After over a year’s absence from the KPOP scene (partly due to a world tour), SUNMI has officially returned with the single album and title track, both sharing the name STRANGER. This is her first release since Heart Burn last year.

STRANGER is a peculiar song. The music video for STRANGER makes it more profound, but the song on its own is quite segmented into very discrete verse, pre-chorus and choruses portions that all sound alike to the ‘next’ alike portion. Essentially, STRANGER is a hybrid of three different songs mashed into one. One song correspond to the verses/bridge, which very much feels like SUNMI’s typical work. It has an alluring and sensual vibe that we all know SUNMI is super capable. Nothing new springs from this sound, but I liked the revisit to this side of SUNMI, which she is definitely queen of. I like the deep descending synth at the end of each half of the verse. The second song can be heard in the pre-choruses of the song, where the tone shifts (but not that far from the verses) to become more upbeat and have a vibrant feel. It is a little more typical with its pop sound, adopting a somewhat reggae motif. The third and final song of STRANGER is the chorus, which to me, is undoubtedly the more iconic part of the STRANGER. That is expected of the chorus, but the way STRANGER is set up makes it even more so. We get a spoken delivery in the chorus and I found it to be catchy instantaneously. The striking piano feels very appropriate background for both the concept and the current Halloween holiday that is fast approaching. In matter of fact, striking is how I would describe the chorus. While I don’t mind the three “songs” from one another, my issue is that STRANGER doesn’t feel connected. I know that is the point of the song, but it feels too disjointed and very apart to be considered one song. I wish there were better transitions (or more precisely, transitions to begin with) to give STRANGER a cohesive nature, somehow.

I am a big fan of spooky season of Halloween. And the concept for this comeback just hits the spot. I think there is more than just Halloween tropes in this music video, however. To me, I think the music video kicks off with the idea that SUNMI is an author, who crafts the spooky story within the video. Essentially, we have SUNMI’s story character build a Frankenstein version of herself from a version of herself who dies from a lightning strike. But she forgets one bolt (love the relatable look SUNMI gives at this moment), which leads the Frankenstein version of herself to run away with the creepy guy in the woods. SUNMI story character follows them to get her creation back, which she does successfully. But the story gets out of hand, with some comedic moments like the filming of the music video with the Frankenstein version of herself as the main star. Also, the mansion in the story ends up going up in flames (which prompts the pages that SUNMI wrote her story on to also catch on fire). But the story ends off heavy breathing from SUNMI story’s character and the pose struck by Frankenstein SUNMI, which appears to be a play on the whole ‘ending fairy pose’ that all KPOP performance must end with nowadays. Adding more to the comedy of the video is the credits scene where Frankenstein SUNMI who becomes a maid finds the missing bolt, inserts it into her ear, and makes it sound like some earphones being activated/turning on. A fun and well timed concept.

The choreography complements each of the three songs I mentioned above and looks amazingly executed. We have sensual vibes during the verses, some bounce during the pre-chorus and very sharp movements to match the striking piano in the choruses. Altogether, the performance gives SUNMI great opportunity to show her many sides, performance skills and charisma all in one performance.

Song – 7.5/10
Music Video – 10/10
Performance – 10/10
Overall Rating – 8.8/10