[#18] Ga In - "Bloom"

From: "Talk About S."
Format: EP
Released: October
Territory: South Korea
Previous Best of Appearances: First Appearance

Ga-In’s “Bloom” was one of my favorite pick-me-up songs this year, mainly because there are so many dimensions to it, and the perkiness is just one of them. A lot of people compared “Bloom” to an IU-esque track, and I do get the comparisons, but I don’t know, IU songs are usually pretty one-dimensional -- they’re whimsical and cute and she delivers. But there’s something different about “Bloom”.

On the outside it does seem pretty girly and whimsical, with all these very perky instruments and Ga-In’s squeaky vocal technique on the verses. But then the more I listened to it, the more the other dimensions kind of made themselves heard.

There’s this maturity to the grace of the song that you don’t see in other songs, and that’s probably because Ga-In’s vocals are more mature (and therefore more practiced) than your average teenage pop princess. You see, voices have time stamps, so regardless of what’s being sung, an older voice will always sound different from a younger one. And I really like that “Bloom” took advantage of that.

But then at the same time, “Bloom” isn’t a fragile song -- it’s not all cutesy and rainbows and ponies. There’s spunk to it as well, made obvious by that gorgeous guitar line. It’s very prominent throughout the verses, and it really does give the song the kick it needs.