Apple is in my top 10 songs of the year as of the release of Mago and Walpurgis Night, so how does this new album and title track measure up? Let’s take a deep dive into the video, and then the album as a whole. And of course, don’t forget to follow us on twitter at https://twitter.com/KpopManely to stay up to date with all our new articles, lists, and these days, k-drama episode summaries.
The Music Video
The music video opens on Sowon, which is an instant plus, as she is my favorite member. In general, the music video rides two lines, one which is a little more fun and playful, especially with Yerin, and then a more mature vibe on the other side. Part of me feels these were meshed together poorly, feeling distinct enough to be something that I thought about while watching the first time. But the other part of me feels that this was done fairly well, because the fun side really shines through, and the mature part is just a nice little accent. I’ll call the overall tone neutral from there. The strong lean into the retro and disco style was fantastic though, with some goofy camera angles that feel straight out of that era, and even a literal giant disco ball for good measure.
The dance seems pretty fun, and the members seem like they enjoy performing it, and shooting the video, I think the goofier side suits them well. The pole dancing from Yuju is also always a plus, and I’m really happy that she got to show that off. The styling was pretty solid, good to great throughout. I really like the styling in the section after the first chorus in that octagonal room. I may be wrong, but I feel like there was some styling in teasers that we may not have seen there, or at least very little of, the suits specifically, so that I would say is a negative. Another thing that I was hoping to get was a little bit more of a magical theme, since the album has a lot of references to witchcraft. Lastly, the wrecking ball but disco ball joke was fairly random and unexpected, and therefore a huge positive, even if distractingly referential.
Rating: 8/10
Solid video, liked the directing and camerawork, neutral on the tone it took, positive on the styling and disco throwback. I have admittedly been very favorable of disco and other retro styles like synthwave all year, so this may just be a trend of bias on my part, having loved Iz*one’s Merry-Go Round, Sunmi’s Pporappippam, and Everglow’s La Di Da to name a few.
The Songs
Mago- I like the retro disco vibes, I’m always here for that, but I will say this isn’t my favorite of the retro releases today, currently I prefer all the songs I listed in the previous paragraph. That said this is a good song, the energy does stay light and floaty, which isn’t something that naturally holds one’s attention, but it does give it a unique feeling, which is good. Still one of the better songs this year, but I was hoping they’d lean more into the sensual Apple style more with a retro vibe.
Love Spell- There is a main vocal track and then an “UHHH” “MMMM” “Yeah yeah yeah” vocal track in the chorus and they sometimes feel like they blend decently and at other times feel very at odds. The vocals are fairly good otherwise, but the instrumental is hard for me to get past, that style of guitar is one of my least favorite, at least drop C tuning guitars being chugged feel exciting, this just is blegh. Not huge on this one.
Three of Cups- I know this is a tarot card, but I don’t know what it means, but I don’t look at lyrics, so it probably doesn’t matter in my enjoyment of the song if it cleverly ties together. This song is another retro groove, and I think I like this more musically than Mago a little bit. The chorus just grabs me a bit more, and creates a better dynamic with the verses, keeping the song fresh. The instrumental is also a little bit more engaged in the song, and a little funkier.
GRWM- I had to google GRWM to figure out it means “Get Ready With Me,” so this song is educational at the least. The best part is that if I had listened to the song first I would have figured it out because it is repeated in the chorus. The song is definitely the one of the best on the album, upbeat and fun, I think the group’s vocals suit this style really well. I think this is a better use of the instrumental sometimes just playing what the vocalist is singing, which is something really easy to mess up, so great arrangement.
Secret Diary- This ballad just does not click with me at all, which is a shame because I had randomly gone out of order and listened to Wheel of the Year second which is actually a solid power ballad. In terms of what I like, there is a nice whimsical tone to the song, which holds with the magical theming of the album pretty well.
Better Me- This darker R&B tone is what I had expected from the image teasers for this comeback, so I’m happy one of the songs delivers on the expectation. I think this is a good song, with verses and a chorus that naturally get you to groove along to them. It also moves really quickly, feeling shorter than it is, I’ll note that it is the shortest song on the album, so that is also a factor.
Night Drive- A third ballad, and another completely different feeling. This follows the R&B tone of Better Me, which makes for pretty good album structuring, and sounds really fantastic. This style of ballad was fairly big when I was growing up too, which makes it feel a little more old school, which also suits the album structure really effectively. Probably the best of the ballads on the album.
Apple- The three old titles on this album are all remastered, so it’s actually worth talking about them, and I have listened to the old and new back to back for full context. So it seems that a big tendency in all the remasters is to pull back on the instrumental, especially in the chorus, which just throws the balance off, Apple is a top tier song, one of the best from any group all year, probably top 15, and this version wouldn’t be as high if it had been released first.
Crossroads- The difference here wasn’t really big enough to make me feel differently about it than I had before, good song, it will be on my top songs of the year list..
Labyrinth- I wasn’t huge on this song in its previous mix, and something feels off here? Maybe it’s functionally the same but I can’t shake the off-balance feeling I get with this mix, especially in the chorus.
Wheel of the Year- This is a decent power ballad, much more upbeat than most groups will go. The strings blend really well with the mood of the song and the soft smooth tones of Gfriend’s vocals. A solid driving drum beat keeps everything moving along at a solid clip. Although I would have liked the mix to lift the strings up a little bit more, this is one of the better kpop ballads this year, a genre I don’t generally like.
Rating: 7/10
There are some songs I like pretty well here, and some I liked less. The songs I did like often didn’t quite come together in the way I would have hoped for, which makes me a little bummed out. That said, I’ve always been more into the Gfriend title tracks than b-sides, and Mago is pretty good, more of a 7.5/10, and that’s just first impression, all these are liable to go up or down for me by the end of the year, so only time will tell. The one thing I want to praise here is album structure, I think this one is fairly well paced, with the slow songs being interspersed and each song having elements that tie into the next song or two in a way that keeps the flow feeling very logical.
So what did you think of Walpurgis Night? Was the magic there for you? Let me know, I’d love to see other opinions on the songs especially, because my perspective is neither the only one or the right one, and I think it’s important to get other fan’s feedback to help shape my perspective. See you in the next article.