#they have really good bsides but really mediocre ones too

[namjoohyuk]

anyone have any REAL unpopular/controversial kpop takes and nothing stale like “bts ruined kpop” ?

[struggle-but-its-all-ocean-floor]

TXT minisode 3: Tomorrow review

Imo, their first minisode is excellent and one of my favorite TXT albums, but lately their albums are only mediocre - the tts are catchy and solid, but the bsides are generic and lack TXT's initial charm.

I'll See You There Tomorrow - the choreo is fun and 100% something BTS would do. The track is nice and light, albeit a bit repetitive; vocals sound decent, but some of the low notes are unpleasant (eg. Soobin's). TXT are not strong vocalists and I find myself noticing that more and more. 7.5/10

Deja Vu - this track grew on me a lot. It's catchy and the choreo is good (very early BTS coded). I used to love Taehyun's voice, but sadly I think it sounds strained and kind of whiny now. He reminds me a lot of Jungkook though, especially lately (re: his stage presence and dancing). Imo Taehyun suits the center position pretty well, and they're doing well giving him some of Yeonjun's center time and dance breaks. Soobin and Beomgyu's voices are very limited and sound really weak imo. Yeonjun's voice sounds the best to me lately - he has the fullest, most natural sounding voice, as well as the most versatile and catchy. Hueningkai's tone has never been pleasant to me - it sounds kind of muffled, but he's a capable singer. 8/10

Miracle - kind of an annoying song tbh, very Avril Lavigne. There really isn't much to say about it. 6.5/10

The Killa (I Belong to You) - this track is incredibly cringy. Hearing Soobin say "I want you to take me now" in the most innocent and flat tone is... well... I get that people think he's hot, and that's surely why they put him on this track, but Soobin is just not an expressive and versatile idol, except perhaps in variety content (I don't know enough to say). Moreover, this song has such a generic beat - it's so flat and by the book -, it's not sexy at all. They also don't have the vocals for it. Yeonjun does well, but why on Earth did they choose Soobin for this? Because he's the most popular and sexualized along with Yeonjun? Beomgyu is much better at pulling off sexy than Soobin, and their singing is kind of on the same level. 6/10

Quarter Life - more rock stuff, I really want TXT to drop this sound. Kai fits this genre well, but this track is annoying and genetic. Taehyun sounds strained too, unfortunately. Beomgyu has pretty much no lines... 6/10

Anyway, this minisode is okay, but imo TXT are very much hindered by weak vocals and awkward stage presence (and beyond). They're very popular, but they could probably be more popular. Imo, TXT lack the IT factor in many ways. Besides lagging behind in vocals and stage presence, they're not that funny or charismatic. I think they fall behind pretty much all other BIg4 bgs (+ other popular bgs). I'm being "objective" about it, since TXT are certainly not going to read this, but I kind of question how Hybe put the group together. They're maybe the only boy group I found boring on Jonathan's show. I often don't know any of the groups who go on that show that well, or at all, but end up finding them charming and funny - like "Ah, I get it. This is why fans like them". Not TXT. Every time I watch interviews or variety stuff I think they seem stiff, don't interact very well with each other, and their humor is off. Imo, that's why Enhypen and SKZ surpass TXT in terms of overall popularity. SKZ are great performers who sing live and now how to engage fans. Enhypen are much better singers than TXT overall, with better stage presence and capacity to draw in fans.

Anyway, this is my opinion, but TXT are a group with the potential to be greater - perhaps with a different lineup, or if they learn to make their "weaknesses" less obvious. TXT's appeal to me was always unique and unconventional music, but now that they've lost that and sound a lot more like a "normal" kpop group, I think their limitations have grown more pronounced.

Surely, most people will disagree with me, but anyway... I'm fond of the boys as a person, but as a consumer less so.

[wickymicky]

sigh.... it hurts to admit it, because it means i’m an idiot, but idk, maybe i was too hard on Talk & Talk lol. im starting to not mind it. i think it’s many many steps behind every one of their other title tracks, but like... 

okay, a couple things made me wanna give the song another chance. first off, their first win. i felt guilty because that’s a big deal for them, and theyre one of my favorite groups. i was bummed cause i really wanted to like it, especially since that was a big moment... and the other thing that made me wanna revisit the song was... well... a certain very weird song released recently by a certain boy group that i (usually) like, haha. that sorta put things into perspective. like, at least Talk & Talk is a song.... so yeah, i wanted to give it another chance, and as i listen to it more, yeah, it’s not that bad. i was just harsh because idk... it came from a place of love, you know? i wanna see one of my favorite groups thrive and i want every comeback of theirs to be their best ever up to that point, and so when something falls short of my hopes, it sucks lol. and idk maybe it’s my bad for having too-high expectations in the first place.

like, i still dont think the song is amazing, but man... it’s a song haha, unlike that other song. even if there are parts i think dont really do anything for me, i can at least appreciate that it’s a song. that sounds harsh too but i mean that in a good way. like... i listen to a lot of songs that are just songs. not every song is perfect haha, and yeah, i listen to a lot of stuff just for the hell of it, cause i appreciate some aspect of it, idk, something like that. so while i think Talk & Talk sounds like a mediocre bside, i mean... i listen to a lot of mediocre bsides lol. it’s fine. it’s not hate-worthy, not at all. at the absolute worst, it’s just kind of a “shrug” song, not a “this is garbage” song, haha. at worst, it’s not something i would have had much of an opinion of if it had been already released when i first got into fromis 9. like if this song existed already, and i discovered it then as an already-old song, i wouldnt have minded. it wouldnt have been my favorite, but i wouldnt have minded it. and i can settle into feeling that way about it right now pretty easily too. especially if the next thing they release is something that i really love, lol. but yeah

idk, it’s hard to put all of this into words. 

