Secret Number is a super diverse 5-member rookie girl group that debuted this year with Who Dis? Most people will instantly recognise them for being the first group to have an Indonesian member in main dancer Dita and for having Korean-American Jinny Park, a former YG trainee who was going to debut with BLACKPINK and participated in Produce 48. They also have a Japanese member (Léa), another Korean-American (Denise) and a Korean member (Soodam). I've been aware of their presence but I wasn't a fan of their debut track, which was a little weird to me. However, they just came back with Got That Boom today and let me tell you, this song is absolute fire. It's an amazing dance track that really gets you jumping and grooving, and is just an overall bop.
Meaning: Got That Boom isn't a very complicated song to explain, even the lyrics are literally what it is, a dance track. It's meant to get you on your feet and moving on the dancefloor. Honestly, it does it's job pretty well because I was grooving to the beat the whole time.
MV: The MV doesn't have a deep meaning either, it's just meant to showcase the girls' performance and let us enjoy the song as much as possible. As with most K-Pop MVs, we mostly get full group dance shots interspersed with individual shots of the members during their parts. Most of the group dance sequences are shot in a dark set piece with lots of neon lights much like a club dancefloor and we also get shots in a cube-like set with lots of bright colours flashing everywhere on glass panels. In the dance break, we also see the girls break it down on some steps with disco light panels. The MV sets really do help with the overall feel of the song, it really situates you in a disco, just dancing and having fun. The camerawork is also very dynamic but not to the point of making you dizzy so you really get that dancefloor vibe. I will say, the group set pieces do remind me of other groups' MVs. The dark set with neon lights and the glass cube remind me of EVERGLOW's Bon Bon Chocolat and DUN DUN respectively, and the disco steps remind me a bit of cignature's Nun Nu Nan Na. That being said, I just thought it was an interesting comparison to make and in no way does this affect the song.
Styling: I don't have much to say here because whoever's their stylist, they're doing something right. The girls are dressed so glamorously and they really fit their individual styles, with main rapper Jinny having far more aggressive clothing, while the members with softer vocals like Soodam have a style that's a little easier on the eyes. Their image fits this dance track and I have no complaints about it. I do want to talk a bit about their visuals though because Jinny actually looks so much like Sunmi in some of her individual shots. Also, one thing that really struck me was Soodam like damn girl she has such a feline visual and honestly reminded me so much of ITZY's Yeji (K-Pop's resident cat-like idol) with a little bit of IZ*ONE's Wonyoung in there. I don't know, maybe it's their makeup or is it just me? Let me know what y'all think.
Song: Again, you can't go wrong with this dance track because I guarantee you the whole time you listen to this you'll be grooving in your seat because I sure was. The chorus is addictive, the hook is fire, Jinny's rap flow is sick and the final verse, despite being very different from the chorus (although it's arranged where a third chorus would usually be placed) fits perfectly in the song. Main vocal Denise doesn't disappoint with her high notes and honestly I'm impressed by her live stability as well (go watch their showcase and listen out for her high note after the bridge). What I will say about this song is that it has a very familiar sound to it. Got That Boom was very reminiscent of ITZY's DALLA DALLA, it just gave off a very similar tone in the song and arrangement. It also reminded me of NiziU's Boom Boom Boom and I guess in general, it had some Western dance track elements in there as well.
Line distribution: This is where the song suffers a little. Four of the members actually have an alright distribution that makes sense. Denise, being main vocal, has the most lines because by right she's the best vocalist. Dita has the second most lines and that's ok because she's a lead vocal and her voice gives so much energy to this dance track (I'm actually surprised she's in the vocal line, you don't often see foreign idols in a group's vocal line, although it is getting increasingly common). Jinny, being the group's only rapper, ranks number three and that's ok because she adds a lot of power to the performance, especially with her rap. Sub-vocal Soodam comes in fourth and even then, she's not that far behind Jinny. Now we're left with Léa, who despite being a LEAD vocal comes in last and by quite a big margin too. Come on, the lines could've been distributed way better among the vocal line. I'm fine with Denise taking a huge chunk but like maybe some of Dita's lines could've gone to Léa, or even Soodam's lines. I don't know, I just think the distribution is wack, especially if 4/5 members get a fair amount of lines each but one gets the short end of the stick.
Overall, great first comeback by Secret Number. I went into Got That Boom not expecting much but man they blew me away. You know, I often see comments where people raise up Secret Number as 2020's Rookie of the Year and I was always skeptical because 2020 groups like cignature and Weeekly also have a special place in my heart. But man, this amazing dance track is honestly like really shaking my resolve a bit because it's just that good. I think it'll be a smash hit.
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