Less than a year after debut and only five months after their last comeback, nu kidz: out the box, ARrC are back with their third mini album, HOPE, which speaks directly to ARrC’s message of finding connection and finding optimism in a chaotic world. And let us tell you, we are obsessed!
‘awesome’
As a team who loves 2000s music, we are absolutely in love with ‘awesome,’ the title track for HOPE. In the song, ARrC takes everything we love about 2000s hip-hop and adds a modern twist to it in a way that gets anyone hooked instantly. And if the song by itself was already a vibe, the music video just makes it even better.
With visuals inspired by different cultures from Korea, Japan, Indonesia, and Portugal, the backdrops we see pay homage to 1980s Japanese school films, with abandoned apartments, old playgrounds, and kendo halls. The MV mixes reality and symbols in striking scenes that include Dokkaebi, mythical creatures from Korean folklore.
HOPE
Following ‘awesome’ we have another four tracks: ‘dawns,’ ‘kick back,’ ‘vitamin I,’ and ‘night life.’ All of which have unique elements to them, combining different genres. ‘dawns,’ for example, combines nu jazz, soul and funk. It’s also the first time Hyunmin and Choi Han are credited as lyricists for an ARrC song, and we hope it’s the first of many!
Then comes ‘kick back,’ highlighting the importance of fighting against challenges together, including one of our favorite lyrics in the whole mini album, “We’re flowers blooming on asphalt.” ‘vitamin I’ brings us back to hip-hop and electro-funk and the message that believing in yourself is worth far more than validation from others.
And as the perfect close to the album, we have ‘night life,’ a mix of neo-soul, G-funk and a bit of lo-fi that finishes the album with a message of making the effort to achieve our dreams. All in all, HOPE is about connections and, well, hope for a better future.
Our third mini album, HOPE, conveys the youth’s complicated emotions with honesty and depth, and it means a lot to me personally because I got to participate in our album as a lyricist for the first time. All members poured much thought and effort into expressing ARrC’s unique color more vividly through this album, and we’re confident that we have created an album with a great level of completeness. We hope to send positive energy and solace to many people through our music and new album.
Hyunmin, member of ARrC
We’re definitely feeling the positive vibes from HOPE, and we can’t wait to see what these boys come up with in the future.
How about you? What was your favorite track? Tell us over on Twitter @TheHoneyPOP! Or you can find us on Facebook and Instagram as well!
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