HyunA
“Following”
Loen Entertainment

(Cube Entertainment)

For the last decade, the can’t-look-away K-pop singer HyunA has been keen on establishing her name as a brand with her past five EPs, ranging from “Bubble Pop” in 2011 to “A’wesome” last year. And they have successfully cemented her image as the No. 1 pop icon, her sexiness not feeling the least bit forced.

This time, however, the 25-year-old pop singer brought a surprise gift for her fans with her latest sixth EP “Following,” trying to show her most stripped-down and natural self.

Yet, the result of juggling the old and the new is bittersweet.

HyunA kicks off the five-track EP with “Party (Follow Me),” featuring Pentagon’s Wooseok, which sounds like something straight out of her earlier hip-hop hits such as “Red” and “How’s This?” that feature HyunA’s snappy rapping full of swag.

But leading into the lead track “Babe,” fans will notice a change in mood. “Babe” opens with a trendy house intro that builds into a warm tropical retro tune that uses analog module synthesizers with less-layered instrumentation. Since HyunA’s voice rarely lent itself to anything but high-energy mash of electronic, hip-hop and pop, it is fair to say that her singing about love in “Babe” is a departure from her old bad-girl charisma.

Lyrically, meanwhile, HyunA interpreted the song’s story of a young couple in an uncomfortable way. In the song, she depicts how staying with her older boyfriend makes her feel like a baby, with lines such as “You make me 21,” and a whining “pamper me.” But when the number of her age counts down from 25 to 15, it is just uncomfortable.

The remaining tracks “Purple,” “Dart” and “Mirror” don’t seem to be doing well on the charts. While “Purple” was written and composed by her label mate E’Dawn of Pentagon and HyunA talks about love and her true self in “Dart” and “Mirror,” respectively, it seems her voice sounds best over drop-the-beat dance pop.

It’s difficult to call it a cohesive album, but “Following” may be seen as a rite of passage involving necessary growing pains for HyunA, who now has to keep broadening her musical spectrum as a seasoned, ambitious and passionate solo artist.

By Hong Dam-young (lotus@heraldcorp.com)