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| Orange Caramel are back with their unique sense of Silliness! |
Pledis Entertainment group AFTERCHOOL has always been one of my favorite K-pop acts, but I’ve only ever been moderately into their sub-unit Orange Caramel despite the fact that my favorite member Lizzy is in it-But all of that has changed with the arrival of their latest song “Catellena”…In the recent oversaturated explosion of “Sexy Concept” comebacks, it was time for a change, and Orange Caramel’s new song is a bright, happy, childish and eccentric mess of ZANINESS that’s like a breath of fresh air!
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| Pretty Mermaids on the Shore |
The song begins with a slick, retro 1970’s disco vibe complete dramatic violins, scratching guitars, and laser gun sound effects and as the girls begin singing happily over it with their signature “Orange Caramel Chipmunk Voices” it turns into SUCH a toe-tappingly catchy song- and then they come in with the deal-sealer, a rousing refrain of “OYE HOI HOI!!!!” accenting the end of each vocal passage! Pure eccentric GENIUS!
Catallena tells the tale of a girl having a “girl crush” on one of those popular, outgoing “mean girls”- where they don’t like them, but the girls is so outgoing and dazzling that can’t help being in awe of them and wishing secretly that they were friends- so how do they convey this message in the Music Video? By having the three Orange Caramel Girls Nana, Raina and Lizzy…dressed up as SUSHI at a Sushi restaurant and being jealous of a huge, expensive Octopus dish!
WTF!!! Seems totally wack, but Oh MAN, the visuals are so damn CUTE, Nana as the Salmon, Raina as the Mackerel and Lizzy as the adorable Shrimp. Really, the costumes are so innovative, using colors and patterns, you really get the “feel” of the dish they’re masquerading as, and you gotta laugh when you see Lizzy dipping her feet into the dish of shoyu and eventually happily laying in it OMG, so freaking FUNNY!
As the video progresses, after seeing all the different people/sushi, the girls realize everyone has their own charm, and accept themselves for what they are. Symbolically, the girls enter the sushi restaurant and begin “eating” themselves, with tears trickling down their faces, and at the end, the only plate left is the super expensive Octopus dish that no one wanted!
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| "Catallena" Sushi takes to the stage! |
With the Music Video setting the precedent, I wondered just HOW they would convey this silliness to the stage…and it only took one look to see that they succeeded in THAT venue as well- the stage outfits are all variations of their “sushi” alter-egos, I ESPECIALLY love Lizzy’s Shrimp themes, the orange and white streaks making her look more yummy than she normally does!
Besides all that, though, is how much FUN you can tell the girls are having! With an enthusiastic King –Fu “HAAA!” in the tintros of each live performance, they attack the song with a deliriously chipper outlook- their faces beaming adorable smiles as they prance and skip across the stage! The song performances are SO MUCH FUN that even the usually hard-to-please netizens only have positive things to say about it:
1. [+2,198, -71] Bizarre at first but you get addicted to it
5. [+1,521, -88] It's addictive and they have good visuals so
6. [+424, -17] I always think that Orange Caramel can't come up with anything more bizarre but they manage to prove me wrong every comeback ㅋㅋㅋ
7. [+354, -19] You can't help but like them despite how weird their concepts are ㅋㅋㅋㅋ and it's cool how they match the concepts too ㅋㅋㅋ I really like their new song, very addictive!
8. [+335, -20] Crayon Pop and Orange Caramel really grabbed good concepts for themselves and hit daebak. Rainbow Pixie straight up failed.
9. [+269, -45] They're pretty and the song is easy enough to listen to... I hope Orange Caramel keeps up the success.
10. [+198, -4] Never did I imagine this group to last as long as they have
Source: OSEN via Naver credit: netizenbuzz
