Flashback Review: BESTie - Love Options

Year Released: 2013

No, there is no specific reason why I chose to review a nine-year-old girl group song from South Korea that failed to set the world alight. BESTie was a mid-tier K-Pop group from the early 2010s. Three-quarters of the group was initially part of EXID, a group of equal standing at the time (this was a while before their dramatic success). The group never garnered much commercial success through its years of existence, and silently disbanded sometime around 2018, but that happens much later.

Love Options never set the charts on fire, and earnestly, it is hard to see why. The song was produced by Brave Sound, who was at the top of his popularity at the time. The song is fun with tongue-in-cheek lyrics and an earworm for the chorus. In a way, Love Options sounds like a rough predecessor to Twice and post-reformation Brave Girls (as this underappreciated Twice's Likey remix with Love Options' instrumental), perhaps a look into what these groups would have provided had they debuted earlier.

The retro instrumental of Love Options is chic and fun. The Italo Disco strings just might be the main reason why. They add so much energy to the song. While clearly intended to pay tribute to the '80s synth-pop, Love Options' instrumental feels more like a nod to '80s international disco, from the aforementioned Italo Disco to '80s Indi-Pop. Obviously acts such as Korea's Kim Wan-Sun influenced this soundscape too.

While paying tribute to the past, Love Options was also forward-thinking in its use of these sounds. It opted for the cheesy '80s sound that has dominated much of the early 2020s. It makes one wonder how successful the song would have been with a release date in 2020. The lyrics play a big part of that. Our central character sings about how she can't get into a relationship despite her simple demands such as "A hundred roses, diamond necklace and ring", and "A little bit tall, a little bit like Gang Dong-Won". Sure, the lyrics may not be deep or progressive, but they do get a good chuckle out of me. Combine this with the post-chorus' hook dance, and Love Options clearly was made for virality.

The girls provide a spirited performance. Love Options is not a song created for vocal flexes, so they play around with the hooks with fun styling, while never collapsing into aegyo (Grammarly thinks I meant "Diego"). The song's live performances of the time were quite live in their singing. The chorus is great for belting, and U Ji's opening remains fresh all these years later. The hooks are catchy, and you will find yourself humming the post-chorus for weeks on end. All in all, Love Options is an underrated jam, and it got stuck in my head, hence why I am making sure it will be stuck in yours.

Rating: 9.25/10

Purchase BESTie's final EP here! (their music is rare, I could not find the first repackage, which had Love Options)

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