Crayon Pop – Uh-ee

Hot to trot…

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[5.29]Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy: This is bizarro world Icona Pop, really, in the sense that “Uh-ee” attacks the same unapologetic nineties chintz worship beats, to the point it becomes almost aggressively one-minded. It’s scary more than it is charming, and this could have done with a little more charm.
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Madeleine Lee: Electro-trot is a novelty by nature — watch about 45 seconds of this 1996 promotional video by long-time “techno-trot” practitioner Epaksa, and you get the idea. So it only makes sense that the group behind last year’s biggest Korean novelty single and novelty headgear are now trying their hand at it. “Uh-ee” is not as literal as “Open the Door” by ballad singer Lim Chang Jung, also released last year, which is pretty much a classic pentatonic-scale trot vocal pasted to a electro-bounce backing track. Instead, it’s more of a trot take on the time-honoured pop tradition of the summer song, with its chirpy sunshine beat and carpe diem lyrics. The seasonal link seems for the best — it’s unlikely to have the same long-range success as “Bar Bar Bar” or to hold up as well as “Bing Bing,” and even if it could, I’d rather it didn’t.
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Will Adams: But the Vengaboys already had their saturation turned up to 11.
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Alfred Soto: The beats and synths are Gwen Stefani dancing to Atari 5200’s “Pitfall” at the disco, infused with enough Nutrasweet to exceed daily caloric intakes. Uh-ee indeed!
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Iain Mew: It’s clear there’s a lot going on outside the music that ties into Crayon Pop’s appeal, but I don’t encounter much of any of that without seeking it out, so it’s difficult to get past how annoying that music is. “Uh-ee” manages to sound very distinct from “Bar Bar Bar” but exactly as one dimensional, and lacks even the memorable chorus.
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Katherine St Asaph: You know what you wanna do, right? You wanna put a banging donk on it.
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Patrick St. Michel: Have you ever seen people in a club literally push chairs to the ground in order to get to the dancefloor to dance to Crayon Pop? I have, and it was wonderful and charming, especially because this is a group that seems to only be focused on getting people from all walks of life — from toddlers to the law — jumping. They wore bike helmets for goodness’ sake; coolness was never an issue. “Uh-ee” is even more explicit in its desires to just get folks moving. I’ve read it is based on older Korean trot music, albeit with a contemporary sheen, a cool detail in a song unafraid to devote the chorus to doing “the chicken dance.” It’s simple, it’s fun, it’s “Royals” with all the brooding replaced with delirious clucking. It’s the sort of goofy, dancefloor-packing number designed for wedding receptions and cruise ships, what “Gangnam Style” accidentally became. At long last, a YOLO anthem for the rest of us.
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