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MEOVV performing HANDS UP for Studio Choom
Still from MEOVV's official Studio Choom performance of “HANDS UP.” Video: Studio Choom.

RaeRae’s verdict: MEOVV’s “HANDS UP” is a workout hiding inside a Brazilian-funk beat. The flute loop is irritating in the useful way, the five voices finally sound cast for the same song, and Studio Choom shows how much detail the music video left behind. The dance break is ridiculous. I mean that as praise and as a warning to everybody’s knees.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqcNJ2Lqd-8

Release File

The Flute Does Not Ask Permission

“HANDS UP” opens with a high flute-like synth over a beat officially described as Brazilian-funk inspired. It is sharp, repetitive, and impossible to confuse with polite background music. The percussion runs underneath it like a race. Then MEOVV enter with fast lines that have to hit the rhythm cleanly or get left behind.

That opening is the song’s best decision. TEDDY, Vince, 24, and Dominsuk give the group one ugly-pretty sound to organize everything around. The track does not need a giant instrumental pile because the flute has already occupied the room.

The Chorus Is a Command With Weather Damage

“Crack the sky open, put your hands up” is a proper arena line. The Korean lyric keeps the instruction moving even when the answer is unclear: raise your hands and do what you want. The image of breaking the sky so water can fall is dramatic, but the members deliver it as physical momentum instead of a philosophy lecture.

The chorus rises above the lower verses without turning into a completely different record. That matters because the beat is already busy. A wider vocal line gives the ear somewhere to go while the percussion keeps sprinting.

MEOVV Finally Sound Like Five People on the Same Track

Gawon and Narin have enough bite in their delivery to keep the rap passages from sounding like temporary bridges to the next chorus. Sooin brings the heaviest physical attack in the performance. Anna’s cooler tone works against the frantic beat, while Ella’s brighter voice keeps the hook from becoming too hard-edged.

The line distribution is not a full vocal showcase, but the song understands contrast. MEOVV do not need five copies of the same rich tone. They need the low, clipped lines, brighter hook, and sharper rap accents to arrive in the right order.

The Arrangement Trips at the Finish Line

After the second chorus, the track breaks open for a dance section built around heavier percussion and repeated commands. It works onstage because the choreography supplies the escalation. On audio alone, the transition is less convincing. The song has already established such a strong flute-and-funk identity that the harder ending feels borrowed from a familiar THEBLACKLABEL climax.

I wanted the flute to mutate, disappear, or return in a stranger shape. Instead, the final section chooses impact. It is effective, but I can hear the company habit arriving before the members finish making the first half their own.

Studio Choom Shows the Actual Assignment

The official music video cuts between story, training, and performance. Studio Choom has nowhere to hide the work. The choreography uses hands constantly without settling for five people raising their arms on the chorus. Wrists fold, elbows create frames, fingers mark the beat, and the formation passes those shapes from one member to another.

The full-body shots also reveal how often the members are changing level. A clean upper-body gesture is followed by a deep bend, a floor transition, or a fast traveling step. The routine keeps asking for power and precise hand placement at the same time. That combination is why a casual viewer may remember only the aggression while dancers keep noticing the details.

Sooin Owns the Center of the Storm

Sooin attacks the dance break like she has been waiting for the song to stop pretending this is normal choreography. Her center section is heavy, fast, and controlled through the torso. She does not throw away the smaller hand shapes when the beat gets louder.

Narin matches the musical accents especially well in the rap passages. Gawon uses her height and long lines without letting the movement become loose. Anna’s control makes the busier formations readable. Ella has the kind of direct camera presence that could become distracting, but here she keeps it attached to the count.

The Choreography Needed a Committee

The Studio Choom end credits name a large team: Todd Williamson, Leejung Lee, Kiel Tutin, Latrice Kabamba, Silvergun, Akita Renan, and Redlic, with performance direction credited to Redlic, Jake, and Kimmie. That explains the density. Several movement languages have been packed into one routine, including hand work, low athletic transitions, group shapes, and a final section designed to leave everybody breathing hard.

A committee can make choreography feel stitched together. “HANDS UP” gets close during the dance break, but the repeated hand motif keeps enough continuity. The title is doing real work inside the movement.

The Music Video Chooses Alkkagi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sL0pCS6K9bc

The MV sends MEOVV into training for alkkagi, the Korean board game where players flick pieces across a board to knock out an opponent’s stones. Their feared master turns out to be a little boy. It is silly, culturally specific, and much better than another warehouse full of expensive cars pretending to be a plot.

The training scenes fit the lyric’s challenge language, while the board game gives the members something to do besides stare at the camera. The joke also cuts through their luxury image. MEOVV can look severe. Watching them prepare for battle against a child gives that severity somewhere funny to go.

The problem is that the editing sacrifices too much choreography. The MV sells the song’s personality. Studio Choom sells the performance. Keeping both videos on one page shows why the record works better when the two halves can be seen together.

What Worked

What Needed Its Hands Lowered

The final dance break is stronger as performance than as song structure. On the recording, it interrupts a more distinctive groove with a climax I have heard in other records from this production family. One last transformation of the flute motif would have belonged specifically to “HANDS UP.”

The song also gives the members attitude faster than it gives them lyrical detail. MEOVV sound convincing, but the message could fit almost any group told to overcome a challenge. The production and video do the identity work the words leave open.

RaeRae’s Final Verdict

“HANDS UP” is the first MEOVV song where the members, beat, choreography, and joke all look like they met before filming day. The flute annoys me into paying attention. The chorus opens the track wide enough for five voices. Studio Choom turns the title into a three-minute upper-body emergency.

I would replay the song. I would not volunteer to learn that dance break without medical coverage.

Sources

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