As one of the newest K-Pop artistes on the block, IVE has been making their mark on the industry, not only as one of the tallest girl groups out there but also one of the most talented. Cranking out comebacks every 4 months or so, Starship Entertainment's latest girl group has returned once again, this time with a distinctly retro sound. Our girls are entering completely new territory here so without further ado, let's check out their third single album "After LIKE" and their title track of the same name.
Meaning: Much like IVE's previous two title tracks, After LIKE is a love song, in fact obviously so. From the title alone as well as through the lyrics, we can clearly tell the girls are singing about something that comes "after like", namely love. With such lyrics like "it's more than 'LIKE'" and "it's beyond 'LIKE'", the girls are quite literally pointing out that what they're feeling is the next step after liking someone. They even have lines where they're spelling out "love", as evidenced in the choruses when they go "L and an O" and then in the last pre-chorus with "E after V". Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this out.
MV: IVE's MVs have always been gorgeous and After LIKE is no exception, with Starship clearly putting in the money to ensuring everything looks great. This MV stands out because unlike many others that have long set-up shots at the start or a long cinematic ending, After LIKE's immediately jumps into the song and ends very nicely as well. Viewers get exactly what they came for without any unnecessary fluff and I applaud Starship for going with that. The MV also focuses entirely on visual and dance shots, something that is done extremely well when coupled with the dynamic camerawork and outstanding set pieces.
Something I find really interesting is that in most of their individual shots, each member has their own distinctive colour which translates to their outfits (see Styling) and the background sets. Rei is green, Leeseo is orange, Liz is light blue, Gaeul is dark blue, Yujin is pink and Wonyoung is red. While the members themselves don't actually have an official colour assigned to them, I thought this to be a very interesting creative choice that not only highlighted the girls' individual differences but also made the MV far more entertaining to watch.
What a satisfying colour palette.
Naturally, the MV also has a number of group dance shots that I can't stop waxing lyrical about because they're truly amazing and contrast so well with their outfits (see Styling). While the first two group shots are indoors, the final one really shines through as the pinnacle of K-Pop MV quality for a couple of very simple reasons. That shot shows the girls dancing on an empty stage with a completely dark and open background but the magic happens when countless fireworks and pyrotechnic effects go off around them. It's truly a spectacle to behold and while you might think that it's all CGI, Starship actually shot this outdoors with fireworks going off around the group. I think that alone is testament to how much the company is actually putting into making these girls shine and it makes for a wonderful MV.
A wonderfully shot final dance sequence that's simply stunning to watch.
Styling: I will once again preface this segment by stating that since most of IVE's members are minors (Gaeul and Yujin being the only ones considered adults in South Korea), I'll be a bit more careful here. IVE's styling team really deserve the highest of praise because they continue to knock it out of the park. Each individual outfit for the girls is so unique and really showcases their own colour, both literally and figuratively, with my personal favourite (of course) being Yujin. Speaking of Yujin, once again, we see her having the best hairstyle in the group so huge props to the hairstyling department for that. On that note, I also want to give special mention to Gaeul. The group's oldest member went for a shorter hairstyle during LOVE DIVE era and has stuck with that for After LIKE but this time going blonde. Typically I'm not the biggest fan of shorter hairstyles or even bleached blonde hair but it suits her really well.
Moving onto their group dance sequences, I mentioned in the previous segment (see MV) that the girls' outfits contrast very nicely with the background set and it's evidence of the quality of the styling. The first group dance sequence is shot with a black background and in contrast, the members are dressed in primarily white outfits of slightly different styles. Moreover, each member also has accessories like necklaces and earrings in their representative colour (Wonyoung with red, Rei with green and so on), with these unique colours making the shot look that much nicer.
With our second dance sequence, the contrast is flipped as the girls are primarily decked out in black against a far whiter background. Unlike their previous outfits, the girls do not have any uniquely coloured accessories here and also, their individual dresses are totally different from one another, whereas the earlier white outfits only had slight differences.
White on black and black on white, the contrast undoubtedly makes the shots far more aesthetically pleasing.
