[Review] YELLOW – TREASURE

TREASURE returned at the start of the month with a special mini-album (their third overall), PLEASURE. The title track, YELLOW, heads up this new album release. Also featured on the album is the single LAST NIGHT, which was released in December 2024.

YELLOW follows the same thread as LAST NIGHT, opting for pop rather than their familiar heavier hip-hop dance sound. Even though it is marketed as a ‘special’ release (which usually means YELLOW and the songs on the album are not part of the usual realm of TREASURE’s releases), I am still not entirely convinced YG Entertainment knows what they are doing with the group. But that is a topic of a larger discussion. YELLOW is pleasantly soft and mellow for a pop release, highly fitting for a song titled after the colour yellow. But as a whole piece, I find YELLOW to be quite plain. Because of this, I felt like the order of YELLOW and LAST NIGHT should have flipped, with YELLOW being more of a pre-release and LAST NIGHT being a more compelling title track for the group. I cannot pinpoint anything distinct about YELLOW that would set it apart from its competition, whereas I felt the previous release had that through its execution. That said, I liked a few elements in YELLOW. I enjoyed the vibrant and bright tone the members brought through their vocals and melodies. The bridge was sweet, with JAEHYUK, DOYOUNG and JEONGWOO sounding quite heart-warming. The chanting at the end was charming. The rapping in the second verse was nicely done, allowing the rappers to maintain a connection to their hip-hop roots in this pop song.

The music video shows the members preparing for a dance competition, where one member’s crush will attend as part of the audience. It is a cute music video, with DOYOUNG being the main character and the rest of the members being bubbly and happy around him. I like the whole sequence where his crush touches his shoulder, and he cannot let that go, even in a later soccer game. But I also like the revelation that the crush also had a crush on him, placing a love heart on him.

The routine plays towards TREASURE’s youthful and bubbly charms. Like the song, it was nice and pleasant, but nothing memorable came out. However, I liked their wavy motion when the “It’s love” chants began.

Song – 7.5/10
Music Video – 8/10
Performance – 8/10
Overall Rating – 7.8/10