AOA Makes Powerful Return to the K-Pop Scene
After a stint on the show Queendom, AOA quickly announced a comeback after over a year. Since then, the veteran girl group has lost another member in Mina, who departed from the group two years after ChoA. Now operating as simply a quintet, AOA is back to remind the industry what they are capable of.
The Title: “Come See Me”
With the teaser images as a prime indicator, AOA definitely didn’t come to play the cutesy game with this comeback. With dark imagery and an assassin-like concept, “Come See Me” starts off with an almost old-western-like melodic line. The track itself doesn’t have much about it that stands out; it’s a traditional EDM/pop influenced melody with a driving beat that builds to the chorus, though the repetition of the word “twilight” helps keep the track at the forefront of your mind. All in all, however, “Come See Me” doesn’t have any sort of “wow” factor that helps to differentiate from AOA’s contemporaries. With that said, it’s not a bad song by any means.
The video, however, adds a lot of character to the overall comeback. Along with a darker concept comes a darker tone in the videography, and in this case, a heavy focus on deep red and black tones as the primary focus of the video. That, along with the bad girl/assassin concept, helps to boost the concept overall. The visuals truly add another dimension to this comeback.
The Album
NEW MOON features five new tracks, kicking the album off with title “Come See Me.” The B-sides start off with “Sorry,” a track that follows the melodic lines of the previous song while holding its own charm. The next track, “Magic Spell,” is more title track worthy, in my opinion. Not only is the underlying melody addicting, the buildup to the chorus has a more defined presence that tends to be obvious in title tracks. “Ninety Nine” has a bit more of a retro feel to it, with a driving tempo that gets the listener moving along with the beat. The closer of the album, “My Way,” has a more moderate feel that ties the whole album together through a more acoustic, bright influence not present in the other tracks,
Putting it all together, there’s not a lot on this album or this comeback that really helps AOA shine above their competition. In the cutthroat K-Pop world of today, tracks that are just “good” on the surface aren’t enough to get the group noticed among the myriad of other competing groups. I feel that AOA’s album fits into this category, as none of the songs are bad by any means, but they all fail to differentiate AOA from their competition. Regardless, AOA is a veteran of the K-Pop industry that deserves respect for their achievements thus far.