Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Ga-In‘s “Paradise Lost” song and music video just works. All of it.
The concept itself is intriguing, she manages to work in raw sexuality in her choreography while dodging censors, and even trolls a bit with her lyrics and (anti) religious themes. Shit is great.
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Of course, everything about the concept and music video would mean nothing if the song sucked, but the song works for me because of the building in the verses and the chanting in rhythm becoming magnified in the chorus. The whole thing is haunting and dark in the best way possible, and it still manages to somehow be catchy via the booming percussion that remains in the background the whole track. I do think it could be less overpowering at times, but that’s a minor quibble.
The choreography was well executed and extremely well imagined with Ga-In playing the part of a tempting snake. It fits then that even her delivery of some of the lyrics had a sort of slippery, hissing vibe to it. The dance break in particular was engaging, sexy, and fitting for the overall meaning of the song.
Going a bit outside the music video, she does an amazing job gaming the system to where she can use artistry™ to freely show her cleavage, cheeks, and cameltoe without backlash from censors or people calling her a whore or whatever else. She even does pilates moves in her choreo, which much be a shout-out to the new yoga trend, which ALSO games the system and allows idols to show off their bodies to be while under the guise of caring for health and fitness. Shit is genius, and I realize that now.
https://twitter.com/asianjunkiecom/status/575870812009291777
https://twitter.com/asianjunkiecom/status/575870991697453058
In terms of theme, it’s apparently not universal belief that she’s the snake and not Eve, but I thought it was pretty obvious by the styling, the lyrics, and especially the dance break. As for interpretation, one could conceivably see her as tempting us out of “paradise” and that it ends with her victorious and a bunch of heathens participating in the decadence of orgy as a bad thing. But considering the context of the music video and Ga-In’s previous works, it’s far more likely to me that she’s talking about “Paradise Lost” as not a negative view but as the ideal of freedom from the so-called “paradise” of isolation. Cause who said an orgy was a bad thing anyway?
Hell, the lyrics read as anti-Christian/religion to an extent:
They’re talking about a fantasy,
They’re making up another fantasy,
They’re talking about a fantasy,
They’re making up a story,
So that they can control you and me.
In fact, it’s pretty damn overt what that refers to (and Ga-In isn’t religious), but I don’t see many people taking that angle to it. Personally? I love it because it’s as an in-your-face statement about a touchy subject as you’ll find in K-pop, especially when the lyrical hints are combined with the rest of the obvious religious themes.
Though I’ve only seen a few see it that way currently, some certainly do, like this dude, and I hope more follow in his footsteps to generate publicity for the song:
https://twitter.com/asianjunkiecom/status/575866583320428544
As for me, I sure as hell don’t see anything wrong with seeing losing “paradise” as a positive, and I doubt Ga-In does either.
