Like with the American pop charts, numerous acts don’t chart well on the Korean pop charts. Maybe the group stays together to produce a few low-ranking groups, break up, and fade to obscurity. Groups like this might be remembered when a radio DJ decides to play it on a whim or maybe a situation or meeting an old friend makes the song come to mind. Other groups may have a low charting single, but by luck garner some attention for some reason. Maybe it’s a slow but steady influx of new fans. Perhaps it’s the work of a new promotional team. But in the case of the Korean group Exceed in Dreaming, better known as EXID, a viral, fan-made performance video of the group’s follow-up song “Up & Down,” helped the song become one of the biggest hits of the year and cemented the groups as a top girl group in South Korea.
DON’T EASILY SPEAK OF ME TO OTHERS. DON’T EVEN SAY HOW I WAS. Like “good 4 u,” “Whoz That Girl” is a break-up song dripping in sarcasm. Even if the listener doesn’t speak Korean, they can hear the anger and pretty much guess the meaning of the song. It’s a song about erasing someone from your life. The video shows the girl group intimidating the actor playing the role of the boyfriend in the style of girl group badass-ery. While the lyrics of the song imply everything’s fine, the delivery and the music video show that subtext is everything. The 2012 hit picked up more streaming and radio play in Korea after their song “Up & Down” became a hit in 2014. So in 2014, “Whoz That Girl” could be heard along side other K-pop songs, like at grocery stores, gyms, or even some cafes. When the song came on at the bakery Allan and Philip were getting breakfast at on their healing trip, Philip had had just enough caffeine to make him start dancing to the track and mouthing the words. Allan jolted out of his melancholy morning stupor he had previously excused as a lack of caffeine and crack a smile and shook his friend at his friend. “Don’t spill your macchiato,” Allan snorted. “Dude, I’m just trying to cheer you up,” Philip said losing breath. “Everything is really serious, but not that bad. We’re on vacation, not in Seoul or Chungju. Live a little.” He broke into song, “Who’s that girl? Tell me who’s that girl?”–he stopped– “No, serious A.J., you’ve gotta tell me about that psycho student of yours. How did it happen?”
Mixtapemotions 