Jeon Somi “Closer” Review

The first thing that jumped out to me, was, somewhat unfortunately, her incongruous title…I felt like she repeated “beautiful girl” so much that that should be the title instead of the only occasional “closer.” That’s just the first of many incongruities I noticed in “Closer:” despite highly metaphorical and symbolic storytelling, which would suggest a more sophisticated message, “Closer” uses simple, flat, and at times, flat-out cringey lyrics; despite having so many back-up dancers around her, the sets feel so claustrophobic and enclosed Somi seems isolated and alone; and despite being human, Somi seems to have many alter egos, and even has her face bloom into a flower at one point.

I’m not saying these incongruities are bad–in fact, without having seen the rest of the releases this week, I think I’ll choose “Closer” for my weekly in-depth review. There’s so much detail, so much tension, so much passion for this message that she’s trying to communicate that I could not possibly resist spending more time to delve in deeper. “Closer” clearly has a great desire to make commentary–without giving away too much right now, I have a feeling “Closer” is, again, like her last single, “Extra,” commentary on being an idol…but this time, specifically idol-fan relationships.