Abracadabra (Brown Eyed Girls song)

"Abracadabra"
Single by Brown Eyed Girls
from the album Sound-G
Released July 2009
Format Digital download
Recorded 2009
Length 3:04 (album version)
Label NegaNetwork
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s) Hitchiker
Brown Eyed Girls singles chronology
"Candy Man"
(2009)		 "Abracadabra"
(2009)		 "Sign"
(2009)

"Candy Man"
(2009)		 "Abracadabra"
(2009)		 "Sign"
(2009)

"Abracadabra" (Hangul: 아브라카다브라) is a song by Korean girl group Brown Eyed Girls. Released as the second single from Sound-G in 2009, it marked a change in the group's image and style. The song topped various on- and offline charts, including a 3-week chart-topping run on music portal M.Net.[1]


History

The song is written by Hitchhiker (aka jinu) Kim Eana (김이나) and composed by a hit-songwriter Lee Min-su (이민수)

Brown Eyed Girls perform their "Arrogant Dance" at the 2013 World Rowing Championship

Due to the various girl groups that debuted and succeeded in 2009, the Brown Eyed Girls felt that having a cute and innocent concept would work against them;[2] as such, they came back as "sexy bad girls".[3]

Promotion

The group returned to the various network music shows at the end of July, continuing the mature concept.[4]

Lyrics

The song was originally titled "Voodoo." The lyric is about a blind love, and especially the phrase, 'a doll resembling you' implies a ritual popularly associated with the religion. However, as the title mentioning the specific religion was caught up by the censorship, it was replaced with the current title meaning a conjuration.[5]

Charts and performance

The song was released to various digital outlets in July 2009, after which it quickly topped various online charts.[2] The song also won the "Mutizen Song" award on SBS's Inki Gayo music program.[6] The song also won a "Best Dance/Electronic song of the year" in the 2010 Korean Music Awards. By the end of 2009, the song was downloaded 3,095,468 times becoming one of the best-selling singles in that year. In December 2011 it was reported that the song actually is one of the biggest hits in the South Korean music history, with a huge popularity in Asia and 4,986,293 downloads in South Korea alone.

Music video

A screenshot of the music video

The 4-minute-long music video was directed by Hwang Su-a, who had studied Film at New York University and established a career as a music video and commercial director.[7] The video was praised for its sensational and intense presentation but also garnered controversies regarding its sensual contexts.[5][8] In a 2009 interview, Hwang said she wanted to express the feelings of the subject in the song going back and forth between reason and emotion in a modern and fashionable choreography since the main theme is a curse and blind love. She divided the video into two settings; performing scenes of the band and narrative drama scenes. The former are in a white background with tone-downed saturation to prevent other narrative stories from conflicting the latter, and to represent an infinite space.[5]

Teasers for the music video were released in mid-July 2009, hinting at a possible kiss scene between members Ga-in and Narsha.[9] After its full release, netizens posted critical remarks of the video due to its suggestive content.[2] However, the "Saucy" dance (called Sigeonbang chum in Korean), showing the members moving their hips left and right, became a popular dance.[10]

Various news agencies reported that member Ga-in watched pornography in order to prepare for the video's dance sequences.[11] However, on the August 29 broadcast of Star Golden Bell, Ga-in clarified the misunderstanding, stating that she watched sensual movies, namely 9½ Weeks.[10]

In August 2009, a parody video was done by members of boy bands 'One Day' (a collective name of 2AM and 2PM), appeared there as "Dirty Eyed Girls" (드러운 아이드 걸스) in an episode of 2PM's reality show Wild Bunny; the Brown Eyed Girls said that they were thankful in response, as it showcased the video's popularity.[12] Psy used the "Abracadabra" dance in his music video for "Gentleman", which also featured BEG's own Ga-in.

References

  1. ↑ (in Korean) Kim, Jae-hwan. 브아걸 ‘아브라카다브라’ 3주연속 1위 (Brown Eyed Girls' "Abracadabra" 3-Week #1) Archived 2009-09-07 at the Wayback Machine.. Joins.com/Newsen. August 20, 2009. Retrieved August 31, 2009.
  2. 1 2 3 (in Korean) 브아걸 "당당한 섹시미로 독기 품었죠" (Brown Eyed Girls: "Strong Sexiness Led to Malicious Remarks"). SBS News. July 31, 2009. Retrieved August 31, 2009.
  3. ↑ (in Korean) [쿠키人터뷰①] 선정성 논란 브아걸 “섹시해졌다고요? 글쎄요 아직” (Kuki Interview 1: Surprised Brown Eyed Girls "We Got Sexy? Well, Not Yet"). Kuki News. July 24, 2009. Retrieved August 31, 2009.
  4. ↑ (in Korean) 브아걸 '아브라카다브라'로 섹시한 인기가요 컴백무대 가져 (Brown Eyed Girls Return Sexy Comeback Performance with "Abracadabra" on Inkigayo). Today Korea. July 26, 2009. Retrieved August 31, 2009.
  5. 1 2 3 Kim, Min-ju (김민주) (2009.08.04) ‘아브라카다브라’ 뮤비의 일등공신, 황수아 감독 interview Archived July 17, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. (in Korean) TVian
  6. ↑ (in Korean) Kim, Eun-gu. 브아걸 '아브라카다브라' 뮤티즌송 수상, 지상파 첫 1위 (Brown Eyed Girls win Mutizen Song Award with "Abracadabra"). EDaily. August 16, 2009. Retrieved August 31, 2009.
  7. ↑
  8. ↑ 황수아 Cine21
  9. ↑ (in Korean) Hwang, Yun-jeong. `브아걸` 손가인-나르샤, 아슬아슬 `키스씬` 화제 (Brown Eyed Girls' Son Ga-in and Narsha, Loitering "Kiss Scene" Sparks Discussion). Maeil Kyeongjae. July 16, 2009. Retrieved August 31, 2009.
  10. 1 2 (in Korean) Hong, Jeong-won. 가인 시건방춤 연습한 ‘나인하프위크’ 어떤 영화? (Ga-in's Saucy Dance, Practiced by Watching 9½ Weeks?) Archived August 31, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.. Joins.com/Newsen. August 30, 2009. Retrieved August 31, 2009.
  11. ↑ (in Korean) `브아걸` 가인 "야한영화 보고 뮤비 준비했다" (Brown Eyed Girls' Ga-in: "I Prepared by Watching Sexy Movies"). Korea Economic Daily. August 29, 2009. Retrieved August 31, 2009.
  12. ↑ (in Korean) ‘드러운아이드걸스'의 '다불어때 다불었다'? 패러디 화제 (Dirty Eyed Girls' "It's Sung When it's All Sung"? Parody Sparks Conversation). Mydaily. August 26, 2009. Retrieved August 31, 2009.
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