I didn't expect that kind of start. Hyosung is not what you would label as a "power vocalist," and she has always operated under Jieun's shadow in Secret, so seeing such a strong showing from her is a pleasant surprise. Even outside of that, this is Hyosung at her finest. The entire song is well within her range and she sounds great from start to finish. She's barely reaching for anything, which is another good sign. Often we see members that take on solo efforts try too hard (heck even Girl's Day's own Minah had too much strain in her solo debut), so good job there. Structure-wise it's not very interesting, but Hyosung's sultry vocals combined with the nice pace of the song will always make this an enjoyable listen when you're looking for something upbeat.
While the song started off well, and everything else that followed was just as good, the nagging fear that I had was that the issues from her previous solo efforts would surface. Those would be a really bad rap of some sort that would ruin the otherwise perfect tempo of the song ("Into You") or some silly chant gimmick (or super awkward dance break) that would also do the same type of damage ("Goodnight Kiss"). Thankfully, D.Action's inclusion offered both a new voice and a way to escape those worries. For someone I've never heard of, he's not a bad rapper by any stretch of the imagination, and does a nice job linking his rap to the bridge.
The video is the usual Hyosung photoshoot. She tries on a few outfits for the camera and flaunts her beauty. Nothing we haven't seen before. Mixed with various dance shots and a small portion of prop usage, and these are really Hyosung's extra photoshoots she gets to do from time to time. Oh yeah, and she (unfortunately) does the whole "bare back and look vulnerably at the camera" deal that we just saw Hyomin do a week ago. Then there was Hyuna before that. These girls need to pay respect to the OG Jungah, who started this in 2013 with "First Love." Moving on, the choreography isn't all that exciting, and at a glance looks to be just a handful of flailing around (lots of arms moving above the head and such). Still it's more than likely on par with "Into You" and "Goodnight Kiss" in the dance department which is considerable enough. Not everyone can be BoA, after all.
"Find Me" is "Goodnight Kiss" in a more comfortable vocal setting, and drops the most glaring issues in the debut song had. There's no awkward chanting, nor is there an ugly bridge separating the chorus from the next verse. Everything flows together nicely, and a respectable vocal performance from Hyosung glues it all together. I can't help but get that sinking feeling about Secret's future, though. Hyosung already overshadowed the rest of the group well before she embarked on her solo path. Let's hope there's at least a Secret comeback before the end of this year.
[ Overall: 88 / 100 ]
No comments:
Post a Comment