The Ok-pop trade is in dire want of some eccentricity. Positive, there’s a subdued quirkiness to a lot of its latest visuals, however this strategy has change into so cut-and-paste and rubber stamped by companies that it feels extra mainstream than it seeks to be. There is no such thing as a act reliably delivering the colourful insanity of earlier teams like Orange Caramel and Crayon Pop.

On this world, soloist Yena has stepped as much as the plate. She’s no stranger to brash idiosyncrasy. Simply take heed to her 2024 single NEMONEMO. New monitor Catch Catch (캐치 캐치) picks up that music’s baton in a approach that nods again to Ok-pop’s previous. Its throbbing electro beat has touchstones everywhere in the trade, from Brown Eyed Women’ Abracadabra to PSY’s Gentleman. Its instantly recognizable level transfer is so second-gen coded it hurts. Yena performs your entire factor in a chirpy model, her voice stretched and clipped into a personality all its personal.

I’m unsure Catch Catch is a pastiche that comfortably sits amongst its many inspirations, however it’s so rattling refreshing to listen to in 2026. It’s refreshing to listen to one thing this enjoyable, upbeat, foolish and sung. It’s good to listen to a music that feels so particular to Ok-pop with a sequence of hooks that instantly lodge themselves in your mind. After all, I’d relatively hear one thing legitimately new and forward-looking than a powerful reinterpretation of previous glories, however given the sorry state of the trade’s output this 12 months, I’ll gladly take a nostalgia play proper now.

Grade: B+