Apologies for my absence yesterday, which saw the debut of a brand new group. BVNDIT is a five-member girl group who are currently signed under MH Entertainment, the same company that currently has Kim Chungha signed under. The group, consisting of Songhee, Yiyeon, Simyeong, Jungwoo, Seungeun, made their debut with the single Hocus Pocus, the title track from BVNDIT, Be Ambitious! (their first mini-album). Also, BVNDIT (pronounced as BANDIT) also stands for Be Ambitious N Do It, which is a little fun fact about the group!

Interestingly, Hocus Pocus has a number of similarities to what Chungha has previously put out. But BVNDIT also manages to put a spin on this sound and make it their own. To me, the song is quite typical, with not many elements jumping out of me at first listen. But listening to it some more has given me a chance to form some observations. A small fraction of the flute at the very start of the song reminds me of Chungha’s Gotta Go. And I was convinced that one of the members (sorry, I don’t know any member’s names) was Chungha based on her vocals, which is very similar to the soloist. While we were on the topic of the vocals, I thought there were quite nice. The song did miss that opportunity to include a rap sequence, which I think could have given the song a boost. I also did like the post-chorus instrumental break which has some brass and an ethnic sound, which makes it an intriguing part of the song, overall. I also enjoyed the slowdown for the bridge. Usually, I think a slowdown for a dance track isn’t the most ideal way to go, but this works here as the rest of the track doesn’t seem to be that fast actually.

To me, the music video is a balance between cutesy (though the brighter and vibrant colours at the start) and edgy (the darker tone that we get during the second verse). There are elements of both and I guess the video was made to show the two sides of the girls. Apart from that, I didn’t notice too much about the video that could be considered a plotline. Other than that, it was a nice visual introduction to the group.

The choreography for this debut track is pretty fantastic. I enjoyed the performance from start to end. It looked energetic and fun. I particularly like the choreography for the post-chorus instrumental breaks

Song – 7.5/10
Music Video – 7/10
Performance – 8/10
Overall Rating – 7.5/10