K-pop artist Kino has released “If this is love, I want a refund,” saying “it represents the full cycle of a relationship.”
“It is also a collection of songs revealing genuine feelings about love; The good, the bad, the ugly. Love is not always nice as it’s been portrayed nor our feelings towards it. It’s a story about me, you and us all: The diary of us,” added Kino, a member of K-pop boy band Pentagon.
Kino (Naked)
It is his first mini-album after establishing his own label, Naked, in late 2023.
In the lead single “Broke My Heart”, Kino expresses his anger by wishing the worst for someone who did him wrong.
As the singer is keeping the lyrics not too poetic yet keeping it to real-life level, it would speak to all listeners who have felt that anger and distaste for someone. The track also features Philadelphia rapper, Lay Bankz, whose verse adds additional spice to the track, making the song’s story even more dynamic.
The two singers’ chemistry can be seen in their music video shot in Philadelphia, where the two created the choreography for the chorus on the spot and incorporated it into the video.
Before the album’s, Kino’s bold guerrilla marketing went viral on social media. It all started with a picture on X showing Kino holding up a sign teasing the EP’s release at Coachella festival ground.
As it is very rare for an artist to pull out such an act in public, it came to a refreshing surprise to many music listeners.
Following the guerrilla marketing, Kino released a video entitled “Rate My Song” where he randomly walks up to strangers and asks them to rate his upcoming song “Broke My Heart”.
In addition to Kino’s proactive approach, what caught the viewers’ eyes was the appearance of Simu Liu in the video as a participant. After listening the song, the actor gave a generous score, which increased anticipation of the EP.
The album also includes four additional tracks. “Solo” is a break-up song that tells a story about a couple’s last farewell. Unlike the sad, lingering break-up songs, this time around the singer decided to sing about a couple who’ve accepted their differences and wish each other a better future.
The chorus repetitive dance track “Freaky Love” is the second single off of the EP. It showcases the instant moment where we get infatuated with someone and plan a future with them. The song was inspired by the widely used social media expression “delulu,” the comments that were often made by his fans. The accompanied animated music video well represented the story of the song with vibrant and playful characters.
In “Valentine,” Kino focuses on more heartfelt feelings about life. With this track, he fast forwards to a few decades from now, looking back on his young energetic days. With this reminiscing track, Kino wants him and all the listeners to recharge the current fearlessness and courageousness through this song whenever they want to give up.
The album concludes with “Fashion Style,” Kino’s very first single released under his label. The drum and bass infused confidence boost up song, Kino wanted to convey the message to all listeners that “you are beautiful in your own skin and don’t try to be someone else.”
Kino participated in all artistic direction of the EP including visual directing. As a result, the EP has two concepts to tell the story of the EP: reality vs expectation.
In the expectation version, it shows the picture-perfect side of love. In the reality version, it portrays all facing the not-so-flattering side of love.
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