BoA down bitches. Ms. SM Entertainment's 20th anniversary comeback song "Better" has arrived.

BoA has finally released her 10th studio album and the long awaited music video for her title track "Better". And y'all. I feel proud of a bitch.

Who else in K-Pop is giving you this level of serve after 20 years? Drop me names in the comments.

It's been a long ass road though. Gurl.

Even when BoA started to get her shit together and releasing material that felt far more indicative of where she was career and status wise, there were still missteps. "Only One" was was EXACTLY what I needed from BoA at that point in time. "The Shadow" was the typical SM sound and look fall-back in case "Only One" didn't do what SM wanted it to, but it was still good. Then there was "Kiss My Lips", which was one of the best songs BoA had put out. But it had a pretty underwhelming music video, which is how the whole of South Korea felt about the song, because it flopped. Then we ended up with "Camo" which had a big-ass-budget music video, but the song was trash. Then when we got "One Shot, Two Shot" which was a great song with a dusty music video. Then there was "Woman", which was just...not great at all. But, finally. FUCKING-FINALLY we have BoA back to giving us a really solid song and a great music video which fits it and fits her.

"Kiss My Lips" was seen as a commercial failure, and because of it, I figured we'd never get anything like it again. But I still stand that it's one of BoA's best. So I was pleasantly surprised to hear "Better" and that it shares a similar vibe and tempo. BoA had said in her 202020 documentary that she felt "Kiss My Lips" was ahead of its time. For her, it wasn't. In fact, it was long overdue. But for SM Entertainment, it most certainly was. "Kiss My Lips" was pure R&B and went against the grain of what they were releasing at the time. Now look. SM have are giving their acts midtempo R&B jams left, right and centre.

Awa fans will recognise "Better", as it built on her song "Like I Do", which the Swedish singer / songwriter released back in 2019. And for those saying that SM stole and plagiarised the song, Awa is credited as a writer on "Better" and has acknowledged the song.

Then there's the music video. BoA got a budget y'all. BoA got sets. She had to. There was no way Lee Soo-Man could be giving blank cheques to Aespa, SuperM, Taemin, NCT and Kai for their music videos, and not pull the boat out for BoA. The looks were on point. The routine was cool. BoA's whole attitude and demeanour was that of a bitch who knows she a bad bitch and is right where she needs to be.

This here was a premium BoA package.

Clink, clink bitch.

💿 BoA reviews: Albums: Woman | Hurricane Venus | Identity | BoA | The Face | EPs: Starry Night | One Shot, Two Shot