Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
DIA have made their first comeback of 2018 with “Woo Woo“, and it’s also their first without the recently departed Eunjin. While there was minor controversy before its release due to the familiar sound highlighted in the teasers, that might’ve actually worked in their favor since it certainly drew me to it, and thankfully DIA have delivered the summer anthem we needed.
Yeah, it’s definitely a ‘homage’ to Tinashe‘s “Superlove“ and maybe Ghost Town DJ‘s “My Boo“, but the fact that the miami bass core is at the heart of the similarities could be used to defend it if you cared about that stuff. Me? It’s never bothered me much if the result is quality, and DIA absolutely deliver here.
I feel like Shinsadong Tiger did well to tighten everything up a bit on “Woo Woo” and streamline the borrowed sounds a bit. The fact that the verses keep everything moving briskly and keep the listeners engaged are evidence of that success, but the most important work is done on the chorus. The “woo woo woo baby woo baby baby woo woo woo baby” refrain is an earworm that elevates it, but the rest of the chorus that comes before it (or pre-chorus, I dunno) is dense with lyrics in ideal rhythm, which feels like a blessing in this day and age, and with an instrumental that subtly builds on the foot-tapping foundational beat.
DIA themselves deserve credit as well with their nice blend of vocals, placing emphasis and attitude where it’s most effective, and not being unnecessarily overbearing. On that note, probably the last thing this song needed was a rap break thrown in, so I was wondering how they would work Heehyun in (I mean at least she’s good, so whatever), but thankfully they simply didn’t. They used her vocals instead and bypassed rap because they correctly determined the song would be better without it.
Thus far in their careers, DIA have done well physically and have been trending in that right direction in that respect, but have struggled a bit digitally. “Woo Woo” deserves to be the song that breaks through for them, as it’s the summer anthem many have been complaining hadn’t come this year, and it’s hard to envision this not aging well as it’s so easy to get into every time.
