Before reading this review, watch the music video here: The Grasshopper Song - Sunny Hill [MV]
(Left to Right: JangHyun, SeungAh, MiSeung, Jubi, Kota)
Yes, I realize I have a certain affinity for Sunny Hill, but that's just because their music is so amazing they always have an amazing video that stuns me with its artistic qualities every time.
Sunny Hill's new music video and mini album was released January 12, 2012. Their comeback was long awaited by me since from the time I heard Midnight Circus I was hooked on them. I think it's safe to say that Sunny Hill has evolved from their debut days into a kooky (in the good way), boundary pushing, and talented group.
When I first discovered Sunny Hill back in 2011 I was attracted by the Midnight Circus teaser which unlike all the other stuff that was coming out seemed very odd, interesting and different from the pulsating seizure lights and repetitive style of the other K-pop songs coming out. Interested in the group I did some research on them and learned that they had originally been a three member co-ed group consisting of JangHyun, Jubi and SeungAh I believe it was? I'm not too sure. Anyways, they were a three member co-ed group that had debuted with a cutesy type song that was pretty catchy and really showcased their vocals. (Check the song out here: Love Is All I Know - Sunny Hill [MV]). If you watched the video and then compared it to Sunny Hill's more recent stuff, like Pray or the very song I'm reviewing you would find that their is a major difference.
I supposed LOEN Entertainment wanted to give Sunny Hill a different image than one they debuted in. I don't care what their reason was for drastically changing Sunny Hill's image I can just say that I love it.
I've always been interested in things that are weird and abnormal. Sunny Hill has always been able to satiate my odd cravings for awkward things.
With their newest song and music video 'The Grasshopper Song' we find that Sunny Hill's kookiness has not left them. LOEN did a great job in producing this video and song and even gave a drastic image change to Kota (the blonde one) and MiSeung (the red-head). We also see that JangHyun has actually gotten a part in the song. Although it lasts only a mere eleven seconds (around) I am glad that they at least gave him four lines instead of zero (i.e. Like in Pray).
The story was very cute, even if the teaser made me think that it would be something different (you can view the teaser here: The Grasshopper Song - Sunny Hill Teaser ft. Narsha (BEG)). In the teaser we see a Queen Bee Narsha (of another well known K-pop girl group, Brown Eyed Girls) looking beneath at MiSeung, SeungAh and Kota and then yelling at Jubi about something or another in a clearly edited chipmunk voice. The classic 'Look at me! Look at me!' part attracted many people's attention and left us craving to see the actual video.
The story of the actual music video didn't involve Narsha, though, and instead led into the acutal story of the video which was a story between Jubi (who seemed to be the grashopper/ruler/princess thing) and JangHyun who I really can't figure out what his part in the story was. Looking at the English translations of the lyrics I managed to get a bit of the story clearer. Take a look at them here:
If you push back and push back,
You won't find happiness
Today won't come again
At some point, the time has already...
Come on and wake you up
Put away the fake hope of being like this or that,
If you just fight and argue all the time, it's tiring,
People go crazy over the habitual competition
They are trapped in the same restrictions
They get buried without anyone knowing
Come on and wake you up
Put away all the fake theories that are difficultly packaged
If you just kiss up and line things up all the time, you go crazy
ring ring ring-a-ring-a
ring ring ring-a-ring-a
Just singing a song and clapping my hands
I want to laugh as I live
ring-a-ring-a-ring ring-a-ring-a-ring
It's an echo of wanting to live peacefully
ring-a-ring-a-ring ring-a-ring-a-ring
It's a melody of you and I wanting to laugh
ring-a-ring-a-ring ring-a-ring-a-ring
It's a mirage of an untouchable happiness
ring-a-ring-a-ring ring-a-ring-a-ring
It's a dizzy world that goes round and round
Lift up your head, no one is there
No one is above you
There's no need to look around in caution
Come on and wake you up
All those who became sinners and danced and played
Here, here, come here and gather together
No matter what anyone says, you are cooler
You're cool for enjoying it
In my eyes, you're cooler
Come on and let me in
Chattering about this or that, making it seem like it will happen
It's just for people who are tiring
ring ring ring-a-ring-a
ring ring ring-a-ring-a
Just singing a song and clapping my hands
I want to enjoy as I live
ring-a-ring-a-ring ring-a-ring-a-ring
It's an echo of wanting to live peacefully
ring-a-ring-a-ring ring-a-ring-a-ring
It's a melody of you and I wanting to laugh
ring-a-ring-a-ring ring-a-ring-a-ring
It's a mirage of an untouchable happiness
ring-a-ring-a-ring ring-a-ring-a-ring
It's a dizzy world that goes round and round
Where are you busily busily going, time is busily passing
Take a rest and let's go together, let's go peacefully
Everything's so busily busily passing, busily passing
Let's just sing a song, let's just play
Where are you busily busily going, time is busily passing
Take a rest and let's go together, let's go peacefully
Everything's so busily busily passing, busily passing
Let's just sing a song please refill the battery
I lived like such a fool
I was living in a rat race
It all passes passes passes, the lost time
ring-a-ring-a-ring ring-a-ring-a-ring
It's an echo of wanting to live peacefully
ring-a-ring-a-ring ring-a-ring-a-ring
It's a melody of you and i wanting to laugh
ring-a-ring-a-ring ring-a-ring-a-ring
It's a mirage of an untouchable happiness
ring-a-ring-a-ring ring-a-ring-a-ring
It's a dizzy world that goes round and round
Today won't come again
At some point, the time has already...
