I love both these songs and MVs. The MVs are packed with references to - mostly - western movies and music videos. Allergy has a lot of references to movies like Mean Girls. The story of 2000s movies where "plain girl in glasses removes glasses and gets her hair styled to suddenly become hot and popular. " Queencard the movie references are mostly comedies where the main protagonist believes they look like a supermodel and their life changes for the better because they are now confident in themselves. (Sorry for the long sentence, I'm writing this at 2am 😅) Soyeon has mentioned that "I Feel Pretty" was an inspiration, and the now famous dance battle seems to reference "White Chicks". Queenca is a dated Korean term meaning "the hottest/top girl" and comes from card games where the queen card was the strongest card. The album had 3 main versions - black cat, Queen card and butterfly. They also had outfits on stage reflecting these. There is good reason to think that Soyeon is also referencing "Alice through the looking glass," especially in Queencard. Like Alice, she has a dream where she becomes the queen, then realises that she already had all the things she thought that being a queen would bring her. The ending of the book is a little ambiguous - there is a question about whether the dream really happened - and we see that in Queencard also, where the trending photo is of her at the party from the dream. It's also worth noticing that as the MV progresses, it gradually becomes more and more nonsensical. For me, the power in both songs comes not just in how relatable the lyrics are, or fun the songs are, but also in how personal the lyrics are for Soyeon. I love that at the end of Queencard, she says she still feels the things she talks about in Allergy, despite also feeling pretty and sexy etc.
YAY! I am so glad you caught that and watched both! Here is my own 'head cannon' (sorry for the LONG read, again...): I am 'pretty sure' that most of Queen Card was just Soyeon's anesthesia-driven dream. By the visuals going on and by the messages at the end, Soyeon actually had been at that dance club the night before the surgery was to take place. She was really a wallflower at the club but in the fever dream, she danced and had fun. At the real party, she would have been very interested in the other four girls being there and OWNING the dance floor. In the dream, she imagines what it is like being all of them and having the Dance Battle. Some information is online, like in Allergy, she saw on a kid's phone that Miyeon got DUMPED and then somewhere else that THE SAME GUY was going out with Minnie! So during her dream, she envisions the party where Miyeon wishes Minnie luck with the guy who she now tries to ignore, but she is still hurt from being dumped (not Minnie's fault so Miyeon is not actual angry with Minnie). The fever dream gets funky because Soyeon knows she is in the hospital but she is imagining the doctors and nurses dancing in the surgery room! WEIRD! But through all of this dreaming she figures out that these other girls that she looks up to also have things going on in their own lives; nobody is perfect, everybody wants something they can't quite grasp... So then the dream just spirals, ending with Miyeon being one of the doctors! This JOLTS Soyeon out of the anesthesia! She has changed her mind in the time it took to fall asleep and have the song play, so for whatever reason it is just a few minutes and the doctor never had the chance to actually start cutting. Three minutes into surgery and Soyeon has the realization and jolts awake. Everything is fine afterward, she changed her mind about what she wants (all she needed was a really good amount of sleep to really think deeply about it) and THEN she starts getting messages from all of these girls. THEY look up to HER because they see her as having it easy because of her confidence. Full circle. I thought they did an AMAZING job! (G)I-DLE has always been GREAT with messages and pushing the envelope and making social statements. Soyeon had been a judge on a show (either last year or the year before, my memory is shot), and she was DISAPPOINTED at some of the other judges! They were letting people through based on looks alone, leaving no space for people who were more skilled in their craft but not quite as 'good looking'. The 'talent show' had turned into more of a 'beauty pageant'. Remember, Soyeon had been called 'ugly' or at least 'not good looking enough' when she was in High School and started in the underground rap battle scene. She knows EXACTLY how hard it is to succeed when people in power are looking at the wrong thing. So she called the judges out on their bullshit, she was NOT having it! She did not make many friends on that show but BOY did she make WAVES! That really happened, you can search it up. Her own story and the judges on that show may have been part of the impetus for this project. :)
Both MV are fun and meaningful but all B side tracks in this mini album they are so good too. LET'S see their performance in the concert.
I love both these songs and MVs. The MVs are packed with references to - mostly - western movies and music videos.
