Review of NU’EST’s “Good Bye Bye”

This is the first comeback from NU’EST since “Sleep Talking” last August, and since I didn’t love that (and loved NU’EST when they first debuted with “Face”) I was really excited about this comeback! This is the first clean and simple one-video-one-song review I’ve done since Review #17 so let’s get into this! 

 

Song

NU’EST should have been given a different name. Except for a tiny bit in the beginning of their career, they haven’t brought anything truly new to kpop, so claiming to be “New Established Style And Tempo” is just silly. I’m fine with them not bringing anything incredibly fresh, but the name is just dumb.

Even though this song isn’t exactly a new sound, I do really like it. It has a nice catchiness, and a smoothness without becoming boring. It’s more in the style of “Hello” than any of their other singles, but a lot less dull.

When I wrote my Opinionated Profile of NU’EST I was told by a person in the comments to pay more attention to Minhyun’s singing. She claimed that she thought he was a more capable singer than Baekho, which was something I’d never even considered. But now, I agree. At least in this song, Minhyun shined incredibly. So thank you for pointing that out to me!

Another person who really shined in this song was Ren. His voice worked well for the song, and with Minhyun’s. And since Minhyun more or less set the tone for the whole song, that was important. JR’s rap flowed well, as they tend to do, so I was pleased with him. Baekho felt quite marginalized in the song, which he normally never is. To give room for Minhyun to shine, maybe? Aron barely got any lines at all in this song, which I didn’t expect. I normally like his rapping, so I wished he’d at least gotten to do a little of that here.

Lyrics

These lyrics are all about moving on, and keeping on living. The video and the lyrics both show the struggle that comes with it, but also shows that it is possible. You will make it out on the other side, even if it doesn’t feel like it right now. A lot of the lyrics are just as applicable to many other difficult situations where things need to be overcome as well, not just to a breakup.

A quite standard deep and sad line, that could be from any kpop song.

But followed by this it is slightly more interesting. It might be hard, and you might miss the other person, but don’t be deceived by the trap of time.

These lines basically sum up the entire song. It might feel like an endless tunnel, but you can overcome it.

This is JR basically saying that things that might seem huge now won’t seem like anything at all, in a while.

I to be honest find both of these lines quite encouraging. I can do it!

This is the very last thing sung in this song. I like that there’s a progression in the song, just like there is in the video. It ties together nicely.

Video

This isn’t an incredibly fascinating video, but it is well-shot. The transitions from one member to another by the opening of doors is simple, yet elegant. Not something completely unique, of course, but it gives the video a much more fluid feel than it would have had if they had just cut between members the usual way. Now get ready for blurry and very unflattering screenshots!

There were two very important things in this video. 1. Damn Minhyun looks fine! And especially in this outfit. He has nice arms.

And number two: wow! I did not expect abs like that from Ren, and I’m sure most of you didn’t either. I mean, what happened to this?:

I’m quite fascinated, and even though I’ve always found Ren to be stunning, I’m for sure not complaining.

JR, what are you doing..?

Oh God no! Put the beautiful fish down!

And then he ate it. I’m sure that’s deep and symbolic somehow, but it just weirded me out.

I’m assuming that this is symbolic for Ren shedding his “flower boy” image, and in that case, it’s actually quite clever. I mean, it’s weird, but strangely cool at the same time. I’ve never felt like Ren was 100% comfortable with his extremely feminine image, so I think it’s nice that he got to shed it. And he’s still beautiful, so who cares?

I don’t know if this meant anything or if it was just there for prettiness, but it was beautiful either way. (And didn’t I get an amazing shot of it?)

Why did Baekho rip down the wallpaper? We don’t know. But we do know that it’s deep and symbolic.

I thought the scene of Baekho banging on the wall and it shattering Minhyun’s mirror was quite clever. Don’t know what it means though.

You should never give yourself a tattoo. But I am quite impressed with what a good job Minhyun did! Like, wow.

The burning roses most certainly symbolize something. But I just found them pretty.

Them breaking out of the depressing house and being happy playing with sparkles was an obvious reference to the happiness that will come after the mourning is over. I like that they had some cuts within that scene to them still looking sad inside the house, to show that the pain might still linger. You might be happy, but you’re not completely over it.

And let’s end this section with the scene where everyone thought the same thing: Inception!

Dance

I liked the dancing! NU’EST almost never disappoint with their dancing, and they didn’t this time either. The chorus dance with Minhyun leading it was great, crisp and clean.

And the little jump was fabulous.

Outfits and Styling

I’m very pleased with what they all wore in this video. I didn’t get good enough shots of their individual outfits, but I’m happy with all of them.

Both of these group stylings were great. They wear clothes that are different, yet look like they belong together and that look good on each and every member. I’m more than satisfied.

Minhyun has never looked this good. He has beautiful delicate catlike features and with less hair those really shine. Being almost 19 now he’s starting to look like a man, and it’s frankly stunning.

Sorry, I just have to quote myself: “If Ren was styled differently I don’t he’d look much more feminine than most kpop stars.” And boy was I right. Ren looks stunning in his new hair, as he did in his old as well, but he doesn’t look more feminine than many many other kpop stars. He looks like a guy, a very good-looking guy.

Even though I know it isn’t true, I don’t feel like Aron’s changed his look much since debut. I’m hoping that he’ll rock some crazy red hair next time, and not just stick with the basic cut that we already know works for him.

Baekho rocked dirty blonde hair, he rocked silver hair, he rocked pink hair and now he’s rocking orange hair! I don’t think it’s his best look yet, but he does pull it off.

Just as I’m getting really excited about my ultimate bias SHINee’s Jonghyun becoming not-blonde, another bias of mine called Kim Jong Hyun goes blonde. Why, universe? No, just kidding. It’s not my favorite look for him, but JR does look mighty fine blonde.

Final Comment

This was a solid comeback from NU’EST. It didn’t blow me away, but it left me feeling satisfied. I prefer the song to both of their two most recent singles, which is very good. The last two left me feeling very underwhelmed, so much so that my love for them was most certainly slipping. But this has for sure brought some of it back!

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If you have any comments, suggestions or requests for Friday’s list of the week, Sunday’s random post, or next Tuesday’s review then leave a comment, send me an ask on tumblr or email me at topofthekpops@gmail.com!

– Admin A