So today, I will be restarting my old series(which technically only had 1 thread but we don't talk about that).
For context
Anyway, I will be doing the same thing now but with Eleven, except this time it's 100% unbiased for sure cus I don't stan IVE
Disclaimer: I am not an expert!! I will simply be viewing this in my point of view/taste. Also I will be going harder on these songs than I normally do(if I didn't go into the specifics, I would probably rate the debut a 9-9.5/10. Also, all the ratings are rounded.
So here are the three main categories I am going to be rating it for: The song itself, the music video, the dance.
Category #1: The Song
I am going to be honest, this song is a bop, might not be in my opinion the best kpop debut song, but I would say it is one of them and def one of my 4th gen favs(I mean, it's in my 4th gen favs playlist for a reason).
Most of the lyrics were meaningful and made sense but there were some that I felt did not express their meaning well. First of all, before I heard the demo I did not understand the eleven referance at all, I feel like they could have done better at expressing that in the song.
Also, after the lyric oh my oh my god, the following lyric is I'm filling in one more space which I believe did not go along with the lyric before nor after it and I feel like this lyric could have been replaced to make the you make me feel like eleven part more clear.
But that one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, you make me feel like eleven? Perfection! I really liked that lyric, very clever way of introducing eleven.
Also, sometimes I don't like the I didn't know my heart was so colorful part(lyric right before the chorus). The lyric is good but I just don't like the execution sometimes? The twist in tempo was interesting.
Normally I would criticize for no rap but I feel like Eleven was one of those few songs that didn't need a rap so props to them for not including one, but I feel like the no rap thing in this song is probably why I didn't like the I didn't know my heart was so colorful part too much sometimes because I felt like it kind of reminded me of a rap.
Here's a new sub category, instrumental(as an older kpop fan, instrumentals also deserve to have their place in song rankings)I really liked the intro of the song, gave me Southwest Asia vibes. But I felt like this one part of the instrumental kept repeating a lot but I feel like you will only notice it if you listen to the instrumental alone.
Overall, again, the song is a pretty great song.
So my rating for the song itself is: 8.4/10 (half point off for not expressing the eleven part that well, half point off the lyric I'm filling in one more space, half point off for the repetitive part of the instrumental and 1/8 point off for the I didn't know my heart was so colorful [sometimes I don't mind it but sometimes I don't like it, weird ik].
Category #2: The Music Video
So I am 99% sure they added some stuff that wasn't there after the mv released. And some of them I don't like lol while some of them I love! First of all, the good, when Yujin did 1 2 3 4 5 6 7, you make me feel like eleven. Again perfection, whoever added that part deserves a raise. Also, the glow in the dark thing in beginning, very cool, I like it and it was a nice touch.
And can we talk about Yujin's outfit in verse 2? Like, parfait! The all black outfits, YAAS!
Now for the not so great, some of the other outfits. I know many people that saw Wonyoung's outfit was like "omg she is obvs the fav, the outfit is the best out of all of theirs", but when I saw that outfit I was like "wtf is Wonyoung wearing, girlie was done dirty". Like, it looked like the 2nd cheapest outfit in the whole mv.
My classmate wore a similiar design but damn it was better than this, and she isn't a kpop company with dollars to spend.
Thank god Yujin and Gaeul's outfits outfits were in that scene.
Now those almost completely white outfits/the one that looked like the cheapest outfits, they were plain and the only thing that saved them were the blue gloves(the blue gloves deserved to be beside something better #blueglovesweredonedirty!).
Now the editing, for the most part, the editing was really nice and they had some great points. But at 1:35 they did the inverted colors thing, the first one was tolerable, but this one was not. The green was not it and the transition wasn't quick enough, you could hear the beginning of the chorus.
Anyway, the girl's stage presence was great! 10/10 Overall the mv was pretty good and if I didn't know what company they were under I would be tricked into thinking they were from a big company.
So my rating for the music video is: 8.5(half point off for Wonyoung's outfit, half point off for all white outfits, half point off for the inverted color editing).
Category #3: The Dance/Choreography
The biting part at the end or the 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 run, the best part of the choreo, matched with the instrumental too! Basically iconic, heck the hip locks(I think that's what they are called) during the 124567 run was iconic, that whole part of the choreo was iconic.
The prechorus was great and matched with the lyrics.
Overall, great choreography! There wasn't anything that I hated/disliked and there were a lot of positives.
So my rating for choreography is: 10/10
Now for the overall rating for IVE's Debut Eleven: 9/10
So far, IVE has a very promising discography. I feel like they keep on getting better, in my opinion Love Dive and Royal topped Eleven, which is already a good song. If they keep this up in future comebacks I might consider stanning them.
