K-Pop Double Take is a weekly review column highlighting recent releases that have yet to receive the attention we feel they deserve.
Apparently, the girls of Laboum just want to have fun.
The six-member K-pop girl group's most recent single "Aalow Aalow," released on Dec. 6, is a clear riff on Cyndi Lauper's 1983 hit "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" with a hook that throws in the sound of established K-pop acts like Girls' Generation and SISTAR for good measure.
Madonna and Prince's early '80s material can also be heard as a clear influence on "Aalow Aalow," along with the buoyancy of all-female bands like the The Go-Go's or The Bangles from the same period. But it is Lauper whose effect on the sound is unmistakable, from the keyboard hook to even some of the clothing a styling choices in the music video.
One aesthetic that is fun to see in play is the use of very little digital muck on the vocals. No Auto-Tune or pitch correction appears to be in play in here, just a limited amount of 1980s-style gated reverb.
Laboum can dial in the era when singers had to make it on talent and attitude alone when it came to recording their parts, quite effectively and the results show these singers have more than enough chops to go around and even more importantly, their own distinct personalities on the microphone. No overly showy vocal runs or ridiculously high notes here, just a healthy dose of passion and charisma to push the song above a mere exercise in nostalgia for the era of Reagan and rolled-up jeans.
Formed in Seoul in 2014 after being nurtured and schooled by their record label for four years in the infamous Hallyu star "training" process, Laboum released their first single "Pit-A-Pat" in August of 2014, but have only released a handful of songs since then.
Let's hope they are given the opportunity to explore their version of classic electropop in a full-length format in 2016.
Watch the music video for K-pop girl group Laboum's latest single "Aalow Aalow" RIGHT HERE
