A Promising Debut In Pristin's "Wee Woo"

Following the break up of I.O.I we've already seen a comeback of two of the group's member's new groups in Gugudan's "A Girl Like Me" and WJSN's "I Wish", but so far there has been no new groups debuting with the rest of the members from the legendary girl group. However now we finally see the debut of a trainee group previously known as Pledis Girls featuring Nayoung and Kyulkyung (also known as Pinky), but now they're called their actual group name Pristin. With a whopping 10 members and thus continuing the trend of large girl groups these days, this group is coming onto the scene in a very impressive manner with "Wee Woo".

Many people have compared this debut, and this group as a whole, to Twice, which isn't surprising at all. Although Twice's concept may be on the cuter side now they did debut with a slightly more edgy image and a MV and song that catered both to their sassiness as well as cuteness. Pristin is definitely trying out a similar thing as "Wee Woo" has elements of both the cutesy stuff and a fiercer approach. Although there are similarities in concept I do think there are some aspects that set them apart.

"Wee Woo" is a song for example is interesting in the way that while it lacks lyrical depth and have some disjointed parts it has a hook so infectious it's impossible to forget. It's also unique in the way that it mixes funky guitars with some really cutesy bits, instead of going for a typical bubblegum pop sound to match the cuteness. It creates a nice contrast, which I like, but it also slightly annoys me. I think the song would be much better off without the overly cute parts that almost seems unnecessary, such as "Boo boo" being thrown into the chorus with no other purpose than being cute (and failing to do so in my opinion).

I understand why they'd want to include some degree of aegyo because well, you need to get those male fans hooked, but I think the song would be better without it. The same goes for the lyrics whom are incredibly shallow and frankly quite boring with their heavy dose of childishness. The entire chorus is just pretty much "I like you very much, boo boo" which does nothing to show any kind of intelligence or  maturity. Again I see why they would do this but it's just not for me. If they'd gone wholeheartedly for the sassier side of this concept I would've be much more positive.

The MV definitely caters to this very polarized "sexy-cute" concept and yet again I see why people have compared this group to Twice. Not only is the color palette similar to "Like Ooh-Ahh" with plenty of strong and bold colors but the concept of the MV has some similarities as well. While "Wee Woo" lacks zombies each member is assigned a different individual image and character which is something Twice has done plenty of in their videos.

Creating an individual style and brand for each member is definitely a smart selling tactic as fans have a chance to not only set the members apart but also finding their particular favorite pretty quickly. In this video we definitely get to see each member doing their own thing as they all play a unique character with their own style and image, more so than the MV having any kind of plot or purpose. It seems the idea with this debut MV is to sell in the group and the members and allowing the fans to get to know them, which I would say works fairly well.

Like the song the MV also plays with idea of the both being sexy and cute with different scenes suggesting different themes and also members switching back and forth between the two sides. Even the choreography matches as there are definitely some sexier and sassier moves as well as some cuter actions. Speaking of which I really do like the dancing as it's powerful and precise with some memorable point moves.

I have to say that although I haven't loved all aspects of this debut I have enjoyed it overall. I was already a huge fan of Nayoung and Kyulkyung and have now grown to like plenty of the other members as well and I do think a contributing factor was the fact that the members were presented as individually as they are in the MV. I do wish that they could lose some of the excessive cuteness but their "sexy-cute" concept does feel quite solid especially when observing the current girl group market and noting that Twice for example are currently doing more cute than sexy. I can't predict the future but I do think this concept and image can work in Pristin's favor and I genuinely hope it will.

Song: 3,5/5
MV: 3,6/5