[Song & MV Review] Ladies' Code – 'FEEDBACK'

AKP STAFF

LADIES’ CODE – 'FEEDBACK'

Track List:

1. FEEDBACK

2. FEEDBACK (Inst.)

The story of Ladies' Code is one of the more tragic and hopeful stories in K-pop history. After the accident that claimed the lives of two of their members, they soldiered on as a trio. We haven't heard from them since "The Last Holiday" in December last year. Now they've dropped a new single, "FEEDBACK."

Others have said that this tune is retro, and that's pretty accurate. It has some brass, a thrumming bass line, and some instrumentation that reminds me of disco more than anything else. I assume all that helps it qualify. And yeah, that makes it retro.

What's interesting is that the vocals are mastered in such a way that the music takes a backseat. This is a growing trend in K-pop and I like it. Often the backing tracks are lacking something without the charming vocals of the group in question, and this true in this case as well. It's not that it's bad -- it's just not a complete song (IMHO), without the vocals. And these girls know how to sing.

And while their voices don't appear all that amazing during the main verses (except for Ashley's), during the chorus they manage to really pull it out of their hats and go full throttle. That's when they show off their soulful vocal chops.

This is a fun song. But if I had to pick one thing I didn't like it would be the line distribution. Ashley and Sojung get the lion's share of the song, and Zuny's just stuck in the background most of the time. It works here, but her last line "always thinking of you" had me intrigued. I wanted to hear more of her. But still, I don't think I've ever not liked a song by Ladies' Code and this one continues the unbroken chain.

MV REVIEW

The girls of Ladies' Code strike a pose or two in their new MV "FEEDBACK."

The girls start out in the car, driving to the studio. They hear the song on the radio and start grooving to it. Immediately we're taken inside, in the dressing room, where wardrobe and makeup artists get to work on the girls. And then come the promotional shots and filming. It's an amusing inside look, despite the fact that it's all staged.

Then the MV begins in earnest, as the girls are doing different activities. Zuny is shooting a movie scene, Sojung is at the piano singing, and Ashley is working out. And then it gets meta, as the girls end up in an opulent theater, sitting alone, watching another music performance to the same song.

So it starts out fairly mundane and then gets surreal at the end. Not bad overall. We get some choreo, but not much. It would be interesting to see a live cut to see how well they do. And at the end, we get close-ups of them smiling and laughing as large pieces of metallic confetti rain down.

Overall, you could do a lot worse than this. It was fun to watch in the beginning, and even at the end when you're left with a head-scratcher of a concept. And of course, the girls are looking as good as they ever did.

Score

MV Relevance.......8

MV Production......8

MV Concept..........8

MV SCORE: 8.0

Songwriting..........9

Composition.........9

Impression............9

ALBUM SCORE: 9.0