I was more excited than I’d like to admit about After School‘s brand new mini-album.  Today, they’ve quenched my appetite with a little more bang than I was expecting.

Their third single is a collection of drum line, cheerleading mayhem.  The moment I heard the first quarter of the song, I knew it was going to be one of those tracks that audiences will either love or hate.  I stand somewhere in the middle right now.  Truthfully, there are several elements of ‘Bang!‘ that I believe are really nice, while others I could do without.

Bang! MV:

I was watching American Idol last night and Simon Cowell said a pretty accurate phrase that I think suits what I feel about this song quite nicely:

I ordered 1 scoop of ice cream, and got 11

Which means there’s just a lot going on here for me to swallow down all at once (not that I swallow ice cream like that or anything, just sayin’).  It really felt all over the place the first few times I listened to this single.  I understood the concept of an After School marching band-drum line, but I didn’t expect it to be taken this literal in the music, particularly with the repetitive cheering.  A-ha! A-ha! Adding that kind of gimmicky element to a song can be a little risky if it’s used excessively because it can go from standing on catchy grounds to crossing the border into irritative territory.  It all depends on the listener.

Fortunately for me, I found my salvation in the verses and the rap, which were more of the After School sound that I enjoy and was looking forward to listening to today.  There’s a  flood of shameless attitude and sass throughout this song that excites me to the max.  I really like that.  This song calls for some major impudent snaps and all I picture is UEE leading the pack for this one.  She has one of the fiercest glares, watch your back!

And it goes without saying that the slow breakdown 2 minutes into this song is THE highlight of Bang! It consists of everything we all love in pop music – sweet vocals, crescendos, high notes, you name it.  It’s what I wait for every time I listen to this song and now, looking beyond the cheerleader gimmick and the weird structure, Bang! has grown on me.  I don’t think I’ll be blasting it at full volume any time soon, but it’s fun enough to enjoy right now and 4 out of 5 Sandara Heads gladly agree.

p.s. They look smokin’ in this MV

[update]

UMMMMMMMM wow.  Are they really playing those drums!?  Impressive x 10.