I write both for a living and for fun, so words mean a lot to me. But In their absence, or rather, the failure to understand them in 3 non-English Asian music videos, I expect to be impressed simply by the visuals presented to me. Without the benefit of possibly good (or even great) lyrics, the visuals need to do a lot to satisfy.

One More Time by Jewelry
Rating: 3/5

The Korean pop quartet in this video show exactly how much influence The Supremes and the Spice Girls had on popular music - individually sung verses followed by a chorus. Thing is, with both boy and girl bands, they’ve gotta look alike (everybody saw Motown!) or come up with a distinct personality for each member (Sporty, Scary, Posh, etc.); no gray area.

In this video, they seem to have captured the middle ground: different hairstyles and clothes, all in the same color. The group looks homogenous, yet slightly distinct.

Space Ranger by Scandal
Rating: 4/5

Talking about uniformity, here’s a music video from an all-female Japanese band. No story here, just a weird panda mascot and four Japanese schoolgirls. Two thumbs up. If you don’t understand the appeal of Japanese schoolgirls, this video isn’t for you.

The band is playing with a plain white background. Seems they wanna be all about the music. Oh, they share singing duties? That probably means no egos. The members of Scandal play their own instruments, and they sound quite good, with serious punk influences. Now, if only their manager hadn’t insisted on the band’s name appearing on screen every five seconds, it would’ve been a seriously good video from a band with great potential.

If only I could understand the lyrics. Good thing plaid skirts are a universal language.

- Migs Marfori