Kirara captures live show energy on thrilling 5th album

by Connor Cass (@aminorcharacter)

Often album titles are carefully constructed as a way to signal an album’s intent or themes. But the self-titled album is perhaps the biggest statement of all. Usually reserved for debut albums, it’s a way for artists to introduce themselves to the world in a way that says “here’s us and our sound, get on board”. 

Kirara is not Kirara’s first album, in fact it's her fifth. It’s her first full-length since 2021’s exceptional 4, but she has kept us fed with a slew of EPs since then. Yet this feels like the most authentic-to-herself album yet. Kirara the most Kirara a Kirara album could be, but also presents some bold new ideas for Korea’s premier electronic music innovator.

If you’ve been to one of Kirara’s live performances, you know how overwhelmingly fun they are. Full of captivating builds and euphoric highs, as well as some wild humour, it’s something that has to be experienced. Kirara is the closest one of her records has come to capturing that, it’s sequenced like a live show. Even the intro The Theme of This Album, which features a quick chant, an airhorn and a message from Kirara herself (“Thank you for listening”), feels familiar, it’s how she often kicks off her live shows. Some of these songs have even been staples of her show for a year or so, and absolutely benefit from all that road testing. ‘Shot Down’ is a notable example, and has that live energy. It takes an omnipotent icy synth stab, and builds a shuffling beat around it. The track bounces between intense energetic explosions and captivating slowdowns to rest your dancing legs. It’s like a 7 minute bite of how it feels to be in a sweaty club watching Kirara. 

Kirara has brought in plenty of collaborators before, but they never felt so omnipresent as they do on Kirara. Half the tracks have credited vocalist on them. And the biggest takeaway from hearing big names from a variety of genres inhabit the album’s world is that they’re all here simply to play. Sunwoo Jung-a is a huge name often employed by both K-pop and hip-hop stars for her balladeering, so what’s she doing on Music? Scatting. It’s absolutely bonkers to hear such a big name go absolutely wild with wordless vocal melodies, hitting dolphin ranges towards the climax. But it’s this unrestrained sense of fun that plays so well into Kirara’s colourful sense of humour. Remember when Kirara taught us all how to count in Korean with Numbers? Well, this time she’s enlisted glitch pop creative Jang Myung Sun to give an exhaustive list of vegetable names on Salad. Thank you Kirara teacher.

Even with all these collaborators, Kirara is very much the star of her own album, her ability to compose remains unparalleled. Her songs often contain at least four or five absolutely killer loops and melodies, while other artists would be content building a track around one or two. Take Ruined Amusement Park, it’s first minute runs through bubbly percussion, a wiggly melody and growling distorted synth, these ideas fighting for the spotlight in new and creative ways throughout. On repeated listens of Kirara, there’s always a new musical idea to be found and fall in love with.

Kirara is entering her 11th year in the industry in 2025, but it’s impressive how she still approaches music with the same passion and energy as if it’s her first. Kirara is a triumph of an artist both demonstrating all she’s learnt and where she could go in the future.