Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Jessica is back with “WONDERLAND“, which should make you excited regardless, because if it’s not the music, at least the stan/anti meltdowns should be worth it.
“WONDERLAND” caught my attention from the start, as the trop house instrumental was a nice sound to be greeted with. Some are understandably worn out on the trend, but it still plays well for me, and it helps make “WONDERLAND” a pleasant listen throughout. The transitions into and out of the chorus were executed seamlessly, and while the chorus itself was not catchy, it was eminently listenable. Jessica unsurprisingly handles the light and airy nature of the track well, as this kind of sound was sorta made for her voice.
That said, the track stagnated a bit because the production didn’t do anything different the second and third times through the chorus. As a result, it’s a lot less dynamic than it potentially could’ve been, and the whole effort begins to blend into the background it sets up for itself.
I’m sorry for doing this, but the other female solo effort this reminded me a lot of was Taeyeon‘s “Why,” so it should be amusing to see those that hated that love this and vice versa. Me? I thought “WONDERLAND” was repetitive but listenable, and it fell short of what it could be thanks to static production.
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The video, shot in France and Switzerland, was beautiful. However, nothing was as beautiful as getting to see the extra as fuck Coridel Entertainment introduction again.
But mainly it was about the visuals of the video…
…and her visuals within it.
The only weak spot is the choreography scenes, which seemed almost thrown in there because it’s a part of a K-pop habit when it wasn’t necessary at all.
Most importantly, though, this can’t NOT be an ice princess nod, right?
I needed to see that.
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It’s Jessica, so it’s sure to generate a ton of passionate responses for and against. And that’s how you know the people involved are biased, as “WONDERLAND” was the type of release that was solid but unspectacular and simply safe in a lot of ways. It was listenable and you wouldn’t change the station if it came on the radio, but you wouldn’t exactly seek it out either. Still, it was intriguing to see trop house set in a winter scenario, and grading against the seasonal curve makes this come out much better than it should. Additionally, the music video was simply beautiful, and while I’d eventually like to see her break from this image, for now it’s undoubtedly serving her well.
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‘Wonderland’ Album
“Wonderland” Song
