The Singles Jukebox

“Wee woo, wee woo, wee woo…… WEEWOOWEEWOOWEEWOO!!!!!”

[Video][Website]
[5.88]

Will Adams: A retrospective of candy necklace disco across the past decade: the verse is “California Gurls,” the chorus Emotion, the breakdowns present-day EDM. The title hook is cute, if a bit papery, and somehow manages to make the biggest impression amongst the sonic fracas.
[6]

Madeleine Lee: Every part of this screams “I’M A FUN POP SONG” — the kicky Katy Perry guitars, the prechorus’ dip into an EDM shout-rap bit, the chorus cleverly spinning non-verbals (“wee-oo-wee-oo-wee”) into real words (“wieom-wieomhae“). If only all these parts were properly assembled, it really could be a fun pop song, instead of an increasingly irritating one.
[4]

Mo Kim: Seventeen, Pristin’s self-produced brother group, suffers most when they let their desire to show-off overtake the discipline and intention that good songwriting requires; “Wee Woo” is Exhibit A of that bad habit, with the disjointed nature of the music and delivery bringing any momentum the song might have to a screeching halt. Its many parts add up to little more than a vehicle for the members’ admittedly not insignificant charms: the Sassy One (Xiyeon) gets to squeal that she’s the family princess, the Tough One (Rena) gets to sing in her lowest register, the Cute One (Yehana) gets to make googly eyes in the chorus, and the Visual (Pinky) gets to brag about how the guys are lining up for her. Both the song and the video are assembled for maximum RPM (reblogs per minute), serving up a diverse array of feminine fantasies in .gif-friendly bites; yet the chorus honks right into the tired trope of pining for the “super-super-hero” guy who won’t pine back. Still, there’s enough gas in the tank (the rapid-fire rotation of Nayoung and Kyla on the second verse a particular highlight) to hope that Pristin will come back with a siren song worthy of their abilities the next go around.
[6]

Micha Cavaseno: The EDM-tinges to the disco-rock vibes unfortunately tend to smother the groove of the production and snuff out the fun vibes, which makes “Wee Woo” a confusing attempt to fit the mold’s of K-Pop today with its nonsensical earworm hook, sudden jolts between insecurity and cool, and occasional wink-wink nudge-nudge vibes. If anything, Pristin are absolutely on the mark a to what makes a hit these days for other groups, but its going to need a little bit more from them to remain in the race.
[6]

Thomas Inskeep: Pristin are a fine example of the adage (in this case, referring to the Pledis Entertainment formula, such as there is one) “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Like much of the catalogs of their musical siblings NU’EST and Seventeen, “Wee Woo” is easily digestible, sticky-sweet K-pop of the highest order, and I’m not mad at that.
[7]

Ryo Miyauchi: I’m a sucker for pop hooks referencing the sound of a heart skipping a beat, so “Wee Woo” should be a single that satisfies my soft spot. And Pristin go about it rather modestly compared to other recent singles persistently pushing their cutesy hooks. That said, I wish their hearts pounded a bit stronger because I don’t retain much beyond that guitar riff.
[5]

Alfred Soto: No synths echo the onomatopoetic chorus — lots of tuff talk from the guitars instead.
[7]

Jessica Doyle: Eh, a little too high but cute, Rena’s entrance is well timed the first verse and I wish they hadn’t repeated it exactly in the second, the bridge is vaguely interesting, the number of exploding things in the girls’ faces vaguely disturbing, but — holy crap is Nayoung a student of radical architecture and planning history? HOLD THE PHONE I HAVE FOUND MY ULTIMATE BIAS FOREVER.
[6]