MV Review- AOA's "Like A Cat"

2014 has undoubtedly been AOA's time to shine and they've leapt up in popularity this year, though despite big success with Miniskirt and Short Hair many are reluctant to place them on the level of high tier groups. Not happy with this, the girls are back to prove these nay-sayers wrong with their new single and mini-album "Like A Cat".

Hello friends I am here to save the day.

The track's been produced by Brave Brothers, though even if you didn't know that you'd be able to tell within the first 3 seconds anyway. Not one for diversity and experimentation, Brave Brothers is sticking to the same format he's been using all year, where he's just rehashed "Miniskirt" over and over again. Indeed, "Like A Cat" is obviously just an upgraded "Miniskirt", but an upgrade is no bad thing and neither is this song.

Fans of classy sexy needn't worry, there's still some shots of Seolhyun's butt thrown in :)))

"Like A Cat" shows a side of AOA we haven't quite seen yet, as it's a lot sexier than their other comebacks. Sure, "Confused" and "Miniskirt" were undoubtedly sexy concepts, but apart from the many closeups of members' rear-ends they are pretty tame, and "Short Hair" is probably the closest to cute that AOA have got.

Still not sure why they make Seolhyun the sexy member when they have Choa but oh well.

"Like A Cat" does things rather differently and it's definitely more mature than their previous singles. There's no aegyo-laced vocals or a light and breezy chorus with airy "oos" and whistles towards the end. Brave Brothers has opted to hold back on the brass this time and instead uses drums and guitars to carry the instrumental. At the end of the day the formula is exactly the same: Jimin introduces before Hyejeong/Seolhyun start the first verse, followed by Choa/Yuna, then Mina does the pre-chorus along with one of the stronger vocalists, chorus sang by Choa and Yuna, hook, Jimin's rap, Chanmi's rap, chorus, bridge, Choa's high note,chorus, Yuna's ad-libs, Choa does more ad-libs, end. That's it. That said when the formula has now successfully worked three times you know it's a good one. I have to say I do think the chorus is a little weak compared to those in their other songs, but that glorious hook makes up for it and then some.

...oh yeah, that's why...

Even if for some reason you hate the song, one thing can't be denied: the MV is visually stunning. Whack that 720/1080p on right now because this really isn't something you want to miss out on. This is the first MV from AOA which really feels sexy; there's no shots that make you feel uncomfortable like in "Miniskirt" and the plot of the MV follows the 7 members of AOA White trying to steal a diamond from a bank. Some people had a problem with the jobs concept in "Short Hair" since the members were a bit rubbish in their roles but they can rest assured because here they do a complete reversal: the same ditsy Mina who was valiantly mastering the art of... working an ice cream machine... is now crawling through vents and dropping a can of Leak Stop to knock out guards (okay she knocks herself out as well but it's a step forward right) whilst Jimin who previously ran from a guy who was complaining about a parking ticket is now beating up guards with a whip and Chanmi just straight up kicks a guy in the back of the head.

It's certainly a welcome change to sexy concepts in general that have stupidly vague plots that show way too little story shots for it to make any sense whatsoever; here it's simple, edited flawlessly and still manages to get a perfect mix of story, solo and dance shots. My only complaint - why aren't more videos done this well?

Okay Mina's still ridiculously cute but would you have it any other way? 

Altogether "Like A Cat" is nothing short of a triumph, from the visuals to the fun point dances to the mindlessly brilliant hook. Unfortunately, if AOA are now to improve they need to do something different, whether it's AOA Black or a completely different concept doesn't matter, but one more single from Brave Brothers and they could put all this interest about them at risk. Their three 2014 singles have all been brilliant but hopefully FNC will have the sense to try something a little different next time and show AOA can be diverse and haven't just got lucky here.