Tag: K.A.R.D

After 3 pre-debut singles, KARD has finally made their official debut in South Korea with their first mini album and title track, both titled as Hola Hola. Boasting singles such as Oh Na Na, Don’t Recall and Rumour, fans have been looking forward to the debut of the co-ed group for some time. They are currently under DSP Media and the group consists of BM, J.Seph, Jiwoon and Somin.

And like their pre-debut singles, Hola Hola continues on with the group’s notable tropical house sound. And like the name of the track, it curves their once serious tropical house sound into something that fits wonderfully into the Summer season, making it an ideal release for this time of the year. That complaint about their repetitive sound is out the door, with this fresh Summer sound. Out of all the songs released thus far, the vocal work and the rapping in this song from each member are on point. And their best effort yet. What threw me off guard was Jiwoo’s unexpecting rap, that sounds amazing. I love the incorporation of the ‘Oh Na Na‘ into the song, giving you flashbacks to their first single. But most importantly, my most favourite part was the bridge. It made the already catchy song, even more interesting. You can definitely expect me to continuously hit the replay button in the future.

Fitting that Summer sound was definitely the music video, which shows scenery that they shot while they were on tour overseas. For the most part, it was simply shots of them having fun on a nice sunny day. So there isn’t much to talk about. Their choreography shots look amazing. From the video, I think I can see a huge stage presence because their stares just captivated me, all the way through the video.

From what we can see are the incorporation of their key dance moves from Oh Na Na and Rumour. It is also said that Don’t Recall will also be incorporated but I haven’t seen it yet. That would genuinely make the dance interesting and I am already loving their key point for the Hola Hola dance as well.

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

No, it is not a ‘rumour’, but K.A.R.D is officially back with another single. K.A.R.D is a four-member coed group who previously released Oh Na Na last year and Don’t Recall earlier this year. They have yet to make their official debut but have been using these pre-debut singles as a way to build up a fanbase and get some recognition, similar to what Mamamoo did before they debuted.

Similar to their other singles, the group has gone for the tropical house genre again, but this time mixing a reggae sound into it. It suits the upcoming Summer season in South Korea. While I do like their song this time, it does feel a little flat. There is enough for me to know that they can be somewhat versatile with their music, but unless they start changing up their sound entirely (such as moving away from the tropical house sounds), they are going to get boring fast. I personally don’t enjoy autotune that much, but they didn’t seem to overuse it that much here. Instead, it allowed the guys to open the song and actually sing, besides rapping, which is a little different from their past tracks. I also liked how they merged into with the girls. There is a small part at the end of each chorus where the guys start to sing, then the girls join in and the 4 of them finish off that one line. The instrumental break is cool and the vocals/raps overall were probably their best thus far. The question is, did I like it? Not initially. It seemed generic (hence my comments) but a few listens in, I can see it getting a bit more addictive. Give me until the end of today and I probably am just going to be playing this song non-stop.

I personally liked the music video. It’s dark but not too dark, so each time I am watching it, I am trying to see if there is anything new. So far, I have noticed a few things that I haven’t noticed in the few times I have already watched the music video. Their visuals here are no joke. Each of them looks amazing in the video and the lighting just showcased their visuals even more. The only thing that I thought was odd was the mobile phone frame for the video. It looked cool but it just felt so limiting.

It seems like K.A.R.D will continue to put out key point dances for all of their choreographies. This one is quite easy, unlike their last one, which involved strong ankles. I have no idea what it is called, but it fits the reggae and tropical vibes of the song quite nicely. The rest of dance looked quite cool as well, from what I could see from the music video.

Song – 8/10
Music Video – 7/10
Performance – 8/10
Overall Rating – 7.5/10

K.A.R.D has returned with a brand new song. For those who don’t remember this co-ed group, they released their first project single, Oh Na Na, last year in December. Since then, their popularity has gone through the roof, as evident at a number of views the video released to accompany this Don’t Recall and their ranking on iTune charts around the world. This track does not have a hidden figure and is actually a present to the fans for their response to Oh Na Na.

Like their first single, Don’t Recall delve back into the world of RnB and hip-hop. The song is a lot melodic than Oh Na Na, which was heavier on the raps and hip-hop vibes. BM doesn’t sound like he is rapping but rather singing using his raspy and husky voice. While his vocals are limited, he does a pretty good job. The other members stay within their comfort zone and like BM, do a nice job at each of their parts. Moving away from the vocals, I do have to admit, though, the song does feel a little dull compared to Oh Na Na. Not sure if it is the vocals/raps to blame (because they don’t show much variety) or if there isn’t anything catchy within the song. The one part I really love and think it is what makes the song more memorable is the short instrumental breaks after the choruses. Those parts sound very striking and very ear-catching. It usage after the choruses and as the instrumental for the final chorus gave the song a much-needed boost and gave me the reason why to go back and continue listening to it.

I would love to interpret the video myself but I would probably do a really bad job of it if I had a time. But during my crusade of trying to work out what happened in the video, I came across a theory uploaded onto K.A.R.D’s YouTube channel, which tries to make sense of the video. While they claim that they might be wrong, I think everyone has gone to accept it as the real thing. The audio of the video is Korean but make sure to turn on the CC (closed captions) to see an English translation of the guy talking in the fan theory video.

Watching the video kind of made my mind throw everything I had initially thought out of the window. But even if I didn’t watch the theory video, I would still have noticed the tension and darkness present in the video. The camera shots and camera angles really make this video quite good. While these have been seen elsewhere in KPOP, it’s the actual meaning behind the video and objects in the shot that makes it feel refreshing and different each time.

The choreography here is really good. That short instrumental break dance routine looks amazing and something that would look really amazing on stage. It’s a pity that they haven’t gone on stage (as in on the weekly music shows) to perform this.

Song – 7/10
Music Video – 8.5/10
Performance – 9/10
Overall Rating – 8/10