Jo Yuri “Growls and Purrs” Review

I’ve been watching Squid Game 3 recently, and let’s just say (no spoilers!) it’s awesome to see Jo Yuri on the big screen–and she portrays her character so well. Today, though, we’re back to looking at her work as a singer. I’m gonna admit: when I first saw the title of this song, “Growls and Purrs,” I lowkey got scared we’d be getting something in the vein of TXT’s “Cat and Dog.” I should have known much better though (I think that song just scarred me too much)–Jo Yuri’s got something completely different stored for us!

Concept/Message: 4

I had to look at some English translations for the lyrics to understand what’s going on in this song, but I think this song aims to create some mental health awareness. She sings about days where she doesn’t want to talk to anyone or feels like crying but it comes out as laughter instead. These are important feelings to validate and respect. I think especially between people in close relationships, it’s easy to misunderstand aloofness as being deliberately distant or even ghosting–but sometimes, we need to understand that people need their space, that even the closest people don’t need to always talk to each other, and that we need to respect others’ boundaries.

I also think she may be suggesting that pets can be really great companions when human connection isn’t desired. There’s a green light throughout the M/V that ultimately shines through her and a stuffed bear. I think this message is very sweet and valid: sometimes, we don’t need someone to talk to, just someone to be there. Just with their presence, pets can offer that kind of companionship.

Visuals: 3

This is certainly a very pretty M/V. Some of the scenes look as if she’s walking through cotton candy feathers. Honestly–every scene has such sufficient composition, details, and palette that I feel like they could each stand alone and be taken out as their own painting.

But I’m the kind of person who loves to see M/Vs take a bigger step forward and really dabble into storytelling or symbolism. “Growls and Purrs” is the kind of M/V that strings together beautiful scenes but fails to give the string a plot…and that kind of M/V, unfortunately, is not my favorite.

Lyrics: no score.

This is all in Korean. I did look at English translations to see what she was saying, though.

Music: 4

Yes, m’lady can sing—honestly, I feel like it’s really rare to see a song so focused on melody/singing in K-pop these days. I love how Jo Yuri just lets her voice do the work–she sounds amazing, and it fits her concept too. As a former pianist, I also love the piano instrumental.