BoA performs four songs and only dances for one of them

As part of promo for her 3rd mini album Forgive Me, BoA decided to eat up more air time on a show that she hosts to perform four of her songs. As she should.

But three out of her four performances were not the usual come-out-and-dance-through-every-song-whilst-lip-syncing kinda performances. With the exception of “Forgive Me”, BoA was on stage with a band and singing live. BoA even performed “Only One”, a song which is synonymous with its dance routine, and said ‘Nope. Not doing it.’

BoA performs “Only One” | Music Universe K-909

BoA performs “Garden in the Air” | Music Universe K-909

BoA performs “Better” | Music Universe K-909

BoA performs “Forgive Me” | Music Universe K-909

BoA said ‘You will not get a dance step outta me until the last song’ and I respect it. BoA has more than earned the right to opt out of dancing through every single song she performs, even though dancing is what she is known for and we thoroughly enjoy watching her do it.

It’s a shame that more K-pop acts aren’t given the opportunity or the forum to do unplugged style performances. Then again, many of these acts cannot sing. So maybe it’s just as well.

BoA is a reminder of a time and generation in K-pop where you really did have to WORK, and show that you were able to hold your own in at least one aspect of your artistry. BoA’s thing early on was dancing; but she hit point in her career where she platinum trophied it. And that’s when she started focusing on her singing, which happened to coincide with when BoA started taking greater control of her music and involving herself in the writing and production of it.

It’s why I roll my eyes when these kids in the K-pop fandoms wanna call BoA ‘old’ and disregard her releases for this reason alone (which BoA is far from old). And they take the piss and called BoA ‘old’, but she continues to outperform most of the newer acts out right now.

BoA performing “Forgive Me” on Music Universe K-909 | © JTBC

BoA had to work and graft at a time when acts really did have to grind, and expectations for them were much higher than they are now. These newer acts nowadays have low expectations set for them by younger fans, which they willingly accepted and justify. [Looks over at Blackpink and their fans]. And because there’s no demand or even an expectation for an act to be able to give a great performance or get good at singing, we end up with a sea of mediocre acts who never get better and never become actual artists. And BoA is not only an artist, but she manages to keep getting better. And yet, she gets fobbed off and passed on. Everything these days is about doing little to get big returns. Talent isn’t always what sells, but this is a tale as old as time, which predates the music era of social media, YouTube views and streams - but they’ve certainly exacerbated it.

Gurl, it’s sad.

I really hope BoA considers releasing a live album. Whenever she performs her earlier material live, she not only sounds better singing it now than she originally, but we get great arrangements. It’s foolery that SM didn’t drop a live album of her Unplugged set back in 2020.

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🎧 BoA playlist: BoA’s Pussy Music
💿 BoA album reviews: The Greatest | Better | Starry Night | Woman | One Shot, Two Shot | Kiss My Lips | Hurricane Venus | Identity | BoA | The Face | Outgrow | Listen to My Heart