Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Lovelyz dropped their album ‘R U Ready‘ at a rather weird time (two hours before midnight), and with it came their comeback single “Wow“, which was also rather weird.
The verses, pre-chorus, and chorus all feel like they belong in their own worlds, but while the messy structure of “Wow” can (understandably) turn some listeners off, it actually didn’t bother me much. In fact, that’s one of the few things that made “Wow” comeback a bit memorable, along with the funky, deep bass line and transformation into 2-D paper dolls in the music video.
Just a cool execution and something I hadn’t thought of before.
But, because there’s always a but, Lovelyz didn’t really have all that much else to do. The verses were a cute way to get the song started, but it becomes repetitive by the end of the song, and while the pre-chorus does effectively build tension, to what end? Because the chorus itself like “Destiny” except without all the elements that made the “Destiny” hook work. Whereas that release let it all explode outward with anime opening/ending goodness, “Wow” is subdued and a bit flat-lining, almost coming across as “Destiny” except dying on the way to the hospital.
My main takeaway from “Wow” was that there wasn’t much to takeaway at all. It was just sort of there, building to nothing and never really getting going.
That said, I loved Digipedi‘s (I don’t know that they did this but it has to be them) concept for the music video and my girl Seo Ji Soo whoever Yein is looks great.
On repeat listens, the only thing that ended up holding my interest was the music video, which is never what you want from a comeback. How a track is structured can make them come across as more or less than the sum of its parts, but my problem with “Wow” isn’t with the structure, it’s that the parts themselves are so beige and mediocre. And the fact that the chorus tempts listeners by utilizing the sound from “Destiny” only serves to remind us of what a superior effort that was.
