As RBW’s first girl group since the incredibly successful Mamamoo, Purple Kiss have a lot to live upto. We’ve seen sneak peeks at the girls abilities through pre-releases like the Dreamcatcher-esque My Heart Skip A Beat and the moody downtempo Can We Talk Again but neither really caught my attention. So I was curious to see which of these sounds would be more pronounced in their eventual debut. And with Ponzona, the girls have chosen the latter, crafting a track that harnesses some interesting sounds but fails to really go anywhere.
Opening with a promising burst of haunting strings and percussion, Ponzona unveils itself with a truly exciting first verse. The sound engineering and production here is great, emphasising every moment with a real sense of drama that creates an invigorating production. The same could be said for the rest of Ponzona‘s verses, which are easily its strongest moments. They aren’t the most unique but are strong enough to hold their own. Similarly, the girls give a suitably strong performance that fits the sultry and mature sound of the production and when we hit the brief instrumental interlude before the chorus, it seems as though we’re in for something truly exciting.
But the thing with a song like Ponzona is that while there are bursts of potential to be seen, the song just doesn’t go anywhere. It’s got a nice atmosphere and the bursts of strings and guitar are an enjoyable touch but they’re undermined by an arrangement that stutters forward without any real drive or conviction. The chorus is home to the kind of lurching melody that just doesn’t connect with me and even the instrumental pulls back unexpectedly for something that feels more half baked than I would have liked. This undermines much of what was created before and unfortunately brings the track down alongside many of its sound alike peers.
Verses: 8
Chorus: 6
Production: 8
Performance: 8
Final Rating: 7.5/10
KBopped 