Who would have guessed? BoA is the new queen of lip-sync?

[An editorial of ‘Who Would Have Guessed’ 2012 series]

We’re closing up this week of long absentees by the ever odd case of BoA. The 25-year-old Asian superstar came back to Korea this year with a very personal album, Only One, on which she self-composed the eponymous title-track. Though praised for her song writing and receiving a warm response upon release, several harsh critics fell upon BoA right after her first performance. As the Kpop world already knows, BoA decided to promote her own song with a full lip-sync round of performances. She could have warned her fans beforehand, as this came as a shock to many. So what’s the story, morning glory?

 Only One live dance version

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It is impossible for any performer to flawlessly sing and harmoniously dance to Only One. Her 12 years in the business served BoA right, as she knew that trying to do a bit of both would have ineluctably impinged on one another; ending up with the performance looking, and sounding, unprofessional. She thus chose the neat option to sacrifice her live singing to perfectly render the dance choreography, which is truly the essence of the song. This, by all means, does not put her abilities in question. BoA, as a performer, has nothing to prove anymore. Her well-established career gave her enough poise to pull such a trick and truly enjoy her stages with such mesmerizing dancing. Though one has the right to feel slightly disappointed with her lip-syncing, such an audacious decision shows how confident and frolic BoA is as an artist and the audience should be wrong to misunderstand her intentions.

As our reviewer noted, every Korean release from BoA is an event. For the singer who makes her living in Japan, a comeback on her home ground is the occasion to express something different, something personal, something daring and enjoyable. Though under the shadow of PSY‘s success, her sales have been very decent for the one who spent the last year close to the public eye as a judge on the SBS show, Kpop Star. BoA is still Korea’s dear child and her latest gift is a pleasant and honest SURPRISE. It isn’t her greatest comeback nor album to date, but it was never really meant to be. Only One is both a nice addition to her discography and her set-list; one that must be dear to her heart and on which she shows, once again, that her dancing is truly something else. But, for those who still want to hear her sing it live, here’s a little gift.

 Only One live singing version 

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Note: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely of the individual and not of hellokpop as a whole.

Sources : News and Photos :  DailyKpop (1, 2)    Video :   billy00820001    krisbrows02