Rania’s debut was one of my favorites this year for reasons beyond their exemplary use of the pussy pop. Yeah, they know how to get it, but they’re also talented singers, and if you didn’t know, talent takes precedence here at Asian Junkie.
Rania recently came back with none other than producer Brave Brothers and I’m trembling in anticipation to hear what direction he has possibly taken the girls after their “Dr. Feel Good” debut with Teddy Riley.
Brave Brothers is one of today’s go-to producers for top charting singles in pop music. His catalogue includes everyone from After School to SISTAR, but in the last few years, Brave Brothers has proven himself reluctant to change as a producer. His style is recognizable across the K-pop universe, which in a musicality sense is actually awesome, commendable, and a milestone in the music industry. At the same time though, he has become boring and less cool than he has himself convinced to be. His work is predictable, stale, and unimaginative at best. Even worse is that he has an inability to mold a proper identity for his clients (i.e, your idols) without making it all about the Brave Sound.
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If you’ve listened to SISTAR’s anything, then you’ve already heard “Time To Rock Da Show”.
A wise man once said: “A piece of shit by any other name would smell as bad.” Or…something to that effect, and the same logic applies here.
Rania’s “Pop Pop Pop” (the EP’s lead single) is basically a carbon copy of “In The Night Sky” by After School Red, which wasn’t great to begin with.
“Pop Pop Pop” is an electronic pop song littered with boring synths and recycled melodies. However, the most frustrating thing is the fact that Rania is so completely boxed in by the rudimentary limitations of Brave Brothers (who doesn’t know how to read music), that all their potential to shine has remained untapped.
It’s like he has no clue what to do with talent, so he slaps voices on a lame beat and sees what happens.
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The one other song on the EP – “Goodbye” – is slightly better than the lead single, if only for the fact that it’s a ballad. But it kind of comes off like a recycled version of “Because Of You” by After School…
Wait, didn’t Brave Brothers produce that song, too?
Dude, seriously?
Eight times out of ten, Brave Brothers takes talent and oversimplifies it. I don’t want to bash the man, but Brave Brothers is doing an amazing job at single-handedly providing some of the most tired K-pop ever, and I am using Rania’s “Time To Rock Da Show” as my trump card.
Somebody please gift Brave Brothers a vacation out of Korea or start an occupy movement in his studio or something. Anything so that he’ll lose temporary access to all artists he ‘produces’ for and all the gear he uses to make his ‘music’.
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Via Asian Junkie
