[Review] ROSE & Bruno Mars team up on the simple, fun “APT”

Being late on covering songs provides interesting perspective in the sense that it’s impossible to avoid everybody’s reactions. From what I’ve seen, this ROSE and Bruno Mars collab on “APT” has been undeniably popular but has also seen surprisingly extreme reactions — from it being exactly what K-pop was missing this year and what it needs now to being an annoying and juvenile waste of an opportunity for her. Reading that, I know what you’re thinking, “Is this fucker gonna fence-sit and middle road it?” The answer is yes, because that’s sorta what it deserves, IMO.

The whole concept of the song is honestly the most interesting thing about it. The intro of a group playing a Korean drinking game hints at the origins of the hook, and it’s a nice way of blending an English-language release while keeping some hints of Korean roots. The song itself is also mostly simple and catchy fun with a stomping, youthful energy that sorta gives it Disney cheerleading movie soundtrack vibes in non-pejorative way.

That said, I do think there’s some potential left on the table here, as on repeat listens the repetitive hook is indeed an earworm, but more in a tiring than addictive way — especially compared to the easy comp here in “Mickey”. Also, the bridge was a chance for ROSE to really set it apart from generic pop efforts but it ended up underwhelming due to some mixing choices and lack of melodic appeal (the pre-chorus was the main highlight in that category).

While I admit to expecting an extra gear in some element or another given that it’s ROSE and Bruno Mars, “APT” is a fun, quality pop song that’ll probably find its way onto one of my fun playlists or three. The extreme takes are a bit weird considering it’s a pop track that has a pretty generic blueprint at its core, and is just elevated by the creativity of the concept and the artists involved.