HARA - ALOHARA CAN YOU FEEL IT?

Track List:

1. What Do You Think? (feat. Young Ji)
2. Choco Chip Cookies (Feat. Giriboy)
3. La La La (feat. Matthew Kim)
4. Guhara
5. Rainy Day (duet with TaeBin)

You've been clamoring for it, now here it is. Hara (from the girl group KARA) asks fans 'Can You Feel It?' with her solo debut. Not only did she have a line-up of hot talent helping behind the scenes but also two of her bandmates, Youngji and Seungyeon, lent their skills to this album.

We open with "What Do You Think?" Starting with a lonely synth ping, it's a bit minimalist 'til the chorus, but still owes a lot to electropop. Her bandmate Youngji lays down the raps, and together they kill it. Hara is asking what you think of her and to snatch her up before someone else does.



"Choco Chip Cookies" is the single they're pushing on this EP. It starts a bit lonely at first, but soon fills out with a sort of R&B groove. Hara's voice is sweet and honeyed, and she uses it to good effect here. Giriboy comes in to do his thing, and a good song simply gets better.  A bite from the chorus lets you know what it's about: "Choco chip cookies / let's share secret stories together."

The next track is "La La La," a more frenetic dance track. The lyrics are playful, flirty. Labelmate and trainee Matthew Kim handles the rapping and does a pretty kicking job. This jam is definitely body-moving and more.



We come to "Haragu," which is pretty obviously her name. The lyrics are, yet again, I'm-pretty-I'm-hot-look-at-me (I'm kinda hoping for a different theme at this point). The song, however, is more playful than the last tune (which saves it), and the "Gu Gu Hara Gu" makes an awesome hook.

The last song is "Rainy Day," a duet with another DSP trainee TaeBin. It's a pretty mid-tempo ballad, and they handle the vocals well. Written by KARA colleague Seungyeon, the lyrics are sweet:

"When the rain lightly falls, I think of you
I miss you all day, my heart flutters at the thought of you
As I look at the clear raindrops, I think of your eyes
You make my heart flutter all day."

I like this album. Rather than "try on" different genres, she stayed true to what she does well, and that is pretty high-quality pop. Each of these tracks shows off her breathy vocals, and her fellow KARA members helped make this pop even more. I'm looking forward to more solo releases from Hara. This album deserves much love.

MV REVIEW

Much of this video was in the I'm-hot-look-at-me mode which permeated much of the album. There were occasional shots that looked much like home video, which were actually some of the more endearing parts of the thing. The actor and Hara play their parts well, and look like they're very much in love.

There are occasional dance sequences, and scenes of Hara frolicking in this or that barely there outfit. I won't deny she's fun to watch, but I prefer the romance scenes more. They gave me plenty of those, so I'm happy.


 
The hunk is Matthew Kim (remember him from "La La La?"). This California-born rapper can also dance (and I mean *really* dance ) so it's a shame they didn't use him more except as eye candy.

This MV is tailor-made for summer, painted with bright colors and lots of sunny day shots. It's actually fun to watch this (and this goes for you girls, too), so I'd definitely give this one a spin at least once.  

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