Review

Song Review: woo!ah! – Catch The Stars

woo!ah! - Catch The Stars
Thus far, my favorite woo!ah! song hearkened back to sounds of K-pop generations past and harnessed a sense of melodicism that helped showcase the group’s skills. Their singles haven’t had a consistent sound, but I’m hoping they’ll settle on the fun, retro pop of new single Catch The Stars (별 따러 가자). The song is a refreshing change of pace from most current girl group releases.

Yes, there’s still a bit of that pesky shouting to be found in the contours of Stars‘ melody, but the song is driven by a poppy sense of uplift that makes it difficult to resist. The energy is bright and buoyant all the way through. The track bounds through its exciting guitar-and-synth groove and even finds space for a closing riff that sends things out on a high. This arrangement feels full and intentional in its momentum. It also feels very summery — a sentiment that’s quite welcome at the start of cold, dreary January.

Catch The Stars comes packed with a potent chorus that will rattle around in your brain after just one listen. woo!ah! deliver it well. Their enthusiasm is palpable without becoming overwrought or cheesy. This compliments the efficiency of the hook. They miss an opportunity for a big key change finale, but Catch The Stars isn’t trying to do anything too ambitious. It’s simply a solid pop song without diversion. That may sound like faint praise, but it’s a template that’s become increasingly hard to find in K-pop.

 Hooks 9
 Production 9
 Longevity 8
 Bias 8
 RATING 8.5

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15 thoughts on “Song Review: woo!ah! – Catch The Stars

    • STONE THE BLASPHEMERS! Seriously, I hate audio blunders. Hopefully, someone will reprimand the person responsible for this with a rolled-up newspaper to the brain pan.

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  1. I agree with Nick’s last line: this is a straight ahead pop song that does what it sets out to do, and does it well. Its not the most innovative or challenging song, but pop radio needs uncomplicated songs like these.

    That said, high 7’s at best for me.

    Liked by 2 people

  2. Best release of January so far for me! I’m excited to see the live stages because woo!ah’s best known for their high-energy performance.

    This song was produced by collapsedone (TWICE Up No More, The Feels, fromis_9 WE GO, Feel Good, etc.) so it does remind me of these songs a bit too!

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    • Love their live stages. Their choreo is always fun because they fuse steps and moves from other well recognized routines, which results in genuine “Woo!”s and “Ah!”s from me.

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  3. As I’ve previously written/extolled, I arrived late to the Woo!ah! party, but now that I’ve arrived, I’m going to annoy the “f” out of everyone with my hearty vuvuzela praise of these girls. I’m a “WOW”, and you should be too, dammit!

    Okay, feet back on the ground. “Catch The Stars” is a welcome addition. It’s not my favorite song from them, but it’s a keeper. Nick, you wrote in your review of Woo!ah! “I Don’t Miss You”:

    …”I Don’t Miss U sets its musical sights more narrow, and is all the stronger for it. I appreciate the track’s simplicity. It finds its laid-back groove immediately and sticks with it the entire time.”…
    Also:
    …”Best of all, I Don’t Miss U allows the girls to show off their vocals.”…

    Both of those observations play into my assessment of “Catch The Stars”. If I had to harp on anything, I think:

    1. Keep the tempo (BPM), but unclutter the layer tracks a bit, or lower the BPM, and leave everything as is. It feels a little rushed and/or chaotic, but that is because I’m a much bigger fan of Woo!ah! when they keep it simpler or more laid back.
    2. I love their natural voices, so the vocals could have been spared some of the processing.

    If I had to use only one word to explain my love for Woo!ah!, it’s “charm”. All five girls are awash in the stuff. If the producers can keep that fact in focus with all their future releases, then there’s a flower path out there with their name on it. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go play the shite out of this.

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  4. I liked it more than last year’s Purple (shudder) lol. But I really want to listen to the live first. The song was nice – loved the chorus and there was a good flow but there was too much processing – so much that I’m pretty sure it made their voices more squeakier than they are? From my memories of the fantastic bside Pandora last year these girls have really good vocals and I hope to hear them live on stage! ❤️

    Also the MV and styling was very cute! Gave me 2021 StayC MV vibes 🙂

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  5. This isn’t my favorite woo!ah song or even title for sure, but it’s definitely fun and catchy and, as stated, does exactly what it’s meant to do. I’m a huge fan of the group and really love the way they balance their album releases with kinda crazy, kinda quirky titles and easy-listening pure pop b-sides. The fact that this is a single and we only get one song and therefore none of that interplay is a little disappointing to me, particularly because “CTS” doesn’t connect with me the way “IDMU” or “Scaredy Cat” do, though they’re all in similar veins. Seems like I’m in the minority here, though, and I’m happy to be. I was a diehard “Purple” defender last year (still am!), and I’m glad that people who weren’t feeling that seem to be really feeling this.

    I’m not 100% sold on this one yet, but I’m really looking forward to live stages. I’d watch these girls perform to clown music, they have so much stage presence and energy.

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  6. I really like Wooah. Not just musically but outside it as well. They all seem like pretty good kids and they definitely seemed pretty determined to do well (especially Nana she does a lot of work for the group). I hope they do well and after the misstep of Purple, I feel like their back on the right track. This isnt their best song by a long shot but its a solid addition to their discog. I’d prolly go a flat 8

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  7. This is the first wooah song I’m listening and I really love it! This is exactly the kind of stuff I like, really exciting and summery, I can’t wait to listen to it on a nice sunny day.

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  8. Yeah that chorus is not gonna be rattling around in my brain – it slips right through without a trace. So a big, big maybe enormous yawn from me. Off to listen to Onewe again because they feed me so much better.

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  9. I also really liked “I Don’t Miss U” and this is pretty good too! Definitely a summer song during the wrong season…it would make a good companion piece to Ateez’s “Eternal Sunshine.”

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