[Review] Nine Muses’ Kyungri debuts with seductive “Blue Moon”, which has surprising allure

Kyungri of Nine Muses has made her solo debut with the song “Blue Moon“, which one of my (bi, for those who asked) writers claimed would give the gays everything they wanted. I’m not sure if that ended up true, but it certainly delivered something noteworthy.

With the pulsating beat that’s sexy and sensual more than it is poppy, the easy comparison to make for “Blue Moon” is a feminine version of Taemin‘s “Move“. While comparisons like that can be lazy, it rung quite true for me as well, especially thanks to the excellent drop that highlights the throbbing bassline. It’s subtle as opposed to being noisy, which was a choice that played well with the rest of the track. That includes Kyungri’s admittedly limited but airy and sultry vocal stylings, and “Blue Moon” does a good job of never asking her to extend past her abilities. I still tend to find distorted vocals annoying more often than not, but this was a relatively appropriate use of it for them to break up any monotony, as vocal runs likely weren’t an option.

The use of silence in the build was also a good choice, as it helps to almost artificially give everything that comes after it punch. That segues well into my one complaint, which is that “Blue Moon” could’ve used a better payoff in the third act, as I felt the close underdelivered. That said, Kyungri shows a surprisingly viable road ahead for a solo career with this sound.

“Blue Moon” inevitably works better as a whole, much like Taemin’s releases, with Kyungri fitting the whole atmosphere of this perfectly. It invokes Uhm Jung Hwa vibes (and sounds sorta like LOONA), which is never a bad thing. I doubt this will play well with the Korean public (type of sound and also it’s Nine Muses related, sigh), but it certainly should be a hit with niche listeners who enjoy these types of relatively upbeat and seductive releases, and that includes yours truly.