Review: Woosung - Dimples
Back in 2019, The Rose seemed ready to be the next big thing in Korean indie-rock. A large part of this appeal came from its international fandom, and lead singer Woosung's unique, almost flirty, timbre. His success led to him getting a solo debut with Face.
Now, it is 2021. The Rose have been on indefinite hiatus after military enlistments and a drawn-out duel against their agency forced them to take a break. Woosung has now made his return with the single Dimples. This time, he is certainly relying on his remaining fandom, but likely attempting to grow the fandom before his band's eventual comeback.
This is particularly evident in the song's genre. Woosung's debut was a wacky, indie song, which was slightly left-of-center as far as composition goes. His pre-release single Lazy too falls into this large bracket. However, Dimples opts for synthwave, which currently is arguably one of the leading factors of the '80s revival. Blinding Lights was synthwave, while Everglow and Twice opted for synthwave elements last year.
Compared to other synthwave K-Pop tracks, Dimples is the closest to Youha's underrated January gem, Abittipsy. In many ways, Abittipsy is a perfect example of a K-Pop synthwave song, pulling a bit from the genre's classic example, with a charming and charismatic performance to hide the genericness of the instrumentation.
In this way, Dimples is a little weaker than the mentioned track. Youha's voice was made for Abittipsy, a song that has only gotten better with age, while Woosung's timbre seems to have been trained for indie or rock releases, certainly not for synthwave.
Nonetheless, Woosung sinks his teeth into the track to provide all the charm possible. Once again, his performance is quite drunk, hopelessly in love, and flirting with heartbreak. If you have noticed, these are also characteristics of Abittipsy. Woosung's performance is quite different though, pulling in and out of the track for minor course corrections, such as after the overly uplifting post-chorus.
Minus some cringe-worthy English lyrics, Dimples pulls off its goals surprisingly well. This is especially apparent in the chorus. The swirling refrain is drunk in its ambition, almost with an intoxicating charm. This continues through the bridge into the final chorus, drowned in its very own drink, but in a good way!
I miss The Rose. This is a fun song, I don't like it as much as Face but it has its charms.
ReplyDeleteI like this better than Face by a bit, even if Face is a little more experimental. Kind of close.
DeleteOh, I so miss The Rose!