Choa – KPOPREVIEWED

AOA has finally returned with a new track and they are not getting the attention they deserved. AOA started off their promotions for Good Luck, on a sour note, with two of their members somehow wounded up in a controversy regarding a lack of historical knowledge. One comment on that: History will never be everyone’s strong point, regardless if you come from a country that prides itself for its history. AOA (along with KBS’s Music Bank) was questioned for their win for first place, which was later confirmed by KBS that it was a mistake and that Twice (AOA’s contender that week) should have won. Again, it made their promotions sour ever further. AOA’s company ended AOA’s promotion suddenly and said it was not related to the latter incident. I let you be the judge for that one.

But honestly, I thought it was a really good song and that AOA does deserve the win (especially given my thoughts towards Twice’s song). It was the perfect way to enter the Summer season. It was an upbeat track with a really nice and refreshing EDM style instrumental. Their vocals were pretty good (but the line distribution was a little skewed). I have to say, for once, I am starting to like Jimin’s rapping. It was ideal in this song and fitted in well. AND it DID NOT feel whiney whatsoever. It was a really catchy track and sounded really sexy at the same time. Much better than Heart Attack, and probably can be declared as my most favourite AOA song to date.

This is not a music video. It was a Sprite commercial. Get it right! Regardless of how I watch the video (while I am awake, extremely busy, just woken up etc.), I can only see the Sprite bottles. That is exactly what a commercial is meant to do. Draw your attention to the product being marketed. That whole start of the video, that mimcked Baywatch (and included Sprite) was not necessary. In other words, this whole video was a big mess and is asking for the wrong attention. Toyota and Jimin’s boob was also marketed (but both got blurred out or removed) in the final video that was released. Also, you go to Guam for their beaches and bars, not to their fire department. I don’t why, but half the scenes shot could have been taken out and we would have gotten a much better (and more relevant video) with the shots on the beach remaining.

Dance wise, more sexy than anything to talk about. Really disappointed in that, but then again, what did I really expect with this dance? The chorus part looks unimaginative and as if it was slapped together 5 minutes prior to them releasing the video.

Overall, I like the song a lot more than the rest of the comeback package. I think that sums up my review quite nicely. 5.5/10

For a while, we all thought that Choa would be officially make her solo debut with Flame, but rather she is only credited as an artist featuring on a project album. Which is somewhat disappointing because Choa was good vocals that managed to wow audiences last year when she participated in King Of Masked Singer. Flame is a remake of a song released by Jang Hye Jin back in 2006 which featured Gary from Leessang (or Running Man). Unfortunately, Choa’s single did not make much of an impact when it was released (even though the anticipation was high) and was sadly forgotten.

And I am going to be truthful, I was one of the people who have forgotten about the song. You all probably know that I am a major sucker when it comes to ballads, falling for them almost instantaneously. This ballad, even though the melody was great and the song had me swaying for it, did nothing to satisfy the need for the song to be addictive or somewhat catch my attention to continue going back to the song to listen to it. The orchestral instrumental was really good, but the drums that were playing throughout the song were either overpowering or had the bass turned up quite a bit. The original song is said to be quite emotional, carrying the sorrow feeling. Choa did an excellent job of carrying the same feeling over for the remake, but as I said before, failed to make the song more appealing to the listeners.

The music video is amazing. I don’t think any other video would have suited the song anymore. We see a vampire, who used to be a young girl and at certain times can become deadly and kill people. Since becoming a vampire, she cannot go into the sun and hence sets up all these lights and candles in her room to remind her of the memories of the past. Of course it is not enough and she finally decides to venture out into the sun, even though she knows she will die. I can say that the her memories of the sun and light are like lovers who want to be with each other, but cannot due to some sort of barrier. Essentially, the flame is still there to rekindle their love but it is up to the people to make that flame become a fire. That is how I interpreted the video, and thought it was rather nice. I love it how Choa was singing in the caged area in which the girl had kept as a place to keep her prey. It adds that extra excitement to the video. How it does? I sat here wondering if Choa was the prey.

The package was great, but if the song appealed to me a lot more and was not easily forgotten, it would have been perfect. 8.5/10