KARA - Jet Coaster Love - Kiddie Coaster

KARA is a Korean pop group that debuted in Japan last year and quickly began to take top spots in the Oricon charts. So right off the bat, these girls have some strikes against them: they're Korean (I hate Korean music - it sounds just as manufactured as it actually is) and they're mainstream pop. What a terrible combination. I picked the single to listen to, though, because the tsunami delayed so many releases that I didn't have too much choice. So I bit the bullet and went for it - how bad could they really be?

As it turns out, significantly less bad than I was expecting. As a matter of fact, I have a hard time applying the word "bad" to this single at all. "Jet Coaster Love" is surprisingly well-executed, with music that's just as cute as the vocal performances. "Ima, Okuritai 'Arigatou'" isn't as good as "Jet Coaster Love," but it's not actually bad, either. "Typical" is a better word for it, I think. It's a solidly produced pop ballad that I don't think I'll ever specifically decide to listen to again, but I didn't want to fast forward through it, either. The instrumentals, unfortunately, are more problematic: the "Jet Coaster Love" is not too bad, though the brass and "woosh" sound effects are much more annoying when there aren't sweet little girl voices to counter-balance them, but other than those two elements it's not that bad. (If I were the producer, I would have just removed them from the instrumental and hoped that no one would notice or care.) The "Ima, Okuritai 'Arigatou'" isn't nearly as good, which I blame on the damn synth strings. If they'd used real strings I think it could actually have been rather pretty, but the synth are so lifeless that I can't enjoy them.

I think the best way to describe the single is the words "Kiddie Coaster." The single isn't exciting or exhilarating or breathtaking, but it is fun. It starts high and a little fast, then slows down and ends nice and safe and a little boring. Not bad - and for a Korean pop girl group, incredibly good! - but still not enough to get me excited about the Hallyu Wave.