Dal*Shabet – Bling Bling
The Cuteocalypse is upon us!
[Video][Website]
[6.86]
Edward Okulicz: I go through phases of interest with Asian pop music, but one thing that never ceases to amaze me is how thrilling their introductions are. “Bling Bling” bounces in promising to be nothing less than the loudest, fastest, most sense-destroying bit of ear-cocaine imaginable, and very nearly makes good on it. If “Bling Bling” doesn’t work for you, then it’s not for any lack of attempting to bludgeon you with hooks and shrieks and chants and twitchy noises. If songs could be diagnosed with ADHD, this would have a Ritalin drip.
[8]
Ian Mathers: I’m seeing malls in my head when I play this; not because malls are good or bad, but because this seems designed to be listened to by many, many people who aren’t paying that much attention. Except for the part where they sing “bling” a ton of times in a cutesy voice, which is just grating.
[4]
Iain Mew: Partly it’s because whoever gets the first and last lines sounds like Nicola Roberts, but this reminds me a lot of imperial phase Girls Aloud, only faster. They sound cool and controlled but also like they’re having a fantastic time, and over a rich and multi-layered rush of sounds and ideas which never becomes predictable or allows the energy levels to drop. The fuzzy keyboard riff which stomps in for two seconds at 2:25 and then immediately disappears is my favourite for now, but I’m sure that continued listening will reveal a lot more.
[9]
Katherine St Asaph: Disco for dance marathons: hells of sensory attrition with streamers and lights piercing your eyes, dozens of people shouting at you to JOIN!DANCE!STAY UP, and hours until the exit or end.
[4]
Brad Shoup: It’s best not to think of “disco” here as an absence, but as an invocation of sense-loss. This one’s pistons are churning with savagery, a dance-pop maglev transporting a positive outlook. The obligatory rap-break allows some of the previously subliminal disco signifiers to assert themselves, but again, the big takeaway here is a frenzied sense of universal fun. “Even if he’s short,” sings Subin, “he’s the number-one Napoleon.” Now that’s inclusive.
[7]
Frank Kogan: Alien energizer bunnies infiltrate human bodies. Cute, catchy, cold.
[6]
Anthony Easton: Excess, pure, unadulterated, Disco Rococo. Like having Hello Kitty fellate you in the back of a white limousine. And I know that Hello Kitty doesn’t have a mouth.
[10]
This group is produced by the duo who did ‘Gee’… who’ve never matched that song, but the dal Shabet singles are growers (once you get past the faces they pull in their videos). Their first two singles (‘Supa Dupa Diva’ and ‘Pink Rocket’) are mad scientist pop with emphasis on ‘mad’.