Choreographed Rock Moves

July 22nd, 2009

Scandal++2

I honestly wanted to title this post as “SCANDAL you fucked up” but it felt quite vulgar so resisted. But seriously, they’ve lost the plot. They’ve let image get ahead of what was important, the music.

SCANDAL had a winning formula; four high school girls, chick rockers, a unique sound and the outfit. Their debut mini-album was superb. It laid the foundation or the foundation I loved for their future releases. The chemistry was all there; a unique Indies sound complimented with a quite seductive schoolgirl outfit.

“YAH! YAH! YAH! HELLO SCANDAL” was made out of flimsy cardboard and the cover art was just four cartoon character impersonations of the girls. It held what was needed, the CD and a booklet; nothing fancy or over the top just like their music. But after they went major, the cardboard was immediately switched to plastic and fancy cover art. The image was inevitably their selling point, cute teenage chick rockers wearing schoolgirl outfits.

 

Shoujo S is SCANDAL’s latest single and its PV is well, horrible. It is close to everything that I didn’t want to happen to these talented girls. Firstly, choreographed rock moves, what the fuck is this. If you want to dance and sing at the same time, join Hello! Project or AKB48. Secondly, they have far too much makeup. The only two which look like they have some sort of resemblance of their former selves are Mami and Rina. If they care about their image THAT much then where the hell are their stockings and black shoes? I never knew black boots with colourful laces were part of their image or rather a schoolgirl image. There are so many things wrong in this PV that I really couldn’t care less how the song sounds.

 

DOLL and Sakura Goodbye were acceptable, great in fact. Doll had the proper energy coming out of it, it was not overpowering but it had a distinguishable kick like if one of the girls kicked your behind. I initially had reservations about DOLL because it had some departure from their indies debut but I disregarded it since I was like, “hey what the heck, I should be happy they went major”. So I thoroughly enjoyed ‘DOLL’ and ‘Sakura Goodbye’ because it sounded good. I didn’t need to see 4 cute girls in uniform to enjoy it.

Going major was brilliant for the girls because I mean seriously, signing to a major record label, who wouldn’t want that. But it was also detrimental as they put their image of being schoolgirl rockers first instead of what was truly important, and that’s the music itself. Compare SCANDAL’s transition to school food punishment’s transition from Indies to major and SFP’s has maintained the same quality and standard as their indies work.

 

I would rather watch Risako’s part in “VERY BEAUTY” during that Battle Concert Tour a million times more than to watch SCANDAL’s latest PV once. I get more enjoyment out of watching Risako because she’s putting effort into singing and well, I know Airi is going to skip along and sing after her (Sorry Rii~). But in that horrid SCANDAL PV all I see is four girls trying to be someone that they’re not and some guy with worse teeth than Nono before she fixed it.

Hold on, that’s not fair to Nono. Actually, this guy has worse teeth.

‘Shoujo S’ lacks everything ‘Sakura Goodbye’ consisted. You could feel something when listening to ‘Sakura Goodbye’ but for ‘Shoujo S’ the only thing that you could feel is how plastic and poorly executed the song and the PV is. ‘Sakura Goodbye’ felt like it actually meant something but ‘Shoujo S’ is just another poorly made pop song.

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Posted in Artist Review, Single Review | Comments (Comments)

  • wu
    what can I say, we had an agreement on twitter that one time so we're on the same wave length. totally with you on this one. I'm happy for them blah blah blah. The human in me enjoys the thought of them getting more commercial success, because really, it was likely on the cards from the start.

    At the same time...if things carry on as the way they are in terms of the music they are now putting out, I very much doubt I'll listen to anything outside of their YYY!HS days. the edge is gone and they've digressed into pop-corn fluff. it's as if they're only substantial record was a big bluff. I suppose it's all very well if SCANDAL started off as they are now. For one thing I wouldn't have been interested to begin with, and I'd likely not care for that matter. But the fact is they started off as this rough, intense rock group, albeit it with big dollops of pop credibility, and they lost the former two...leaving me, I have to admit, rather bitter about the whole thing.

    But alas, I don't take it personaly, just an annoying shame...and again, well done girls on your current wider success. you should be more popular now! isn't that what all school kids want? :P

    PS. pssst, SB, to ruin the tone, which one would you bang?
  • ....The dummer.

    YYY!HS is the best by far. I know what you mean, since we're on the same page. Hopefully these girls get it together. Kids always strive for popularity, maybe they've achieved it at the cost of...their music perhaps? Even though, Shoujo S didnt even do that well on Oricon.
  • the only thing i like scandal is they play their own music from what i see in their pv. even though hello project is all about idols but some has the ability to sing very well. let's not hope scandal group will just go branding and not quality.
  • Yeah, Hopefully Scandal Picks up their act and aren't a one hit wonder....bloody hell, the girls really need to get it together. Playing instruments i guess makes them more original, but if they do crap like that...i donno eh.
  • barricades281e
    Whaddya think about "BEAUTeen", don't believe there are any choreographed rock moves in there. You should maybe at least exempt Rina (she's my favorite of the girls), she just sits, rendering her incapable of performing cheesy choreographed rock moves. :)
  • Beauteen is fantastic. It's poppy as expected, not as rough as their Yah Yah Yah stuff but it's expected of them at this stage but I love it. The song is awesome and the PV is simple and I love Pocari Sweat haha. Rina, oh Rina, I totally love that girl. Well true, but if she "did" have a guitar and not on the drums, she would have been like the others :P
  • Blundered right into your blog, looking for Scandal video music for my site
    You're right about the PV for Shoujo S, being so artificial and poppy, so I won't post it on my site because it takes away from the group and music so much (got a live version Instead)
    On being great, the PV for Sakura Goodbye and the PV for Space Ranger (the in studio version) are my all time favorites for their videos

    Kills me to see that happen to a talented group like Scandal
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