It seems like reviews will again be a little late this week. I will only be reviewing one song today and it belongs to the group who returned yesterday! If you have missed it yesterday, GFriend made their return to the music scene with the release of Apple and the Song of the Sirens mini-album. This is the group’s first release since their earlier comeback in the year, Crossroads and the mini-album, Labyrinth.

It seems like someone has answered my prayers. I made a comment in my Crossroads review that I was slowly getting tired of the sound they had repeated with in Time For The Moon Night, Sunrise and Crossroads. At the time of their earlier comeback, I thought that they would change up their sound, given that their label was acquired by the new powerhouse company, Big Hit Entertainment (who recently also acquired Pledis Entertainment). But it seems that desired changed has actually occurred through Apple. The song is a mid-tempo pop track, opening up with a riveting guitar piece. The verse was pretty standard, but I liked the direction of the music. It seemed like something was brewing in the midst of the guitar that played throughout the verse. The song gets a little more interesting once we enter the pre-chorus, which had a very memorable Callin’ me melody. The chorus kicked the energy up a notch and sounded like a very dazzling explosion had happened. The song stays quite cohesive and doesn’t change up its sound as often as other songs. That is always a recurring aspect of all GFriend’s song. Everything blends together quite nicely. For their vocals, there was a nice smooth feel. The most powerful vocal moment was when all the members are singing the post-chorus together. Another strong melody there, but the definition that all the members contribute to is the most memorable. I also enjoy the spoken words in the background during the post-chorus, which added an intriguing yet mysterious texture to Apple. The one thing that the song was missing, in my opinion, was an element or the reformation of the verses, to give it that holding power. What we got in those two sections just didn’t as well as the rest of the song did.

It seems like there is a theme of losing one’s innocence in the video’s story line. The video opens with Eunha taking a bite out of a red apple, before falling to the ground. The red apple serves as the Forbidden Fruit in this video and taking a bite out of it will mean that Eunha has been tempted. The other members also want to be tempted throughout video (i.e. they are dressed in white) and drag Eunha along to the tree that bears the Forbidden Fruit. Eunha, knowing what is on the other side, seems to not want to expose the others but they were too curious. Once they arrive to the tree, they find it on fire. But knowing that Eunha has already been tempted, placing a fallen apple into her hand will be enough to turn the apple. Off screen, I assume each member takes a bite of an apple that Eunha has turned, resulting in them all losing their innocence (they now wear black). Yerin gets locked outside, based on the footage of her finding the way out of the maze. It seems like someone has traded places with Yerin. During the innocent choreography scenes, Yerin has the number 6 circled on both arms. Triple 6 indicates the devil, so I assume that the events in this video were all Yerin’s plans. It also seems like she releases the butterflies at the end. I think we see Eunha releasing, but I have to question why both Yerin and Eunha have blonde hair and the same coloured lips. It seems like Yerin (the devil) is using Eunha. The only mysterious left over is the blue butterflies. Given that the blue butterflies recur in both Crossroads and this video, it seems like there is more to the story. I really like both their innocent and ‘tempted’ looks. Both very powerful in their own way.

I really like the mature take they have on the choreography. It looks stunning. I personally thought the start of the choreography was amazing, especially the rapid drum beats and the members extending their arms from behind SinB. I also really like the second chorus, where the members are doing their walk. It is a very strong routine and I personally like this new side of the group.

Song – 9/10
Music Video – 9/10
Performance – 9/10
Overall Rating – 9/10