CHERRY BULLET – 'HANDS UP'

Cherry Bullet just released their newest single, "Hands Up." This is their first comeback with 7 members. Mirae, Kokoro, and Linlin are gone. But they didn't let a lineup change stop them -- in fact, they got AOA's Jimin to help write and record it, as well.

"Hands Up" is a very different kind of song for Cherry Bullet. In some ways, that's a good thing. They weren't a bad band, but not necessarily releasing top-tier material, either. Here they've released a kind of hybrid. For one thing, it's mostly trap... and that's awesome. There's a lot of attitude in the song, which I like. But it's not a girl crush song, which seems to be over saturating the K-pop market. It's almost like someone said, "Hey, Blackpink scored big with this, let's do it, too!" Kudos to Cherry Bullet for not falling into that trap (no pun intended).

And while there's an attitude, they still haven't lost their cute style. The girls still have the same high voices. And they almost manage some vocal snap here. It's a little weak in that area, but that's a minor thing. And there are skirling horns behind them, which makes the song adorable.

Overall, the tune is a lot of fun. As I said it's got that Cherry Bullet style, and still manages to be a different song entirely. It's playful and light, and catchy as all get-out. I really think we're looking at a hit for these girls.

MV REVIEW

One of the things I enjoy about Cherry Bullet MVs is that the members usually seem to be doing something. And they're definitely active. For every scene they seem to be posing for the camera there's another scene that shows some kind of action, be it being bored at work, to messing with a touchscreen monitor, sorting through computer cards, consulting blueprints, or even being on the phone. And I've barely scratched the surface.

But all this is building towards something -- namely, the construction of a virtual Cherry Bullet store. Nice. They eventually go in, but not before dancing in front of it. Because why not?

And the MV doesn't stop there, either. They film the girls inside the store. They browse books, music, software, what-have-you. Books aren't listed on the sign, so that was an unexpected bonus.

And this seems to have the most dancing scenes I've seen in any MV with a story. They dance everywhere. In the office, in the store, outside the store, and even in a location entirely devoted to that purpose. The choreography is actually not bad. It goes really well with the music, even the dubstep portion.

So if you're asking me if I enjoyed the video, my answer is of course I did. It's more fun than a barrel full of monkeys.

Score

MV Relevance...........8
MV Production..........9
MV Concept..............9
MV SCORE: 8.6

Songwriting.....9
Composition.........8
Impression...............8
ALBUM SCORE: 8.3

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