🧵 1/2
Every weekend I look back at the preceding week in Kpop and pick out a music video or performance that I have particularly liked. This week I have chosen WJSN – Bloom Hour.
What a difficult decision it was this week!I had to choose between “Rude” stages, RESCENE, IVE, but I finally settled on WJSN – Bloom Hour. I ‘m not going to complain about being spoiled for choice, especially after an opening to the year in which offerings seemed sparse.
“Bloom Hour” is WJSN’s first comeback in almost four years. I was looking forward to the release because the 2018 "Save Me, Save You" delighted me, and this delight has not faded as I have explored both their prior and subsequent releases, not withstanding the tension that developed when they competed against LOONA, another group that I followed, during “Queendom”.
Consequently, “Bloom Hour” means a lot to me, a sentiment reinforced by the valedictory sound of the song and implications of the lyrics. Nevertheless, I recognize that it is not the best track they have ever released; although I like the song, I did feel that the instrumentation felt weak as the first verse opened. My spirits were lifted by the chorus, and I absolutely loved the final, very third generation, bridge and final chorus with ad libs.
I wonder how this song comes across to somebody who isn’t familiar with WJSN, which in turn raises questions in my mind of a more general nature, regarding the part played by prior knowledge and expectation in our perception and judgment of art.
I’ve seen a good deal of criticism online of the video as looking “cheap”, especially when compared with “Blackhole”, the release this week from their agency Starship’s currently most popular girl group, IVE. I liked the “Bloom Hour” video, because I do not equate a big budget with artistic excellence; I thought that the studio and dressing room scenes suited the song, and I enjoyed that final transition to a flowery hillside which was the subject of online nitpicking. I do wonder, though, how WJSN feel about Starship’s relegating them when compared with IVE; perhaps they just accept this as the natural course of events in the life of idols, perhaps they are more concerned with their own individual careers in drama and musicals, or perhaps they feel hurt at being cast aside. I suppose we’ll never know.
I do know that the members of WJSN are some of the most beautiful idols in Kpop. Everybody looks gorgeous in their own way here, and my only complaint is that neither Luda nor Dawon were able to lend either their visuals or their voices to “Bloom Hour”.
But wait! There’s more….
WJSN – Bloom Hour
https://youtu.be/ItvDjeiqdlE?si=KOHHtPyYgsyFShGp
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Jonathan Emmesedi
Soompi: Latest K-Pop, K-Drama, Korean Entertainment News (2024)
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