Song Review: NCT Wish – poppop

NCT Wish had a moment last year — starting with their excellent Songbird and continuing into their upbeat banger Dunk Shot — where I could clearly hear the potential of a fun, youthful new generation of SM boy groups. But surrounding those songs has been material I’ve had a hard time connecting with. The music often feels saccharine and repetitive, with last year’s Steady a particularly mind-numbing clunker. The teasers for new single poppop promised more of this monotonous style and the song’s chorus certainly delivers on that promise.

The word “irritainment” has become somewhat popular lately. It’s a blend of “irritating” and “entertainment.” I don’t get the appeal at all, but K-pop seems to be in love with the idea. How else can we explain so many obnoxious hooks in this year’s songs? Poppop is an especially dire example, melding its trendy, skittering verses with an ear-shattering chanted hook. NCT Wish’s vocals are a bit shrill even in the best parts of this song, but the bratty wall of sound that makes up poppop‘s centerpiece nearly had me reaching for the “off” button. I’m not entertained, but I’m damn well irritated. Maybe that’s the point?

It’s rare than a bright boy group doesn’t appeal to me, but I don’t get what SM Entertainment is doing with Wish at all. They seem to want to lean into an experimental hyperpop sound but they’re forgetting the catchy hooks and idiosyncratic personality that makes that genre exciting. At the risk of taking things way too juvenile on this blog, remove the middle “pp” from poppop and you have my general thoughts on this song.

Grade: F