There were a couple songs that stood out in the past two weeks, but considering the volume of stuff I had to go through, not a lot.
======
TNX – “For Real?”
A decent bit of “pop-punk” that aims for anthemic status but struggles to separate itself from the rest of the pack through production or hooks.
——
BEOMGYU (TXT) – “Panic”
An angsty, soft rock track that demonstrates some potential but is also pretty anonymous and fails to take any risks, which makes it more for fans, I guess.
——
JUST B – “CHEST”
I actually really wanted to like this when it started. While I usually hate these vocal effects, they at least feel at home in songs with pumping electro beats. It’s marketed as hyperpop, but I think what it needed was to actually be hyperpop and lean in, as it needed more chaos or a better poppy hook to round it off.
——
Izna – “SIGN”
On the plus side, the vocals are impressive and the chorus had demonstrated potential by allowing them to use it. On the down side, I didn’t find a melody to latch onto and the rest of the song sorta just meanders about.
——
NiziU – “LOVE LINE”
I actually liked their Japanese album (GETTING TO IT, I SWEAR), but this thin vocal performance was a disaster, and it comes off as annoying more than anything.
——
KAI (EXO) – “Adult Swim”
I dunno, man, not a lot here. I guess it’s one of those empty songs meant for dancers to work over the top of it, but it doesn’t even come with a nice beat or anything, so it’s just confusing.
——
ENHYPEN – “Loose”
I know when people complain about English-language releases/Western audience releases, the common rebuttal to that is all K-pop is derivative anyway. Yeah, and all pop in general is derivative, but it doesn’t mean it all sounds the same. This release is a good example of the complaint at play, as it just sucks any kind of interesting life out of the group and music in favor of churning out faceless, safe, bland crap.
——
ARTMS – “BURN”
The visual teasers leading up to this were insane and I was hyped for this comeback. But then this is just … well boring? Where did the melodies go? Or really anything.
——
MARK (NCT) – “1999”
I can’t figure out if the “Jopping” verse and the memes actually made people think he’s a great rapper or what, but … well the falsetto crooning here is the highlight of this and makes it listenable.
——
Oh My Girl – “Oh My”
I get that this is an anniversary song, and so expectations weren’t high, but could they not afford a topline writer to do anything with a chorus instead of just speaking “oh my” or what? Ah well.
======
I’ll post the reviews of stuff I liked from last time and this time soon, I promise.
English (US) · 