Kpop: Stellar - Sting (찔려)

Stellar have established themselves as a kind of the ruling kpop girl group when it comes to sexual innuendo and meta references to female kpop, with videos as Marionette and Vibrato being the best examples. While not being on par with those two songs, Sting continues the tradition with lots of attention going to netizens (be it haters or lovers) this time, and the song is good enough too as a background to this.

• Stellar - Sting (찔려)
• Stellar - Sting (Dance version)
• Stellar - Sting (Hanbok version!)

Kpop: Stellar - Marionette (마리오네트)

Well, I actually got a little uncomfortable watching this new video from Stellar, but on the other hand, with the "sexual liberation/total sexualization" going on in kpop this winter it is inevitably that some of this exploration will be less ...successful... Noone can really deny that especially female kpop has been about sexual tension and objectification, be it playful or mature, but as I have commented before - as music and music videos is an art, this art can be made in better and worse quality.
One could say that Stellar has been about roleplay from the start, being first secret agents in Rocket, then studious school students in Study, and now trashy performers in "Marionette". The point of the title and song is of course to somehow excuse the explicit sexuality, but I find it more embarassing then sensual or sexy. Yes, of course it is sexy in a purely voyeuristic way, but it still itches me that kpop is so narrow in regards to what a woman can express at any certain time. On the whole, I think this "season of sex" is good for kpop, but what I will remember from Stellar is the soundtrack, that in the end is actually quite good.

• Stellar - Marionette (마리오네트)

Kpop: Stellar (스텔라)

As a teacher, I just have to write about Stellar's latest track as it is named "Study" (Gongbuhaseyo/공부하세요). Their debut tracks Rocket Girl and UFO had an odd almost mechanic style that was both attractive and repellent at the same time. I watched their videos quite a lot  (especially Rocket Girl), but didnt like to listen to them. If those two videos and songs was somewhat different, "Study" seems to follow the standard A rookie debut protocol to the letter, and it is actually well done (if ofc very cliché)
Update: Stellar has succeeded in reaching a wider audience in 2014 with the sexy/trashy concept in Marionette, followed up in August by "Mask" and in 2015 with "Vibrato".

• Stellar - Marionette
• Stellar - Vibrato
• Stellar - Mask
• Stellar - Sting
• Stellar - Study (공부하세요)
• Stellar - Rocket Girl
• Stellar - UFO