[Review] Ong Seong Wu’s “Heart Sign” is quite nice considering it’s basically a Pepsi ad

After the disbandment of Wanna One, many of its members had newly-formed groups to conveniently slide into. But, some of the most popular Wanna One personalities were heading back to an agency without any announced plans. In some cases (Kang Daniel), this resulted in a messy situation. For others (Ong Seong Wu), it’s more of a shoulder shrug.

Fantagio Entertainment has recently emerged from an intense round of internal power shifts, making it hard enough to manage acts like ASTRO and Weki Meki. Without any clear-cut position for Ong Seong Wu to occupy in a group, his unofficial debut comes via the Starship Entertainment-sponsored Pepsi CF “Heart Sign“.

While I’m happy to hear any music from Ong Seong Wu, this is a relatively inauspicious (semi-)debut. “Heart Sign” pairs him with producers Flow Blow, who co-composed Wanna One’s biggest hit, “Energetic. They’ve fused a similarly high-energy backbone to this track, but forgot to make it interesting. Instead, the chorus feels fashioned out of scraps from “Energetic”, and I kept waiting to hear the iconic “feeling so energetic” refrain as part of its familiar brew. Essentially, the melody here traces the same path as its underlying instrumental, resulting in a rather underwhelming hook. It’s a chorus designed for group vocals, and without any layering, Ong Seong Wu’s solo performance feels insubstantial.

Of course, a rip-off of “Energetic” is not an unwelcome proposition. Flow Blow have self-plagiarized one of the most addictive boy group singles of the past few years, and “Heart Sign” succeeds off the strength of its brisk energy and Ong Seong Wu’s performance being every bit as charismatic as his work with Wanna One. Trade the track’s over-played tropical synth riff for electric guitar and we might have even had a real stunner. Instead, “Heart Sign” is an above-average commercial jingle, slick enough to swim with the K-pop crowd but never daring enough to stand out.

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