FAME - 10cm "Tonight, I'm Afraid of the Dark"

Welcome to the fifth episode of FAME! It seems that our schedules keep getting crazier every week, so for this week’s post I (Vic) will be the only one writing again. College homework is apparently usurping most of Dillon’s time lately (yay for being a good student!).

For this week’s FAME, I will be reviewing “Tonight, I’m Afraid of the Dark” by 10cm. (<-- click me to watch the music video).

I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to finally listen to this group. I had actually known about 10cm for a little while, but I had never bothered to listen to any of their stuff before and -wow- are they good! The music is mellow and calming as is the lead singer’s voice. This song is so simplistic compared to a lot of other Korean music I’ve been listening too, and I absolutely adore it.

Thankfully I was able to find a copy of the song on YouTube with and English translation of the lyrics – which made me love the song even more. Not only can the duo make simple music sound so beautiful, but they also chose simple, sweet lyrics which really bring the song to life. My friends also instantly fell in love with the song for these same reasons.

I also have a lot of respect for people who can perform their music live just as well as the studio recorded version – which is something I think music these days is lacking. So I was really impressed when I looked up the live version of the song and found that it sounds just as beautiful as the studio recording.

The plot of the music video was a bit confusing at first, or at least I had to watch it several times to understand it. There’s a security guard wondering around what seems to be some sort of art museum. There’s a room filled with a bunch of picture frames everywhere in the background with 10cm is sitting in the middle of the room performing the song. And, then there’s that whole scene where it looks like a guy meets up with his girlfriend to have a discreet birthday party – or something that involves a cake with candles anyways. They did tie these three themes together a little bit, but there are still a few major flaws. It seems as though the couple have their little get together in a secluded outside balcony of the museum, and the security guard starts snooping around looking for the tings which aren’t quite in their place because he can hear something. The couple have a good time eating their cake, taking a nap, and making a wish on a paper hot air balloon, but are almost spotted by the security guard when he starts shining his flashlight everywhere. The guard then starts walking through a room filled with pictures of the couple doing the activities of that night – How did they develop those pictures so quickly, frame them, and hang them up already? Yes, it’s cute, but it totally messes up the timeline of the video. Then the security guard finds the one picture that is hung crookedly – the one of 10cm playing in that room with all the other frames – and fixes it and continues on his rounds. So, they did tie all three aspects of the music video together in a nice artistic way, but the timeline/plot still annoys me a little bit. I did think the plot line for the couple matched the feel of the song really well though. The couple also had great acting skills – they were a believable loving couple and their body language was great (instead of a male and female stuck in a room pretending to be nice to each other).

There is no English in this song, so I can’t give this song an English rating this week.

And that’s all for FAME this week. Please head on over to our Facebook page and look for the pole to vote for next week’s Friday Awesome Music & Entertainment, or just look for the pole in the top left area of this blog to cast your votes there as well. Also, feel free to leave us any comments or suggestions you may have in the comments section, through email, our Facebook page, or on Twitter. Thanks!