[soulpunc]

Pray For The Wicked Review

My full track by track review is under the cut, but tl;dr: it is okay. not bad, but nothing new either. This is the best vocals Brendon has ever recorded, and he really shines in all of these songs. I loved the jazz and swing influences on these songs. and the tone and pace of the album was nice. However, the album feels a bit to clean for me and none of the track really stand out as unique. 6/10. Good, but could have been great.

Aight, now to the nitty gritty! This review is based off of listening to the album twice (and some tracks a bit more), so this is really just my knee-jerk opinion. It also seems important to note that even before the album was released, I was not particularly impressed with the singles, which resulted in low expectations.

(Fuck A) Silver Lining - Already heard, but still as underwhelming as the first time. It’s NOT a BAD song, but its very lackluster for the opening to the album. And the chorus is a bit repetitive and derivative. This song would be better suited towards the middle/end where it is padded by stronger songs. (5/10)

Say Amen (Saturday Night) - So far, one of my favorite songs from the album. A strong single to lead the album with, and the lyrics here are some of the best in the whole album. Good shit. (7/10)

Hey Look Ma, I Made It - Maybe this is just me, but the lyric talking smack about record labels seems a little faux edgy. Especially considering that this album is a very safe album that doesn't take a lot of risks to try much new. This song kind of feels like a bside version of Say Amen. But I like the strut of this song, and Brendon’s vocals are fuckin rockin! (6/10)

High Hopes - Its probably now that I should mention - I really love that in this album they expanded on the idea of a modern and new jazzy swing song, taking the drums and effects of modern pop and combining it with the brass and strong vocals of classic crooners. They touched upon this on the last album, and took it to the next level here. And it is what shines in this song. The worst this song has going for it is the fact that it sounds a little to similar to Silver Lining, just making it feel like much of the same, if you get what I mean (6/10)

Roaring 20s - Okay, a lot of people are talking smack about how these songs are all about smoking weed, which is a huge part of this song. And while I see the point that it is a kind of cheap song topic that isn’t anything new, I don’t find it particularly offensive - the point of music is to capture the human experience, and drugs are a part of that. Lyrics aside, this song is one of my favorites. Again, I love the modern swing lens they take with it. Brendon’s vocals are really impressive here, and the chorus is really strong and memorable for all the right reasons (7/10)

Dancing’s Not A Crime - This song also has a great strut and drums, but like Hey Look Ma, this song also feels too much like other songs on this album so it doesn’t really stand out as unique (which is a problem I have with most of these songs tbh). Though that being said, it isn’t a bad song and is okay. Just not great. (6/10)

One Of The Drunks - I think this song captures exactly what I don’t like about this album. It is so safe and lackluster that I honestly cant remember what the pace of the song sounded like, and I literally JUST listened to it for the third time JUST NOW. It sounds like something Brendon has done multiple times in the past, and while it doesn’t stand out as bad in the context of the album itself, it does not stand alone as a song without the strength of the rest of the album carrying it (4/10)

The Overpass - LOVED the jazz in here! This song was like a breath of fresh air after the last one. The bass line is also really boppin, so I appreciated that a lot. I love fast pace, the brass, the drums, everything! It stands out from the rest of the album, and is one of the strongest songs on it (7/10)

King Of The Clouds - Aaaaaaaand back to mediocre. I loved the lyrics in this song, but other than that this song feels like yet another song that feels much the same as the others. Not bad, but too safe. (6/10)

Old Fashioned - I will be honest, after my first listen through this album I completely forgot that this song existed. I, for the life of me, couldn’t remember anything about how it sounded or what it was about or anything. And if that doesn’t speak volumes about it, I don’t know what does. Another case of a track on this album being forgettable as it sounds like a bside version of a different and better Panic! song. Again, not a BAD song to listen to, just very plain. And it is slightly better than One Of The Drunks, hence the slightly higher rating.(5/10)

Dying In LA - Aight, now for the last track. I have found that Panic! has some of the best closing album songs that really capture the tone and message the whole record conveys, so I went into this song with high hopes. And I wasn’t disappointed. The quieter lowkey tone really captures the melancholy message it addresses. It is also one of the most distinctly unique songs on the whole album, and the only one that sounds like an original song and not just another version of either a song from DOAB or an earlier track. I think ultimately it feels like this album is about the fleeting fun and fear inherent to youth as we try to find ourselves. And this songs really brings that to life, and it a perfect concluding paragraph to this album.(7/10)

All in all, I think this album could have benefited from more time being put into it. I like what this album was going for, I like the message, I like the vibe and groove. But so many of the songs feel so lackluster that it really takes me out of ti and is such a huge detractor. If the majority of the tracks were more punchy and unique as Dying in LA, Overpass, and Roaring 20s, then the album would have been much much better. It is so unfortunate that they didn’t go that final stretch and instead played it so safe.