With Sistar disbanding, Cosmic Girls are the only other girl group left on Starship's roster. Personally I haven't paid them much attention besides "Secret," which is their superstar song. Exy is a rapping star, Cheng Xiao is their version of Seolhyun / Suzy / Hani, and generally they're very much like the Apink and GFriend groups, only with way more members. Still, I said this year would be about writing for new / less popular (in terms of my blog) groups, plus I know "Happy" is gonna be out of my comfort zone in terms of music. Let's give it a go.
For starters, there's a lot going on in this song. The instrumental is silly (in a good way I think) and overall there is a ton of background noise. Snazzy instrumentals, constant hyping and cheering from the girls, even backing male voices at some point. As what seems to be a growing trend, or perhaps just a trend, is the heavy usage of inflections at the end of words for intended aegyo effects. It's something that usually grates on my ears and "Happy" is no exception. Since it's always utilized for the cutesy songs, I've never been a big fan of it. However, it's more tolerable during the chorus, which is actually really good and honestly puts the rest of the song to shame. The chorus deserved a better supporting cast for how exciting and fun it sounds, at least outside of the rap break.
Exy blesses us once again with another solid rap. She has slowly but surely shed more light on her skills as a rapper, between this showing and her collaboration with ex-The Ark Yuna. It's a little weak towards the end, but passable. Bona even pops in for a quick rap moment of her own, which brings up the timeless issue of line distribution in a group that has 13 / many members. Frankly, it's hard for me to think of their vocalists because of the hectic nature of this song, and only so few members getting lines in general. However, the chorus of "Happy" is very powerful because it has elevated this song into one of those "bend but not break" songs. Altogether not really a big fan, but the chorus might be enough to push it into my library.
And here you thought Twice's "Cheer Up" embodied a cheerleading routine. My friend you're in for at least double that with Cosmic Girls. They literally have pompoms to go along with their cheerleader outfits. Like "Cheer Up," I could honestly see most of this in a legit cheerleading routine, not that I'd know what one actually is comprised of. There's lots of hopping, lots of prancing, and lowkey seems like a lot of fun, at least for the girls. It's not everyday where you can perform on music shows and have that freedom, so to speak. The formations also look surprisingly clean. Is it because of the whole cheerleading motif disguising things? Previous Cosmic Girl songs have looked cramped in terms of positioning, but "Happy" seems to be free from those troubles. Watching live performances don't show the girls as overpopulating the stage - impressive given their numbers - so maybe that's the trick. All in all, certainly a very happy dance to pair with the very happy song.
If there's one place where Cosmic Girls knocked it out of the park, it's here. The MV is as frantic as the song, with all sorts of cuts and scenery changes everywhere. As per WJSN standard, the aesthetics are off the charts and everything is bright and colorful. Kind of funny when you consider that their teaser images which you've seen already in these banners were in black and white, but I digress. Some odd choices of styling aside, the group looks good and lively. The visual stars hardly need to be discussed, because Bona is stunning in black and Eunseo is as adorable as ever. Subin gives me Hyerin vibes with their cute stature, and Exy looks surprisingly good in blonde. I've talked about uniformity (for hair color) in groups before, but for Cosmic Girls that would be too weird (and probably creepy) if every member had the same hair color, so I'm glad the diversity exists. Each of them wears a different number on their outfit / uniform a la SNSD in "Oh" and that carries over to live performances, which is nice. The dodgeball tournament "plot" is the backbone behind all the fun shenanigans, which is more than most dance pop music videos can say.
This score surprised me at first. We all know bubblegum pop isn't my cup of tea, especially not when it's heavily laced with aegyo. But sometimes, the good things are too difficult to ignore. "Happy" isn't particularly catchy - if you ignore all the chanting anyway, but that chorus sinks into your soul with how wonderful it is. Lovely and lively, when you combine it with Exy's strong rap break you have two great arguments in the song's favor. Looking back, I rated Twice's "Cheer Up" an 85 and I would definitely consider "Happy" a small step below that, so an 80 is perfectly acceptable. Future listens will determine whether or not I genuinely dig this upbeat track or if it'll become a guilty pleasure.
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