniture and props. This set up would be somewhat predictable and too focused on solid colors, but the curious patterns on the girls outfits actually adorn the setting as well as the girls. These outfits, as well as the shift from the choreography room scenes to the optical illusion room scenes, establish the more quirky and fun side of this music video in subtle ways.

We've talked about the dangers of being either too strict with a concept or too indecisive on a concept during music videos because of the way those images impact the artists and the audience. Groups with a very specific image and concept (like APink and GFriend) have a hard time branching out into other genres of music in the future because of their image. Groups with no set image (like WJSN and DIA) have a hard time maintaining fans that only liked them for having a specific image.

In Momoland's music video, the girls' outdoor campfire scenes stray from their "simply quirky" image. These scenes happen in the more down-tempo parts of the songs, so the change in scenery is a bit understandable. These scenes aren't too distracting from the overall concept of the music video, and I imagine Duble Kick used these scenes as an opportunity to show off the girls' more feminine sides along with their fun and bright sides. Momoland's concept is set up pretty clearly but gives them enough room to shift in the same way that Oh My Girl transitioned from "Cupid" to "Closer."

Overall, Momoland's debut music video for "Jjan! Koong! Kwang!" showcases their image as a "simply quirky" girl group with lady-like aspects. This simple yet quirky image seems to be the trend lately, especially with girl groups like Red Velvet and I.O.I., so the real concern for Momoland, from here on out, is to see whether they can keep that image or just be overshadowed by other more popular groups with the same image.

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Finding Momoland: Produce 101's Distant Relative

Momoland, a girl group formed out of yet another survival show, debuted with "JJan! Koong! Kwang!" on November 9, 2016.

After the success of Sixteen and Produce 101, MNET created another girl group survival show called "Finding Momoland." This show involved less girls than Produce 101 and had a format similar to JYP's Sixteen.

MNET has been milking Produce 101 hype for good reason. However, the growing amount of kpop groups debuting from survival shows is enough to overdo it. MNET has also made a boy version of Produce 101 called Boys 24 where 50 boys competed and were placed in different units based on their popularity and skill. The problem with Boys 24 is its inability to gain public favor.

Produce 101 grabbed much of the public's attention because of the massive amount of girls involved as well as the novelty of making a survival show with trainees from different agencies. Boys 24, one of the first attempts to remake that popularity, didn't receive as much popularity as anticipated. "Finding Momoland," another attempt at remaking that popularity, has achieved more recognition.

The girls who debuted from "Finding Momoland" into the official girl group Momoland were able to gain enough fans from their survival show to have a decent amount of views on their debut music video as well as pretty loud fanchants during their debut stage.

In my eyes, Momoland is to I.O.I. as F(x) is to Girl's Generation. They're going to be remembered as something akin to a little sister group, but they're not going to have the same impact that their older sister had because of the timing issue. "Finding Momoland" occurred right after Produce 101 and I.O.I. had already won over the nation's hearts, so they will only have enough popularity to attract mania fans, fans who know them through their show, or fans who know them because they know of MNET's survival shows.

Moving forward, I think the way for Momoland to maintain a permanent position in the public's hearts is to take advantage of I.O.I's approaching disbandment and try to attract the fans of Produce 101 into their own fandom. Their debut concept is strong enough for them to keep their fans around and possibly attract new ones, so hopefully they solidify their image in the upcoming months.

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MV Analysis: The East Light's "Holla," A Kudos to the Middle Schooler's First-Love

On Monday, I briefly teased the idea that The East Light and Medialine Entertainment were aiming to be South Korea's Jonas Brothers. This idea came about because of the decisions they made for their debut music video.

One of the most eye-catching parts of this music video is Medialine's Entertainment's choice of wigs for these boys (13 year old Nick Jonas much?). I was so confused about this during my first watch. I wasn't sure what wearing the curly hair and beanie combo would add to the video, but after a few more watches, I realized how much the video as a whole reminded me of all the boy groups I used to love in middle school.

Jonas Brothers appealed to their first audience through their fun music video with snippets of scenes from their song lyrics as well as different shots from them playing instruments in their garage. The East Light has a similar approach and is using this music video as a way to reach out to a specific type of audience.

With the "Holla" music video, the boys are making a hot mess of their parents garage, jamming out to their instruments, and being all-around playful. Although their outfit choices are distracting and a bit strange, what with the tan jumpsuits and curly hair wig and beanie combos, they're just fun and weird enough for middle schoolers, and fans their age, to become fans over. They even shift their outfits to straight blonde hair wigs and hawaiian shirts (which definitely reminded me of Year 3000) to further emphasize that fun, crazy, ridiculous youthfulness.

Rather than taking NCT Dream's approach with "Chewing Gum" and making the boys seem too boyish or too cute for their own age, Medialine Entertainment took the ridiculous and rebellious "boys will be boys" approach and making them seem more approachable for their audience. The song also does a good job of showcasing their talents as well as their childishness, but I'll speak more on that on Friday.

Let me know, through Twitter or through the Disqus comments down below, what you think about The East Light's debut MV "Holla." Are you also getting Jonas Brothers vibes? Do you think this is an appropriate concept for such a young group?

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This Week's Nugu: The East Light, or "South Korea's Jonas Brothers"

This week, we're going to talk about rookies The East Light. 

Medialine Entertainment just debuted this 5 member boy group/boy band with the song "Holla" on November 2nd, 2016. 

Medialine Entertainment hasn't had much success with idol groups in general. They planned to debut a girl group called Viva Girls but couldn't because of financial issues. Their last semi-relevant boy group, N-Train, reached some recognition with their debut "One Last Cry" in 2011, but were eventually out-competed by other groups. 

With The East Light, it seems that Medialine Entertainment is giving their all in developing these young boys' talents first. Unlike focusing on dance or choreography too much, the 5 boys have focused more on playing instruments and singing. Vocalists Lee Eun Sung and Jung Sa Kang have showcased their vocal abilities through different song covers on The East Light's main YouTube channel. Guitarist Kim Jun Wook, Bassist Lee Seung Hyun, and Drummer Lee Seok Cheol have also shown their skills with their respective instruments as well as their growth through different practice play videos.

Up until their debut, the boys have participated in music festivals, commercials, and television shows, and have used their YouTube channel to showcase these events in their pre-debut lives. I think using YouTube, and involving the boys in small entertainment roles before their debut, is both smart and necessary for a group/band like The East Light since according to Music Bank, the average age of this group is 15 years old. Young idol debuts are definitely the trend nowadays. Earlier this year, NCT Dream debuted with a young innocent boy concept with their youngest member, Zhou Chen Le, born in 2001. It will be interesting to see if this young boy trend will continue in KPop or reach some sort of limit where child labor laws will have to be re-evaluated.

Overall, The East Light's history before their debut has been one of showcasing their talents and their growth as vocalists and musicians, so I'm honestly a bit taken aback by how their debut with "Holla" makes them look and sound like South Korea's version of the Jonas Brothers. I can't tell if that association will make them more of a pop group than a rock group, or what kind of audience it could appeal to, but we will discuss more of that on Wednesday. For now though, let me know, through Twitter or in the Disqus comments below, what you have heard about The East Light before their debut and what you think about Medialine Entertainment's approach to exposing this new idol group.

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