Welcome back to the second part of reviewing BAP’s new comeback! And today we’re looking at their powerful new single; One Shot.
Concept
Before the song was even released, it was said that One Shot was a song made for BAP by BAP, which sounds like a cool idea, but I didn’t understand right away what it meant. I think it’s safe to assume that after a year of relentless promotion with a variety of genres and concepts that may have taken them out of their comfort zones, BAP are now making the kind of music that they prefer again. This is evident in the sheer stage presence and confidence you can see not only in their live performances of One Shot, but it’s also very clear in the video. I think this kind of confidence in the music they are making would win them a lot of fans here in the UK, as it’s easier to enjoy music if the people who made it are completely into it.
The concept of the song is all about challenging yourself to be better and not accepting failure. It’s the kind of song that can build you up and motivate you to grasp any opportunities. This is a refreshing concept seeing as most songs that become popular in the UK market will be about love in some way, but a song like One Shot should be able to speak to people on another level. Moving on to the actual concept of the video, it’s all about gangs and cops, which is a very masculine and dark concept, and it even has two alternative endings to the storyline. The video matches the feel and sound of the song very well.
This is the second time that BAP have made a video with a storyline (the first being Stop It) but this much darker and more serious than the other; BAP seems to be a gang, and the video contains the use of guns and violence. The MV starts out on a luxurious yacht, showing the boys living the high life, and then it quickly turns more serious. Quite simply, the video follows the boys in their attempt to rescue Youngjae after they receive a video showing him being beaten and held for ransom. They plot to rob a bank to be able to pay the money, and they acquire guns to be able to defend themselves. When they arrive to the meeting place, they hand over the money and Youngjae is set free, but before Youngjae even reaches the rest of them, he is shot and killed by one of the kidnappers. This causes the rest of the boys to begin firing at them, and in the end it seems that no one survives. At this point it seems that the video has come to an end, but very quickly an alternative ending is shown, where Youngjae is released from the kidnappers, but isn’t shot this time. Instead, suddenly a SWAT team descends on the meeting where it is revealed that Youngjae has been an undercover policeman all this time. After the gang and the kidnappers are restrained, Youngjae just walks away from the situation, unharmed.
I would imagine that this MV should appeal to guys; use of guns and a real action film feel to it, but that doesn’t mean that it won’t appeal to girls too. It’s an amazingly shot video, with incredible suburban scenes contrasting against the tenser and dark parts of the video, which create interesting visuals for any viewer.
More often than not, the clothing and style worn by male Kpop idols in their videos is one of the biggest problems I see them facing if they were to try and break into the UK market, but I think what is worn in this MV is actually pretty toned down and Western-acceptable clothing. Well, except maybe Yong Guk’s jacket and hair in the confrontation scene. He’s kinda pimping it up.
UK Potential: 4/5
Choreography
The choreography for One Shot has seen BAP return to their powerful debut image, with strong and intense dance moves that match well with the sound of the song.
The majority of the choreography has an aggressive and masculine feel to it, and some of the more notable points are Zelo’s scorpion dance and floor moves. These kinds of moves should appeal to a wide variety of people here in the UK as they are impressive and striking to see. The routine still stays a little bit sexy as the classic BAP hip thrusts are still integrated into this choreography.
It is an energetic and charged dance with a really fierce vibe to it, and it definitely makes you want to give some of the moves a try yourself.
While watching the live performances of One Shot, it’s a shame not to see the choreography as it was originally intended seeing as BAP are temporarily a member down with Him Chan sitting all activities out after breaking a finger. Luckily, this isn’t something that a new potential listener/viewer would notice.
It also must be said that iconic b-boy style move that Zelo does in the video isn’t performed during live performances which is another slight disappointment as it is a visually cool move, but the performances don’t lose anything for having this move omitted. It is understandable that he doesn’t perform this live though, as not only would he not be able to deliver his lines live, but he would also undoubtedly injure himself having to do it so often.
UK Potential: 5/5
Song
One Shot is a very cool sounding song, and in the way that the choreography has similarities with Warrior in terms of fierceness, it is possible to draw some parallels from One Shot to Warrior in terms of song meaning and a no-holds-barred approach to such a strong song vibe. It has a great mix of rapping and singing that work so well together, and an unusual mix of sound clips of guns firing mixed in with choirs singing that just layer together to create a unique sound and feel that leave you feeling epic after hearing it.
One Shot has a very catchy chorus with some English lines that will have people singing and humming along even without fully knowing all the word. This should appeal to non-Korean speakers as it gives them a part of the song to feel included in, and it will become a much more memorable and likeable song if they can sing along to it to an extent.
Unfortunately BAP’s English isn’t the best, and Yong Guk’s intro to the song being entirely in English is a cool idea, but it’s quite hard to understand at points which might put potential UK listeners off from the get-go. I must admit that at times I didn’t even realise they were singing/rapping in English until I saw the subtitles, and that’s from someone who’s used to hearing bits of Engrish laced into songs. If nothing else though, the amount of English used in this song is pretty admirable, as most of it isn’t just one-off words scattered throughout, but most of the time it’s fully formed sentences, which with a little artistic licence, make a fair amount of sense.
Yong Guk’s English intro to the song is ‘One shot, Let me tell you something that you already know. You just get the rock to me. You know what I mean?’, and other examples of English in One Shot are ‘get your mind outta the gutter’ and ‘Everybody already know, hey, shout your voice to the world’. You’ve got to admit that even though the entirety of English used is not 100% correct or immediately clear what they’re talking about, that’s some pretty good English for a band with no native English speakers.
UK Potential: 4.5/5
Highlight: Zelo’s floor dance and Youngjae’s admirable acting skills!
Overall: 13.5/15 – A very high score, but I really think that if they could sort out their English pronunciation a little, then this song could do very well here in the UK. An amazing combination of a catchy and cool sounding song, fierce choreography and a strong concept – this song should appeal to a wide variety of people.
(Here’s to hoping that Him Chan gets better soon!)
Thanks for reading! Post your thoughts and votes for next time below!
