Rookie group SPICA‘s new single, “Russian Roulette” is fast, furious, and mature; this isn’t your typical been-there-heard-that rookie fare. It is, to put it in understandable terms, simply the mostaudacious song to come out of K-Pop so far this year.
Here we have – finally! – a debut that doesn’t look down upon its audience (Never mind that SPICA’s actual debut was with “Intensely” – a group’s second-ever track, released just days later the first, still counts as far as this author is concerned.) No more run-of-the-mill bubbly electronics, no more cutesyaegyo, and no more “rhythmic-talking-dressed-up-as-a-pale-shadow-of-rapping”. “Russian Roulette” is a legitimate song in the most traditional sense of the word, a track that wouldn’t pale next to some of the more hallowed songs in recent K-Pop history. SPICA doesn’t waste time going through the traditionalhey-we’re-rookies-so-we’re-going-to-take-some-time-to-get-our-bearings phase; they jump right into being mature, confident, and sexual. Yes, sexual.
To use an analogy, “Russian Roulette” would be a svelte woman, with long, flowing locks and a sparkling black cocktail dress, puffing away on a Cuban cigar illuminated by a low-hanging chandelier. The song exudes sensuality, it reeks of maturity, and it absolutely delights.
The sheer confidence oozing from every second of “Russian Roulette” belies that of their rookie status. This isn’t surprising, however, as the majority of members in SPICA has had prior experience in the Korean music scene. Jiwon was a T-ARA member for a short time, and Joohyun was featured in Heo Young Saeng’s “Let It Go“. Although SPICA may be a rookie group by name, their members certainly have the experience to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with some of the more experienced and respected idols in the field.
Their vocal performances are also a welcome breeze of fresh air; their voices are rich, powerful, and – as expected – confident. If there’s one disappointing attribute, it is that it’s hard to pick out an individual voice from the crowd – in other words, the girls all sound, more or less, the same. This could be just a side effect of listening to rookie members with undeveloped personalities, and this author is willing to hold back on that criticism until SPICA releases a full album showing off “many different sides of themselves” (as taken from the Rookie Group Interview Handbook, Section C, line 83.5: “One must always include the line “I want to show many different sides of myself”).
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SPICA is a welcome break from the string of unsatisfactory girl group debuts that K-Pop fans have been subjected to since last year, and “Russian Roulette”, coupled with “Intensely”, washes away all of the disappointment that the fans had come to expect as a matter of course.
As a debut track, “Russian Roulette” is flawless. It does everything that a good debut track is supposed to do: establish an identity, prove their talent, and make the audience hungry for more. SPICA is currently batting 3-for-3 on the above points, and it will be interesting to watch them grow into seasoned, established vocalists in the future.
