Day thirteen! Oop, unlucky for some! Wow, apparently, I’m a bingo caller now. Thirteen is just a number Margaret, don’t get scared. Anyway, it’s Saturday number two and time for the sixth boy group of this project. We’re back to all caps here as we start with today’s group: A.C.E.
Who are A.C.E?
They are a five-member boy group under Beat Interactive and Swing Entertainment, the latter being the company that gave us IZ*ONE (a mixed blessing). A.C.E, which stands for Adventure Calling Emotions because of course it does, are another relatively new group, having debuted in 2017. And rejoice, there is nary a complicated origin story in sight! Whilst certain members did also train under other companies (such as YG and JYP), we essentially have a group that was just put together, and then debuted. Callooh Callay! No explaining to do! Also, not that this is particularly important, but, given their relatively recent debut date and pictures that make them look like mere babes in arms, I was surprised to learn that the maknae (Korean term for the youngest in a group, and yes, take notes, there will be a quiz) is only a 1997 liner. Two of the members were born in 1993, meaning that, if the world was weird and somehow they and I had gone to the same school, we would have been in the same year. Given the utter youth of so many of these groups I’ve looked at (the maknae of IZ*ONE was born in 2004. Disgusting.), this was a refreshing surprise. In my head, A.C.E are now my friends and we definitely get along. I’m sorry but that’s just how it works.
As an added bonus, one of the members has the stage name ‘Wow’. If that ain’t the most confident moniker I’ve ever heard, I don’t know what is.
The First Song
That would be the brilliantly left-of-field name of Cactus, released in May 2017. Much like Pentagon’s Gorilla, this name is an unusual choice for a K-pop song, but that only makes it more intriguing. The song itself is frenetic in its energy, utilising a beat that’s probably technically called dubstep or something, but that I would describe as ‘like those Scooter hardcore Europop songs from the 00s’. Because my references are always up to date. The backing track is definitely dubstep influenced, with plenty of hyping up to drop points to create excitement. The dancing in the video worked well to match this energy, though the decision to start with a song this…well, noisy, did mean I wasn’t able to see much group expression. This debut was shouting loud, but didn’t really seem to say anything.
Five of the Big Hits
Much like Oneus, A.C.E have not had as much time to build up a discography, meaning choosing their five hits that weren’t their debut, Japanese songs or latest tracks was easy: I just chose all that was left. This gave me Callin’, 5STAR, Take Me Higher, Under Cover, and Savage. Once again, the songs here seem to fall into several pretty distinct categories; hype/aggressive; cutesy/goofy, and ballad. 5STAR, perhaps oddly given its title, is the ballad, and, as you might expect, it did nothing for me. If you’re going to make me sit up and notice with a ballad, it had better be minimalistic in production (á la NU’EST) or have such a beautiful melody that it utterly enchants (like BTS’s The Truth Untold). Unfortunately, 5STAR achieved neither for me. It’s obviously a big departure for A.C.E, who seem to lean towards the heavier side of things, but it’s not my cup of tea.
The heavier stuff, however? Well that’s more like it. Under Cover, Callin’ and, not surprisingly at all, Savage are all hard, fast, aggressive and loud. Callin’ takes a slightly more emotive, gentle approach of the three, and I love how the Europop-style screeching synths and fast, bouncy rhythms make their way onto this song as well, because hey, I always like that. Savage is slower but more aggressive, utilising a slightly more relaxed rhythm and more distorted hooks. Under Cover is probably my favourite of the three, reminiscent as it is of yesterday’s rock-heavy Daisy from Pentagon. We have the same fast beats and high energy here, but the underlying electric guitars add a ferocity missing from A.C.E’s other tracks. The styling in the video is also the most ‘edgy’, with one member sporting some gloriously sparkly eyebrows in one particular scene. It seems as if this mode is what works best for these guys, as their goofy, primary-coloured effort, Take Me Higher, feels a little out of place. The instrumentation is great: it opens with rich house piano, and strings underlie the joyful chorus. And this song is undoubtedly fun, just not particularly distinctive. This doesn’t have the charm of Pentagon or GOT7 in the same mode, despite how brightly coloured the outfits in the video are. Their current single discography seems to point pretty clearly to ‘we like loud, dancey, fast styles and don’t you forget it’, so anything outside that just seems to have less enthusiasm behind it.
