Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Sunmi‘s last two singles have been entertaining, either through messaging or visuals, but they didn’t appeal to me musically as strongly as essentially all of her previous solo efforts. Thankfully, she has switched things up again, going with a retro pop glory on “Pporappippam” (really gonna make us type that out, huh?.
While it describes itself as “city pop” it doesn’t quite seem to fit into that designation, and that’s probably for the better. Because while city pop is rarely terrible or offensive, it can be bland if left to its own devices. Fortunately, there’s actually a rather sense of adventure and expansiveness here, combining funky guitar riffs with addictive synth rhythm that keep pulsing and moving things forward.
The pre-chorus was a shock given what I had expected of the song, utilizing short bursts of vocals between pounding synths. It’s an elite-tier setup for the chorus, which isn’t long on memorable hooks but does flesh out the song effectively. As far as I’m concerned, the pre-chorus is the hook, and that’s fine with me.
Then there’s the bridge that’s heavy on guitar riffs, which I’m sure was a tribute to me, specifically.
So “Ppepeerriurieurrurwirurm” (I’ll get it eventually) delivers quality like her other works, except better in many ways solely because it comes sans a trap breakdown inserted by Teddy and instead opts to shred a bit on the guitar. Oh yeah, and the music video itself is a treat, with its dreamy atmosphere and some appropriately 80s styling for a song so indebted to nostalgia. Not a whole lot to complain about here, and a breath of fresh air in 2020 from Sunmi.
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TheBiasList felt it was a standout track as well.
