LABOUM’s “Imagine More” an imperfect but ultimately appealing upbeat comeback

LABOUM got my attention with the outstanding “AALOW AALOW” and they aimed to keep it with their latest effort, “Imagine More“.

“Imagine More” got off to an enjoyable start, with a cheerleading-type chant and a promising upbeat instrumental that reminded me of something G-Friend might release. The verses provide adequate respites from the cheeriness of everything so that it’s not overwhelming, and the hook has a catchy double-time vocal section which fronts what is essentially a showcase for their lead vocalist’s quality. It’s nothing complicated, but this is the type of upbeat cute concept I don’t mind, and it certainly fulfills the goal of being fresh and fun.

That said, I felt like the song could’ve been better if the instrumentation was. While the cheery feel of the instrumental fit with the concept perfectly, it was lacking a bit of creativity to it. Also, why did they wait until the end of the song to bring back the cheerleader-inspired chants? That intro was one of the catchier parts of the song and would’ve been an outstanding post-chorus instead of just opening and closing with it.

In the end, while I may not rate “Imagine More” as an instant classic, I do think it has a wider appeal than their previous efforts and it effectively conveys the tone of their concept. More importantly, it has multiple sections that are catchy, and those are what help vault this effort into the territory of the solidly above-average girl group release.

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The music video was a basic girl group affair, so there wasn’t a lot to it, but almost everything is made okay by this ‘Declaration Of Idiot’ shirt.

That’ll compensate for a cookie-cutter girl group music video any day.

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It was always gonna be a tall task for LABOUM to top “AALOW AALOW”, and while “Imagine More” certainly showcased the group’s talent better, it didn’t quite match the quality of their previous effort in the end. Still, there was a lot to like here, and the group probably wishes that K-pop actually was a meritocracy, because LABOUM are deserving of a lot more attention than they get.