Anyhow, the group are still going (thank God) but with much less success, at least in their home country. Despite what people may say about them I've liked this group and no matter what I'm always looking forward to another T-ara release.
T-ara's ability to switch between contrasting concepts has always been one of their strengths. They've literally done everything one could think of. Musically it has been everything from electropop, disco, pop-rock, ballads and EDM, but for some reason all of their releases have always had a certain trademark. I mean that you can still tell that it's this particular group. In terms of concepts they've also had a go at many different ideas, and I think that what makes this group so special is how they so effortlessly transition from one end of the spectrum to the other. For "So Crazy" they've taken on the roles of sailors, or as the video suggests: disrespected crew members at a ship.
Another great quality of this group are their videos. If you've seen some of their older ones you've noticed that they have a tendency to put a lot of effort into making an interesting MV. They pretty much always have some kind of plot, which can take up more or less time of the video, and some of them are even as long as 15 minutes! In their videos they dress up, act and portray some kind of story, and for some releases they've even had to put out two separate MV's: a drama version and a performance version. "So Crazy" isn't that ambitious, but it's one of their most ambitious ones during recent years which makes me happy because these kind of videos are very typical for this group.Like I said earlier the girls are acting as crew members on a ship, and they all have different jobs. Some of them are cleaners and a few work in the cafe, but they all have something in common: not being respected by the many male sailors that are aboard. Their interest on the other hand seem to lie on a fellow female sailor (who I think is played by a gagwoman) who's exterior isn't the most attractive but still manages to get all the attention.
When the girls return to their cabin the captain shows up and hands them a fly: there's going to be a beauty contest! The girls seize the opportunity and enter, making a transformation from their working gear, glasses (which for some reason are always the way of "uglifying" someone) and messy hairdos to six gorgeous ladies with tight outfits and luscious locks. Do they win the competition against the other lady? Of course they do, and then they finally getting the respect and recognition they wanted in the beginning.
Let's keep it real here: there are many flaws with the story. It's not realistic in the slightest and there are plenty of gaps in terms of what's logical, but this isn't that kind of video so we shouldn't be holding those expectations either. When T-ara makes these lighter, cuter videos they're not meant to be taken too seriously. The acting is exaggerated (I mean, look at the guys going literally crazy over them as they walk down the runway) and the plot is cute but very shallow, so if you're going to break it down into details just to pick all the flaws apart you're just ruining it for yourself.
Despite this I will have to say that while I do like how they team up and work together to claim the victory, the fact that they had to change their outwards appearance in order to get attention is pretty annoying. It definitely shows the society that we live in, and I know that in South Korea especially this sort of scenario isn't unrealistic at all. It is the country with most plastic surgeries in the world, after all.
However it certainly isn't all bad. Like with many other of their videos with this type of style it's lighthearted, funny and a bit tongue-in-cheek. The girls dressing up and dressing down to play certain parts and act out different sections of the story is what they do best, and you can tell that they're well-experienced in the area. It's also typical for T-ara to bring their costumes on stage, which they have done plenty of times before and are doing now as well. It definitely adds to the charm to see them dance around on stage in aprons and orange overalls, and it shows that they're not taking themselves to seriously either.As for the visuals of the video I can only clap my hands, which I usually tend to do when it comes to this group. There's the holy trinity of Hyomin, Eunjung and Jiyeon who all look splendid, and the rest of the members aren't too far behind either. They all look incredibly hot in their naval-inspired outfits, and the MV isn't holding back on showing the eye-candy to the viewers either. Within six minutes there's plenty of room for both plot and other; other meaning scenes of the girls dancing, showing themselves off at the contest and singing seductively to the camera.
I will say however that I'm not the biggest fan of the choreography, and the song itself is a bit below their level as well. "So Crazy" starts off with a funky, promising intro, but quickly becomes just another average Brave Brothers track (I still don't know why they even hired him in the first place). The choreography I think is way too simple for them as well, and most of the moves are quite lazy. Of course they make it look decent but neither the song nor dancing is the real highlight of this comeback.Truth be told; I'm slightly underwhelmed by T-ara's 2015 comeback. I thought they were onto something great with their new musical sound as showcased mostly in "Sugar Free" (the video however shall not be talked about), but it seems they've changed their minds again. Not that that's any surprise considering the group's diverse history, but still. It's possible that it's all Brave Brothers' fault for making them a song this mediocre, but there's more that's underwhelming too. I suppose that while the video was fun and cute it's also incredibly safe, and T-ara to me isn't safe. Still I will say that without looking too much into it's an objectively good comeback, the video being the best part of it, but personally I wanted something a bit grander.
Song: 3/5
Video: 3,7/5
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