The new week starts off with a number of comebacks, making it hard to decide which song to review first. I left the selection up to my Twitter feed, and Rocket Punch’s FLASH appeared up top on my timeline. And so, I am here to kick the week off with my review for FLASH. This comeback follows the group’s CHIQUITA and Yellow Punch Korean comeback, and their Japanese single release FIORE, from earlier in the year.

Rocket Punch turns to heavy beats and electro synths in FLASH, making this track suitable for a club or party environment. The bass really oomph up the song and gives FLASH definition and depth, aspects of a sound profile that definitely sounds good. Surely, one would seize at the opportunity to really build this instrumental into a dynamic piece. Well, I don’t think FLASH did. There was this generic and typical tone to the vocals that left me so disappointed. The verses were a bore to get through, with the same twinkling-like synth done time and time again and there was a clear lack of excitement in the vocals department. The pre-choruses and first and second rounds of the choruses faired better. The ramp towards the chorus definitely felt strong and did bring in that dynamic factor that I hoped for (but it was brief and I would have liked to see dynamism throughout the rest of FLASH). The choruses featured catchy hooks and melodies. Vocally, there was improvement in the chorus, especially with the higher pitch in the first half. The final chorus, on the other hand, was a massive let down. As soon as we launch into it, we are thrown back into the ‘Light Signal Action‘ repetition half of the chorus, exactly how it was given to us in the first round of the chorus (which I did enjoy). This would have been fine, but the issue with the final chorus was that this repetition was just on repeat and just felt so draining. The same instrumental was used and there just wasn’t anything extra to give FLASH a last hurrah before ending. Overall, FLASH had a good set up, but it just didn’t eventuate.

Like the song, the music video was quite underwhelming. I look at the other artists of Woolim Entertainment (i.e. Golden Child and DRIPPIN) and see such strong music videos. And I turn to the accompanying video for this comeback and feel quite disappointed. The video needed more flashes in terms lighting and didn’t needed to have such a pale colour scheme. The solo shots were standard and the sets could have been a bit more dynamic (and not from one of those one-stop shops of video sets). Rocket Punch deserves a cool video, just like their other labelmates.

Why is performance video that was released today so bright? It was extremely distracting to focus on the choreography. I hope we will not be seeing Rocket Punch on stage with every light bulb directed at them. Aside from my mini-rant just now, the choreography looked good. I liked the flash hand movements they had in the chorus. I just wished the moves were a bit sharper, just so the routine has a more polished look.

Song – 6/10
Music Video – 5/10
Performance – 7/10
Overall Rating – 5.9/10