Rocket Punch: Ring Ring 1st Single Album Review

Rocket Punch has made their long awaited comeback after 8 months with their first single Ring Ring on May 17th, 2021! The title of this album is breaking a couple traditions, the first where it doesn't follow Rocket Punch's past Pink Punch, Red Punch, or Blue Punch, and the second where Rocket Punch's' first single album since the announcement of the group's fandom name isn't named after Ketchy, like with Woollim's other artists prior to Rocket Punch (Infinite's Inspirit, Lovelyz' Lovelinus, and Golden Child's Goldenness).

I preordered the album from Kpoptown, which you can read about my review here. To my utter disappointment, my preorder did not include the preorder first press gift, but I was able to obtain a set from my friend. There is 1 version of this single album, and there is a 6-piece photocard set as the preorder benefit.

The preorder benefit photocard set came in a clear resealable bag. The photocards have a glossy finish.

The backsides of the photocards include the members' printed messages and autographs.

The album itself comes in a clear wrap. The album format and packaging break away from Rocket Punch's 3 previous mini album releases. The packaging and comic book-like design remind me of the photobook from the Ketchy 1st Generation fankit.

The album packaging is a paper booklet, stapled at the spine. There has been a lot of disappointment over this chosen style, which is totally understandable because it certainly does look cheap. However, the biggest perk for me is that you can open up each page fully so that no photo gets cut off in the spine; I really prefer this because it helps to fully see each page, and it won't cut off anything if there is a 2-page spread. The biggest downside for me is that the spine doesn't signify what album this is, so it doesn't look as pretty while on display along with my other albums.

The dimensions of the album are 5.8124" by 8.3125" by 0.8124" (when you flatten the album). Here is a comparison of Ring Ring with Rocket Punch's latest mini album Blue Punch. As a reminder, all 3 of Rocket Punch's previous album releases have the same packaging and dimensions.

The back cover has a carnival tent-like pattern, along with the tracklist where each song has its own fun font.

The album comes with a random photocard, a random square postcard, and a sticker sheet, all of which I'll talk about later.

The photobook includes 60 pages. The first page mirrors the back cover, listing out the tracklist.

There are 3 photoshoots in this photobook. The first section contains photos from this shoot, with a diner setting. It begins with a group photo. Here is a good example of how we can fully see this 2-page spread and no one gets caught in the spine because of the album booklet style.

Next are the individual member photos from this shoot. Each member has 2 consecutive pages, and is in age order starting with Juri. For the individual member photos throughout this entire photobook, there is 1 photo per page.

I really like this diner setting; it fits the retro concept so well!

Between Suyun's and Yunkyoung's pages are 2 group photos.

While the individual member pages always contain 1 photo per page, they do make the page layout interesting. I like how they are able to accommodate a photo in landscape mode here.

As for Dahyun, I feel like it's such wasted space on the left.

Next is another group photo from the diner shoot.

To close out the section is this 2-page spread with "Ring Ring" song credits and lyrics. The style of copying and pasting each member onto the page is similar to the scrapbook style in Rocket Punch's past mini album photobooks.

The next section contains photos from the denim outfit photoshoot. This section begins with a group photo.

Next are the individual member photos from this shoot. There is 1 photo per member, generally in age order starting with Juri, for 6 pages.

Dahyun is so effortless beautiful! And Sohee pulls off blonde really well; she looks more mature with each era!

The next 6 pages are another set of individual member photos, again in age order.

The last pages of this section are the song credits and lyrics for "I Want U Bad!", along with the scrapbook style of the members.

The last section contains photos from the sparkly outfit photoshoot. It begins with a group photo.

Like the first section, this section contains 2 pages per member, again in age order starting with Juri.

The setting of this photoshoot is generally pretty dark, but with Yunkyoung's silver sequined outfit it's nice to have some subtle contrast as opposed to some of the other members' black outfits.

The photo on the left is so pretty; I like how they mixed up the camera angle.

Next are the 2 pages for the song credits and lyrics of "Ride", along with the scrapbook style of the members.

The section ends with 1 last group photo from this shoot.

Next are 4 pages for the "Special Thanks to" along with each member's thanks to message.

The last page contains the album credits. The CD is within the flap of the back cover.

Flipping that back cover flap once reveals the members' printed autographs.

And flipping the flap once more reveals the CD.

The CD design is really pretty! It's meant to look like a record, and there are even clear, embossed lines that do represent the appearance of a record.

Now I'll blog about the inclusions of the album. The random postcard was found in the middle of the photobook.

The random photocard was found further on in the photobook.

And the sticker sheet was found towards the end of the photobook.

Each album comes with 1 random square postcard out of 6, and 1 random photocard out of 30. I happened to get Sohee for both! The postcard is just under 4" in both directions and has a glossy front and matte back. There is a printed message on the front. The photocard is glossy on both sides.

Here are the backsides of the postcard and photocard. The postcard is simple and has the album logo at the bottom whereas the photocard matches the backside of the preorder benefit photocards.

Here is a closeup of the sticker sheet. Woollim has consistently included a sticker sheet in each of Rocket Punch's albums. This sticker sheet includes stickers of each member from the diner shoot, each member's name, along with random stars and smiley faces. The front has a glossy finish. The overall sticker sheet is just over 5.125" by 7.0625".

This album also has 2 external first press group posters, which I did not order. 1 poster is from the diner photoshoot while the other is from shoot with the denim outfits.

This single album includes the following tracks:

1. Ring Ring - is the title track, with an 80s synth pop style. It starts off right away with that retro sound, which fits perfectly with this album's retro concept. I absolutely love this song and it definitely falls in a close second
2. I Want U Bad - is co-created by RHEAT, who is a part of CODE 9, and PURAVIDA. CODE 9 and PURAVIDA have also worked together on "BOUNCY" and "TWINKLE STAR". CODE 9 has also worked on "Lucid Dream" and "Do Something" while PURAVIDA has worked on "SUMMER PUNCH!". 
3. Ride - is co-created by 1Take and TAK, who together created Golden Child's "What Happened", "If", "Lately", "No Matter What", "Moment", and "Round N Round". Along with "Ring Ring", the girls also promoted "Ride".

During the release of this era's teasers, I was really excited for the newtro concept and even more excited when I heard the teasers for the title track. When I think of "retro-sounding Kpop song", I immediately think of Snuper's "Platonic Love", which is one of my favorite bops outside of Woollim. However with "Ring Ring", it seems like it's missing something, perhaps a really catchy hook, to replace my favorite retro-sounding Kpop song. Overall, I'm still in love with the title, and the 2 B-sides give a nice variety of genres, showing further growth with Rocket Punch's musical style.

Overall, I'm just so happy Woollim is putting more focus on Rocket Punch following the completion of Ring Ring promotions with the announcement of Rocket Punch's Japanese debut coming up just before their 2 year anniversary, after having so many months between the past comebacks. It's unfortunate that Juri couldn't participate in majority of Ring Ring promotions, but hopefully she can join for any Japanese debut promotions.