Orange Caramel's Catallena - Sushi and Kpop

  

I saw vinseop’s comment in Allkpop and I was really surprised of the deep, complex meaning behind the MV. I actually have different thoughts but after reading his/her comment everything makes more sense and I decided to accept his theory and elaborate more.

First of all, what is Catallena? According to Lizzy and Raina, “It's about a woman or a person who's fussy. But even though she's fussy, you want to get close to her. For some reason, she's kind of cool. She seems really weird, but then again she seems kind of okay." Don’t we all have at least one Catallena around us? She’s so pretty, so popular and so awesome yet she has a nasty attitude and obnoxious. But everyone adores her and would kill to be in her clique. This is something you will never understand in high school. Occasionally, she seems less annoying, and you think that maybe she isn’t that bad after all, but in the blink of an eye she’s back being an evil princess and you start to hate her again. Still, deep down, you wonder how cool it is to be her. You want to be her. Anyway, in this MV, Catallena stands for all the internationally famous Kpop groups (I don’t think I would need to provide examples for this). Since they are older, more experienced and well-known in the Kpop industry, they are the backbone in Kpop and they indirectly determines the fate of other less popular Kpop groups. The greater their fame, the tougher the lives of other less popular groups. In the MV, the octopus is the Catallena since it is sold at a higher price. Orange Caramel, however, is sold at a much lower price because the shrimp, salmon and mackerel are common compared to the octopus. We can see that the three mermaids (yes, mermaids. You get to eat half human half fish how cool is that) are struggling in their plastic wrappings and the octopus is laughing at them. This portrays how hard the less popular Kpop groups are working hard and struggling to survive in the industry; but the more popular Kpop groups who live a better life, smirk at their efforts. Although as a mere Kpop fan, we don’t know what’s happening in the Kpop groups’ lives but imagine being in a popular Kpop group. You can’t rule out the possibility that you might be an arrogant bitch who looks down to less popular groups.

The three mermaids, after much struggling, lying hopelessly in their plastic wrappings when they are sold at a 3 for 1 deal. The sushi master is laughing when he is watching the television , which I assume it’s a sale advertisement of the seafood. That, for me, is pretty much sadistic. There are people manipulating the whole Kpop industry; everything is in their hands. You might be a in a popular group, but at the end of the day, you’re almost an item being used for commercial purposes and others. This is Kpop. Kpop is also part of reality.

I like it that they picked an octopus to be the Catallena. When the octopus is put on the sushi, it is sitting there like a king with the tentacles surrounding the rice from all sides. Symbolic, eh?

The price of each piece of sushi demands my attention. The egg sushi is sold at a slightly higher price compared to the mackerel, salmon and shrimp sushi. However, the egg sushi is portrayed by someone who isn’t attractive and looks somehow weird. With this they are trying to bring out the meaning that Kpop groups that use the weird and quirky concepts are more famous than the normal ones. You have to admit, weird Kpop dances do attract your attention. The unagi and halibut sushi are sold at a much higher price compared to the previous sushis, and the unagi is represented by a muscular man and the halibut a sexy lady. You see what they are trying to say, don’t you? ;) Male Kpop groups with beastly figures. Female Kpop groups with sexy concepts. Groups like these normally are more well-known since they got teenagers fangirling/fanboying all over them (even though their songs aren’t good). Why there are some Kpop groups who have debuted years ago, could not make a name for themselves after so many years? Three reasons for this: One, they are not good enough. Second, they don’t make music that fulfils comsumers’ needs. Third, they are outshined by more popular groups from more popular entertainment companies. But still, the Catallenas, in the end, have the highest price.

When Orange Caramel are eating the sushi, they have flashbacks of their carefree lives before they became members of certain Kpop groups. I think the scenes of a fish swimming freely in the ocean is a relevant  brilliant move.  And I’m curious why Orange Caramel are crying. Are those tears of regret? Or pure frustration when less popular groups (I’m not referring to Orange Caramel) could not beat the more popular groups even though they have tried their best? Or maybe, just maybe, the sushi is too heavenly delicious?

As for the song, I have no comment. It’s kinda like Lipstick, and I always speechless for songs of this kind. But in the MV they have some really funny dance moves, like the hand movement that they have a piece of sushi in their hands and the MJ style posture. I know Orange Caremel has been using the Candy Culture, which is the cuteness and colorful style, and it clearly shows in their MVs. The Catallena MV is as fun as the Lipstick MV, and well, Kpop defines ‘fun’ differently. One good instance is B1A4’s MVs like What’s Happening MV and Beautiful Target MV. These MVs are so brightly-colored, and they have silly plots that are so ridiculous that you’re gonna laugh it off and not hating it in the end. I do appreciate fun music videos like this. We all need a break from the sappy Kpop videos sometimes.

I think it’s extraordinary to combine food with music, and bring out a cruel message at the same time.Who knows that sushi has such deep meaning? Well done, Orange Caramel. One question though, how does it feel to dip your whole body into soy sauce and lick the sauce off your legs? Hmm.