Finally, I find their third dance outfit to be the most intriguing ones because they're not coordinated by colour but rather by the presence of sequins. If you check out the second image I included in the previous segment (see MV), each member has all these sparkly sequins at different areas of their clothing. For example, Gaeul's oversized shirt, Liz's one piece dress and Yujin's bra top are basically covered in sequins. Quite interestingly, the sequins on Wonyoung's outfit don't come from her clothes but actually from her thigh-high boots. Although it's not exactly an article of clothing, it keeps the overall theme of the group's dance outfit so I'm alright with it.
Overall, their outfits are absolutely glorious and really blend with the more retro sound that After LIKE is going for (see Song). As usual, IVE is definitely packing some visuals but that's as much as I'll say about the topic for legal reasons.
Song: I'm just going to say it right now, After LIKE is one of the best K-Pop releases of this year. When IVE debuted, I was on the fence about ELEVEN because of the rhythm change in the pre-chorus, although it grew on me later on so it turned out alright. LOVE DIVE was another great listen so with their latest comeback, I can confidently say IVE is 3-for-3 in terms of killing the game with their title tracks. As you can probably tell, After LIKE samples the classic '70s pop track I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor, a song that has undoubtedly been immortalised in the annals of music. This gives the song a distinctly retro sound that still blends really nicely with the more modern aspects of the song. In fact, if I were to really draw a comparison to an existing artist, I would say After LIKE gives off vibes very similar to many of the dance tracks from British pop quintet Steps (check out their some of their most recent tracks and you'll know what I mean).
More importantly, After LIKE's arrangement is really good, with the song kicking into gear quickly and wasting no time. Moreover, this is the first time that an IVE title actually has a rap verse in it and the transition to that is perfection. It doesn't feel awkward at all and adds a much-needed element to the song as well as giving the group's rappers their time to shine (see Line distribution). I also really really like that After LIKE doesn't end abruptly because this is a worrying trend in a lot of K-Pop tracks nowadays. Thankfully, none of IVE's titles have been like that thus far and I hope that it continues.
Line distribution: As a six-member group with some distinctly more popular members, you might expect After LIKE's lines to be distributed unfairly among the members of IVE but it's actually still pretty fair, with each member getting a respectable amount of lines and their chance to shine.
As we see from the image above, center Wonyoung leads the pack with just over 22.7% and leader Yujin is close behind at around 21.2%. This shouldn't come as a shock to anyone once you consider that they are definitely the most popular members of the group, what with their pre-established fanbase from their time in IZ*ONE. They get the most amount of chorus lines, with Wonyoung being part of all 3 choruses in the song while Yujin isn't far behind in that department either. Yujin is also a really strong vocalist so she definitely deserves the lines she's getting.
Surprisingly, Japanese member Rei comes in 3rd at slightly under 17.6%. As the only foreign member, you would expect her to have fewer lines than the rest so I'm pleasantly surprised by this. Not only does she open the song, she also finally gets the chance to showcase her skills as the group's rapper, in a verse that's straight fire (if I do say so myself). I'm hoping this trend continues and she gets more rap lines in future. In 4th place we have maknae Leeseo at around 14.2%, a good amount of lines considering she got half of the first verse, half of the final pre-chorus as well as chorus lines. Leeseo has consistently gotten a good number of lines in all of IVE's titles so this is nothing new for her here.
In a bit of a departure from the norm though, Liz is second from the bottom (yet again) at just over 13.4%. Considering the fact that she had the most lines in ELEVEN and was often considered the main vocal, this is a huge drop in her lines. It doesn't help that she was also second from the bottom in LOVE DIVE so this is a bit of a surprise. I can only imagine that this is because other members are put in the spotlight so I'm hoping that in future she gets to showcase more of her power vocals again. Of course, this leaves Gaeul at the bottom with a little under 10.9% of the lines. Having had the fewest lines in all 3 titles by now, it's a bit unfortunate for the oldest member but on the bright side, at least she gets to showcase her rapping skills in After LIKE. I can only hope that she gets even more lines in future.
Final thoughts: IVE is coming back in a hotly contested period of time, competing with such industry giants as BLACKPINK and TWICE. In my humble and lowly opinion though, After LIKE is thus far the best girl group comebacks of 2022. There I said it. This is a song that is addictive, fun and you don't get tired of it. It's fresh, unique and just plain awesome.
I'm typically not the biggest fan of retro songs but IVE's Midas touch has made every title they touched turn into gold. These 4th generation monster rookies aren't going anywhere soon so here's to the continued success of After LIKE and IVE as a whole. Thanks for reading.
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