Tag: MAP6

MAP6 has made their return with a brand new single, Love Is Gone. Their previous comeback was in May with I’m Ready as the main title track. For those who may not be familiar with the group, they come from Dream Tea Entertainment, which also houses Girl’s Day.

MAP6’s return was a little unexpected because I didn’t hear anything in the lead up to the song’s release on Sunday. So it was even more unexpected to hear such a good song from the group. The song, overall, felt similar to songs that Infinite would promote back in the day. The rock elements in the instrumental felt extremely nostalgic. I feel like the song could have done better if those same rock elements were bumped up a notch in terms of volume, which would have played better with the flawless vocals and raps. It would have made the song bullet-proof when it comes to intensity. Instead, the song does dwindle in terms of energy. As mentioned, I thought the vocals and raps were on point. Not once did it feel lacking or empty. That part just before the chorus was my most favourite part of the entire track because it sounded so cool and intriguing. Overall, I think this may just inch into the top as their best song yet.

Matching the rock sounds in the song, they went with an industrial type of concept, which I thought was really cool. They could have done a lot more but what they had done is pretty much sufficient. The grey filter worked perfectly and the setting was awesome. It was mostly choreography shots, with a few ‘close-ups’ of the members, which I thought were nice. It was towards the boring side of the spectrum, but the video felt fitting for the song.

Dance-wise, I thought they did a good job with this performance. I love the consecutive moves at the start when there is that drum ‘solo moment’ at the start (see gif below). Besides that, it just didn’t seem that memorable.

Song – 9/10
Music Video – 7/10
Performance – 6/10
Overall Rating – 8/10

 

 

MAP6 is back with their latest single, I’m Ready. The group previously made their last Korean comeback with Swagger Time in March of last year. Since then, the group made their debut in Japan with the Japanese version of Swagger Time. The group also recently returned to Japan with the song No Surrender, released in March 2017.

I’m Ready is a pretty standard song, but it did catch my attention with that generic feel. Out of the few KPOP boy groups that have returned this week from the smaller companies, this one provided felt the most powerful and tough, despite it using a very generic pop sound. Not technically fond of the voices at the start of the song, but from the strumming guitars onwards sounded quite nice. I love the mini burst of intensity when the chorus kicks. It might not have been enough, but it still works. Not technically fond of their electro dance breakdown right after the choruses. It didn’t fit in well with the guitar based instrumental. The chorus is catchy, to an extent. The vocals were okay, but they didn’t carry that wow factor. Lastly, the raps felt like letdowns in this track. The rappers had very deep and low voices, which it usually associated with some rappers. But they sounded soft and didn’t necessarily fit the intensity that the song was trying to send out, which did bring it down in my eyes.

The music video was pretty awesome, except for one small detail. The song itself sounded rough at times and it felt edgy and tough. The video went for a similar feel, with the darker concept pushing for a more mature and powerful side of the guys out there. It did feel generic and it was lacking, but at least I got that out of it. But when the members were interrogating the girl, they were attempting to flirt in a way that felt childish and comedic. Totally opposite of that tough boy feel. At least that is what I got out of the video. And after watching many crime shows, I think they should invest in a one-way mirror because that seems to make their actions a little more subtle. The choreography shots and all looked spectacular. Given everything I have already said, I think this is their best video yet!

The dance was pretty good. Not that memorable, but still pretty good. While I am not fond of the dance break in the song, the dancing during that part was probably the best part of the whole choreography in my mind. The guys felt like they were flirting in the dance, which seemed to go hand in hand with the other aspects of their comeback.

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

MAP6 has officially made their first comeback with a brand new song. The track titled as “Swagger Time” was released on the 23rd of May. For those who don’t remember or know MAP6, they are a 5 member group from Dream Tea Entertainment, who made their debut at the end of last year with Storm.

For those who don’t know, I have a very hard time processing and understanding the word “swag”. For some reason, it is one of the few words which I don’t really get and it sounds like an ear sore to hear every now and then. So, let’s say, in my books, the song started off on a bad foot. However, it is a pretty decent song. The hip hop (mashed up with pop) sound is channelled throughout pretty nicely and the use of the brass instruments in the instrumental give it a catchy vibe as well. The song is much brighter than Storm and I feel like that is something that fits the particular season they are making their comeback in. Vocals and rapping were pretty good as well in the song. The song did remind me a lot of MYNAME’s 너무 Very 막 quite a bit, which also has a similar sound and style. Overall, it is a pretty decent song that does get them notice on my radar.

The music video fits the song’s sound. Watching it from a foreigner’s point of view, I am a little confused with the video. It seems like they are hesitant at first, but at the climax of the video, all hell breaks loose and the set is destroyed (or made better?) with the graffiti that they put up. They were hesitant at first due to people around them, but then they just give no care to the world and proceed on what they were doing. That is essentially the summary of the video and I don’t see anything deeper than that. I guess the video fits in with the lighthearted and brighter sound than their last video, so I guess that is a plus. I do like the sets, where they dance and all. They look cool (even though, some of them looked very familiar).

The dance itself was pretty cool. Not amazing, but I thought that the amount of “swag” as young people would say nowadays, managed to be presented well inside the choreography. I did like the fun aspect and the chorus, though, with the matching to the instrumental.

Overall, it is a decent comeback. Not sure if I prefer the bright or the dark version of MAP6. What do you think? 7/10

 

MAP6 is a brand new boy group from Dream Tea Entertainment, which also houses Girls Day. As per usual with KPOP bands, they don’t go by the number in their name and there is actually only 5 members: Minhyuk, J.Jun, Sign, Sun and J.Vin. A little fact about the group: the group actually consist of 4 former members of the disbanded group A-Prince. They are the first boy group for Dream Tea Entertainment, debuting with their single Storm.

This is a nice track, but it is a little underwhelming. The song has this really strong vibe to it, even though the start and throughout the song, it has the really slow piano sounds. But it gives an interesting side to the song. The vocals and rapping in this song are on point, and I believe this group has a lot of potential. But there seems to be a lot missing from the song. It sounds two dimensional for the most part. There are the slow bits (consisting of the verses and chorus – while they are quite upbeat, I felt like that still had that slowness to them which made the song underwhelming) and the “negae, negae”parts, essentially two parts of the song, but I personally feel like something else could have been added to the song to give it more depth. Maybe taking the dubstep or electronic sounds to a whole new intensity would give the song a more solid sound and can redefine the whole meaning behind the “strong sound” that I have been trying to describe to you.

There really isn’t much to the video. I liked the sets. That aftermath of a storm on the set looks really awesome and quite cool to be honest.There is one minor detail that I want to question, but that glass or plastic vase that contained the flower. Somehow it managed to survive whatever happened without dying or breaking. Funny. But yeah, there really isn’t much beside the talking about the sets or how they stare into the distant.

While the song it slow, I think this is pretty cool dance. I am going to say it is missing that extra bit of power or strength. But what we have compliments the song, but I am sure that their dance skills have yet to be shown. Their intro for their debut stages looked awesome, so I can see that there is more to them, then what we see with Storm. I like the part where they lie down. It looks cool, even though it is rather simple.

Overall, it was a good comeback, but if the guys do a little more to enhance their talent and show the world more of what they got, I am sure they are able to make it. 6/10