As a member of popular 90’s group S.E.S, Bada could rightfully be considered k-pop royalty. As a solo artist, she hasn’t been very active for quite a few years, apart from a few singles and OST songs. Flower marks her first solo single in two years, and it’s an interesting take on the typical dance pop sound.

The first time I listened to Flower, I was most taken with its structure. As a pop music fan, you come to expect certain things. Verse, bridge, chorus, repeat. Or, in this day in age… verse, build, drop, repeat. But with this song, the bridge lingers longer, morphing into a third segment that’s not quite a bridge but not quite a chorus. The actual hook is brief but effective, before Kanto’s rap takes us into the second verse. I still can’t decide if this serpentine structure is completely effective or not, but it does keep the listener on their toes. The production is similarly dense, pairing shimmering synths with a light, nimble beat. It keeps itself at a similar pace throughout, opting for a constant twisting of expectations over the dramatic builds and breakdowns we’ve become accustomed to in modern dance music.

This is all to say that Flower is much more interesting than it has any right to be. While it doesn’t ever burst into the type of anthemic pop melody that would give it the chance to truly soar, the complexity of its arrangement guarantees its ability to continually pull you in. Bada also sounds remarkably similar to pop superstar Kylie Minogue in both delivery and tone, coming across more youthful and energized than we’ve heard her in some time.