APT.

By ROSÉ and Bruno Mars

Natalie Kiconco

“APT.” (short for apartment), released by Korean girl group Blackpink’s main vocalist ROSÉ, and featuring Bruno Mars, is a total earworm. The artists’ voices blend surprisingly nicely together on top of a simple yet quite dynamic melody. Several parts of the song are particularly standout: the 90s-esque pop-punk inspired bridge and the outro which brilliantly mixes ROSÉ and Mars’ voices into a very energetic production. 

The song was conceptualized after ROSÉ's favorite drinking game, Apartment, in which players stack their hands on top of each other in the vein of a storied apartment building with the player whose hand ends up on top of the stack having to take a drink. With this unserious premise, a chanty chorus, and a production that would fit on Mars’ 2010 album “Doo-Wops & Hooligans,” the song is pure silliness. Listeners have compared the song to “Can We Dance” by the Vamps (produced by Mars) and “Mickey” by Toni Basil (which “APT.” samples). These comparisons have likely been drawn due to the familiar chord progression throughout the melody of the song as well as the “APT.” chant throughout the chorus, both reminiscent of not only the aforementioned songs, but also of mainstream pop-punk, which the song is clearly aiming to mimic.

Much like the solo releases from her other band members, Jennie and Lisa, ROSÉ seems to be heading in a different direction sonically than that of her group. The punky sounds of “APT.” are a pleasant addition to her short discography and hopefully with the release of her upcoming album, “Rosie”, ROSÉ will continue to venture into different genres.