Brand New Day – 마스카라 [Digital Single]
Brand New Day’s digital single, entitled 마스카라, was released on 06.16.09.
The single begins with 외출. The song opens up with the sound of water flowing and then the pretty instrumentation comes in, instilling a calming feeling in the listener. After some vocals, the song’s energy comes to life and the listener falls into a soft dance paradise. It has kind of a spacey feeling that is both comfortable and energetic. It’s pretty good although nothing that really stands out.
마스카라 is a fun dance track. The song starts off with an interesting instrumental with some less than stellar vocals. Then things get cooler on the first verse when the instrumentation becomes more tolerable and carries that cool dance edge. Unfortuantely, the vocals don’t have that same coolness and don’t engage the listener as well as the music does. They are really distracting from the sleekness of the music. Overall, it’s not a bad song and with someone else singing on the track, it might have been a hell of a dance song but those vocals just aren’t doing the song any favors.
In order to promote the single, a PV for 마스카라 was made. Although their vocals didn’t have much edge, the video did work well with the music. The girls show off their playfully sexy side as they also show off their dance moves. Sure, it may not be the most creative video and the choreography isn’t anything amazing but it fits with the overall song quite well.
Single Ranking: B
Honestly, this isn’t the most dazzling single in the world and definitely not the strongest Korean single of the year but the listener can enjoy it for what it is, fun. Both tracks have a dance feel that will make the listener want to get up and dance along with them, with smiles on their faces.
Amai Wana 