It’s interesting how SM’s Station platform has started to include songs that are closer to CFs (ie: advertisements). First, we had NCT 127’s Coca Cola/Olympics anthem, and now Yuri and Seohyun from Girls’ Generation are pairing with Pantene for the hair-tastic music video that compliments Secret. Thankfully, the song hides its corporate inspiration well, at least sonically.

In many ways, Secret feels like the successor to Girls’ Generation’s own Catch Me If You Can from last year, as well as a natural counterpart to their more dance-influenced Japanese releases. We’re working in full EDM territory, here. And when the first chorus drops, with its lack of vocals, I feared that this would be a bad thing. But it turns out that this initial refrain is something of a red herring, as an actual chorus is added for later repetitions. The persistent electronic beat is tailor made for runways, feeling like the soundtrack to some glitzy fashion show. It’s also got a bit of life to it, forgoing expected turns in favor of a more experimental structure. The entire track seems in constant flux, morphing from loud to quite — whispers to hands-in-the-air rave ups.

This results in a song that feels somewhat hodgepodge and disorganized, and for the first minute or so this is exactly what we get. Luckily, Secret soon finds its form, offering a commanding anthem for Yuri and Seohyun to strut all over. While we wait for a full-fledged SNSD comeback, this is the kind of buildup that’s bound to get fans hyped.