[Single Review] Girl's Day "Female President"

Despite stiff competition from other girl groups, the ladies of�Dream T Entertainment's Girl's Day have always managed to stay on the public's radar. While it's true that this is partly due to the members' go-big-or-go-home variety show antics and a couple of weird controversies (such as the infamous "diaper fashion"), but also because their songs are usually just quirky enough to make them memorable.�

Girl's Day took a stab at a sexy concept back in 2010 with "Nothing Lasts Forever", but that single was completely eclipsed by their first (and, to date, biggest) hit "Twinkle Twinkle". Until this year, Girl's Day stuck rigidly to the off-beat aegyo that made them household names, but lighting never did strike twice with that concept. Last year's "Don't Forget Me" saw a big step up in the group's music production, as well as a step forward from their aegyo-heavy past, paving the way for a new, full-on sexy image in one of this year's biggest hits- and Girl's Day's second-biggest hit to date- "Expectation".�

Coming hot off the success of "Expectation" and the popularity boost that Hyeri's dating scandal provided, Girl's Day wasted no time pumping out a repackage with their brand new single "Female President". This song hops on the "I Got a Boy" segment-mishmash train, but it separates itself from the pack by being the first to incorporate rock-inspired electric guitar strums and hints of a faux horn section over the more genre-typical synths and dance beats. Beyond that, "Female President" is Girl's Day's most percussion-heavy song, switching effortlessly between thumping bass hits, hyperactive handclaps, and lots of crashing cymbals.�

Girl's Day further subverts current trends by taking the over-the-top sexy concept that every girl group is promoting right now (except for maybe Crayon Pop), and turning it into a kind of a girl-power anthem. Sure, saying 'girls can make the first move, too!' isn't the most empowering message ever uttered, but when put next to other songs being promoted right now- such as the pleading of SISTAR's "Give it to Me" and the squicky 'no-means-yes' message of Dal Shabet's "Be Ambitious"- it's certainly a nice change of pace.

"Female President" is fun, catchy as we expect Girl's Day singles to be, and just weird enough to stand out in the current comeback rush. Sure, the marketing is a little noisy and intentionally controversial- the video swaps the bombastic aegyo we're used to for bombastic sexuality- but the song itself is pretty inoffensive. So if they decide to release a judiciously edited dance version they could easily work around any broadcast restrictions they might encounter. Really, with a song this good, you can't blame them for a little noise marketing to make sure it gets heard.

Share this article