Song Review: RESCENE – Glow Up

Across several releases in 2024, RESCENE proved themselves an exciting rookie act capable of offering a somewhat different sound than most of their peers. K-pop’s girl groups are stuck in a very airy (often “beige”) style of muted pop music at the moment and I’m waiting for a new voice that popularizes a change in direction. Sadly, new single Glow conforms more than it challenges.

The best parts of RESCENE’s fantastic Love Attack have been abandoned here in favor of a pleasant pop midtempo that could have just as easily come from a group like ILLIT. Glow Up pulses with a laidback groove, pulling every single one of its punches. The coattails of Sabrina Carpenter’s Espresso have become excruciatingly long with K-pop producers, and you can practically see the vision board here. At just under two and a half minutes, the track seems designed for TikTok with its eyes firmly fixed on replicating the mega-success of last year’s Magnetic.

You may notice that this review has now compared Glow Up to several different songs. I try not to over-compare when it comes to pop music, but this best explains my issue with Glow Up. Every single piece reminds me of something else and these sounds have been run into the ground. I suppose the song might make decent connective tissue on a Spotify playlist, but without a point of view of its own there’s nothing pulling my attention toward the track itself. It’s simply… fine.

(Also, is that repeated synth sample the same one from DXMON’s Girls, Love Boys, Love Girls?)

Grade: C+