Come on and wake you up
Put away the fake hope of being like this or that,
If you just fight and argue all the time, it's tiring,
People go crazy over the habitual competition
They are trapped in the same restrictions
They get buried without anyone knowing
Come on and wake you up
Put away all the fake theories that are difficultly packaged
If you just kiss up and line things up all the time, you go crazy
ring ring ring-a-ring-a
ring ring ring-a-ring-a
Just singing a song and clapping my hands
I want to laugh as I live
ring-a-ring-a-ring ring-a-ring-a-ring
It's an echo of wanting to live peacefully
ring-a-ring-a-ring ring-a-ring-a-ring
It's a melody of you and I wanting to laugh
ring-a-ring-a-ring ring-a-ring-a-ring
It's a mirage of an untouchable happiness
ring-a-ring-a-ring ring-a-ring-a-ring
It's a dizzy world that goes round and round
Lift up your head, no one is there
No one is above you
There's no need to look around in caution
Come on and wake you up
All those who became sinners and danced and played
Here, here, come here and gather together
No matter what anyone says, you are cooler
You're cool for enjoying it
In my eyes, you're cooler
Come on and let me in
Chattering about this or that, making it seem like it will happen
It's just for people who are tiring
ring ring ring-a-ring-a
ring ring ring-a-ring-a
Just singing a song and clapping my hands
I want to enjoy as I live
ring-a-ring-a-ring ring-a-ring-a-ring
It's an echo of wanting to live peacefully
ring-a-ring-a-ring ring-a-ring-a-ring
It's a melody of you and I wanting to laugh
ring-a-ring-a-ring ring-a-ring-a-ring
It's a mirage of an untouchable happiness
ring-a-ring-a-ring ring-a-ring-a-ring
It's a dizzy world that goes round and round
Where are you busily busily going, time is busily passing
Take a rest and let's go together, let's go peacefully
Everything's so busily busily passing, busily passing
Let's just sing a song, let's just play
Where are you busily busily going, time is busily passing
Take a rest and let's go together, let's go peacefully
Everything's so busily busily passing, busily passing
Let's just sing a song please refill the battery
I lived like such a fool
I was living in a rat race
It all passes passes passes, the lost time
ring-a-ring-a-ring ring-a-ring-a-ring
It's an echo of wanting to live peacefully
ring-a-ring-a-ring ring-a-ring-a-ring
It's a melody of you and i wanting to laugh
ring-a-ring-a-ring ring-a-ring-a-ring
It's a mirage of an untouchable happiness
ring-a-ring-a-ring ring-a-ring-a-ring
It's a dizzy world that goes round and round
The lyrics I find are quite interesting and not just talking about all that stuff I've been hearing in the recent songs about love and getting the girl/boy or breaking up, or something about love. It does have an underlying love message in it but it's also got a deeper meaning which is what I love about Sunny Hill. In 'Pray' especially I was amazed at how good their song was.
Not just the lyrics to the song are amazing but did you see the video. Well, of course you did because if you scroll back to the top of the page I demanded that you go see it before reading this in big, bold letters, too. So there should be no reason you shouldn't have already watched the music video.
The sets are not just the light up ones that we see Super Junior or SNSD (for example; don't get me wrong, I love them both). It's not just zooming in on one person's face and then zooming out to a shot of the whole group dancing. And even when they were doing that in this MV the sets that they were dancing on were lavish and extravagant ones and not just some cheap green screens or flashy floors. There were walls, rooms, scenes to look at and follow along with the story. Just like 'Pray' LOEN delivered an intriguing story line and managed to turn a simple song into one that blue my mind.
It's also got a very catchy chorus. I had listened to this song once and I was already singing 'ring a ling a ling' under my breath as I walked to school. Everywhere I went I was dancing subtley to it or humming it while I cleaned.
There are a few things that DID bother me about this video, though, and that was the lack of JangHyun. In my opinion, since he's an original member of Sunny Hill he deserves to have more than eleven seconds in the song. I find it's only fair, especially after he was completely exiled from 'Pray' and left with only some harmonies in the song. In the live performance of 'Pray', too, he was cast off to the side playing guitar while the four girls took center stage.
In live performances of 'The Grasshopper Song' JangHyun appears (seemingly out of nowhere. I still can't figure out where he's popping up from), sings his part and then leaves. He's not part of the choreography and I don't even hear him in the chorus. I just wish we could see more of JangHyun since he's so extremely talented.
You can check out some of the live performances here:
The Grasshopper Song - Sunny Hill [MBC] (I believe it's that performance where Kota makes a little mistake during one of MiSeung's solo parts).
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this music video. It was original, catchy and even with all of the autotune, it was a great way for Sunny Hill to make their comeback.
In total, I would give it a 9/10 for its creative genius and deep lyrics. Though I still wish JangHyun would have made more of a presence in the song instead of just being one of the actors in the music video.
As always, I will leave you some of my favourite YouTube artist's covers of Sunny Hill's amazing song.
Here are my favourites:
Vocal Covers (Solo):
Vocal Covers (Group):
There are no good collabs as of yet that I enjoy, so please stay tuned for them when I do put them up.
Dance Covers:
Yeom - The Grasshopper Song - Dance Cover (I absolutely love this guy; he puts so much effort into his dances)
Instrument (piano, drum etc) Covers:
Reviews of the Song:
SIDE NOTE: For some reason, when I save the blog, the '베' (be) part of the title turns into this squiggly line thing of sorts, and I can't fix it... The title of the song in hangul is: 베짱이 창가
