Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
The JAV trio of Mikami Yua, Sakura Moko, and Matsuda Miko have debuted as Honey Popcorn in Korea with “Bibidi Babidi Boo“. Their concept is cute and innocent, which is absolutely amazing, and both the song and music video reflect that. Thankfully, it’s also just a lot of fun.
I can’t believe they’ve done this.
When it was initially announced that Mikami Yua would be debuting in Korea with a group, I had my hopes just for mess purposes if nothing else. I wanted the project to be a legitimate thing, I prayed for them to use an innocent/cute concept (to subvert the dogwhistle bullshit whether they mean it or not), and I hoped that the song would at least be fun. Somehow they’ve managed to check off all the boxes and then some, and that alone gets them brownie points from me.
All that aside, “Bibidi Babidi Boo” is just a genuinely quality debut song. Maybe others expected disaster, but I knew the Honey Popcorn members had all done this before and it should’ve been at least respectable if they took it seriously. Well they did, and while nothing here reinvents the wheel, the upbeat and fresh instrumental is executed well through engaging the listener and giving the song a fighting chance right from the get-go. While the verses strip away momentum at times and were an obvious weak area, the song gets better and better as it continues to roll along, mainly because eventually it increasingly relies on a chorus that is honestly addictive, and the same can be said for the repeating “bibidi babidi boo” hook.
No bullshit, I prefer this over a lot of 2018 releases so far, and the instrumental and chorus reminded me of something A Pink might’ve used years ago. While netizens are currently pissing themselves in anger over this, if you told them this was released by a group like April or LABOUM or ELRIS or Berry Good or Fromis 9 (or some other group that most aren’t familiar with), there wouldn’t be any objections because it’s at worst a solidly respectable K-pop song. No idea if they want to continue from here, but I would definitely like to see where they go with it, because their debut showcased that they have something to offer.
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At their showcase, they performed “Bibidi Babidi Boo”, “First Kiss“, and “Pretty Lie“.
