Ain’t no trot-stepping…
[Video][Website]
[5.78]
Iain Mew: “Countryside Life” makes “I Got a Boy” sound coherent and single-minded. It has a saxophone which goes from cheesy ease to squealing. It takes more obvious inspiration from “Gangnam Style” than even Psy’s follow-up, especially when combined with the rapid cuts back and forth in the video. It has an out of place guest rap which ends before there’s any chance to get used to its presence. It doesn’t really have much of a structure in general. It ends with an explosion, because why not? There isn’t one part of it that I really like in isolation, which is quite a fundamental issue, but the overall effect is at least dizzying in a way which little else can rival.
[4]
Patrick St. Michel: This is going to be T-Ara N4’s debut American single, released as five different versions with each one featuring a different rapper on it. As long as you ignore who has been slotted to appear on the single – Snoop Dogg, Chris Brown, T-Pain, Wiz Khalifa and Ray J yikes – the move makes sense. “Countryside Life” already stitches contemporary EDM, hip-hop and disco together into something that comes together just right, all alongside accordion. This is a fine example of contemporary K-Pop’s ability to synthesize trends into something that doesn’t sound like overt pandering.
[8]
Alfred Soto: A true synthesis: “Gangnam Style,” sure, and love that accordion, guys. I can understand Chris Brown and Wiz Khalifa recruiting them. I can’t understand why they’d accept.
[6]
Brad Shoup: Your mileage will vary, but that Balearic alto sax was the tastiest ingredient for me. N4 crams a ton of sung tones into this, but the hard-kicking house is the throughline; the transitions are obnoxious ascending vocal stutters ending in some dude yelling “party people!” I’m sure subgroups are under even more pressure to display their breadth, but turning sax cheese into a pop meal — as they finally begin to do at the end — would have been its own knockout.
[5]
Anthony Easton: As much about the country as Fragonard’s The Swing is about gardening, and that’s why it might just be great.
[7]
David Lee: It doesn’t matter how many awesome treats you put in a goodie bag — people tend to lavish greater praise (for better or worse) on the person who used a cohesive theme when putting them together.
[5]
Crystal Leww: This does not sound like a song about “Countryside Life”. There are just too many fat synths and shouted “party people!”s for me to believe it.
[5]
Katherine St Asaph: The countryside part is the saxophone or whatever, I’d guess, but the title only really makes sense if you imagine it as an ironic punchline, like “The Aristocrats.” Which is surprisingly fitting.
[3]
Jonathan Bogart: I’ve programmed myself to respond positively to music that recalls the pre-rock era no matter where it’s from, so using sounds that make me think of Romani and Ashkenazi dance instruments (n.b. I know I’m probably way off here) are going to get my attention. Smashing them up cavalierly against Jock Jams exhortations only makes them sound the sweeter.
[9]