K-Pop Pick Of The Day: Power Up

Red Velvet is very quickly becoming one of my favorite groups, and Power Up might just be their best song yet.

When they debuted with Happiness in 2014, I had a hunch that they would turn out to be one of K-Pop’s more unique and inventive artists, and I was right. From their spins on bubblegum pop with songs like Red Flavor, Russian Roulette and Rookie to more experimental releases like Automatic and Rebirth, they’ve stepped up to fill a sorely-needed niche in K-Pop. I’d almost go so far as to say they’re Orange Caramel’s spiritual successors as the resident purveyors of the quirky and weird.

And if you’ve been following this column for a hot minute, you know I love my quirky and weird; the more K-Pop deviates from its formula, the more I love it. And Red Velvet—while they may still hew to traditional genre-defining tropes—are certainly one of the most deviant.

Deviancy doesn’t matter, though, if the songs themselves don’t measure up. Good thing that Red Velvet also has one of the most consistent lineups of title tracks, with invariably addictive hooks. Power Up is no different.

Ba na na na, ba na na na na na~