[Review] Little Things – Xdinary Heroes

Xdinary Heroes officially returned on Tuesday with their first studio length album Troubleshooting. Leading the charge on this new album is the title track Little Things (어리고 부끄럽고 바보 같은). This release is their first since October 2023’s Livelock (their 4th mini-album) and the single Break The Brake, which earned them a win for Best Band Performance in the 2023 KPOPREVIEWED Awards.

Little Things is Xdinary Heroes’ most straight forward rock title track since their debut. And I feel my comments on the song are relatively similar. Xdinary Heroes have promoted some wacky tracks and also some intense ones previously. But nothing feels as ‘simple’ or ‘safe’ as Little Things. There isn’t anything wrong going down this path (but it does come with its own flaws), especially when it invokes an early 2000s pop-punk nostalgia. If you have not yet caught on, this is the era of music that I grew up on. The nostalgia and execution of band’s vocal and instrumental delivery appeals to me. The punchiness of the instrumental is well-liked. I also liked the emotional tinge Little Things features. Xdinary Heroes really made sure that was heard from the get-go with the autotuned intro. I think the downside of going down the ‘simple’ and ‘safe’ road, and I do feel it as part of this release, is that Little Things feels inherently plain. The lack of innovation and excitement does hold it back slightly. But nostalgia and Xdinary Heroes’ ongoing consistent high-quality execution/delivery trumps in Little Things.

Little Things expresses the message to one’s younger self that no matter how lost you become, you will always find a way out of that lost feeling. In the music video, we see the members perform in a side-walk drain, representing their lost mindset. I am presuming the feeling of lost is liken to how we think certain items becomes ‘lost’ once you drop it down a sidewalk drain (as those items become hard to reach and it is difficult to recover them). In other close-up of the members, we see them alone and surrounded by darkness. Mid-way into the video, we see the drain closes in on the members and water/paper falls down, which might represent that pressure of ‘being lost’ on the members. However, in the end of the video, the members do escape the drain, which ultimately emphasises the message of the song.

Song – 8/10
Music Video – 8/10
Overall Rating – 8/10