Co-ed group KARD finally made their comeback with new title track and 3rd mini-album titled ‘Ride on the Wind.’ Similar to debut track ‘Hola Hola’, ‘Ride on the Wind’ is a fun and loving and exciting summer track that makes you want to dance and maybe even visit a beach (or least that’s how I felt).
KARD has branded themselves as a group whose songs and music primarily remains in the EDM realm. Although they haven’t moved away from that sound in this most recent comeback either, the four member group managed to make another EDM track sound just as fun and enjoyable as all their other tracks.
I honestly haven’t been as fond of KARD’s post-debut songs than I am with their pre-debut tracks. They haven’t really managed to impress me as much post-debut and ‘Ride on the Wind’ doesn’t really do it much for me either (though it’s still a cute, light, and calming song). I do enjoy the chorus and I like how they allowed J. Seph to sing this time instead of having him rap. KARD is also known for the choreography to their songs and the choreography to their last comeback ‘You in Me’ was definitely the most disorganized and messy one in my opinion. It seems like things have changed a little bit with this comeback based on the music video. I just wished they would stop placing BM in the front because he’s so big and huge and he blocks all the other members. Lol.
The hype for KARD was huge (it’s still huge now but not as big compared to pre-debut) and they made a splash on the K-Pop scene for 1) being a co-ed group which is rare nowadays 2) releasing catchy and fun songs with their choreographies being the main focus. ‘Oh Nana’ and ‘Don’t Recall’ still remain my favorite tracks of theirs by far, but I do casually listen to their newly released albums. It’s obvious that the impact that KARD had on the K-Pop music industry has died down compared to the first time they appeared on the scene and a part of me wonders why and how they can change this. I think KARD is one of those groups where additional members for each comeback would have been helpful. I was actually expecting a system like that with KARD so I was shocked when the co-ed group continued to remain as four members. KARD has been doing a decent job so far with only four members, but they’re a group where additional members wouldn’t hurt.
If I had to manage KARD in a way to maintain their success and impact building from the beginning, I would have had them start off as four with ‘Oh Nana’ and then gradually add in more members until the group eventually turns into a group of 7-9 members. Sometimes their performances and choreographies look kind of empty with just the 4 of them and it doesn’t help that they each have different dancing skills and levels as well as height which sometimes make their choreographies look messy (plus, I hope they’ve changed their choreographer because the ‘You in Me’ dance was a mess). KARD is a group that started off with a bang and is now slowly fading. DSP should probably try applying new innovative ideas to the co-ed group before it’s too late. They still have so much potential and talent and making them sing similar kinds of songs as well as perform overseas where they inarguably make the most money is only limiting them. Here’s to hoping they’ll reach new levels of success not only internationally but domestically like they should.
MaryMeKpop 