[#14] SISTAR - "Give It To Me"

From: "Give It To Me"
Released: June
Territory: South Korea
Previous Best of Entries: 2010: [#47] "Shady Girl" / 2011: [#46] "New World"
Other notable song(s) from 2013: "Bad Boy", "넌 너무 야해" (Feat. 긱스), "A Week", "If U Want"

This is the second of three entries from SISTAR, or members of, on the countdown this year. So to say that they had a pretty good year music-wise would be more or less accurate. And by pretty good I mean pretty good compared to their previous releases, which were okay at best.

The shift from "Alone" to "Give It To Me" is the shift I would liked to have seen from Brave Brothers since "Alone" was released. It's a growth that makes sense for SISTAR, because Double Kick was able to incorporate elements of what made SISTAR distinct.

A lot of elements in "Alone" are also in "Give It To Me," most obvious of which is the piano line at the hook. The difference is in how that piano line was used. In "Alone" it was primarily used to give the song depth, especially when the lower octaves were used, while in "Give It To Me" it provides a sense of urgency and adds some grace to the stiff bass line and percussion. What differs between the two songs though is the introduction of a prominent string section in "Give It To Me." This is was sets the motif of the song -- if in "Alone" it was the particular synth loops and the drum line, this time it's the string section.

"Alone" focuses on bottom-heavy instruments in lower registers juxtaposed against light, choppy vocals. While "Give It To Me" makes use of higher registers and lighter, more graceful-sounding instruments under packed, highly melodic vocals and rap. Both are definitely very Brave Brothers, but in this case, it's okay.

What keeps me listening to "Give It To Me" is the fact that it's so much less pretentious than "Alone" -- I get what it was trying to do last year, but there was just too much style and not necessarily too little substance (because the production was really good, and the drum line was gorgeous) -- it was trying to be too many things that it clearly did not achieve as a song. "Give It To Me" is, thankfully, not confused. It's clear what this song is meant to do, and it's done throughout the course of the song, with cohesion to boot. And, not to mention, the melody actually fits all their vocals and brings the best out of them.

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