Summer always brings out the fun, dance-heavy track to get the party started. Of course, Sistar would be one the groups that would provide a dance track with “Shake It.” The song and MV are typical Sistar with bright, poppy colors and lots of booty-focus to provide fans what is expected of Sistar. Fans must be happy as it’s been certified a all-kill several times, so it’s safe to say Sistar keeps proving their worth!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9-TIy7WPQI
In “Shake It,” Sistar are high schoolers who know how to put the “fun” in classroom fundamentals. The high school is straight out of an anime with attractive people, Sistar as the sexy female leads, a creeper guy, and doofy teachers. It’s clear Sistar are the popular students who lead the pack in dances while turning heads. There are several scenes where it’s clear Sistar’s shake “brings all the boys to the yard,” even to the point where they’re cutely arrested by the police.
There’s not a lot of substance with “Shake It” even though there’s a lot going on, making it a strange video for that reason alone. There’s plenty of stereotypical high school hijinx with sports, goofing off, and interacting with teachers and classmates. Then we have a typical teen-show, after school actions like shopping and hanging out at the mall. This is the whole MV. All the bright colors and writing everywhere are enough to keep a viewer engaged, but this is definitely not an MV if you’re looking to engage in analysis or thinking, so it is the perfect summer song as there’s just fun; no thinking necessary.
The song is also simplistic with all the makings of a successful pop song complete with easy lyrics, repetition, and catchy beats. The shaking in the song refers to not only Sistar’s assets (as the MV allows you to believe), but also to the dance and the shaking of the heart. A shaking heart is the heartbeat of love in K-Pop language. “Shake It” is, essentially, an upbeat song about crushes and falling in love. The song fulfills the theme of joyful summery romances and flirtiness well, although it feels like the MV could have matched the theming better instead of being set in a school and mall.
It would have been fun to see Sistar focus on summer love over schoolyard shenanigans because doing so would have fit them more given how they appear older than school-aged. Based on appearance alone, the Sistar ladies knocked it out of the park in terms of hair, makeup, and overall theming to where they easily could have stepped into the roles of love muses showing anyone who may fall in love how to shake it. Sistar could have kept their styles and dance for the comeback, but the concept was too young feeling for them, especially Hyorin and Dasom who usually appear more mature than Bora and Soyou at times.
As a whole, the song is catchy and enjoyable, but it’s not the best lyrically. The cheerful colors and Sistar’s dance felt on-point, but the concept just didn’t work for them. With some improvements to the latter (read: concept change), “Shake It” could have been a better MV. “Shake It” earns a 2.75/5.
—-Joelle Halon