[Review] Hyosung - Goodnight Kiss

We’ll start coverage of the Dube Sidekick solo releases, in chronological order, so we’ve got Secret’s fabulous Hyosung. While known best for her body, Hyosung more than holds her own as a support vocalist to Jieun. Will her solo debut play to her strengths or fall flat?

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Vocals: 7 / 10

Hyosung is more than able to get the job done. Breathy husky vocals which provide a sultry sound which we’ve seen past glimpses of in “Poison”, and given the soft sounding lullaby feel this is quite a good match. The problem is the choice of awkward breaks that make me cringe and add no real value to the rest of the song. The “K-I-S-S-I-N-G” chant during the prechorus was for a lack of a better word weird. It does fit in with the title of the song but I’m getting memories of an elementary school chant instead. The chorus itself is quite good if not for that horrible “Boom boom zoom zoom” English that was thrown in. Also of note is that Hyosung’s English is quite solid. I don’t think many of the words used were very difficult for Korean speakers but credit where credit is due. Pretty much every bridge was awful and should have been removed, otherwise this would have been a fairly good song.

Dance: 9 / 10

This dance is furious! Note that I didn’t say “all over the place”. I haven’t seen any lives of this song yet but this is some seriously impressive choreography. Hyosung might be the “lead dancer” on Secret but Secret’s choreography has never been this intense. Even when compared to “Poison”, which is the closest equivalent to the dance in “Goodnight Kiss”, the former seems way more tame. Excellent job here.

Music Video: 6 / 10

While Wheesung’s “Night And Day” video sort of had an open ending plot that could be pieced together, “Goodnight Kiss” is a difficult puzzle to keep track of. Is this an affair for the groom? Were they previously in a relationship? Nothing is very clear and the video just bounces between the “plot” and various shots of Hyosung (I don’t really have to comment much on this, Hyosung is gorgeous). What further complicates any understanding of the plot is that the lyrics do not match the video (or dance). At all. If you just looked at the lyrics, I could easily see a sweet ballad form off them, but instead we have this… I see many people comment on how Hyosung just can’t keep her hands off her lips the entire video, which while overboard, is some form of continuity since last I checked you need lips to kiss. If the plot were expanded upon, or if something that better matches the lyrics was shown, this could have been a really good MV.

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Overall: 74 / 100

Can’t say that I wasn’t a little disappointed with how poorly the audio of the dance breaks messed up the song. There was some promise from Hyosung but I think the unfortunate combination of horrible breakdowns and a confusing / misplaced music video keep “Goodnight Kiss” from being a breakout song.