It’s time for another Kpopalypse roundup! Let’s look at this week’s new releases!
Sechs Kies
Fiestar – Mirror
All 808 drums and sultry keys, this is Fiestar’s “Touch” moment where they finally solidify their core concept. Let’s hope that unlike miss A, they stick with it.
Lee Hi – Hold My Hand
YG aim for “Lion Heart/Sugar Sugar” territory here and miss wildly, by not modifying the typical 2NE1-style melodic lines in the chorus to suit the material.
Cosmic Girls – Catch Me
About one part Wassup to two parts Red Velvet, you can tell they’re Sistar’s sister group because their label has no set musical concept for them and is just flinging shit against the wall to see what sticks just like they did with Sistar back in the day. This song is at its best right at the end when the girls stop singing.
Miss $ – Don’t Speak Without Soul
A song with little potential anyway made even worse by bizarrely incompetent musical choices. The time signatures of the backings rub up against the vocal meter, making this song sound like it’s tripping over itself rhythmically. Fine for a pure rap song maybe, but not for this.
Snuper – Platonic Love
Lifts the keyboard textures from a-ha’s “Take On Me” and the melodies from a bunch of other songs from the same era. The 80’s actually weren’t this 80’s.
Yuju (Gfriend) & Sunyoul (Up10tion) – Cherish
You know you’re a big-ticket item in k-pop when you get offers to pair up in some generic mid-paced ballad to help promote some boy group member on another label.
Solbi – Black Swan
I don’t even know what this is but it’s alright, with a welcome change of musical directions mid-stream.
Echae en Route – Night Drive
If more Korean slow songs were a bit vocally and musically subtle like this one instead of sounding like the ten millionth Whitney/Mariah/Beyonce clone jerking off in my face with their “amazing” technique, maybe I’d pour less scorn on them.
BONUS SONGS
JJCC – Today
This didn’t make the cut for the show only because I couldn’t find a playable copy in time. I think it’s cool how they colourised the windows a bit to make you think it’s a different building. Clever. But what’s with the strobes? Can you guys stop that? This is supposed to be a “cute concept”, no strobes please. Thanks.
Lee Hi – Breathe
This one on the other hand didn’t make the cut because it’s pure garbage. Now that Lee Hi has turned 20 she gets to do cookie-cutter Korean slow ballad #598723, coming soon to a restaurant sound system near you.
Loopy – Goyard
Sounds great for the first 50 seconds before the awful beat and rapping come in and ruin it, I’d happily take another three minutes of the ambient intro and the rest can get buried under an avalanche for all I care.
Yoona (Girls’ Generation) & 10cm – Deoksugung Stonewall Walkway
Some dull music, some eaves of some buildings, a few trees, some computer-generated clouds and Yoona’s face all fight for the title of Most Boring Thing 2016.
That’s it for another Kpopalypse roundup – more next week!
Tagged: roundup
