After a 2 year hiatus from solo activity, 4minute’s HyunA has released mini album “A Talk,” and she’s got her usual provocative style in tow. With this latest release HyunA has left all her listeners, international and domestic, scratching their heads with their jaws on the floor.

Clearly the sexual innuendo is all there, but only with an understanding of its origin will you get just how raunchy this song really is. The writers, Seo Jae Woo, BlueSun and Socrates, three men mind you, all sat down and took a children’s song and morphed it into the the boundary pushing, but admittedly catchy, song we know as “빨개요 (Red).” To break it down for you they took the first five lines of this children’s song:

원숭이엉덩이는빨개 (Monkey’s butt is red)
빨간건 사과 (Red apple)
사과는맛있어 (Apple is delicious)
맛있는건 바나나 (Delicious banana)
바나나는 길어 (Banana is long)

And then substituted a few words for HyunA:

A monkey’s butt is red (what)
Red is Hyuna, Hyuna is (yeah)
A monkey’s butt is red (what)
Red is Hyuna, Hyuna is (ah)

To basically tell the world what every fan boy wanted to know, that HyunA is delicious, without actually having to say it. Netizens are of course angry as hell, but surprisingly not so much with HyunA as with the writers. I don’t blame ’em…it’s kind of creepy to think three men wrote this about a 22 year old.

However, HyunA is an adult, and she agreed to this. And besides, since her “Ice Cream” promotions, I’ve resigned from being offended by HyunA’s claim to fame because if I allowed myself to be offended by everything this girl did, I’d have no energy for anything else. I think CUBE is trying to turn HyunA into a brand, and will stop at nothing to keep this “sexy” train going. I don’t like, but I’ve learned to except it as the grain of salt for everything HyunA will ever do.

While I’m not crazy for the message, every time I listen to “빨개요 (Red)” and find myself singing along, I realize that catchiness is a blessing like no other for this girl. As much as I want to be annoyed, and not like anything she does, the girl know how to be addictive. From the choreography to the chorus, it all just gets stuck in your mind. The girl has made it clear she is all about the performance rather than the lyrics and all that other good stuff, so “빨개요 (Red)” is just her living up to her word.

As for the rest of the album, I wasn’t really impressed. “French Kiss” did it’s job and flowed into the album’s title song quite nicely, but after it was a down hill ride from therem. “어디부터 어디까지 (From When Until When)” was painful to get through. Yoseob’s falsetto was grating to the ear and completely unpleasant, in addition, the slow beat did nothing but highlight the nasal side of HyunA’s voice.

“Blacklist,” the most anticipated song for myself, was the biggest let down. While LE did do well with her parts, the song did not compliment either of their voices and skills as well as it could have. I know somewhere deep down inside HyunA there is a fierce rapper, I know because I’ve seen and heard it way back during 4minute’s “Huh” days. However, much like “Just Follow” HyunA sounds as if she’s trying to matcher her voice to the person she’s featuring, rather than compliment them. Rather than enjoying the song, I’m spending every minute of it waiting for when LE will come back on.

“A Talk” was able to live up to both HyunA’s high standard of controversy, and low standard of all around quality. If her ultimate goal was simply to provide a feast for the eyes, and something else for netizens and fans alike to complain about, HyunA accomplished her mission with “빨개요 (Red)” alone.

A Talk: 0/1

French Kiss: .75/1

빨개요 (Red): .75/1

어디부터 어디까지 (From When Until When) With 양요섭 (Yoseob): 0/1

Blacklist ft. LE: .5/1