[MV Review] SISTAR – “I Like That”

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Like clockwork, SISTAR is back with another summer comeback/opportunity for them all to vigorously shake their asses at a camera.  Fortunately, even a broken clock (see: the extremely unlistenable Shake It, the fairly unlistenable but mercifully body-roll-heavy My Boy) is right twice a day. And I Like That is one of those times.

Who could have predicted this choreo?!?!

A departure from the super happy summer fare they’ve been cranking out for the past couple of years, I Like That is a return to the dark, dramatic textures they used to such excellent effect in Alone. Despite the change from major to minor, though, the production here is extremely standard SISTAR fare: you’ve got some mildly interesting horns, a heck of a lot of percussion, and Hyorin belting constantly. The thing about SISTAR is that they crank the production up as loud and as heavy as Hyorin can handle (which is very, very loud and very, very heavy) but that sometimes ends up drowning out the weaker voices in the group. As per usual, Soyou is decent, Dasom is a non-event and Bora is bad at rapping but good at being pretty. But despite the mixed bag of vocalists and the subpar rapping, I Like That is eminently listenable thanks to the solid hook and nifty rhythmic trick at the end of the chorus. The horn line is employed with enough tact that it manages to avoid annoying the crap out of listeners, and the production backs off enough to really let Hyorin shine (which is the only reason anyone listens to SISTAR songs anyway).

You can close those curtains, Dasom, nobody wants to see you

As for the video, it’s a pretty standard dance-in-the-box sexy concept. There’s a gesture in the direction of a storyline featuring Dasom, the least interesting person in the group and possibly the world, but otherwise it’s just a tableau of SISTAR-standard ass-shaking, bed-splaying, longing gazes into the camera, etc. They play with some fabric, Bora looks surprisingly sexy with short hair (which she cuts in the middle of the video for … reasons) and blue contacts, Soyou rolls around on some rose petals for like thirty milliseconds and then basically never appears again, the girls wear some extremely regrettable nude illusion bodysuits, Hyorin has boobs and we are thankful for it, Dasom does not have boobs but pretends really hard like she does and we are still pretty thankful for it. Everybody has tattoos, if you’re into that.

The only thing Soyou does in this video is lie down. I feel you, girl

This sure as hell isn’t SISTAR’s best work, but it also isn’t their worst. I could do without Bora rapping and the entire bridge section of the song, but everyone looks at least somewhat hot in the video (Bora, you’re the real MVP), the percussion and horn lines are standard kpop fare but a good time nonetheless, and Hyorin can still belt it. 3.5/5, would listen again.