Posted by Jacques Peterson on 01/15/2013 at 6:39 AM News

The Popdust Files: b.a.p., K-pop

If there’s one thing that the boys of B.A.P have yet to learn, it’s how to take a break. Since debuting last January, the rookie stars have made a whopping five comebacks; even by K-pop standards, that’s a hell of a lot. Next month, they’ll return with a new mini-album, bringing their total comeback count up to six in just over a year. If you average it out, it equals about two a month, and that’s only including the group’s main title tracks. If you include digital singles and collaborations, it’s even more.

And you thought Rihanna was a workaholic. Psssh.

Before the new B.A.P album flies into stores, the group is warming everyone up with a buzz single of sorts, “Rain Sound.” The acoustic hip-hop number isn’t a huge change in sound for the boys –they tried something similar on their underrated Warrior b-side, “Secret Love”– but it is a whole new style conceptually. They pushed an aggressive, bad boy image on their first three singles, and then switched it to a cute concept for the last two releases. On “Rain Sound,” they’ve gotten all introspective and depressed, pining for a lost love amid a storm of sleepless nights and wet weather. They even shed a few tears in the music video, but luckily, it doesn’t cause their heavy eye makeup to run. Thank god for waterproof cosmetics.

K-pop fans might be suffering a bit of B.A.P fatigue by now with the group’s endless comebacks, but it’s hard to really complain when all their releases thus far have been so solid. And don’t even get us started on the performances, which were some of the best the K-pop scene had to offer last year. The new album should be good, but please TS Entertainment, after it’s out, give B.A.P a rest. We don’t want the members fainting on stage and breaking their ankles like T-ara.