Aoa: angels knock(review)

Note: most of this is just my opinion, as well as my interpretations.

Ahh, aoa. The group that first got me interested into kpop with their alluring looks, addictive tunes and attractive personality. They made me a better person(to an extent), and changed my outlook on the world. Without them, i wouldn't be here.

But recently, regarding both the wow war promotions, and the scandals during the good luck promotions, my angels haven't even been doing well this year.

Put simply, wow war was sub-expectations, and the netizens were being s.

But fret not, my dear elvis! Aoa have made a smashing comeback, with their first full album called "angels knock".

And me, I'm here to review it.

Before we get into this, it should be noted that the translations of oh boy and give me the love were included, but since i don't really buy albums, i couldn't find it online. So I'll probably end up glossing over those two.

So, is it any good? Did they enter 2017 right?
Well, to know that, we must first loom at the individual mvs.

Mv 1: Excuse me

My favourite of the two, Excuse me visually and musically sound, an old 1950's detective esque theme being paired with a somewhat modernized and electronic tone to create a clear contrast. The former, is produced by none other than brave sound. That in itself was quite surprising, given the lack of a "it's brave sound" type intro, which was present in songs even up to about summer of last year. So, hats up to you, brave brothers.

The visuals were there, providing both eye candy and satisfaction with it's nicely blended colour pallette and a diverse, which i really encourage in these types of videos, or any kpop mv, to be honest. Each member had not just their own clothes(which should be expected in order to make each member stand out), but they also had uniforms during the dance segments, adding both legitimacy and diversity to the story. As a sidenote, (from my interpretation)each outfit served to paint each character in a specific light, using both colour and style.

Although, i thought Hyejeong's individual outfit was a little plain, in my opinion.

They even have outfits that aren't in the mv, but were used in photo shoots. The stylists at fnc have their work cut out.

Furthermore, the background in Excuse me served to help focus attention on the appropriate and relevant people, such as aoa, but also this mysterious man that they are tailing.

On that note, the story is set in(what i'd like to believe is london) during the 1950's. For some odd reason, the angels are detectives, bent on solving a mystery of sorts, and tailing the aforementioned man. The story is a little abstract, not in an artsy and meaning filled"blood sweat and tears" way, but more in the sense that the atmosphere is fantastical and unrealistic. It just wants you to have fun, to give you something to follow while you take in the music. 

As i said before, these visuals serve not to blend with the music. Normally, i would penalise for that, but since they create an acceptable and Believable contrast, I'll let them off.

Now, the sound.
Aoa's excuse me is an upbeat and somewhat electronic tune, that really does it's best to stand out, with passable results. What makes it better is the fact that the charus will be stuck in your head for weeks.

Chorus, not chaurus.

Well, almost straight off the bat, I've noticed an improvement. Chanmi and mina finally have more lines! This is honestly quite an improvement from the past, where they would either barely any lines, or serve simply as a vocal backup for yuna, choa and Hyejeong. I can't say the lines are completely even, as that would possibly decrease the quality of the song, but the change is commendable and noticable.

Can we quickly also talk about when it all broke down and jimin started rapping? Quite frankly, i felt the bass in my toes. Aish, jimin is a true goddess, just like the rest of aoa.

Speaking of rap, chanmi raps too, which is a pleasant surprise. It's not as hardcore, but helps to correctly manifest the skill of Chanmi.

Zooming out, the correct use of aoa's talents was quite blatant, with the main vocal line (choa, seol, yuna) doing it's thing(as usual), while not forgetting to give all of the other members a word in edgewise.

Now, if there is anything bad to say about the mv, it is the fact that it isn't quite as diverse in sound as i would like it to be. Why? It could draw in and entice new fans more quickly. In the first few weeks when the mv came out, my opinion felt somewhat incoherent, based on how i just couldn't really emerse my self into the song. After a few listens of both the music and the audio versions, i was hooked. But why i criticize them for this(don't worry too much, this won't overshadow the final verdict), is because new watchers won't have much reason to rewatch an mv in order to get into it, to be hooked. If they're not too satisfied, they may not even bother coming back. I'll give you an example of where this is done best: miniskirt. Give or take a few seconds, the music wastes little time in roping you in, having you hooked on the chill beat, mixed with the "hey! Aoa!"  Miniskirt's music was immediately addictive,while excuse me takes a little time to get started, with some of the music coming in first, followed quite closely by the singing and a little beat, before the main beat.

It shows structure, but there is that considerable trade off of engagement.

But overall, i think the song and mv were solid and had that required sense of diversity, along with the improved line distribution.

