Rundown: KISS OF LIFE, ILLIT, SEVENTEEN, ITZY, Billlie, SAY MY NAME, AB6IX

Was actually just going to throw ROSE & Bruno Mars along with aespa in here, but I figured maybe I shouldn’t be so worthless and will cover those later, so a somewhat short Rundown here, still with some big names.

======

AB6IX – “NVKED”

Solid upbeat & fun, if not generic, sound to this, but the falsetto doesn’t work for me and melodies are found wanting.

——

SEVENTEEN (Feat. DJ Khaled) – “LOVE MONEY FAME”

Congratulations, you played yourself by getting an almost AI-constructed pop song. Okay, maybe that’s harsh, but the melodies didn’t give me anything.

——

KISS OF LIFE – “Get Loud”

Kind of reminded me of Justin Timberlake’s “Like I Love You” at times, and the rest of it definitely gives off that late-90s/early-00s vibe like a lot of their tracks do. It’s a nice danceable effort that’s like average-ish at worst, though a step down from “Midas Touch” and “Sticky”.

——

ITZY – “GOLD”

Whenever a K-pop song takes an unconventional risk like this I do my due diligence and give it a long shot to try and discover any hidden genius within. The idea here isn’t as bad as people will likely say, but like I always say, the thing about taking risks is sometimes it ends up like shit.

——

Billlie – “Remembrance Candy”

Interesting choice to go with a light, jazzy, and soft, though it kinda runs contrary to their established identity. Some concern there in terms of branding, but mostly it’s pitched way too high to be on my playlist of chill and groovy stuff.

——

SAY MY NAME – “WaveWay”

A cute and bouncy debut but coming with the baggage a repeating element in the chorus that I can only describe as annoying.

——

ILLIT – “Cherish”

I have no idea if this is a pre-release or not, but it has that kind of whetting-your-appetite feel to it rather than a full meal. Either way, I guess their identity is going to be stuttering hooks, though this one doesn’t feel like it has a similar earworm appeal that “Magnetic” ended up having.

======

Anyway…

WORLD SERIES BOUND. pic.twitter.com/dSCoZ7IRJR