Following on from their Play Game album series, Weeekly came back with their first single album Play Game : AWAKE. The album dropped on March 7, 2022 along with their music video for their title track, “Ven para.”

The music video shows not only fiery and bold visuals, but many group choreography shots. The choreography was curated by YGX dance crew member Yeojin who wanted to express fearlessness and confidence which matches the song perfectly.

The group’s single album consists of three tracks:

1. “Ven para”

2. “Solar”

3. “Where Is My Love?”

As this album is part of their Play Game series, it’s easier to take in the contents of the album as if it were a video game. The game begins with “Ven para,” a song which already has a different concept to the group’s prior work. This new start indicates that the group has pressed play on a new level. The Latin-American feel of this track is prominent with the bass, synths, and sounds that show triumph within the track with slight chanting throughout the song. 

The lyrics describe that the girls are challenging whoever wants to come at them, with the pre-chorus saying, “떨린 맘은, no way out / Burning up like a flame.” The bird noises within the bridge let listeners have a break between the fiery verses surrounding it. The repeated phrase in the chorus “ven para acá” translates to “come here” in Spanish, indicating that the girls of Weeekly are ready for whatever is coming.

As the second track “Solar” begins, listeners enter a part of the game where Weeekly are in the zone and are fully committing to this strong concept. The intro straight off the bat delivers loud, fanfare music with the lyrics to match: “Born in the new world / Let's count down, one, two, three / Hey, tell me what you see (what you see) / 태어나 set us free.” The girls are taking no losses in this level and are showing their skill sets in this track. “Solar” has my favorite pre-chorus and chorus section amongst these three tracks. The chord progression and the vocal direction of these sections fit the lyrics well, and I like the way it contrasts with the anti-drop which appears in the first part of each chorus amid the silence. There’s almost a call-and-response effect with the “Do you hear that” line with the instrumentation that follows within that section. It works extremely well as the chorus picks back up with the fiery lyrics. 

The game ends with "Where Is My Love?," a song that has similar vibes to Weeekly’s prior music. Ending their album this way signifies a victory; this new, fiery level, with heavy bass and percussions has passed by and they’ve come back to their original sound. “Where Is My Love?” gives an acoustic vibe without the traditional guitar as they use electric instruments to mimic the effect. The synths paired with their vocals make the song sound dreamy, and the lyrics give an added whimsical feeling to the song. The lyrics portray the innocence of longing for a relationship and wanting to experience feeling the warmth of another person’s love. As it is the last track of the album, it makes sense that they would end with something light for fans to love.

This comeback as part of the Play Game album series shows that Weeekly have the controller and are taking over their narrative. Not only can they perform bright and cute songs, but they showed this time around that they’re capable of portraying a stronger image through their lyrics and within their choreography. Some people may say that this switch up in concept may have been too sudden but, if anything, they've entered a new level in their game and are playing on with confidence.

Play Game : AWAKE is available now on all streaming platforms.

Edited by Rashelle B.