KARD – Gunshot

KARD, one of KPop’s few remaining and active co-ed groups, have released new single album ‘Way With Words’, with the title track ‘Gunshot’. DSP Media have always let their members play an active role in the writing and composition of their songs, and that is no different for these three songs on this latest single album.

‘Gunshot’ brings the tempo down significantly from their more recent releases such as ‘Red Moon‘ which was released earlier this year. This song layers trap percussion with a heavier bass drum beat to bring dynamic to this low to mid-tempo hip-hop-infused pop track. Otherwise, the song offers quite little in the way of melody to keep us hooked.

As ever, Somin and Jiwoo provide strong, stable vocals, slightly lightening the dark atmosphere that is set at the start of the track. Meanwhile, BM and J.Seph offer their own takes on the beat with their rap parts. J.Seph’s rap section really stands out to me since it sounds less like a KPop rap sequence and more like one from a KHip-hop track. It bothers me that we don’t get a sustained power top note from either vocalist in the final chorus which might have added a bit of a wow-factor to the track, however the final part of the track really makes an attempt to push out what energy was built up from the first and second verses to try to raise the overall tension in the sound.

The MV, like the song, plays upon this darker tone, bringing out some major ‘badass’ vibes. It is also no surprise that KARD have got an attractive choreography to go along with this track as their choreography is always a killing point of their whole package.

Personally, in recent times, I’ve found KARD’s title tracks to have less of a draw than the amazing run of songs that they released in their early days as a group. They built a decent fanbase during their first mini album, and proceeded then to change musical direction. Whilst ‘Bomb Bomb‘ received positive attention, it then set the tone for subsequent releases and now it feels like KARD are trying to pigeon-hole themselves into that heavy, edgy sub-genre of KPop, when really, most of us came for the tropical house vibe of ‘Oh nana‘. That’s not to say that a KPop group can’t try new styles, but after several similarly styled songs in a row, it starts to feel a little samey and loses the impact factor. Having said that, the other songs on this single album show a lot more of the groups versatile musical range.

Whilst ‘Gunshot’ is a perfectly fine song, it doesn’t have the kind of addictive, repeat-play factor that I look for in a KPop track, nor the musicality. However, I know that with KARD’s latest releases, I have a tendency to form an initial judgement and then change my mind after a month because I find their latest tracks to be ones that grow on me over time rather than be instant loves. (I kind of miss old KARD)

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Favourite song from the album: Hold On

NB. It’s worth saying, I do sometimes feel slightly uncomfortable with any song that has gun-related subjects as the central theme, though the metaphor makes sense and the tricky topic is portrayed in a relatively poetic way.