B.O.Y – KPOPREVIEWED

In the midst of many recent releases that I should be reviewing, I will be sliding in reviews for the releases that I had promised to review a while back but haven’t gotten around to doing so yet. One of these releases is B.OY’s Miss You, which was released mid-September (apologies again for the super delayed review). It is featured on the pair’s second mini-album, Phase Two: We. Miss You follows Kim Keok Heon and Song Yu Vin’s official debut under the name B.O.Y with My Angel (in case you are unfamiliar with B.O.Y’s past releases).

To me, Miss You is a ballad posing as a dance track. It has elements of both styles. But I feel that the ballad side of the song prevails more, given the song’s emotive title and lyrics. There are a few elements to the song that I find to be quite good. The vocal work and rapping were nicely executed. You could hear the emotion behind their voices and their voices really helped drive the mature profile of the song. The chorus really soothing melodies. I personally don’t remember what I thought of those melodies when I first heard the song back in September. But whatever my first impression, hearing them over and over again really reinforced them in my mind and helped them become more likable over time. Unfortunately, the song isn’t perfect so there are a few things I don’t like. The main issue with the song is the instrumental. It suits the balladic side of the song and there is an appropriate kick to the instrumental for the chorus (where the pop elements come more to the forefront of the song). But for some reason, I also felt that the same instrumentation brought a dullness to the song. KPOP has shown that ballad dance tracks do exist and that they can be really strong songs, provided that it is executed well. Great examples that I can think of from the top of my head is BTOB’s more recent releases. BTOB’s songs have managed to showcase moving vocals/rapping, captivating instrumentals and really strong melodies that are memorable and enjoyable. Miss You ticks two of the boxes for me (vocals and melodies), but its instrumental fails to obtain a tick. And as a result, Miss You‘s aesthetics and appeal is dragged down.

My take on the music video shows the pair reminiscing over the past and missing their former lover. The sand in their glasses might represent the time (such as sand in an hourglass). However as they are in your standard drinking glasses, it might mean that the hourglass concept where time can continue forever is no longer possible. You can’t flip the standard glass over and have it flow like an hour glass (because then the sand/time would be lost entirely). Within the sand surrounding the pair are popcorn, a camera and ice cream, which seems to be specific memories that look like they have abandoned (in attempts to move on), but have continually come back to so they can reminisce over. I am, however, not sure what the significance of the yarn is though, despite it playing a very big part in the video. But it is a nice video that looks simple and is not unnecessarily complicated to suit the song. The sets and their outfits look good as well.

The choreography is quite fitting for the song’s slowness and more mature audio. The bridge of the performance had both the routine’s strongest and weakest point. The strongest has to be when Song Yu Vin and Kim Keok Heon had a solo choreography moment while the other member sings. The weakest has to be the sudden movements whilst they are on the floor, which affected their live performance (which I felt was quite essential for this song in particular). So it was a pity that it affected their live vocals.

Song – 6/10
Music Video – 8/10
Performance – 7/10
Overall Rating – 6.8/10

As mentioned in a previous post, some reviews may be posted later as I will be moving interstate for work. VERIVERY‘s review was the first to fall victim to my move and now B.O.Y is the second late review that I am rushing to complete. B.O.Y is a duo made up of Kim Kook Heon and Song Yu Vin, both of which released the single Blurry last year. Their duo name was confirmed after the release of their first single. Their comeback from two days ago, My Angel, is the first single under their new name.

When I heard that both Kim Kook Heon and Song Yu Vin would be returning with a new song, I was worried that they were going to keep the ballad side that Blurry adopted. There isn’t anything with wrong a ballad and that the genre can be be very popular if done right. Blurry just didn’t get to that level and was forgotten easily. So when I listened My Angel and heard a more EDM based sound, I became excited. In addition to the dramatic and dynamic synths that the song delivers, the track does borrow emotions from their ballad predecessor, which helps makes the song a little more epic. Their voices did give a captivating appeal to the song, which I personally like. These two elements to the song alone drew me in and got me hooked. The hooks themselves didn’t feel as memorable as you would hope with a dance track. If they managed to do something more with a little spark in this domain, the track would have really stood out. I felt the song could have used a rap sequence somewhere, to up the intensity.

The music video looks like a whole heaps of different were shots put together, with it seeming like there was very little connecting these shots together. However, my guess that this was intentional as we do see the two members come together at the end, showing that they are from two different worlds initially. Kim Kook Heon represents a wolf, while Song Yu Vin represents a horse. I personally don’t know the symbolism of these two animals, so it will be interesting to find out what this is all about. With this, I find it captivating to watch.

Another reason to why I liked the music video is the choreography shots. Like the song, the choreography put together for the duo for My Angel is extremely dynamic and fitting for the epic nature of the song. Their chemistry on stage was pretty good, as well.

Song – 8/10
Music Video – 8/10
Performance – 9/10
Overall Rating – 8.2/10