When the Wonder Girls — one of K-Pop‘s long-standing, history-making girl groups — formally called it quits after a decade earlier this year following their incredible ’80s-themed comeback Reboot, their disbandment felt like a heavy loss for the community.
But now that Sunmi, one of the troupe’s founding members, just supplied her first post-exit solo effort, suddenly the downfall of the Wonder Girls…doesn’t seem like such a bad thing, after all?
“Gashina” is Sunmi’s re-debut as a solo star after leaving JYP and signing with MakeUs Entertainment, which she wrote and recorded alongside YG Entertainment producer, Teddy — and it’s actually the business.
The video’s music-free opening alone, as Sunmi slurps down a milkshake in a diner before becoming shook by the sight of a shadowy someone walking past her table, is already enough to entice. But once she inexplicably climbs over the table, you know things are about to get…messy. In a good way.
Cue the drunken gyrations at home, disco parties for one, and a headfirst flop into an overflowing closet: it’s an entirely amusing blend of comedy and fierceness, as Sunmi angrily refuses to accept that her ex is moving on without her. (Sorry, Utada reference — wrong country.)
“Why are you leaving such a beautiful woman like me behind? Why are you leaving me? How can you leave me so easily?” she demands over and over across a very 2017-friendly trop-pop beat breakdown, stomping down the hallway and raging at the very thought. Also, it’s a big year for bathtubs in K-Pop. (Sunmi’s tub just happens to be portable.)
The fashionable lewks are endless, and increasingly next-level — especially that futuristic plastic dominatrix moment towards the end — as Sunmi incredibly spirals into Fatal Attraction-style, flower-filled madness. Basically, she’s one step away from showing up at his place uninvited. “I’m not going to be ignored, Dan…”
In any case, Sunmi’s former flame might not want to smell her flowery fragrance anymore (#BuyPerfumeOniTunes) — but I sure as hell love what I’m sniffing.
“Gashina” was released on August 22. (Apple Music)
