Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
B.A.P brought back nu-metal hep-hap realness in “Young, Wild & Free“, their first return following their contract dispute with their company.
Going around the Internet so far, I’m seeing a lot of “mess” or “noisy” or comments such as that, but that’s sorta the aspect I enjoyed about this. Quite frankly, I’m surprised more don’t use “noise” like B.A.P generally do because so many try to use that aggressive hep-hap image, and rap-rock is sorta perfect for that.
I liked the instrumental from the first few seconds, and when the metal (hard rock, whatever) aspect kicked in I loved it. The fusion of hard rock/metal and pop music generally appeal to me, so all B.A.P had to do is not fuck up, and they acquitted themselves nicely. The rapping was generally not embarrassing, and most importantly the song had an appropriately screamy anthemic hook that I found quite catchy.
The music video is so extra at points, and it needed to be in a way to fit the epic anthemtic nature of the song. So in terms of evaluating it on those grounds, I think it was effective and very pretty to look at, with quality cinematography. But honestly? Given their recent contract issues, the main thing on my mind was, “Wait, this is like another million dollar music video, isn’t this how they got fucked over to begin with?” Not to ruin it for fans, but it has to be said.
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Overall, this was a successful return for the group, though between my enjoyment of the song and the non-pop aspects of it, one has to wonder yet again if B.A.P can make the impact on the charts that they’re hoping for. Sooner than later one figures they have to have their major breakthrough with one of their loud and bold attempts, and if it comes with “Young, Wild & Free”, it’ll at least be deserved.
