9.891
YEAR: 2011
NO SERIOUSLY, THEY PEAKED: (11 x 3) @junglefish, @Hurricane Drunk, @Monkey0
LOVE TO HEAR IT: (10 x 16)
@Wills,
@Slice of Life,
@aux,
@RUNAWAY,
@thommyh,
@BeingNormal,
@evilsin,
@junkos,
@Joli Chat,
@codecat,
@Remorque,
@roblognick,
@Crisp X,
@Ana Raquel,
@vague,
@Empty Shoebox (9.5)
@camden_italian (9)
@ysev
HATE TO SEE IT: (8)
@soratami,
@M24
AS FOR ME: it’s a 10 – and the perfect winner
LUCKY UNNIES: We’re all lucky to live in a world where STEP exists ♡
It’s been a race for the #2 spot all along – you knew it, I knew it, we all knew it. Nevertheless, it’ll always be thrilling to see STEP snatch yet
another subforum coronation; if any song in the history of music captures the spirit that brought us all together in the first place, it’s this.
STEP is
JOY spelled out in skywriting… while the pilot dodges firework blasts, set off by poppers-fuelled carnies at the twisted circus down the street. The Day-Glo beat was, is, and will forever be legendary – nothing else in recorded music quite compares, because no one else has ever had the balls. It’s an unholy combination of every aerobics class, warehouse rave, and the entirety of popular music from the '80s and the early ‘10s, all thrown in a blender and immediately blown to smithereens, sending confetti halfway across the continent in the process.
It’s everything garish and tacky and grotesque and synthetic that we love about Kpop, from the synth textures, to the screeches buried in the mix, to the retina-searing video. It’s high art and low art and high art and low art in a spin cycle, pulverized down to a pulp, where nothing can remain unless it knows how to
directly target the joy receptors in our lizard brains. It’s as close as I’ve come to finding a musical embodiment of CAMP: that je-ne-sais-quoi, which injects pure sunshine into the worlds that queer people have built for themselves, where everything feels irreverently pointless and of vital importance at the exact same time.
And while STEP is all of the above (and ESPECIALLY tacky, like whew is it tacky), it’s also a masterpiece. It’s Sweetune at the height of their multi-chorused, structure-fucking, vocal-layering powers, and it’s KARA standing triumphantly at the pinnacle of everything a musical act is capable of.
STEP is perfect.
And even with everything I’ve called it, STEP is
still other things. According to
Crisp X, it’s “
RELENTLESS.”
junkos thinks it’s “
Truly one of the best kpop songs ever!”
BeingNormal calls it “
A glittery ultra-gay banger.” And for
roblognick, it’s “
I think the only KARA song I already knew but I didn't realise what a masterpiece it was.”
No bonus points for guessing this would win, but it still feels right to see commentary like
Ana Raquel’s: “
If it doesn't win (or at least come close to), I'll be extremely shocked.” Meanwhile,
thommyh smells worms for brains: “
Imagine giving this song less than a 10.” Imagine! And
Joli Chat hears triumph… of the contractual sort: “
The way they go off in the last chorus, YEAH! You could really hear that they resolved that lawsuit!”
Monkey0 gets his own paragraph for three reasons. First, for being the only 11-giver to provide commentary. Second, for this spill, which I felt in my soul: “
Released at their peak serves perfectly as their magnum opus. The sheer power of the production and melodies coupled with key change that alters reality.”
And third… for linking
this After School/Infinite mashup that I’m not really sure what to do with ffffffffff.
Early on, I mentioned that
RUNAWAY’s enthusiasm for everything Sweetune brought me a ton of joy. That feeling has only grown stronger as the rate’s progressed, so it only feels right to give him the last word on our winner. Consider it a sneak preview of rates to come!
“
We already determined that this is the best K-Pop song of all time, so it’d be kind of an obvious winner, but hey, I’m happy if it takes the crown yet again. Jiyoung getting the first line of the first AND second verses? Queen. Nicole being ICONIC? Check. Hara being in the center THE ENTIRE VIDEO?! Done. And her absolutely SLAYING with almost no lines?! AN ICON. Gyuri and Seungyeon being vocal powerhouses and visual legends like normal? Obviously. Literally this song has everything, and if it wins again, it will be well deserved.”
Below is the video. So much could be (and has been) said, but right now, in 2021, one thing stands out above all else:
Watching this video makes me so excited to get back out in the world and celebrate with friends again.
And yes, that includes all of you – y’all are welcome in Canada anytime! ♡♡♡
