Song Review: NCT Wish – I Spy

When I look at NCT Wish’s overall concept, they seem like a group who should be tailor-made for my musical taste. Yet, when I average together my reception of each of their singles, they fall in the lower half of my own “Ultimate Artist Ranking.” At times, their music has felt overly precious to me. Descriptors like “kitschy” or “twee” carry with them plenty of risk. There’s the slimmest of lines between quirky (complimentary) and quirky (off-putting). This is all to say, I respect the vision and want to love Wish’s music more than I do. Enter new single I Spy, which tests this line in a few ways but ultimately lands neither here nor there. This electronic pop song has a busy, compressed style that characterizes a lot of music made for the internet over the past decade or so. Every element seems to aim toward the same mid-range. The song’s intro, with its children’s game “I spy” reference, does not engender confidence and the melodies are rather monotonous throughout. However, the structure moves along with a swift ease and the group’s vocals sound refreshingly mature compared to past work. Apart from some moments here and there, I Spy feels like something the K-pop industry would ...