[MV & Album Review] Cosmic Girls � 'Happy Moment'

AKP STAFF

COSMIC GIRLS � HAPPY MOMENT

Tracklist:

1. Happy
2. Miracle
3. Mr. BADBOY
4. SUGAR
5. Babyface
6. Plop Plop
7. Follow Me
8. B.B.B.Boo
9. Geeminy
10. Closer To You

Fans should be happy, at least for the moment, because Cosmic Girls are back with a new album 'Happy Moment!' This is their first full album, with 10 tracks hot off the presses, including the new title track "Happy."�

The disc kicks off with the title track "Happy." If I didn't like it the first time I heard it in the pre-release medley, I was in for a surprise when I cued it up again later. There's a lot more going on here than you might think. Aside from the cheers from the girls (which are nice and powerful), there's a hyperactive synth and a definite sense of fun which comes right through on this track. Listening to this might actually make you happy, at least for the three-minute running time.

"Miracle" has kind of a retro feel, that skate-disco vibe thing going on. At least at the start. The main verses feel a bit familiar beat-wise, but the girls sound more enthusiastic than you might think, which is really what helps this out. They sing with more guts than I've heard them do previously, and yeah, it works. �

"Babyface" has a lot of the electronic feels to it, and has the girls sounding cute, but not in a bad way. There's just this weird innocence to some of it. The harmonies are really well done, and mesh quite well with the synth wubs and drips. These kind of club-bangers are the kind of thing I like, where the song itself is interesting outside of just the vocals. There are some interesting up-pitched and down-pitched parts, and mix just enough in there to keep this from being too repetitive.

Now "Follow Me" has a lot of hooks, and tries to be cute without managing to be over-the-top, and there are a lot of the girls' cheers that give this song some punch. What's nice is that we don't have too long to wait for the raps. The hooks in this are seriously in your face, with lots of parts that you can sing or chant along with. This tune is definitely a good time.

The EDM tune "B.B.B.Boo" is totally trippy, and doesn't flow as well as I'd like. I wanted to like it, but the use of negative sound in the song created awkward silences and just made me uncomfortable. I just felt there need to be something behind it to fill what wasn't there. I'm a fan of the staccato sound found in many f(x) songs, but this one just left me cold.

"Closer to You" is the closest thing you'll find to a ballad on here. It's a mid-tempo offering that is sweet in some places, tender in others. There are definitely some higher-pitched vocals, but I think that works in its favor. The chorus sounds familiar, like the melody was cribbed from somewhere. It's got a retro feel, and lots of bands are starting to borrow from earlier eras than rock n'roll, so that's doubtless part of it. Still, it's a satisfying closer.�

A giant weakness of previous Cosmic Girls albums is that the other songs on the album weren't nearly as strong or as filled out as the title track. And sometimes the title track wasn't all that, maybe being too sugary or generic. This is not the case here. Each of these tunes stands out on its own as a fully-realized song, and many of them are quite good. This is probably one of the better albums they've done. I quite like the increased EDM presence, and hope they continue to experiment in that direction.

MV REVIEW

In this MV the Cosmic Girls use the cheerleader concept. But this is probably one of the more original ways to use it that I've seen. The effects come fast and furious, as they do costume changes, pop out of lockers and cubbies, and are figures in what almost looks like a cutaway of a dollhouse.

And that's part of why I like it. There's the cute animations, sped up girls in a flurry of activity, and the scene changes. They never linger on any one scene for very long, and there's no chance you're getting bored with this one, though you might get exhausted by the end.

There's really no dancing here. During the chorus. it's very much the cheerleader thing, with the moves that go right along with it. There are cheerleading routines, and they shake their pom poms, but really don't do anything eye-popping with it.

That's where the MV comes in. There are all sorts of things, like when they get dolled up in athletes uniforms and one of them gets injured and...well, yeah. There's too much here to detail in one review without it being a TLDR. Suffice it to say that this MV is just stuffed full of fun.

Is it good? Well, yes, as a red-blooded male I can tell you there are worse things than watching 13 girls in cheerleader uniforms. I can also tell you that the MV is eye-catching and tickled my funny bone just about every second. There are sight gags galore, and that alone is worth at least a couple minutes of your time.