The Singles Jukebox

Singles from TV series can be many things…

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[6.00]Thomas Inskeep: “It’s Not Right But It’s Okay” without the “It’s Okay” part, with solid Spice Girls-esque production from JYP.
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Adaora Ede: My friend had to explain much of the premise to Sister’s Slam Dunk, the television show from which these very Unnies came: a rag tag bunch of some of Korea’s biggest female celebrities go on wild romps to fulfill each other’s dreams! While much of the concepts were left unexplained to me such as why Girls Generation’s Tiffany would ever have some deep rooted wish to visit a theme park, I was fascinated by cast member Min Hyorin’s dream to be in a girl group. I do also find it kind of hilarious that everyone sounds (and looks) amazing in this song, given the minimal musical experience of much of the cast (and even more laughable that Jessi, experienced rapper and vocalist in the K-pop scene, was allowed to belt out that reprehensible jebal kkeutnatdan geol wae mollaaaaaaaaaaline – and more than once!). That hallyu magic. Moving on to the song itself, “Shut Up” doesn’t sound like typical Kpop girl group fare and is more of the stylistic cousin of the solo music of a man who has dubbed himself “The Asian Soul”, meaning cheese-funk. Overall, it’s an amusing attempt at burlesque (and a JYP vanity project because his own groups are paying him dust), but I almost wish that I could appear on Sister’s Slam Dunk myself and fulfill my dream of never hearing this ever.
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Iain Mew: I’ve sometimes thought about the recent abundance of mainstream K-Pop and how the surrounding circumstances resemble the UK-Pop boom of c. 2000: a small country with rapid chart turnover and TV spots to fill besides; a behind-the-scenes mix of local talent and international producers looking for their big break; the presence of receptive and less-developed pop markets nearby. The resemblance doesn’t normally carry through to the music so much, but “Shut Up,” by a group including non-singers, is an exception. The slapdash urgency of its take on funk, and its feel of the members’ contributions being as much in competition as collaboration, takes me back even before the pre-chorus straight from S Club 7’s “Don’t Stop Movin'”. Beyond that personal nostalgia, what “Shut Up” lacks in refinement it makes up for with a fun-to-blare chorus, and if it sets its sights kind of low, at least it succeeds.
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Madeleine Lee: I usually expect TV show tie-in songs (like the ones that Infinite Challenge spawns annually) to be catchy, but I never expect them to be good. “Shut Up” is sung by the cast of Sister’s Slam Dunk, and it’s good: it leads in with “Let’s Dance” before it catches its own distinct groove, it’s funky enough to compensate for the members whose day job isn’t singing, and it has the kind of gleeful misandry I’d expect from a group called Unnies. And yes, it’s catchy, too.
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Alfred Soto: This crew of inspired amateurs shout and hoot loudly enough over rhythm licks for me to forget how rote these strings of forced climaxes sound.
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Cassy Gress: I was pretty underwhelmed with the initial chorus of just “Shut, shut up” with occasional “oh yeah” interjections. Where this song really shines is the “eh-eh-eh-eh-eh, ee-ee-ee-ee-ee, na-na-na-na-na” overlay. They’re just so FED UP with lazy men’s bullshit – I could almost see this soundtracking a version of the famous “Stuck in the Middle With You” scene. All of those syllables are stubbing out a cigarette butt and grinding it in. And Jessi gets one of the most aggressive-sounding raps I have ever heard in women’s K-pop.
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