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MV & Album Reviews

[Album & MV Review] ASTRO - 'Spring Up'

AKP STAFF
Posted by eric_r_wirsing Thursday, February 25, 2016
ASTRO


ASTRO - SPRING UP

Track List:
1. Ok! Ready To Go!
2. Hide & Seek
3. Innocent Love
4. Morning Call
5. Puss In Boots



Already with a significant fanbase, ASTRO has been aggressively promoted, with a webdrama, showcase tours, fan meetings, and a reality show. The rookie group consists of Yoon San Ha, MJ, Cha Eun Woo, Moon Bin, Rocky and Jin Jin. The name of the group means "star" in Spanish. Fans will be happy to know that quite a few of the songs they heard in the drama have made it onto the album, so you already have a taste of what they sound like. Get ready for the full 'Spring Up' meal.

"Ok! Ready To Go!"
A neat little electropop tune, containing some of the themes carried over into their tunes, notably "Hide & Seek." It's an intro and, of course, quite short.



"Hide & Seek"
A fun, uptempo tune, the title track is also the banger of the album. The song just screams "enjoy yourself," but I have a couple quibbles:

1) there's a part which is cribbed straight from a grade school taunt: "nanny nanny boo boo," and
2) the rap at 2 mins in seems tacked on, complete with a different melody.

These things were jarring at first, but the song's so catchy I got caught up in it and the problems disappeared. The second rap goes right along with the tune and is fire. The song itself is about how much they like a girl who's caught their eye.

"Innocent Love"
A sweeping ballad, midtempo in some parts, with a pounding beat and decidedly optimistic.  Lyrically it deals with first love and the feelings that go hand in hand with a breakup. But they're not morose, instead grateful. It's a pretty piece, each boy's voice lending emotional weight to the song.



"Morning Call"
A solid soft rock tune about how they're in love with a girl and they love waking up in the morning with her. This song is catchy and soothing at the same time, with a strumming guitar that turns electric during the chorus and really makes it all work.

"Puss In Boots"
A playful song, light and poppy, the perfect tune to kick off your spring. The boys sound like they're having tons of fun with this song, though the production is still flawless. I love the clever lyrics: "Even with your not-so-funny jokes, I'm already halfway head over heels with you," and, "What did you eat that made you so beautiful?"
A great way to end the EP.



This is an impressive debut. The songs are catchy, but also have a certain maturity and fullness to them. I didn't detect any filler either, though the English is still a bit awkward. The boys wrote their rap parts, too. I like it. The concept is a bright and happy springtime album, and this EP does conjure up some pretty good feels.    

MV REVIEW

The boys of ASTRO snare a girl with their unique charms in "Hide and Seek!"

This is a cute MV. The scene is set in two places: a library and some basement where the boys are cleaning. The girl has piles of books to deal with, but wait! What's that? She looks over and sees ASTRO, and they're also able to see her, but it's just a window into the other's world. They take off, and she tries to follow. There are adorable scenes where she's able to do something in her world that ends up having a funny effect in their universe as well. There's a twist ending that brought a smile to my face.



The wardrobe is pretty nicely done. The girl is in student garb and looks studious but worn down by having to hit the books. The members are draped in bright colors of blue and white hues. Of course, when they're not dancing, they're in school uniforms as well.

The dancing was spot on. Drops and kicks and twirls, they knocked this part out of the park. They're obviously well trained as dancers, and it shows. Even when they're joking around it's still fun to watch.



I like how this is set up. I haven't seen a concept like this in quite awhile, where the band and the love interest are separated by universes, and she's able to see them only through a 2 dimensional frame. Highly original, and its nice how they brought this back and made it part of the story, rather than something that happens in the background as a bit of neat CGI. While not elaborate, the story was interesting enough, and now I want a part 2. 
  1. ASTRO
  2. SPRING-UP
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