DJ HYO – 'BADSTER'

Track List:

1. Badster

2. Badster (English Ver.)

DJ Hyo (Hyoyeon of Girls' Generation fame) has dropped her new summer single "Badster." The single album contains two songs -- the first in Korean, the second in English. She co-wrote and co-produced the track. This is her fifth single.

The opening salvo for the song is awesome. Sadly it kind of goes downhill from there. It's a trance tune with some other EDM elements thrown in, and it sounds a tad thin. Especially compared to her previous output. Songs like "Sober" and "Punk Right Now" blow this one right out of the water. It's not very melodic and there aren't a lot of hooks that grab you. The best part of the song is the pre-chorus, as short as it is. The chorus is also simplistic and ends abruptly. The song is not bad but it's not great either.

The English version is better than some of her other English versions. It sounds more faithful to the track, though that maybe because of the dearth of lyrics. So, though I like it a lot better than the English rendition of "Punk Right Now," that may not be saying much. The non-Korean version of that song was cringy.

It's a pity, too. She's released a string of pretty good dance tunes. I like what she's done so far. But this song is different. This is a little heavy on the tech and light on the heart.

MV REVIEW

This is one of those rare times where the music video is actually better than the song.

Here, a virtual DJ Hyo is our guide on a rollercoaster ride through the world of a video game. There's what's supposed to be a hyperspace shunt, our ticket into that virtual space. You have a countdown and the song begins in earnest.

A CGI DJ Hyo dances while she sings in a computer-generated space. Shapes form, dissipate, and reform. There are glowing wireframe structures, and run and gun elements. Targets explode in pixelated glory, and the scene even tilts. The transitions feel organic, possibly because we never stop moving. It's a surreal runner, and a rendered DJ Hyo takes us along for the ride.

And I've barely scratched the surface of this visual delight. Dual Hyo heads whirl around us as we hit the next level, guns spitting carnage in front of us. Rings, glowing roadways, and a dancing Hyo await us.

This was a pretty awesome concept, and I have to say it worked quite well. The only thing that could have made it better is Hyoyeon in the flesh.

Score

MV Relevance.......9

MV Production......9

MV Concept..........9

MV SCORE: 9.0

Songwriting..........7

Composition.........7

Impression............7

SONG SCORE: 7.0

OVERALL............8.0