[#38] SISTAR - "Naughty Hands" (feat. Verbal Jint)

From: "TOUCH & MOVE"
Released: July
Territory: South Korea
Previous Best of Entries: 2010: [#47] "Shady Girl" / 2011: [#46] "New World" / 2013: [#14] "Give It To Me"
Other notable song(s) from 2014: "Title", "Title", "Title"

I've always had a love-hate relationship with SISTAR -- there are times when they come out with solid pop tracks (like last year's "Give It To Me"), but most of the time I find Starship sacrificing too much creativity in favor of hitting it big (like this year's "Touch My Body"). But if there's one thing Starship knows how to to do well, it's a polished R&B track.

"Naughty Hands" will never be a single because it will never be a hit for SISTAR, but to a certain extent that's what I like about the track. It's subdued, so the cheap side of SISTAR is also downplayed and the over-all effect is a more polished, classy track. (Though from the little Korean I understand, the lyrics are anything but classy. But I'll leave the lyrics to other writers.)

The vocals actually sound pleasant, graceful and for the first time I can remember, I actually hear Hyorin's vocal technique at work because it's not masked by screaming. See what happens when you don't make Hyorin belt left and right? You can actually hear her timbre, which works well with SoYou's raspy, airy vocals. Verbal Jint provides the punch to SISTAR's subdued performance, which also gives the song the dynamics it needs.

A solid effort -- well done -- but most of all, refreshing considering the rest of SISTAR's repertoire.