Review: NIK - La Vida Loca

2022 has been... a year for boy band music. There have been a few highlights, but given how much I love some boy bands, 2022 has been an oddly silent year for them. I blame this on various 4th generation K-Pop-isms that have permeated the global scene. Enter NIK, a K-Pop-inspired J-Pop boy band with a so-so debut song, releasing a song with one of the most overused phrases in pop music as the title. They have very few fans and remain miles from the A-List. This sounds like a recipe for disaster, but surprisingly, La Vida Loca is probably one of the best boy band songs over the past few months.

I have become so tired of the generic, KARD-inspired Latin-Pop songs that fail to capture the melodic strength of the originals that I almost rejected this song based on its Latin-Pop description. I am glad I didn't, however. La Vida Loca has more in similarities to MBLAQ's 2nd-generation Mona Lisa. The original was a cheesy and over-the-topic Latin track that thrived on good melody. La Vida Loca can roughly be described similarly, but replace over-the-topness with the bluster associated with contemporary boy bands.

However, the bluster never hurts the melodic strength of the song. Minus an outright awful second verse, La Vida Loca is single-pointed in its merging of Latin dance with EDM. The simple strummed guitar and whistle hooks pair perfectly with the hard-hitting production. At its very best, La Vida Loca is one of the most single-pointed dance tracks this year, with a spaghetti western ambition.

Of course, all of this is for naught without a strong melody. While La Vida Loca will easily pass my acoustic melody test, the production actually improves the song. While the verses (ignoring the aforementioned second verse) work quite well, it is the powering chorus that holds the song together. Strong hooks work great with the production. This segment almost feels forward-leaning, always off-balance, adding something unique enough to stand out.

La Vida Loca is not perfect, but when it gets its act together, it is one of the best songs this year. NIK have suddenly entered my watchlist, I will be keeping my eye on them.

Rating: 8.75/10

Listen to and purchase NIK's La Vida Loca right here!

Image Source: The Bias List