Time to start reviewing the releases from this week that I have missed. First up this weekend is WEi, who made their comeback on Wednesday with Bye Bye Bye. The new song is the lead single from WEI’s third mini-album, Identity: Action. This is the group’s second comeback of the year, following February’s All or Nothing comeback.

Bye Bye Bye continues the influx of Summery tracks this week, by pushing WEi into the pop realm. It is a departure from WEi’s previous high octane and intensity driven sound that they had returned with at the start of the year. The minimal use of synths in this song allows us to hear the members in a more melodic and clearer fashion. Bye Bye Bye starts off with rhythmic guitar, before bringing in percussion that adds a bit of bounce into the verse. It isn’t the most innovative instrumental mix. But I quite like its simplicity and upbeatness. For the most part, the track doesn’t stray away from this sound profile and stay quite consistent throughout. There are appropriate changes along the way to allow us to differentiate between certain parts of the song (i.e. like in the chorus, we get a bit more percussion to amplify the central part of the song), but it isn’t a significant or wild change that breaks up or redirect the flow of the song into something different. You might think I am going to say it is boring, as a result of the consistency (which is something I do tend to bring up). But instead, I think Bye Bye Bye benefits from this. Throughout the verses and choruses, there was this strong stylish and refreshing vibe to the music thanks to the guitar work that is constantly in the background. To help prevent the song from falling into the bad side of consistency, the rappers really gave the song a much needed kick that felt suitable for the song. It was all done over similar or the same instrumentation as the rest of the song. Bye Bye Bye also has catchy hooks, such as the repetition of the song’s title, which helps make the new song even more memorable. If I were to be critical, I felt that the song could have been more vibrant during the chorus, especially in the final one. I think some vibrancy would have really lifted the song up to a whole new level and allow Bye Bye Bye to end off in a more spectacular note. But overall, Bye Bye Bye was a pleasant listen that really feels just right for the Summer season.

While the song missed that tinge of vibrancy, the music video that accompanies the release of Bye Bye Bye was very vibrant, in the sense it had a lot of colour. I really like how the music video looks really stylish, and isn’t necessarily an explosion or mess of various colours. It all felt well balanced and bright. The song is all about letting go of your worries. And the members do this in a literal sense, by performing a disappearing act to another country. The newspaper and milk carton had pictures of the group and captions/headings that labelled them missing. I wonder what worries they had to make such a decision to say ‘Bye Bye Bye‘ like that.

For the performance aspect of the performance, I thought Bye Bye Bye had a good routine. As expected there was a lot of waving throughout the performance. What I also really like was the footwork when it came to the chorus. It looks cool and felt very suitable for the refreshing guitar work in the song’s central part.

Song – 8.5/10
Music Video – 8/10
Performance – 8/10
Overall Rating – 8.3/10