[Review] [Music Video] T-ara – Lovey Dovey

T-ara‘s “Lovey Dovey” is a continuation of their previous music video, “Cry Cry“, which ended with Cha Seung Won getting the everliving shit beaten out of him as Jiyeon was dragged away.

To start off “Lovey Dovey”, we are almost immediately made aware that this music video was going to be better visually than the last, if for nothing else than for the fact that Eunjung is in it. Her and Qri quickly get in trouble after accidentally stealing a shipment of drugs while they were going through their usual thieving scheme in the club.

Now you don’t need a whole recap of the music video from me, but I bring the duo up because I thought Qri was a significant downgrade from Jiyeon. Jiyeon played her character well for an idol, to the point where it wasn’t a significant distraction, and Qri…well…didn’t.

Qri almost took the role too seriously. Like it was dark as fuck. I understand that part of the character was to be hardened and depressed, but it was so heavy handed it was akin to screaming “HOLY SHIT LOOK AT HOW SAD AND DETACHED MY CHARACTER IS THAT I’M GONNA DO THIS FOR 15 MINUTES“. Shit was distracting, which is usually a sign of an acting problem.

The actors who generally play those types of roles will show one face to the public and another in private just to establish that it’s their inner fiber that has become despondent and cold, but even in the scenes where acting like a serial killer would probably set off alarms (since, you know, she’s basically a confidence man), she just continues on mean mugging. Realistically, she should have just worn a sign that said, “I’M A CON ARTIST“.

As you already probably figured, the production values are sky high and everything from the sets to the wardrobes were well done. I realize people might be getting tired of these movie type music videos, but it’s honestly amazing to me how much effort they are willing to put into promotion, and I think it pays off in the end.

Of particular note was the director’s hat tip to “Old Boy” with the fight scene at the end, even though he apparently wasn’t talented enough to make it a one-shot. The melodramatic aspects were a bit heavy handed but it was still a solid job overall. “Lovey Dovey” ended up short of both “Cry Cry” and “Roly Poly”, but all are still better than most everything else in the idol world.