AOA makes a promising debut with “ELVIS”
If you’re anything like me, then I’m sure you’ve spent countless nights tossing and turning in bed and dreaming of how incredible it would be if somebody created a girl group that was like a combination of Rainbow, SNSD, Sunny Hill, and LEDApple. Well my friend, that group has arrived, and they’re called AOA.
AOA (an acronym for ‘Ace of Angels’) is the brainchild of FNC Entertainment. The agency is known for creating ‘musician idols’, and their roster includes wildly-popular idol rock groups CNBLUE and F.T. Island, and acoustic songstress JUNIEL.
The eight-member group debuted this week, and they’ve already attracted a tonne of attention for their ridiculous angel gimmick concept. Apparently, seven of the members are supposed to be angels, and the other one is a “half angel, half mortal”, making them a “7+1″ member group.
Absurd, but these days you gotta do what you gotta do to get noticed in the crowded K-Pop industry — even if it means pretending to be an angelic mutant from another dimension.
AOA’s debut single “ELVIS” is pretty amazing, and not in a comical, Gangkiz kind of way either. The busy beat recalls the crazy eclecticism of a Sunny Hill single, with a guitar-laced horn-y dance beat that sounds equal parts Europop and K-Pop. Even the vocal delivery sounds like standard Sunny Hill at points, but that’s not a bad thing. A good song is a good song, after all.
The slickly-produced music video has a thin plot based around angels falling to earth, on top of a lot of typical K-Pop choreography and whatnot. The members of AOA look and act like a cross between Rainbow and SNSD, which is clearly a compliment. AOA have really got it perfect with their concept, blending sweet innocence with sassy sex appeal that allows them to pull off some suggestive dance moves without ever looking trashy.
But looks aside, the most distinguishing aspect of the video is when half the members get their LEDApple on and start pretending to be a real band. AOA boasts five musicians (two guitarists, a bassist, a keyboardist, and a drummer) and although they’re not exactly the next Rolling Stones, I’d say that their musicality isn’t entirely fabricated given the reputation of their agency and the years of training that goes into creating K-Pop idols.
Adding guitar lessons into the training schedule for a group like AOA would’ve been a piece of cake, and it gives AOA a unique edge over most female idol groups. I mean, come on: hot girls singing, dancing, and playing instruments? Your faves are already cowering in fear!
“ELVIS” has already been ranking on the Instiz real-time iChart, so it’s safe to say that AOA will probably be joining SPICA and Hello Venus as the very few commercially successful girl group rookies of the year. They certainly deserve it, because those three –as well as the underrated She’z– have had the best girl group debuts of 2012 thus far.
