[Review] EVERGLOW’s “La Di Da” deserves to be their breakout hit

EVERGLOW is one of those girl groups whose presence was difficult to ignore, but for my money, hadn’t quite yet lived up to their potential. The pieces were always there, and thankfully the company backing was solid enough to give them time to find it, as they have struck oil with something that works in the form of “La Di Da”.

“La Di Da” is unabashedly 80s synth pop, so it’s likely a sound that you’ve heard before. But it’s so unapologetic about it and it gets the sound so right that it’s hard not to feel this was all EVERGLOW. It’s energetic and aggressive throughout, with a bit of sass as if to show that not every girl crush type of concept has to be cut from the same cloth.

EVERGLOW themselves interplay with the instrumental perfectly throughout “La Di Da”, but the production is definitely what carries this. It hits hard right from the start and never lets up, creating verses that are every bit as memorable as most choruses thanks to thrilling and dramatic synths. It’s hard to understate just how good the loop is here, honestly. Normally, the rapping would feel out of place in a track like this. However, because of the stellar production it fit in surprisingly well, especially in the second verse with a plucky synth loop that seems to climb and descend rapidly. Perhaps that’s the song’s greatest achievement even.

Perhaps most impressive is the punchy chorus that I expected to be some repetitive thing that would coast on the back of the production but ends up as a fully fleshed out melody. Even the way they work the song’s title in feels organic and contributes to the overall flow of the song’s peak, which is just undeniably addictive in its foot-tapping glory. Hell, even the self-referential pre-chorus works for me because it’s so in rhythm and “EVERGLOW, forever, let’s go” ends up as memorable in itself.

By the way, they nailed this conceptually as well. The music video sets are perfectly matched to the song, which screams a night-time drive. The choreography is great and the styling just enhances the mood.

All in all, the package comes together to make EVERGLOW’s breakout song. Will it help on the charts and with sales? I have no idea, but musically and conceptually this is by far their best effort yet and will likely end 2020 as one of the best of the year. It deserves to be what really vaults them to relevance.

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TheBiasList felt similarly about “La Di Da”, ranking it as perhaps the best girl group song of the year.