Allergy has a lot of references to movies like Mean Girls. The story of 2000s movies where "plain girl in glasses removes glasses and gets her hair styled to suddenly become hot and popular. "
Queencard the movie references are mostly comedies where the main protagonist believes they look like a supermodel and their life changes for the better because they are now confident in themselves. (Sorry for the long sentence, I'm writing this at 2am 😅) Soyeon has mentioned that "I Feel Pretty" was an inspiration, and the now famous dance battle seems to reference "White Chicks".
Queenca is a dated Korean term meaning "the hottest/top girl" and comes from card games where the queen card was the strongest card.
The album had 3 main versions - black cat, Queen card and butterfly. They also had outfits on stage reflecting these. There is good reason to think that Soyeon is also referencing "Alice through the looking glass," especially in Queencard. Like Alice, she has a dream where she becomes the queen, then realises that she already had all the things she thought that being a queen would bring her. The ending of the book is a little ambiguous - there is a question about whether the dream really happened - and we see that in Queencard also, where the trending photo is of her at the party from the dream. It's also worth noticing that as the MV progresses, it gradually becomes more and more nonsensical.
For me, the power in both songs comes not just in how relatable the lyrics are, or fun the songs are, but also in how personal the lyrics are for Soyeon. I love that at the end of Queencard, she says she still feels the things she talks about in Allergy, despite also feeling pretty and sexy etc.
Oooh! I didn't even notice the Alice in Wonderland reference! Thank you!!
YAY! I am so glad you caught that and watched both!
Here is my own 'head cannon' (sorry for the LONG read, again...):
I am 'pretty sure' that most of Queen Card was just Soyeon's anesthesia-driven dream. By the visuals going on and by the messages at the end, Soyeon actually had been at that dance club the night before the surgery was to take place. She was really a wallflower at the club but in the fever dream, she danced and had fun. At the real party, she would have been very interested in the other four girls being there and OWNING the dance floor. In the dream, she imagines what it is like being all of them and having the Dance Battle.
Some information is online, like in Allergy, she saw on a kid's phone that Miyeon got DUMPED and then somewhere else that THE SAME GUY was going out with Minnie! So during her dream, she envisions the party where Miyeon wishes Minnie luck with the guy who she now tries to ignore, but she is still hurt from being dumped (not Minnie's fault so Miyeon is not actual angry with Minnie).
The fever dream gets funky because Soyeon knows she is in the hospital but she is imagining the doctors and nurses dancing in the surgery room! WEIRD! But through all of this dreaming she figures out that these other girls that she looks up to also have things going on in their own lives; nobody is perfect, everybody wants something they can't quite grasp... So then the dream just spirals, ending with Miyeon being one of the doctors! This JOLTS Soyeon out of the anesthesia!
She has changed her mind in the time it took to fall asleep and have the song play, so for whatever reason it is just a few minutes and the doctor never had the chance to actually start cutting. Three minutes into surgery and Soyeon has the realization and jolts awake.
Everything is fine afterward, she changed her mind about what she wants (all she needed was a really good amount of sleep to really think deeply about it) and THEN she starts getting messages from all of these girls. THEY look up to HER because they see her as having it easy because of her confidence. Full circle.
I thought they did an AMAZING job! (G)I-DLE has always been GREAT with messages and pushing the envelope and making social statements.
Soyeon had been a judge on a show (either last year or the year before, my memory is shot), and she was DISAPPOINTED at some of the other judges! They were letting people through based on looks alone, leaving no space for people who were more skilled in their craft but not quite as 'good looking'. The 'talent show' had turned into more of a 'beauty pageant'.
Remember, Soyeon had been called 'ugly' or at least 'not good looking enough' when she was in High School and started in the underground rap battle scene. She knows EXACTLY how hard it is to succeed when people in power are looking at the wrong thing. So she called the judges out on their bullshit, she was NOT having it!
She did not make many friends on that show but BOY did she make WAVES! That really happened, you can search it up. Her own story and the judges on that show may have been part of the impetus for this project. :)
Omg I didn't know about her being a judge! Good for her for calling them out!
@@kayepopreactions43 Yep, that's our Leader. :)