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Handsome Sausages
Handsome Sausages

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Early Access: XG - Woke Up (MV)

Here's our reaction to XG's Woke Up (MV) !

FIRE song!!

Enjoy <3

Early Access: XG - Woke Up (MV)

Comments

No idea, sorry! xD

sysrae

i would say so similar style

Ron Jackson Jr

I feel like you would know, is that XGALX CEO Simon Jakops in the beginning?! I could totally imagine him as head ALPHA xD

♡ Bludreamgirl ♡

Ahhh, I'm so glad you've finally seen this, so I can yell about it! Honestly a phenomenal song, and especially in combination with the music video it makes me feral for all how much of a cultural synthesis the finished product is. I'm pretty sure the instrument at the beginning is an erhu, so you've got a traditional Chinese sound fused with 808s; then they take two of the most masculine American symbols - grills and the gridiron helmets and pads - and transform them with wolf imagery, where the helmets have ears and the grills have fangs, which feels spiritually in the tradition of Nicki Minaj's iconic Monster verse ("You could be the king but watch the queen conquer"/"I'm a motherfuckin' monster"). But at the same time, the wolf iconography (which is a shoutout to their fandom being called ALPHAZ) is contrasted with the silver animal masks some of the extras are wearing, which resemble the masks worn by the rich in Squid Game - only here, the men in masks are XG's prey, which makes it another subversion of masculine power. In Hinata and Juria's section, you've got an overt reference to Michelle Yeoh in Everything Everywhere All At Once, which is echoed both lyrically ("everything everywhere all at once all the time all around the world") and visually, with the way the camera flicks between their faces, overlapping as if slipping between realities. And then, too, you've got Juria's outfit, with the tall wolf ears and the pale robes - it drove me crazy for a solid week after I first saw the MV, because I knew I'd seen it somewhere before, until I realised the answer was, quite literally, staring me in the face in the form of a poster on my wall: her outfit is identical to a character design from the award-winning graphic novel Monstress, written by Marjorie M. Liu, who's American of Taiwanese descent, and illustrated by Sana Takeda, who's Japanese. (Here's an image of the character in question: https://cdn.imagecomics.com/assets/i/releases/958881/monstress-44-2_a2463a72be.jpg) You've got Harvey on her float ("floatin' like it's Mardis Gras," which makes it both a pun and another cultural reference), which to my eyes at least looks visually reminiscent of Edea's parade float/car in FFVIII, a game upon which I imprinted at a formative age; you've also got an earlier shoutout to the third Fast and the Furious film, Tokyo Drift, in Jurin's verse ("find me in Tokyo rapping in a skrrt!/better catch my drift tho"). And then, in Cocona's final verse, she raps "young queen but I act like an unnie," with 'unnie' the only non-English word in the song - which hits all the harder, given that she's the youngest member (and which contrasts nicely with Maya, the eldest, rapping "den mother mother wolf," which also ties into the wolf aesthetic). There's probably more if I were to go through it frame by frame, but the whole thing is just an incredible piece of work on every level. Also: now that you've seen the original, I can link you to this partial cover by Kang Hayoon (the guy from Build Up who sounds like Adele) https://x.com/nugupromo/status/1801329311925907608

sysrae

🏃

♡ Bludreamgirl ♡

Oh yeah, XG! For me they are the female equivalent to SKZ. I don't know who of them goes harder, dryer. Woke up reminds me in its reductionism of Superbowl. A collaboration between them would be haven. Cocona shaved her head right in the filming, and she looks so amazing, she's Chief BadAss!!!

Ideosycrat

I really love it the song, this is what a fall for XG their rap, I the only want who need a XG x SKZ collab?! THEY ARE THE REALLY WOLFGANG with unique music and style, they’re not kpop they are themselves and I’m here for it

Vale

Ok I'm back. Here we go. D'some following Maya's hand movements and then continuing to do the hand movement is so fucking valid. Cocona and Jurin are my biases of this group. The wolf fits are EVERYTHING!! Lol its XG hip-pop. That's their genre. I am going to see them in concert and i am SO BEYOND EXCITED!! Not demon Aespa 🤣😂.

Kwestleo

No Joke I Had and still have that Song on REPEAT its sooo good and so addicting!!!! I also love the badass Concept and im in LOOVE with their rapping skills!!!!

Liza

UP NOW :D

Handsome Sausages

They are so badass!! Since they released this song I became a fan 🥹 I’m “new” to K-pop, became a Stay a few years ago because the songs and beats were so different, and now I found a girl group with this badass energy, I loved!

Lari

Hands down my favorite MV from XG so far. That beat is thumping and the attitude matches it so, so well!

Tristana Keauna

ALPHA PRESENT 👋🏾

Kwestleo

YES YES YES. I have to wait until I get home to watch this but I'm so excited. Please tell me you also reacted to the choreography video?!?

Kwestleo

the scream I scrumpt.... WHERE MY ALPHAZ AT?! I still wanna know if that is XGALX CEO Simon Jakops in the beginning.... I'm also wondering if the instrument they used for that sample is a Carnyx. (wild guess)

♡ Bludreamgirl ♡


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