Song Review: LE SSERAFIM – Celebration

All of a sudden, it feels like a certain type of EDM has taken over K-pop — or at the very least taken over HYBE Corporation. This isn’t an unwelcome development in my eyes (anything to kick up the industry’s tempo a bit!), but we haven’t yet arrived at the anthemic, melodic, euphoric early-2010s EDM that worked so well for K-pop in the past. Maybe we’ll get their eventually. For now, we have a surplus of oontz oontz techno beats and attitude-heavy sing-talk.

To their credit, LE SSERAFIM have upped the intensity a bit with moments of clobbering hardstyle throughout new single Celebration. Though I haven’t loved (or even liked) every song this group has released, I do admire that they take big swerves. Last year’s Spaghetti felt like a joke at first but ended up worming its way into my heart with time. Much of that was due to its sense of completeness, which is the exact opposite experience I come away with after Celebration. I enjoy the energy this song is giving, but there’s not much to it besides energy.

I know some readers roll their eyes when I inevitably compare new K-pop with older K-pop, but while listening to Celebration my mind couldn’t help but flash back to a song like T-ara’s 2014 hit Sugar Free. After all, they’re both chugging club tracks with big beat drops. Listening to these two songs back to back is a trip. Whereas Sugar Free has build and crescendo and story, Celebration is one limp siren call repeated over and over in a detached style that sacrifices the great drive fueling its instrumental. Yes, it sounds stylish, but there’s not much substance under the veneer — melodic or otherwise. The song is in desperate need of a counter-melody… something to break up the repetitive monotony of its structure. What a missed opportunity!

Grade: C