So with that in mind, i can confidently award a 7/10 for Excuse me.

Mv 2: Bing bing

That's right, this promotion, it's a double lead single release, or whatever you call it. That means more effort and more work put in by both the angels and elvis, which is quite commendable.

Now, bing bing is a complete parallel to excuse me, but based on the fact that they were released almost simultaneously, I'm going to make a few comparisons in terms of sound and visuals.

Now, diving right into it, the angels are magicians. And...that's it. Literally all there is to it. This lack of reasoning or plot to the mv is, unfortunately, something that needs to be noted at the very least. Although a clear plot isn't required, it sure makes the atmosphere within the video feel more...emersive. There's relaxed and fun, but then there is non existent. 

I feel like Fnc completely prioritized visuals over depth, but that turns out not to be too much of a bad thing.

This mv shows aoa in a pretty good light in terms of looks, serving as a sort of advertisement for new elvis, if you will. Each member shines to a degree I've never quite seen before, which i admire a great deal.

If excuse me is the main course, bing bing is only the appetizer.

This appetizer looks pretty good, to be honest.

The lighting was dark and shiny and the outfits were on point.

As in excuse me, the individuality was there in terms of their outfits, with the addition of a singular type of outfit that everyone wore during the main dance segments.

I didn't manage to feel any resonance in terms of personality, but they were well thought and unique.

As an added and expected bonus, the matching outfits blend impeccably well with the environment.

Speaking of the environment, it was dark, slick and sparkling, complimenting the magicians theme with ease. Between individual shots, there was a mix of different visual props, such as more lights in choa's shot, but a only a curtain to aid in jimins. Wonderful, wonderful stuff. 

In addition, the angels doing magic tricks seemed to make the video feel more entertaining and engaging, as at one point i was literally scratching my head on how choa managed to pull that staff out of a handkerchief(despite that being an old magic trick)

If anyone knows how that trick is done, would you mind telling me? It's bugging me a little. 

In terms of the sound of bing bing, that's where it began to falter, but only just a little.

The line distribution was improved like in excuse me, but i didn't always feel as if the music matched the setting. Now, this may be interpretation, but it says something about the music video.

Now, what was the music? Well, for a lack of a better word, it was jazzy at most parts, with a solid but sutble beat in the background.

The sound was fairly distinct, with the classic "aoa!" chants by jimin. Furthermore it improved on what excuse me didn't do, with the beginning of the song roping you in, aoa style.

And of course, as always, the vocal line was utilized to it's full potential, with chanmi and mina making themselves more noticeable. Kudos to them.

So all in all, bing bing was a solid video, but at the same time, it just wasn't quite my cup of tea, with it's more style over substance approach.

Although the visuals were on point , I'm just saying ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°).

Album

The album is fairly large, with about 6 high quality songs, excluding the 2 lead songs. This means that you can expect the song to be £7.99 on the play store, with a similar price on itunes.

On the other hand, if you're broke like me, you can convert the yt videos to audio. 

I mean, it doesn't support the artist, or even give you the best and high quality sound you can get, but it sure is a nice way to enjoy then offline for absolutely nothing.

Regarding the songs, I'll say a little something about them and give a rating.some were memorable. some weren't, but overall a good album.

Three out

This had a jazzy/electronic tone, sounding like one of those tracks played in an ecchi style situation(anime fans will know what I'm talking about). It was good, despite being a little short.

8/10

Feeling

Probably being my favourite, taking an 80's style approach. This one of the few i downloaded. Honestly, I'm not sure what to say.

9/10

Can't sleep

One of the weaker songs, can't sleep is overshadowed quite a bit by feeling. I even forgot it existed, to be brutally honest. But, it did sound pretty decent as a song.

6/10

Lily(feat.roo woon of sf9)
y and sweet, an at first overlooked song that turned out to be pretty soothing, too. Furthermore, lee roo woons vocals further bolstered the acoustic strength, for a lack of better words.

Melting love.
Absolutely melted my heart. It's opening had me hooked, with it's cheery tone carrying me to the end. Wonderful. Even made me notice mina more.

9/10

With ELVIS
Well...not the best, in my opinion. Too forgettable, although it does hold something sentimental.
5/10

Overall rating 

Well, it's been hard to decide, but I've finally decided a rating.
7/10
It's a high quality and solid album, and a great start to 2017.
To be honest, it's definitely worth buying, despite in the weakspots in the amour that is the angels knock.

What did you think, let me know in the comments.

Ps: I'll add some pics later, dw.