Song Review: QWER – Dear

QWER have quickly vaulted to the status of Korean chart royalty. Their style of bright pop/rock made a major breakthrough last year with T.B.H and they’ve managed to keep that momentum going with follow-ups. If you squint just a bit, you can make out sounds from Bias List favorites GFriend and Lovelyz within their catalog, refashioned with a rock band in mind. I hear both in new single Dear (눈물참기), which only makes me wish QWER would experiment further with their configuration.

Dear chugs along nicely, delivering powerful melodies performed with gusto. They have a knack for finding hooks that resonate in an emotional way while retaining a catchy, made-for-the-charts sound. A song like this feels destined for drama soundtracks, though it’s beefed up with enough verve to stand on its own. Me being me, I can’t help but wonder how mighty Dear would sound with a thumping dance beat behind it, but that’s a matter of preference. The instrumental is fine, but mostly stays out of the way to shine full focus on the vocals and melody.

Like previous songs, I imagine Dear will become more addictive with time. Its chorus doesn’t feel as instantly iconic as past hits, but its anthemic energy goes down easily. The vocal has a nice blend of power and sweetness, hearkening back to earlier, belt-it-out generations of K-pop. The song is probably too generic to stick around in my playlist for long, but there’s no denying it’s a well-executed version of this sound.

Grade: B-