Hwasa drops her 80s breakup bop, “Good Goodbye”

It’s been a year since Hwasa was holding up her bum cheeks and shimmying on the streets of Paris. And now here she is one year later. Sitting on some busted couch on a beach, in a video which features not a lick of choreo.

“Good Goodbye” feels very right for now, especially the US — given who and what is popular over there right now. “Good Goodbye” is very much in the vein of Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan and Lady Gaga.

I like the sound of the song, but nothing about it really sticks. It needed a stronger melody. And it definitely needed a better chorus.

Hwasa - Good Goodbye | P Nation

One thing about Hwasa, she is always going to give you a good music video and a decent enough song. But a common issue in K-pop with solo acts — especially those from groups — is that it’s difficult to get a sense of who they are as an artist. Figuring this out might be tricky for Hwasa, because she sounds good on each different sound she dips into. So how do you then decide on a sound or funnel into one? Also, the name of the game in K-pop is to be malleable and a blank slate, so that any visual concept and sound can be put on you — which works, until it doesn’t. It took BoA most of her career and going full throttle on her Japanese career to finally figure out her sound for Korean career.

For a second I thought that Hyolyn was the Koda Kumi of K-pop. But it might actually be Hwasa. Side note: K-pop or KK-pop would be a great title for a Koda Kumi album.