I don’t know around what time, or even which person or group first started putting out their practice sessions, but at some point it started and was a nice change of pace from the flashy on stage routines.

When this first started, it very much was them actually practicing. Showing a slice of the hard work put into their performances. We got to see idols in a more relatable state. No make-up or stage outfits just them working hard on practicing their performance.

As time past however, these “Practice Videos” became less about showing them practice and more of heavily produced performance in a room instead of on a stage.

I guess I’ll bring it back a little. One of the first practice videos I remember seeing was when BIGBANG released their album Tonight. This is around 2011, I’d say. They put out a dance practice video for Somebody to Love. You can watch it below.

You can see this is actually them practicing. One camera, and you can even spot a few small mistakes, ‘cough, cough’ TOP. Anyway, the reason I like this video and brought it up was because at one point GD looks legitimately pissed off. He rubs his eyes and doesn’t bother sing the song.

Wow, it’s as if they were actually practicing. It allowed people to see a different side to these performances, seeing hard work, mistakes and a probably heavily overworked GD.

It seems though that now we are… maybe not losing but seeing this “practice video” be used differently. At this point I’m using the term “practice” very loosely. Now for the proposes of this, I’m sure alot of companies do this, but I’m going to talk about the one that seems to be the worst at it. CUBE.

I remember watching the 4MINUTE Whatcha Doin’ Today choreography practice video. At one point there was a cut and the camera moved to a different place. Such a small thing but instantly I was taken aback. “It’s meant to be them just practicing. Why would there be a cut?” And then the 4MINUTE Crazy choreography practice video, and this time it looks as if the camera is actually on some sort of rig as it moved about the room. What started out as a nice concept seemed to play out like CUBE going “These practice videos need to be better then other the companies. Why don’t we just fake everything!” It just seemed so… petty.

Now at this point I feel I should say this is absolutely not a dig at 4MINUTE . I really like most of their song. This seems to be more of an issue with CUBE.

Anyway we finally get to the reason I started writing this. 4MINUTE or CUBE I should say released the “practice” video for the song HATE. (Great song by the way.)

And well, just take a look….

Practice… Practice, yeah?

“Yo, lets go practice our dance moves in an underground car park.”

“Oh yeah! That’s a great idea. Hold up, let me grab my smoke machine. We can’t practice without a smoke machine. Are you crazy?”

This isn’t them practicing, why try and label it as that. The thing is I actually think the video is cool. But CUBE pumping money into a practice video in a bid to out do competitors just seems sad. It’s dumb.

It’s actually really funny in some ways. With K pop’s over the top nature, of course they would practice in a car park. I mean I don’t object to this video being made, just don’t say it’s a practice video.

I guess I just found some comfort in seeing idols in a different light, allowing them to show their hard work and in some cases their flaws.