Touch Review Part 1
12/06/2010 12:19:00 AM LaurenLCD
LaurenLCD
Labels: Music Reviews
Touch is a seven member group who debuted in October under YYJ Entertainment, a virtually unknown company (at least to me. I'm American so the most exposure I get is the Big 3, DSP, and Nega thanks to allkpop). This is mostly going to be my first impressions of the debut music video itself and their first live performance.
Artist: Touch
Members:
Hanjun (Leader; Sub Vocalist)
Junyong (Main Vocalist)
Sungyong (Hyung; Sub Vocalist) *for the oldest member, he's got a serious baby face, neh?*
Sunwoong (Sub Vocalist) *am I the only one who can't tell him from Hanjun in the mv?)
Younghun (Rapper)
Minseok (Rapper)
Dabin (Maknae; Sub Vocalist)
MV *Note: If anyone out there speaks French, would you be ever so kind as to provide translations?
The MV gives off the feeling of B2ST's Shock (NO. THIS IS NOT A 'THEY COPIED THIS, THIS, AND THIS!' STATEMENT). The setting is nice, considering that there are only a few variations that only comes when the camera focuses on one member. And therein lies my major gripe with this video -or any video in which there are more than the average 5 members. In attempting to catch all the members of the group, the camera zooms in, out, overhead, occasionally shows one guy in their own individual cut. It does slow down the cuts for the bridge, but other than that, the camera's just all over the place. Another complaint I have that's more or less nitpicking is that the introductions were too fast.
Just when I'd find an individual feature that makes one member distinct, another member shows up giving a half second caption of their name. I had to rewind many times and I can still only point out 2-3 members. Hanjun: because of that pink emo streak in his platinum hair. Dabin: who's lying amongst photos and has a bowl cut. Junyong: with his hair being the longest and pulled back. The song itself isn't bad. After all, it's Brave Brothers and it certainly has that B. Bro. sound. However, their vocals -while nice- has a 2PM-ish quality.
Not bad or downright terrible, but not earth shatteringly mind blowing either like say... Fly To The Sky. They're good, but they could use a tad more polishing. The majority of them have the typical 1990's boy bandish/r&b-ish sound to their voices, like they're teens still growing from puberty. They're around my age (19+) and boys take longer to grow into their manly voices (except Shinee's Minho), so maybe this is temporary. If not, then I can put them in the 'Grown men still sounding like teens' pile along with Lloyd (anybody remember Southside or Get It Shorty?) and Justin Beiber. This in itself isn't bad, but one has to keep in mind that the older demographic (my age and up) may not take them all too seriously.
spoiler: Will review FTTS in the coming weeks along with Nell and other artists that may not be on everyone's radar. If any reader knows of an artist that deserves more publicity than they receive, tell me in the inbox!
Live
Live, they sound pretty well, if not a bit unsteady be it nerves or not enough cardiovascular training. Right away I can tell the stronger voices from the weaklings. Thankfully even with the backtrack present, they still sung all the way through. They may (will) have it tough if they decide to promote early in the new year with Big Bang inching their way back into the public eye with GD and TOP's collaboration CD this month, followed by Seungri's next single in January and all of the boys in February.
Verdict:
MV
visuals: ♪ ♪ / ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪
Keep the camera still once in a while.
song: ♪ ♪ ♪ / ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪
Catchy, but has a 'any boyband could be singing this and we wouldn't know the difference' vibe.
Overall: ♪ ♪ ♪ / ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪
They need a better cinematographer/editor and need to establish their individuality to keep from becoming 7 blurs on the screen.
Live
vocals: ♪ ♪ ♪.5 / ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪
Some of the soloists are a bit weak in power. For the majority of the performance, they all knew their parts, even adding some adlibs here and there.
dance: ♪ ♪ ♪ / ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪
They were all on point and knew their cues. However... I wouldn't be terribly upset if they had an alternative dance to this, or maybe a different choreographer.
Overall ♪ ♪ ♪.25 / ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪
They're good as far as this year's rookies are concerned, but I'm afraid that their veteran artists will leave them in the dust unless they promote amongst other rookies. They can compete with veterans, but they may not be strong enough to hold their own.