ROCKET PUNCH – 'PINK PUNCH'

Track List:

1. PINK PUNCH

2. BIM BAM BUM

3. Love Is Over

4. Lucid Dream

5. Favorite

6. Do Something

Girl group Rocket Punch has just debuted with their EP 'Pink Punch.' The group consists of members Juri, Yeonhee, Suyun, Yunkyoung, Sohee, and Dahyun. Juri Takahashi should be a familiar face, having been in the J-pop group AKB48, and on the survival show 'Produce 48.' The mini-album has 6 tracks for your listening pleasure.

They start with "PINK PUNCH," which is their intro track. It's not bad for an instrumental, and it has hints of the title track (you can hear the faint vocals on this one). "BIM BAM BUM" is their title track. I like this one a lot. The company is definitely listening to the competition. This one reminded me a bit of CLC's "Crush" and Playback's "Playback." But those are two incredible songs, just like this one. It's seriously catchy, and the chorus is packed to the gills with hooks. Continuing the trend of solid tracks, we get to "Love Is Over." It's got a different tone from "BIM BAM BUM," a more serious attitude, less playful. These girls really have some nice vocals and they get to show off their skills more on this track.

"Lucid Dream" is where we get the obligatory ballad. I'm not entirely sold on Sohee's vocals here. They lacked the depth and richness that we've come to expect in a ballad, and seemed very surface level. Dahyun did a better job, but she also had the others backing her up as they transitioned into gorgeous harmonies. After that awkward start, the song really got quite awesome. We swing over to R&B with "Favorite." It's got that hallmark smoothness of R&B combined with the girl's vocals. One of the things I like about this band is that their voices do stand out, and they don't just ape what other girl bands are doing -- they don't stick to the higher registers. I like it. "Do Something" is exactly the kind of song I'm talking about, with the same influences. The voices stand out, they have some lower-voiced singers, and they sound pretty fierce at time, and are still able to handle the slower, softer bridges well.

This is an impressive debut. One of the things I like is that the songs have some meat to them. Something to sink your teeth into, something to forge into a signature sound. Each girl has a unique voice, and the songs have some heft, unlike some of the airy debut songs that mark 3rd gen K-pop. They also cross genres quite well, crossing from pop to R&B, and even have the chops for ballads. And that's something I hope they can bank on.

MV REVIEW

The girls dance in a neon-lit mall in the MV for "BIM BAM BUM."

Is there enough here to attract your attention, though? I think so. Say what you will about neon, it does glow and get the job done. So cast in largely the same lighting scheme, the girls do their thing as they ham it up for the camera, acting like they're telling you their side of things with each individual shot.

They dance quite well. It's a lively affair, filled with more cute gestures than anything, though it does look like they put some thought into the choreo. It also looks like it might give you quite a workout if you were to try to emulate the moves yourself.

And what can I say? For some reason, a leopard shows up about halfway through. I don't know why they put a great cat in the MV, but somehow it works. It's largely inactive, laying around while they dance close to it, and shush it (probably because being in a mall after hours would get you shutdown).

I like this MV. It didn't try to wow me with special effects, nor did it try to be something it wasn't. It was sort of an old-school effort, except it looked better than some of those old sets, and everything wasn't pastels, either. Plus it was fun seeing them shooting up the signs in that area, which resulted in confetti raining down. A happy video to chase the summertime blues away.

Score

MV Relevance...........8

MV Production..........9

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

MV SCORE: 8.6

Album Production.....8

Album Concept.........9

Tracklisting...............8

ALBUM SCORE: 8.3

OVERALL................8.5