It’s always a great day in music whenever the “Queen of K-Pop” releases a new song. After skyrocketing the industry into international attention with her 2000 debut album ID; Peace B, BoA is showing everyone that she’s still on top in “Emptiness,” a somber love song that marks her tenth digital single. 

From wowing everyone with her stellar dancing style in her “Only One” era to leading SM Entertainment’s supergroup GOT the beat, audiences have watched BoA grow into one of the most beloved talents in each generation of South Korea’s entertainment industry. In her latest single, the soloist paints a more mature and authentic story through her masterful songwriting.

Upon first listen, it’s obvious that the song has a heavily emotionally charged vibe to it. BoA delivers a vocal performance that’s rich with levels of emotional intention and control that a song like “Emptiness” demands. In a sit-down video from her official YouTube channel, BoA revealed that she pulled inspiration for the lyrics of the song, which she initially wrote in 2018, from watching romance dramas and hearing sad stories from her friends of relationships gone awry.

Lines like “You feel nothing, really? It’s easy to leave me?”*  from the verses showcase BoA’s handle of poetic lyricism and ability to convey a strong message throughout the progression of the song. She goes on to sing about how the relationship was filled with lies up until its fatal end when neither of the partners could bear to look at one another. Though she embodied these melodramatic tones into the narrative, BoA still manages to give audiences an engaging listen as the song builds up to an energetic chorus. Through the feelings of mourning underneath each lyric and the chill, afrobeat instrumentals of the song, “Emptiness” invokes a sense of loneliness brought on from betrayal that’s always refreshing and relatable to hear in pop music.

Music Video

The music video adds on to this refreshing take on love songs with an avant-garde direction that synergistically brings BoA’s lyrics to life while staying open to interpretation. The video is a great example of an entertainment companies taking artistic risks in their music videos and having them pay off in the final product, much like NewJeans’s video for “Ditto.” BoA portrays a girl that’s grappling with past love as she wakes up in her dimly lit home and sees the faces of exes everywhere she turns. Motifs of half eaten apples and water being poured into a glass resemble the director’s vision of memories collecting at her feet as she looks back at her life.  

As always BoA’s dancing shines in the music video, with 1MILLION member ROOT offering choreography that’s as dynamic as it is challenging. The energetic, powerful dance moves and formations really help bring home the feelings of regaining control of the unfortunate situation that BoA deploys in her lyrics. 

“Emptiness” isn’t just another nice track to tack onto a playlist. BoA’s latest track offers a gripping, relatable narrative that makes for an amazing spot in her twenty-four year long discography of hits. 

*Lyric translation taken from music video

Edited by Cara Musashi