[Song & MV Review] KARD � Rumor

AKP STAFF

KARD -- RUMOR

Tracklist:

1. Rumor

The "hidden concept" co-ed quartet KARD are back again. Their debut plan was to span 3 singles, each detailing part of a story. "Oh NaNa" was the romance, "Don't Recall" was the split, "Rumor" is the final part.

"Rumor" has the same reggaeton beat they've used throughout all of their tunes, reggae with a hint of hip hop and a dash of EDM thrown in for good measure. The fusion has worked in the past, and it works well here, too. The lyrics tell the final part of the tale. She hears a rumor that he's with someone else, he gets wind of it, and they go on agonizing over the fact that they're broken up.

J.seph and B.M stans will be happy, as both the male members get much larger parts than they've had previously. They even get the entire first verse, which is a break from the past. And they get singing parts, as well as rapping. As for the girls, Somin's vocals grabbed me more than Jiwoo's, though they both were on point. I like the EDM flourishes as the tune builds toward the chorus and the synth after the chorus rocks.

Musically, I don't think it's quite as strong as the others. It doesn't sound the same, only similar. It's just that "Oh Na Na" and "Don't Recall" were simply better constructed, with a tad more feeling behind them. It gets better the more I listen to it, though. It's not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but it's not the best I've heard from them. This was not their ace in the hole.

MV REVIEW

This MV blurs the line between CF and MV, and I'm not sure how I feel about that.

The first thing you notice is that this MV has a 6-second logo intro, with the LG G6 prominently displayed. Pushing a smartphone during the MV intro makes it too obvious about advertising. I would have much-preferred something where the MV featured the phone in a subtle way -- have it ring or something, and maybe focus in on the phone.

Also, as if to rub it in that it is a CF, the video is formatted to fit a smartphone (vertical recording) in portrait mode. Not only is this annoying to those of us who might want to watch it on a larger screen, it' also limits what you can do and show. It's another clear indicator that this is more LG than KARD.

What's worse, it doesn't display right in the YouTube app. If you hit the fullscreen button, it goes to landscape mode. So you have to call YouTube up in the browser to make the video look right. but this happens only on my LG phone. On my Android tablet, the app works okay. Imagine that...

They do what they usually do. I can't dock points for location, simply because they've never sprung for the expensive hotel suite or anything like that. The dancing is as on point as always, and the visuals always have this shadowy look like normal. But I'm not a fan of the vertical video format or the smartphone ad. The ad/MV format is nothing new; the entire point of HyunA's "My Color" is to sell Toyota Corollas. This MV just hit some of the wrong points for me.