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Former ASTRO member ROCKY has been very quiet since he left the group in February of this year following the expiration of his contract with Fantagio and his decision not to resign with the company. However, ROCKY is finally back with his solo debut single LUCKY ROCKY, which is featured on his first solo mini-album ROCKYST. In preparation for his solo debut, he had set up his own company, One Fine Day Entertainment.

LUCKY ROCKY is already quite a short song, spanning just less than 2:30 minutes. I find it quite interesting that an extensive amount of the song is dedicated towards instrumentation, leaving only a limited amount of time for ROCKY to work his magic as a singer and rapper. To me, in terms of a first impression, LUCKY ROCKY had me confused as to whether I was listening to a title track or introductory number. I wished there was time for vocals and rapping in the song, so it doesn’t feel limited and gives the soloist an opportunity to show more of his skills that we all know he has. But despite feeling limited, LUCKY ROCKY does not feel cramped. In fact, ROCKY somehow manages to squeeze in quite a fair bit into LUCKY ROCKY. In terms of his delivery, we do get some nice vocals, a decent amount of rapping and a brief high note that alludes to his skillset. In terms of the instrumentation, I found LUCKY ROCKY to be quite dynamic. I really liked the funky direction the brass elements gave the song, providing an ultimate groovy flair. But in addition to that, LUCKY ROCKY also had some time incorporate a three different styles into the instrumental break – a jazzy moment, edgy rock and some tap-dancing sounds. The hooks do feel somewhat underbaked, but I think more listens to LUCKY ROCKY can help change my impression of the hooks. Overall, an all-rounded song to begin ROCKY’s official solo career. I just wished there was more to the song in terms of length.

The music video begins with ROCKY looking down on an art gallery that is very plain and bare. This is further emphasised by the grayscale filter. It isn’t until the song kicks in almost half a minute into the video and ROCKY is dancing does colour come into play in the video and the art appears, which is a nice progression in terms of the video. From there, ROCKY sings and dance in the rest of the video both in and outside the art gallery. I did like the floating umbrella, which was a nice illusion. My only wish with the video was that the dance break did not have as bad lighting as it did. I think there was an opportunity to give some flair to the video during that part through some dynamic lighting.

Watching his performance today, you can definitely tell that ROCKY is in his natural habitat whilst on stage. ROCKY and the routine were captivating to watch, with the highlights for me being the twists incorporated into the routine, the cool tap-dancing and oomph he channeled during the rock part of his dance break. His charisma was shown off well and he looked like he had a ball on stage.

Song – 8/10
Music Video – 8/10
Performance – 10/10
Overall Rating – 8.4/10