No Na – Honk!

The horn, the horn, sounds so forlorn [BEAT DROP]…

[Video]
[6.53]

Will Adams: The Vengabus is coming, but it’s rigged with a bomb that will explode if it goes slower than 50MPH, so you’ll need to time it just right if you wanna hop on.
[7]

Iain Mew: After Blackpink and Katseye put out middling party songs with great vehicle horn rave outros, finally someone has made that bit the whole song, and done it properly. Complete with a coherent message, too: get on the angkot.
[8]

Nortey Dowuona: For their recently assembled pop band, No Na, 88rising reached into the mines of mass-produced pop songwriting to assemble a credible songwriting team. Fussy, as a songwriter, has been in those mines for years, whereas Stephanie Poetri, nepo baby 35,600, and PIAO, chalky R&B singer 439, are singer-songwriters whose solo efforts haven’t reached the pop consciousness and who have thus defaulted to songwriting to supplement their incomes. (And in the case of PIAO, I find this insulting.) PIAO and Fussy have worked together, often to great effect, and Fussy has also worked time and time again with producer XAELO, who has sometimes taken point to display very delicate yet beautiful voice. On “Honk!”, these artists and No Na’s Baila and Esther (both of whom also had inert solo singles) produce an acceptable facsimile of mid-’90s-early-2000s pop house with enough RnB (BLACK) flourishes that fellow Indonesian Rich Brian (who pops in little adlibs) and longtime legend mom of ms poetri have both adapted in their own work. That is the result of mushing together various distinct voices and mixing them into a tacitly passive stew — except for Esther, who is the best part.
[5]

Kayla Beardslee: Last time I checked in on these girls they were doing Ariana&B. Why are they doing unlistenable YG Entertainment K-pop shit now?
[2]

David Allun Jones: Even as I feverishly await the future docu-series detailing what’s really going on behind the scenes in Katseye Inc., my cup is beginning to runneth over with bubbling girl groups making a stab at their own obnoxious “Gnarly”-esque break out. Indonesian outfit No Na manage to just squeak by on the right side of dumb aural slop pop with the technicolor traffic jam pummel of “Honk!”. The “rap” moments flirt with satisfying my craving for Missy Elliott mouth-noise goofiness, but a point lost for not offering another dose of that second verse’s all-too-brief snippet of Tinashe-core R&B(ubblegum) business.
[6]

Al Varela: This is a step above the current wave of catchphrase-spewing bad-bitch K-pop girl group songs, and it all lies in the foundation of that pounding beat. It sticks to those speaker-shaking knocks, and the girls or the chorus melody never stray from it. The honks are used to great effect: just enough to be the signature of the song, but not so much that they become annoying. It’s a fun, chaotic banger that doesn’t distract me with bad ironic memes or bullshit.
[8]

Alfred Soto: I can dance to anything except a track that sounds like a goose and an F-150 grunting in a burlap sack.
[6]

Ashton Arbus: I appreciate how dissonant this is in a way that most Anglosphere pop music isn’t. The way the tinny bus horn blends into the metallic synths is a cool kind of chaos complemented well by No Na’s forceful delivery. It’s fitting for a song about public transit to be this driven.
[7]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: The sounds of motorized action have been a part of the pop argot at least since “Leader of the Pack,” but buses specifically, and their attendant horns and clamor, have played a bit part in the road pop canon. (My personal trinity here would be The Who/Jay Som/Venga, though reasonable minds can disagree.) “Honk!” is the first pop single to truly embrace the chaos of Southeast Asian transit. The see-sawing sound of minibus horns cutting through the song is not mere set dressing, but the driving melodic element of the whole piece. No Na fully commit to what, in lesser hands, would be a threadbare bit, and in doing so make a kitschy, obnoxious masterpiece.
[9]

Leah Isobel: A giddy high-speed vehicle, coordinates set for “blogosphere.”
[7]

Andrew Karpan: In which perhaps the repackaged version of something from the early 2010s (memes from the Indonesian internet) is perhaps the best version of it, the plastic mesmerizing, modern and ruthlessly evocative.  
[8]

Wayne Weizhen Zhang: Is this what “Vroom Vroom” sounded like to naysayers when it came out? It’s a shame we’re covering this ragebait when No Na has built its career on effortless and tasteful girl group goodness. 
[3]

Alex Clifton: As someone who says “toot toot” in real life every time I hear a car horn go, I am unironically deeply into this. The Vengabus reigns supreme in my heart, but I will absolutely hop on the angkot to follow No Na from now on. 
[7]

Jel Bugle: Probably the most important band on the planet. Another banger, though maybe not on the same level as “Work” or “Rollerblade.” Island Girl will be an album of the year contender, believe the hype.
[8]

Katherine St. Asaph: I think I’ll wait for the aberrantkenosis cover.
[2]

Dave Moore: Tempted to write reams of analysis about the significance of modes of transport as (metaphorical) vehicle to the sublime — The No Na Bus Is Coming, C’Mon ‘N’ Ride It (The Angkot) — but that would be far too many words, most of it onomatopoeia (choo choo, vroom vroom, skrrrt, honk!, etc.). So I’ll instead just say that I am desperately trying to break this song at my kids’ elementary school by getting it a choice sync in their morning announcements (I know the editor personally). Don’t let me down, kids! 
[9]

Ian Mathers: There’s something almost nursery rhyme-ish (or maybe more like a stadium chant?) to the opening horn salvo, but not in a way that ever feels like a lazy interpolation. And they kind of hit a pleasingly goofy middle register between what bus horns sound like up here and, you know, ducks. It’s short, it’s breezy, it does what it says on the tin. I, for one, am pretty ready to get on the angkot.
[7]

Lichelle: Shoving my dislike of the abused AAVE in “Honk!” aside, I do find myself liking this. It’s jangly, crunchy pop that works surprisingly well for the club, a walk with your dog, the gym, or an early or late-night drive before the traffic starts. There’s something very immediate about the production: its slightly abrasive textures and bouncing rhythm give it enough energy to keep things moving without feeling overly polished. It has that particular kind of indie-pop looseness where the rough edges are part of the appeal, and the song feels more fun because of them. “Honk!” doesn’t seem particularly interested in reinventing pop music, but it understands the value of a good hook and a production choice that makes you want to hear it again.
[7]

Thomas Ruan: Honk World Cup current standings: Indonesia > USA > South Korea >>> Germany.
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