Review: (G)I-DLE - HWAA
(G)I-DLE had an interesting 2020. Oh My God was extremely divisive, making a near equal amount of top songs of 2020 lists as the worst songs of 2020 lists. Their second single of 2020, Dumdi Dumdi faded from memory quickly. Despite gaining in popularity, it became clear a return to form was needed.
In comes Hwaa, meaning "Flower" or "Anger" in Korean, but in this case, I presume it is meant as flower (The Chinese title can be translated as "Flower Fire", from what little I know). Hwaa has had a much more positive reaction than their 2020 work, but I am not so sure about its longevity.
Soyeon can really build an atmosphere, as early work proved (but pause, imagine her in I.O.I, pretty hard to do, right?). Anyway, I still feel line-distribution is her biggest issue. Hwaa amplifies this issue, with the lines once again being unevenly distributed.
Hwaa builds a great atmosphere, just like Hann (Alone), or Lion. But unlike those two songs, it does not do too much with it. The verses are nice and atmospheric, with Soyeon letting loose a great rap section in the second. But other than that, the impact is much less than the two singles mentioned during the opening of this paragraph. It focuses on building, similar to Dreamcatcher's 2019 surprise Deja-Vu. But unlike that song, the chorus does not culminate that promise. Instead, it focuses on building to, potentially to a scrapped second-phase of the chorus. In fact, I see no reason why there should not be a second phase of the chorus here, it would improve the song by miles.
The bridge is electric, and promises a knock-out climax, which it fails to deliver. Instead, it gives us a few seconds of generic latin-dance music before fading away.
Don't get me wrong, I love some moments in the song, and I love a good build, but it has to end up somewhere.
God, I really liked Lion... and it had such a great line distribution. I like this one more than Dumdi Dumdi that's for sure (which is one of those rare songs that just full on annoy me haha) but I agree that there was just something missing after all that build up. I'm sad to see Shuhua back to just breathing, especially when you compare this to her Lion era days. She deals with way too many negative comments for her performances but they would kinda fuel me up to go and prove everyone wrong I feel haha.
ReplyDeleteI remember how Shuhua dominated every second of Lion she could. Lion is probably my favorite song from the group, easily one of 2019's best. I don't get the hate she gets. After all, she is as talented as everyone else in the group.
DeleteI like this better than Dumdi Dumdi by a lot. I even like Oh My God more than Dumdi Dumdi. Dumdi Dumdi is pretty terrible for me, it goes no where and lacks any of the group's signature style. Those two songs really hurt my opinion of the group, and Soyeon's usually great songwriting.
At least Hwaa seems like a step in the right direction, I just hope the follow-up is a good successor to Lion.
Hey! Just found your site through thebiaslist. I like what you're doing with this site. It's great to see reviews of songs from across the world!
ReplyDeleteI agree that Hwaa has to end up somewhere. At least it needed to make a "bigger" impact. I actually enjoy the chorus, but I feel it should've added a little more melody. The chorus also could've benefited from a post-chorus... now that would be something!
It's obvious that the tone of the chorus is like Hann, which is my favorite song from the group. Hwaa almost became a favorite, but like I mentioned, a little more melody and a post-chorus would've put this song at the top of (G)I-DLE's discography. At least, that's what I would think.
Other than that, everything else sounded good. Thank god the second verse trap wasn't used excessively or annoyingly. And Soyeon sounded a bit fierce there, which I enjoyed. I also like the Eastern music influence added in there. I can hear a mixture of Latin (I can kind of hear some African influences from the drums?) and Chinese(?) in the chorus.
Hopefully this is a blueprint for (G)I-DLE, as well as K-Pop, to push for more melody. Or to use the instrumentation in a bit more ambitious way.
Hello Terrance, welcome to this site!
DeleteGlad you like the international review style, I like to review everything I can find.
A post-chorus could really come in to save the day. I am just imagining the missed opportunity. I loved Hann too, and I am glad they are (potentially) using it as their future blueprint.
Ya, I actually loved Soyeon's rap in the song, it is another potential way for them to go for their future Soyeon raps.
The African influences in the chorus were well done. I did not hear any Chinese-like instrumentation as of last listen, but maybe I could have missed it.
Oh so true, I would love it if K-Pop began going back to a strong melody and powerful instrumentation!
Thanks for the comment :)
I could hear some sort of Eastern-influence within the instruments. It's probably not Chinese. Maybe Korean, idk lol. It's a sound from an Eastern country.
DeleteBtw I like to insert my site here https://www.85music.net/. It's a bit desperate haha. But I like to know what you think about the posts I have up.
Ooh great new blog!
DeleteEnjoying checking it out, nice K-Pop recommendations, and same with the anime openings (a world somewhat new to me).
I also liked the Wings review!
I will check out your blog, you have got a good start :)
Amazing comment section! Hwaa was finally the it song for me. LION was good and great but I actually (to each his or her own) didn't get the critical hype. Hwaa is such a great and stable song. But Hwaa isn't really anything revolutionary as you said. It is just good at times and generically mediocre mostly not outstanding.
ReplyDeleteYa, we disagree there on Lion over here. But still, to each his or her own.
DeleteAs you said, Hwaa had its moments, and its misses.