K-Pop Star HyunA released this debut EP in 2011 when K-Pop wasn’t taken as seriously as it is today. Featuring five songs of new and different material to shake up the world of music, this is the EP that kickstarted her career, just a year or so before she appeared in the Gangnam Style video. Let’s take a quick listen here and see if this release sounds any good at all.

Attention begins with some rather messy cut-up beats and launches into some weird K-Pop sounds and singing from HyunA. This is fairly dated listening today, and it is good for what it is. But then again, this doesn’t make a great impression on the listener. Seems fairly rubbish for a short tune, but it is only a minute long.

Bubble Pop! is the main track here on this EP. It has a sweet Jazzy horn section, some very sexual sounding cut-up vocal parts and launches into a K-Pop classic tune that needs to be played more often in public. Nonetheless, this music is good and enjoyable, and also very singalong, provided you know a little Korean. Very cool, catchy and clever, this is the sort of music you would play with your boyfriend/girlfriend on a summer trip of romantic nature. Even though this wasn’t HyunA’s biggest hit, it is her defining moment musically. Cheesy as anything. There is a pseudo-Dubstep breakdown in the second half, which is quite decent. The main section of the chorus resumes, with some amazing vocals and harmonies present. The outro is delicious, indeed, with the cut-up vocal harmony parts looped. Great.

Downtown (feat. Ji Yoon Jun) begins with some weird electronic bleeps, a dull beat and something that isn’t overly impressive. Until HyunA inserts some sexual moaning into this tune. This is one for those guys out there who dig Korean ladies, it sounds very sexual and dirty throughout. HyunA sings nicely here, and although this EP is okay, it seems to lack magic for some reason. It’s an okay song and HyunA is quite a good singer here, but this sounds fairly average overall. It’s very difficult to think too much of this music unless you actually have a crush on HyunA yourself. Even then, this is neither groundbreaking nor innovative and is barely enjoyable overall. The sexual moans return towards the end again, and it sounds fairly pornographic. A bit like Yakooza’s French Kiss, but worse overall and with much less dramatic musical impact. Anyway, it’s okay, just not fantastic.

A Bitter Day (feat. Jun Hyung Yong & G.NA) is a piano led ballad that is sung primarily in Korean. It’s one of those sorts of songs that attract emotional teenagers, to be frank. Soon enough, our guests get into it and ruin a perfectly good song with some Korean rapping. It’s really a poor effort, and also fairly weird sounding as well. The chorus is excellent, on the other hand, but fails to save this song from being thrown into the trash can of mediocrity. In any case, this is not really impressive. The Rapping continues in the second half of the song, and this sounds like an awkward and terrible fusion of music. In any case, you may want to skip this tune. This is not the best of K-Pop, even at the time, there were better singers and groups out there in the genre. A rather moody and unimpressive listening experience. This music could have been made, produced and marketed better in general. It sounds like there is a typo in the song title as well. Sadly, this falls flat.

Just Follow (feat. DOK2) begins with some terrible electronic sounds, and launches into a wannabe Rap tune that, again, fails. This is not the sort of music that people who are K-Pop fans, new or old, should be hearing. It’s a really pathetic effort overall and it shows the fact that HyunA never made it in K-Pop music due to the lack of consistency musically and even the English section of music here sucks quality-wise, and very badly. A really awful listening experience, this is worth hitting stop on this EP and choosing to go to do something else instead. Dated, lame and terrible. Do not listen to this song, if you can help it. It ends with piano and repetitive electronic sounds. Awful.

This is not a great EP, even for K-Pop fans out there. It shows the plastic nature of HyunA’s music and although some males may appreciate some of the female sexual elements here on this EP, obviously to woo men out there, it is fairly throwaway. Not even Gangnam Style could really boost HyunA’s musical profile further. Dig out Girls Generation if you really want some good K-Pop from the early 2010s. Otherwise, should you listen to this EP? No, it is not worth doing so.

Ordinary and very boring.

5/10