OH MY GIRL - PINK OCEAN

Track List:

1. Liar Liar
2. B612
3. I Found Love
4. Knock Knock
5. One Step Two Steps



After last year's megahit "Closer" (and the ridiculous incident at LAX), Oh My Girl is back with their third mini-album 'Pink Ocean.' A brand new concept for the eight girls, this album has tons of collaborators, including British composer David Anthony, Swedish guitar virtuoso Andreas Oberg, B1A4's Jin Young, and Sean Alexander and Darren Smith (who did "Lion Heart").

In the tradition of "Playground" comes "Liar Liar." With a bouncy beat and lyrics, the girls sound really really young here. I love the siren in the beginning that kind of sets the tone for the song. The lyrics have some interesting imagery: "Splashing across the sea of imagination" and "I connect the islands floating in my head." The metaphors there are really clever. The meaning of the song? They think the guy they like is lying to them.

"B612" is sung to an acoustic guitar, a sweet soft rock tune about being in love. The effect is very soothing, their silky voices giving you some truly beautiful harmonies. I like the lyrics, some of them are fairly creative: "It feels like you've come from a far-off universe, on this star." B612 is the asteroid where the hero of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's 'The Little Prince' lives.



With all eight girls on overdubs, it sounds like a small army of cute girls doing their thing on "I Found Love," with the youthful exuberance and energy that you've come to expect from this group. I found myself really grooving on Mimi's raps here, recalling some of the fine work she did on "Closer." It's not hard to guess what this song's about.

"Knock Knock" is light and poppy, slick and processed, but losing none of the talent. It's also quite hook-heavy, with lines like "got me knockin' knockin" and "Don't let them fool you girl." Mimi's raps are on point here, and it's quite a different song than the previous track, which I like. Ever listen to an album where every song sounds the same? I have. Here, the girls are knocking on the guy's heart.



"One Step Two Steps" is a pre-release track written by B1A4's Jin Young. It starts out balladic, with the girls in harmony. There are a few stabs toward a bolder image with the vocals here, but there's also backpedaling into sweetness and a demure demeanor. The song itself is sweeping and majestic in parts. The lyrics pretty well reveal the meaning: "If you go one step, two steps away from me/I'll take three steps closer to you."

They do cute and sweet really well. They almost outdo G-Friend in that regard, but not quite. They've produced more standout tracks here, and excised much of the filler that was on the last one. A lot of these are pretty, catchy, and danceable, and the album even holds a few surprises (which I've already revealed). Obviously, a lot of credit goes to their collaborators, too, but I like the direction Oh My Girl is heading. Of course, I've been a fan since "Cupid," so sue me. You don't have to be an aquatics fan to get pumped about this comeback.

MV REVIEW

At first glance this might look like just another cute, aegyo-laden video, but there's more going on than just that. The girls all have the same headshot of the same guy, and are keeping this fact from one another by hiding the pic behind their backs, underneath kitchenware, etc. It's a cute idea, and there's even a nod to the pink ocean and their concept with the girls snapping pics with underwater cameras.  

There's no dancing here and there are a couple costume changes, but nothing drastic. Instead, the camera moves through the house, stopping to linger on the girls and their antics, before setting off to pan over to another scene. It works because it's not jerky or spastic; it's just a gentle roll here and a scene shift there. In keeping with the light and fun song, the colors are all bright and entirely not how you'd paint a house.



At the end of the day, I'd rather watch one really good video where the girls are doing something, than a hundred sexy concept videos where they're not. Was this really expensive, with mind-blowing special effects? Nope. Was it dripping with atmosphere? Nope. Was it cute and funny and went along with the mood of the song? You bet. 

Score

MV Relevance.........8
MV Production........9
MV Concept.............8
Album Production...8
Album Concept.......9
Tracklisting..............8

OVERALL.............8.3