The Latest Song
September 2020 saw the release of A.C.E’s latest single Favorite Boys. The American spelling kills me, but that is how they chose to write it, so I have to concede. The song is, thankfully, a continuation of their ultra-beast mode style, this time using heavy synth to replace heavy guitar. It’s therefore ultimately less distinctive, but still an enjoyable ride. Weirdly, it has a similarly drum-heavy, rock-anthem as its opener, much like Pentagon’s underwhelming Dr. Bebe, and also shares a chanting backing vocal in common with this group. Much like Dr. Bebe, this song is less than the full potential that the group can achieve, though it’s more interesting than Pentagon’s effort. It’s also worth noting that the styling in this video nods very strongly to Korean traditions through the Hanbok the members are seen wearing, as well as the painted backdrops and handkerchief dance one member briefly attempts. I couldn’t detect any of this traditional influence in the music itself, unlike, for example, Oneus’s Lit. It had me wondering if I was simply missing something, which is absolutely possible, or if this nod was more of a superficial one. That would be a shame, as it’s always cool to see idols paying homage to the traditions of Korea. It’s certainly better than the traditions of the UK, where we’d all end up having to Morris dance. And no one needs that.
The Latest Album
A.C.E’s most recent EP is September 2020’s HJZM: The Butterfly Phantasy. Another typically minimalist title for a K-pop EP then. Or something. The opener, Golden Goose, is another bombastic opener, slightly more evenly paced than some of their more ‘hyped up’ tracks, but still entertaining. Favorite Boys follows, and I have to say I just noticed that the title in Korean translates to ‘Goblin’, which is also the name of an absolute BOP by girl group CLC. Similar to goblins in Western culture, in Korea they are sometimes evil, sometimes just mischievous creatures. Apparently, in this song, the group utilised traditional Korean wrestling moves in their choreography to echo goblin’s perceived expertise in the sport. Other than that I can’t see the connection, except perhaps to highlight their ‘bad boy’ concept?
The following track, Baby Tonight, was utterly forgettable to me, but the one after, Stand by you, was more refreshing. It’s another slower moment from A.C.E, but unlike in 5STAR, I found the vocal tones and stylings to be really interesting and charming. There are guitars in the instrumentation again here, and the sweetly dedicated message of ‘stand[ing] by you’ is communicated well, in a way that reminds me of mid-00s indie anthems. Towards the end we have a sing-a-long-and-clap vocal section made to sound like it’s actually in a concert venue, so it looks like we’ve found our stadium song from this EP. The closing song Clover continues in much the same vein, but with a more generic backing and less interesting melodies, it doesn’t grip in the same way that its predecessor does.
Thoughts?
A.C.E are clearly aiming to be the boy group who masters the bombastic hype style, in much the same way that Pentagon seems to want to be the ‘catchy goofy hook’ group, or even how SEVENTEEN wants to be the funky, rockabilly bop team. I think in their main singles this largely works well, and, as someone who likes this more aggressive K-pop style, I have to say I enjoyed these particular tracks. The only real thing for me was that I didn’t really get a sense of individuality from them, as I did with the other two groups I mentioned. Maybe it’s the music style they’ve chosen, though I would have thought that this was actually an angle that would allow one to be more expressive, rather than less. I can’t really say how this could be achieved: is it through broadening their musical styles, or honing down what they already want to do? The group clearly suit this harder aesthetic, so I only hope that they eventually sit more comfortably in it, and create music that is unmistakably theirs and theirs alone.
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