Song Review:: Purple Kiss: HEADWAY- ON MY BIKE

- October 23, 2024

Release date: 2024 October 22
Album tracklist: Intro: Concrete Jungle, ON MY BIKE, Sweet Nightmare, Encore, Light the way
Album runtime: 13 minutes

They were, I think, the first K-Pop group to actually come and hold a concert in my city. Obviously, I went. The Rose came about a year ago, but they're a band, so it's not exactly the same thing. Regardless, I had to laugh because when I saw them, that made the first three groups I saw in person all have March debuts. It's a thing with me. Fun fact: they have the same debut anniversary as NU'EST, just nine years apart.

Oof, that is a short runtime. But it's fine. I barely count that intro as a song.

Oh, the chorus sounds so much like Kang Daniels's Paranoia, which means it instantly has my attention. So, essentially, there are three different sections of instrumentals for this song. First, the haunted doll aesthetic with the music-box mimicking piano (likely a keyboard made to sound like a harpsichord) and its airy vocals. Second, the Paranoia sounding chorus with its heavy guitar and pounding beat that still manages to sound witchy, but punk witch (buckles, leather, heavy eyeliner) (think Piper from the TV show Charmed during the timeline where Paige died). Third, the synth heavy verses and pre-chorus that skitter and creep, pausing in shadows to prepare to leap the energy of the song into the chorus. Even during each of the sections, the instrumentals aren't stuck in the rut of what came before. There are shifts and double-backs. And the very first sound you hear is a motorcycle starting up, which matches the title, and I approve.

This song gives us just a little bit of everything. A little bit of rap for the attitude. A little bit of the breathy vocals to flavor the song. Some gorgeous ad-libs over the final chorus. Descending scales during the bridge. All of this supporting some powerful voices that are so perfectly in their range that whoever wrote the song for them actually gets it. I could almost hear this being a MAMAMOO song that got given to Purple Kiss instead. That's how impressed I am with what I'm hearing. At no point does the tone of the vocals spend too long in any one variety that is present in the song, because just when you get used to one sound, it shifts into something else. And the harmonies! I'm almost positive there are multiple spots in the song where we get actual, genuine harmonies. All of this is ignoring the Halloween aesthetic, which I've been very vocal about how much I enjoy, but because of the variety, we get a showcase of exactly what they're capable of.

Fallen angel wings. That's it. I'm won over. The choreography when we see it seems like it might actually be pretty powerful as well. The shot of them in the ruins during the day with their wings on display was absolutely glorious, not to mention the switch-up when they went from black and dark clothing to white and fluffy, except the building they were in front of was on fire, and it's heavily implied that they did it. I think I'm in love a teeny bit. Wow.