Listening: K-Pop, February 2018

Five favorite K-pop mini albums of the month from BoA to Gugudan

A lesson to always keep in mind is that a group’s music is beyond just a single, and sometimes a full dig of a mini album or an EP can bring even better finds. That was true for a couple of the groups here, who won out my picks thanks to their worthy album cuts even if their lead single wasn’t the strongest as anticipated.

Here are five K-pop projects of February that’s worth sitting through the whole thing.

One Shot, Two Shot

BoA

Just a week after the release of her new Japanese full-length came BoA’s first Korean mini album, and it’s a much better display of her talents than the former project. The veteran handles contemporary dance-R&B hybrids without breaking a sweat — as predicted by the advance single, “Camo.”

Black Dress

CLC

The swagger-heavy title track may be better enjoyed via performance than on record, but CLC’s takes on different styles are worth a stay. The melodrama of “Distance” wins out the rest for me while the vocal-warping hook of dance-pop “Like That” and the stadium EDM of “To the Sky” also works well.

Act 4 Cait Sith

Gugudan

Gugudan visually goes 180 from the tongue-in-cheek “Chococo” for the blacked-out “The Boots,” and the dazzling chorus of the new one proves to be more of an event. The two non-singles, “Silly” and “Lovesick” play competent supporting roles, both softer affairs under the influence of love.

Director’s Cut

Seventeen

Seventeen brings a variety of add-ons to the re-package of the already-solid Teen. Age album. The group decided upon the dramatic EDM pop of “Thanks” as the lead track, though I was pulled in more from “Run to You” — a burst of emotional pop punk that wouldn’t be odd in a Day6 album.

Lucky

Weki Meki

“La La La” matches the brat pop of debut single “I Don’t Like Your Girlfriend,” though Weki Meki packs better punches in the album cuts. “Iron Boy” and “Color Me” play some sticky funk exercises, “Metronome” goes more R&B with its swollen bass line, and even the bonus Olympics tune is a contender.

Other releases from February:

• Carry overs from January: The synth squeak of a hook in Kassy’s “I Want Love” got stuck in my head for a good week, and shout out to Kiggen and Earattack for bringing back some 2010 level electro rumble for the hook of Jeong Sewoon’s “Baby It’s U”
• You know what’s another synth squeak to got me coming back? The one in CocoSori’s “Mi Amor.”
• While the rest of his Alexandrite EP gets a little too shrouded in self-seriousness for its own good, Hash Swan delivered a playful single in “Wang Like Alexander.”
• After accidentally clicking on re-uploads of Hyuna and 4Minute, I had to make sure I.C.E.’s “Shameless” wasn’t an re-up either. The synths and the strut reminded me a whole lot of Miss A in 2012, so I had to double check.
• I’m still not fully on board with the NCT team, but I’ll just say the rubber-band bass of “Baby Don’t Stop” shot me back to 2014.
• It’s probably hard to not to go for the cheesy route in the hook for a song titled “Mamma Mia,” but SF9 handles cheesiness as a fun listen, and that guitar lick somehow keeps me going.
• Sha Sha brings usual sparkly idol business for “You & Me,” but hey, sometimes the reliable stuff comes out good.
• WJSN teased one epic comeback, and the group delivered with the Your Name-channeling “Dream Come True” video. Like the video, the song was a back to their roots, though can you blame me for expecting a spectacular, top-to-bottom execution for the mini album, Dream Your Dream?

As always, I’m open for recommendations on things I probably missed!