Over the past few years, K-Pop has definitely earned its place and popularity in mainstream media. I used to be an avid fan of K-Pop music back when I first started college but have since outgrown it a little and stopped paying attention to new releases as much. While I personally stopped keeping track, my Instagram explore page has not. Even though it’s almost mid-April now, I wanted to rate last month’s comebacks, and there was a lot of variety then. Could I have posted last month? Yes. Did I? No. Why? Because I can.
P.S. No, I will not be taking criticism.
- Red Velvet “Feel My Rhythm” – 10/10
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The Queens of 3rd Gen K-Pop, what more can I say? The music video is stunning, their outfits are stunning, their faces are stunning. If this was released back in 2017, it wouldn’t have been my taste in music. Right now, this song just scratches the itch in my brain. What SM Entertainment (the record label Red Velvet is signed under) likes to do is have every member sing in the chorus, and I just love that. Overall, the song is phenomenal and the whole mini album in general is an absolute win for me.
- (G)I-DLE “TOMBOY” – 2/10
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I’m sorry, but this comeback was a miss for me. The only reason I gave it a 2 was because I liked some of their outfits and backgrounds. Their outfits in the opening scene were *chef’s kiss*, and I love the theatre scenes. The set they used for Soyeon’s English rap part fits the music video well and I found it aesthetically pleasing, but that rap itself was… cringy. Even looking past that, the song itself isn’t really my taste.
- Stray Kids “MANIAC” – 6.5/10
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This song isn’t bad and I find that the music video fits their comeback aesthetic and the group’s identity, but it’s not a song I will add to my playlist. I used to love Stray Kids, but I think I’ve moved on from their music genre.They added some animation elements that’re reminiscent to NCT 127’s “Cherry Bomb”, which I’m generally a fan of. These types of ‘construction noise’ songs don’t hit as hard as they used to, but otherwise I think the song is okay. I liked the lyrics, as expected since they write and produce their own music, but the music itself is just a genre I’m not vibing with right now.
- Cherry Bullet “Love in Space” – 6/10
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The song gives off the typical K-Pop vibe, which is a nice change from K-Pop groups and artists trying to include a lot of English words in their songs or otherwise trying to cater to Western audiences. The beat is addicting and upbeat, but the music video itself is pretty and not outstanding in my opinion. That’s unsurprising since they’re not under a big company, but they lose points for that. But what they lose from lack of creativity they make up for with catchiness, because this song is ridiculously catchy.
- Weeekly “Ven para” – 7/10
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I never kept up with this group, and the only songs that I knew of them were from when they first debuted. Back then, they had a more ‘girl-next-door’ concept, but they went for a more mature and cooler concept for this comeback. I’m impressed that they have the duality to do a 180 degree change and overall think that they’ve done well for this comeback. My favourite part of the music video would be the makeup they had on, with my second being the sets they used. All in all, the music video was cohesive and the song itself was pretty nice.
- NCT DREAM “Glitch Mode” – 5.5/10
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The aesthetic is very NCT and on brand for them, which I don’t mind since I think it suits them. The music video looks well produced (not that I would know if it isn’t) and the CGI looks good too. Like I said before, this type of heavy beat songs has not been my cup of tea lately but if this song was released in 2017, I would’ve rated it higher. Nothing about this song or music video particularly caught my eye, but it’s not bad — just not my thing now.
- OH MY GIRL “Real Love” – 6.5/10
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This is another group that I never really kept up with, but I’ve always had the impression that they were a group that did more refreshing concepts. The title track is no different from that, so I feel like it’s consistent of them to do so. I’d say that maybe this music video was a bit whimsical and gave modern fairy tale vibes because of the backgrounds. There wasn’t anything that stood out to me I guess, but the song itself was nice. It isn’t a song I’d download, but I guess I wouldn’t skip it if it was played on the radio.
That’s all the comebacks that I’ve rated and watched! It’s pretty obvious I’m no expert in film analysis or anything like that, but I do enjoy watching all these music videos and reminiscing about my past K-Pop phase. There were a lot of different concepts and themes which I enjoyed watching, and love that each comeback had different aesthetics to them. Here’s to hoping every group gets the success they deserve!