In its four-year career, VAV may have hit a fresh new height with “Give Me More,” its latest Latin-tinged single featuring Grammy-winning production duo Play-N-Skillz and Puerto Rican musician De La Ghetto.

Having dipped its toes into Latin music with previous single “Senorita” last year, the seven-piece boy band returned with another full-fledged tropical dance track that fronts the group’s summer special EP of the same title. The trilingual track, which features Korean, English and Spanish, is an upbeat seasonal number littered with rhythmic electronic synths and moombahton strings. Marking the first time for VAV to join forces with overseas musicians, the song also features Jacob, who’s been sitting out from group activities for his own promotions in China.

“We heard about the group (VAV) during their Latin tour and some of our fans have been asking about them. So reached out to our friend who lives here in Seoul, asked for some more information about the group. Shortly after some research, I gave a call to De La,” Skillz of the production duo told The Korea Herald.

Switching between languages, the song is driven by melodic vocals and propulsive raps, with Ghetto smoothly propelling the song to the soaring refrain of the chorus. Lyrically, the song passionately asks one’s romance to become closer. The song was paired with a festive music video filmed in Bohol in the Philippines, where the band and their collaborators dance and party on the tropical beach.




Asked about their collaboration with the K-pop group, Play-N-Skillz, who previously worked with Super Junior on “Lo Siento” with Leslie Grace, said that it has been one of the most valuable experience he’s ever had. “It (the collaboration) was really, really smooth. Their team was amazing, communication was smooth. At first it was new experience, because we are writing the music in English and Spanish, translate it back to Korean and to bring it back into exact syllables and melodies. That’s challenge for a producer and a record writer,” he said.




“This is my third time in Korea, but this is by far the smoothest. I’m just glad with this whole new experience and the process was amazing. I’m really excited about this collaboration. VAV and us, we are now bro-bro, gangs-gangs,” he added.

Ghetto chimed in to add, “They (VAV) are really cool kids. They love music, they love what we love. We’re just making this even bigger.”

Further explaining the cross-genre song, he continued, “We wanted to deliver this international, tropical vibe through ‘Give Me More.’ Music has no boundaries; music is all about emotions. We are just letting the world know that we got that, we got that spiciness, we got that real flavor. And we wanted to combine that flavor to Asian culture.” The collaborators also hinted at another possible collaboration with the K-pop act, such as going on a world tour together.




Having arrived on the scene with its first EP “Under the Moonlight” in 2016, VAV gradually garnered fervent international following, being dubbed a “global super rookie” group. After wrapping up the VAV 2019 Meet & Live Senorita Latin Tour in Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and Mexico in March, the act dropped its fourth EP, “Thrilla Killa,” in March.

“Give Me More” was released in two additional versions, with the second entirely performed in Spanish and English and the last one as a remixed version.

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