Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Whenever I see the name Woo!ah!, I’m tempted to sing the hook from that old Busta Rhymes track. But, I’m sure that’s just my cranky old self coming through. 90s hip-hop aside, I can’t say that any of Woo!ah!’s tracks have hung around for long on my personal playlist, though I think their last two releases showed a ton of promise. These girls have strong vocals, and that works well for the edgier styles they’ve attempted thus far.
With this in mind, “Purple” is a misstep. It has its moments, but they’re undercut by a noisy, repetitive chorus. This isn’t unusual when it comes to this specific sub-genre of girl group fare, which is one of the reasons I’m hoping for an influx of new trends.
“Purple” opens with a ton of confidence, unveiling a solid performance over a minimalist beat. The pre-chorus begins to lose some luster simply because it echoes so many other girl group pre-choruses of the past few years. At some point, all these songs feel as if they’ve been composed by the same AI, drawing from a limited pool of familiar tropes and melodies. Taken on its own, the charms of “Purple” might come across more convincingly. But, if you listen to and write about these songs every day of the year, they start to blend together. I guess it’s to the song’s credit, then, that its chorus opts to truly stand out.
Unfortunately, the “let’s make purple” hook stands out in a bad way. Yes, it’s catchy. I’ve already got it stuck in my head. But, it’s also irritating and lazy, underpinned by an uninspired beat drop. The girls may be intent on making “purple,” but I’d rather hear them draw upon a wider range of musical colors.
