Cherry Bomb, and my impossibly high standards for videos of certain kpop songs

Kpop smothers us with content in general, and this is especially true for music videos in particular. When a western artist releases a single, you can expect that song to get one music video. In Kpop, you can expect one music video, one dance practice, often one or multiple "performance" or "choreography" versions, and maybe 3-10 music show performances, all within the first couple of weeks. We are truly spoiled to have so many different ways to consume the same song. There are tons of different things that a kpop song can do, and that's why we have different types of videos. Music videos are for visuals and studio audio, performance versions are for watching the choreography, dance practices are for learning the choreography, music shows are for live(ish) performances. But what I really want is some of these things together, in one video. Is that too much to ask? The answer, apparently, is yes. Consider six of the available options for NCT 127 - Cherry Bomb. You might think "wow, six versions! Surely one of these will be good enough, right?" But you'd be wrong! There is at least one major flaw with each one which makes it essentially unwatchable. Cherry Bomb MV This version cuts out all the best parts of the choreography. There is no valid reason not to include Taeyong's flip in the outro, half the time I'm watching a video version of this song exclusively for that. So this version is unusable for me. Cherry Bomb Dance Practice (Cherry Ver.) There are two main issues with this video. First, the audio quality is terrible. That alone isn't a huge issue, it's standard for dance practices to just record the audio directly from the room. But this is a dance practice. So I'd expect to be able to see all the dancing. But the camera moves around so much that it also misses tons of the cool dancing! Literally unwatchable. Cherry Bomb Dance Practice (Bomb Ver.) This version is almost perfect. EXCEPT FOR SOME STUPID REASON SOMEONE DECIDED TO MAKE IT BLACK-AND-WHITE!!! I cannot even fathom the thought process here. "Hey, the version with the moving camera has color. So the version with the stable camera, which is meant to be more clear? Let's obscure it by removing color, what a great idea!" Beyond unwatchable. Cherry Bomb M Countdown 170622 I've watched all (believe me, all) of the music stages for this song, and this is my favorite. I particularly like the fanchants in this one, they're loud and clear and I'm here for that. But the vocals are almost entirely backing track, the camera jumps around too much (an issue I have with music shows in general), and some parts of the choreo aren't on-screen at all. I will say that this is the most watchable version of this song, but that's not a very high bar. I think what I really want is a regular old performance video. Studio vocals, clear shots of the choreo, preferably in color. And that does actually exist: Cherry Bomb Choreography Mirrored Unfortunately, this video is mirrored. And that's a big problem. I've spent all these hours watching these extremely inadequate other versions of this song, so I know how the choreo is meant to look. Haechan is meant to stand on the right side of the screen during the outro. But this version is from some creepy mirror dimension where Haechan stands on the left of the screen during the outro, and I just cannot stand that. This is so unwatchable that I've never even made it all the way through, I always stop watching after an extremely uncomfortable sixty seconds or so. This whole situation is honestly tragic. How is it possible that between all of these versions, none of them are actually good?? But there is one saving grace. There exists a dance version with a semi-stable camera, studio vocals, non-mirrored, and in color! I am of course talking about: Loona - Cherry Bomb Dance Cover You're probably thinking "the issue with this one is that it isn't by NCT!" But no, actually I don't even mind that. I'm mostly a girl group enjoyer, so I'm here for Loona. In fact, this version is how I came across Cherry Bomb in the first place. No, the issue with this version is honestly even bigger. At 1:45, right after "I'm the biggest hit, yeah", we're supposed to hear Mark's rap. But not in this version. For some reason, in this version, they just cut out an entire section of the song?? Like whyyyy, it was almost perfect! Even so, this version isn't unwatchable, it's just sad. Also it's Loona, so it's even more sad. Anyway. TLDR, my ideal Cherry Bomb video has all of the following: Studio audio Clear view of the choreography Color Non-mirrored The entire song That's it! That's all I want! And no such video exists. It really is a tragedy. This isn't unique to Cherry Bomb, either. The remainder of this post will consist of me whining about other songs that don't have the version I want. Feel free to comment any songs that you're upset about, too. Blackpink - As If It's Your Last What I want from this song is a live version with good audio quality, live vocals, and a quiet backing track, ideally where the audience sings along during the chorus. Doesn't exist. This version is close, but they don't sing the last chorus which is tragic. The little dance party is cute though, so points for that. aespa - Black Mamba I want the same things here that I want in Cherry bomb. The two closest options are the dance practice and the Techwear dance practice. But the former has terrible audio, and the latter's camera moves around too much and obscures the choreo. NewJeans - Hype Boy A live version where you can hear the audience singing the song. This version is the best we've got, but the audience volume is tuned down so much that you can barely even hear them! Red Velvet - Automatic Literally any OT5 dance version with a semi-stable camera would do. But we don't even have a dance practice for this song :( Ok I'm done. I have more, but they're such oddly specific desires that it would be ridiculous to include them. Thanks for reading, I hope my suffering caused you some enjoyment. submitted by /u/Piri_Cherry [link] [comments]