Hello everyone, as the runner up of last week's poll I felt that I owed it to the people that participated a quick review of ANS's new song Say My Name. For those not familiar ANS stands for Angel N Soul and is an 8 member group under the aptly named ANS Entertainment. While Say My Name is not their debut song, that being BOOM BOOM released in late 2019, it is the song that most people will be familiar with if they know ANS. For this comeback the group not only changed up their concept and thus their sound but also added two members J and Haena.
For Rapid Reviews I will stick be scoring the overall comeback out of 50 points using 5 main categories scored out of a total of 10 points each. This is no different from my standard review style as to not cause any confusion and to give you all my fairest opinion and rating of each release. The only difference will be a much tighter and shorter discussion.
As always we'll first start the review by looking at the music video for ANS's Say My Name. Out the gate I can say that I was pleasantly surprised on my first viewing of Say My Name being overall impressed with the level of quality and attention to detail given to the video from such small company. ANS Entertainment has used clever lighting effects and staging to make the music video far more impressive than it's price tag would suggest. Not only that the outfits and style of the members is incredible. Not only does the group have multiple outfit changes, each outfit contrasts well with the staging used. For example, the white and black suit like outfits fit the aesthetic of the marble/stone set wonderfully; this set in particular is impressive just based on its size. The group then follows it up with intricate black dresses adorned with silver crystals and rhinestones, these outfits are great at bringing a sense of glam to the video. My biggest praise however goes to the black and red outfits that feature a prominent amount of leather, or leather-like, material. These outfits look intense and match the very interesting lighting effects used in the latter half of the music video. There was no real narrative in this music video so nothing to comment on here.
Overall I'm left impressed with the music video and think that group and company have done a wonderful job in capturing the vibe of the song through aesthetics alone within a tight budget.
It brings me great happiness to say that the quality and effort put in the music video is also present in the song itself. For what can be considered the girls first comeback Say My Name hits it out of the park compared to the debut single. They have managed to improve on every single element of the song over BOOM BOOM. While BOOM BOOM was lacking in overall polish and attention to detail Say My Name rectifies these issues and delivers us a song worthy of group that's been around for far longer. While I do not think this song is of perfect quality, and wouldn't feel at home with a top tier girl group, this song makes a wonderful first comeback title track and serves to show the world that ANS will continue to get better and capture the hearts of GG fans. I think it was smart of ANS to choose a more elegant, yet powerful, style of girl crush concept for ANS's second single. The overall concept compliments the groups talent well. The members that really stood out for me in the song were members Raon, Bian, and Lina. Lina in particular caught my attention with her stunningly clear and charismatic vocal. I do however have to criticise the line distribution within the song. I know having 8 members can be challenging in regards to distribution but sadly this song shows glaring favouritism for certain members while others are barely given even 5 seconds of vocal time. This greatly disappoints me and I hope they change this moving forward. In the future I would like to see ANS make sure that if they continue with a girl crush concept they must build a signature sound and style as to not become too generic.
The choreography for Say My Name is equally just as impressive as the music video and song. ANS have really taken the time and effort to make this comeback a whole package. Even though I enjoy the song quite a lot the dance is specifically where I think the girls shine. The choreo for Say My Name is energetic and powerful while keeping a certain cute and girly image attached to the members. I appreciate that they didn't go full girl crush with this concept and instead put their own twist on it. This is reflected in the performance aspect of Say My Name too. Most of the choreo is focusing on clean formation changes, a mixture of cute and charismatic expressions, and powerful dance moves. Again, I do not think this choreography would feel at home with a group that's at the top of the game, it is however suitable for a group looking to gain popularity during their first crucial comeback. It's often the first comeback that proves whether a group has the talent and staying power to remain in the industry, a lot of girl group debuts often don't get to make a first comeback so it's nice to see ANS giving it their all.
My rating
Music Video: 7.5
Song: 7.5
Concept: 7
Style: 8
Dance: 7
Overall rating: 37/50
In conclusion I think ANS's first comeback with title track Say My Name has been an effective one. With parallels drawn between this song and songs by larger groups, like Adios from Everglow, I think the group has positioned themselves well in the very comeback heavy portion of 2020. Overall I think the quality of this comeback is far higher than their debut and I appreciate it immensely as they have definitely delivered a song and music video worth taking the time our of your day to check out.
If you liked my review please check out the others on my website. Don't forget to like and share on social media, and to also follow me @TheHallyu. Thanks guys, see you again next week! - THR
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