Release Date: February 1, 2018
Tracklist:
- The Boots
- Silly
- Lovesick
- The Boots (instrumental)
Total Runtime: 00:14:20
Recommended for: Dear Friends, girl group enthusiast, and casual K-Pop fans.
NOT recommended for: those who wants to be introduced to the world of girl group, boy group centric fans, and aliens.
Jellyfish Entertainment’s flagship girl group Gugudan is finally back to the scene with single album titled “Act.4 Cait Sith“, continuing to connect their comebacks with legends and folklore. The single album consists of three (3) new tracks which includes title track “The Boots”, and one (1) instrumental track. Will Gugudan continues to wow us with great songs or will they fail and reduced to filler group?
Track Review:
Track 1 – The Boots
I’ll jump straight to the spoiler: I really like this song, and my music taste may or may not be in the dumpster tier. “The Boots” instantly shoots itself to the top as my favourite title song from Gugudan. This group is a breath of fresh air amidst a plethora of girl groups in the K-Pop industry. What makes them at least a little different from the rest is that their songs are not cacophonous. Their musical approach revolves around the members singing abilities, as if to emphasise their voices rather than to give the instrumental a spotlight. Their songs are always harmonious – sweet, even.
I’m trying my best to not let the fact Sejeong is predominant in this song skew my opinions on “The Boots”, and despite the possibility of having a review influenced by the halo effect… you know what, screw that. While it can be uncomfortable to think a group of nine (9) members has an unfair line distribution, it can be fairly uncomfortable if the lines are distributed wrongly as well. For example: Gugudan with Sejeong and DIA with Chaeyeon. Sejeong in this case is a given for being one of the main vocalists of her group but other members are not that far off from her vocal prowess either minus Mina and Sally. While DIA let their weakest vocalist getting more and more lines than other capable members. Both are the most popular members of their respective group.
You can’t predict the outcome but at least a fair line distribution would make most people happy. However, since Sejeong herself is more popular than her own group and most probably the most successful of the I.O.I members to date, Jellyfish being a business entity themselves would do what most money makers would do. They will push her as the face of the company and granted her with many opportunities to flourish as anything that is still within her talents’ range. Gugudan started off very well as a group but the effort to promote the members at least equally suddenly comes to a halt with this comeback.
On the other hand, let’s be realistic. The only true, proven way to get recognition from the public is to release the kind of songs that they like. It has been the same for years, especially for girl groups (not including those from the Big Three and vocal groups). Go for retro, go for catchy songs with easy to follow and fun choreography. Koreans dig that. The Boots type of song as seen on the charts (blink and you will miss it) is not favorable to the public. The label needs to come up with a proper plan next time.
Notice how I spent more time writing about off topic stuff instead of the song itself. That’s how I truly felt about “The Boots”.
Track 2 – Silly
The mandatory track for a girl group to have in their album. The boring, generic, and forgettable song we don’t need, but necessary to have to meet quotas. While this song is not bad, per se, the other side of my brain keeps on telling me that “Silly” sounds so much like certain songs out there. Songs, plural and not singular. But I can’t determine which ones. Silly it is that common.
This song will give you the same experience as the time when you are suddenly forced to watch porn in a really low volume, because of external factors like your parents barging into your room or the walls are thin. But the experience was sweet and sour nevertheless. I don’t even know where am I going from here… this is so silly… (I was about to go further in details but this review is not age restricted.)
Track 3 – Lovesick
Lovesick is pretty okay. The members sing their parts very well, and I love how they harmonize throughout the song with occasional ad-libs thrown somewhere along the verses. Sejeong really shines in this song. We all know that she’s really good at singing and her voice is unique enough to be recognized as her own within the K-Pop circle, at least (if you want me to tone it down, “at most” , then). An okay song but not something I would add to my playlist.
I just realized that this single is probably made up of approximately 70% of God Sejeong’s voice. Well you shouldn’t defy a god – that’s blasphemous. Jellyfish Entertainment should explore the myth and lore of Uzumaki Naruto and his Kage Bunshin for Gugudan’s next comeback. That’d be quite a sight.
*Track 4 which is an instrumental version of the title track “The Boots” is not reviewed
