"Ahh Oop!" continues the trend of Mamamoo, which is a lively retro and jazzy sound backed up by superb vocals. Hwasa brings the sass, Solar the power, and Wheein the glue. Having eSNa as a feature is brilliant since she is just as if not more sassy and charismatic than Hwasa, and their work as a combo is so delightful and adds more playfulness to the group. In terms of the song structure, "Ahh Oop!" is not as catchy as previous releases, as there is no distinct hook (during the chorus for example). But, given that the whole song is strong from start to finish I think that this works as a positive. The mixture of singing and talking is good and balanced, which brings up Moonbyul's rap as a highlight of the song. This is awesome for her, she is rather obscure the rest of the song. Moonbyul absolutely killed the rap (in the good way!). She sounds extremely clean and brings out more of her husky voice for short bursts and I simply cannot contain my feels. Hwasa is still my favourite though, and Moonbyul needs to stop saying her own name in front of her raps, it's getting old.
The music video is also lively and bright, with the girls wearing retro colourful outfits. Solar's summer dress is uniquely hilarious as she looks a little silly doing some of the moves at the chorus. eSNa is the only one dressed without colour or anything special. If not for her "madam ringleader" look, I'd have thought she was the 5th member of Mamamoo. I just love the goofy and playful nature of the MV with the salon theme, though it does tug at my heartstrings a bit as Ladies' Code's debut video was also similar. Hwasa and eSNa's acting is on point and they're simply lovely, while Moonbyul, Wheein, and Solar also do an admirable job. Something small that I enjoyed was having the male actor lipsync a few of the lines where a man would be talking: "Aren't I pretty?" and "Trust oppa." You don't see this very often in lyrics of this nature. The choreography is more lax than previous releases but this makes sense with the song not really picking up until the very last chorus. It's a shame they didn't incorporate eSNa for the dance, as she looks rather awkwardly placed in lives and more a prop than a feature vocalist.
I think of "Ahh Oop!" as a continuous climb, almost a perfect representative of Mamamoo and their rise to stardom: a pedestrian start but one with colour and potential, slow increase with vocals that only keep improving akin to the Immortal Song 2 appearances, leading to Moonbyul's punctual rap and Solar's explosive finale. All the while filled with sassy character and stellar singing. Except for Mamamoo's career, they will go much farther than a simple high point. While I was expecting a bit more, Mamamoo certainly know their niche and how to market that extremely effectively.
[ Overall: 88 / 100 ]
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