Laboum has returned to the stage with a brand new song. They made their first comeback in 2016 with Journey to Atlantis, which I totally loved. Just 4 months later, they returned with a new mini album and their newest title track Shooting Love. Furthermore, Laboum topped my weekly KPOP chart for last week. That was just my way of sliding my charts into these posts!

They came back with a pretty good song. I have to admit. It was catchy and addictive to listen to. I totally fell for it. But there are a few things that did disappoint me. The song sounds more childish (and at parts, cringeworthy). Journey to Atlantis was still that cutesy aegyo concept, but there was a more mature vibe to it. Parts of Shooting Love sounded like a kid was making shooting sounds. Some parts would have sounded a lot better in cheerleading format, but instead, we got kiddy format. I did like the rest of the vocals. The “Bang Bang Bang Boy” reeled me in pretty fast (though it did take me a while to figure out what they were saying, which I don’t really know why, though). The rap was unnecessary and was probably the other part of the song which I did not like. The pop vibe in the song was pretty great. I liked the instrumental to the song. Consistent throughout and the extra beats added for the chorus came at the right time. Really made me happy to listen throughout the rest of the song (minus the rap).

We really need to address this ongoing use of guns in the videos. I get they try to avoid the rating officials and want something cute rather than violent to be in the video, but honestly, it is getting pretty damn embarrassing and ridiculous. Have no clue on what is occurring the video. I get that they are split into teams. One of the teams comes with bombs and spy gear, while the other team comes with grenades and pink guns. I guess they are competing for someone’s love and trying to eliminate the other team. While my idea is ridiculous, I am going with what I think. And though that is pretty cringeworthy and really childish to watch, I find the video quite interesting and amusing. Plus dropping the bomb in the bin somehow managed to stop the bomb from blowing everything on camera to bits. Yeah, I don’t know. I loved the camera work in this video. It made the video look quite cool at some parts. In regards to the ending, I don’t know if the video was actually meant to be the “shooting of a (terrible) movie”.

The dance was great. The editing in the music video made the dance look quite cool and really made me expect a lot. I was a little disappointed with the stage performances, but only a little bit. Overall, I thought the dance was fitting for the song. Though I do have to ask, what were with the random “place hands under each boob” part of the chorus? Got a little lost there, but I loved the use of the handguns (makes sense) and the imaginary bow and arrow (also makes sense) in the dance. Just that random move I don’t find any sense in it.

Final Rating – 7.5/10