Throughout their six years together, Nine Muses have been one of the most consistent, underrated girl groups in all of k-pop. Even with so many member changes, their music has always remained quality. 9MUSES A is their first sub-unit project, and its very existence is honestly a little confusing. I get the need for solos and duo units, especially if the music is different from what the main group can provide, but a four member subunit that isn’t doing anything particularly new seems kind of like a wasted opportunity. Still, Lip 2 Lip manages to provide a solid extension of the Nine Muses sound, even if it’s not about to set the world on fire.

The song opens with a bright synth refrain over a midtempo, almost reggae dance beat. The production shares aspects with Brave Brothers’ songs, though it lacks the dense drive often found in his material. Instead, the girls have gone with Jeong Changuk, who does a lot of production work for their agency. It’s a safe choice, which results in a safe song. Nothing about Lip 2 Lip is particularly notable, except maybe two thirds of the way through when the beat intensifies and the track finally starts to build to something. Unfortunately, this is too little, too late to have much impact.

What we have instead is a very “nice” release. It’s not particularly catchy or memorable, but there’s nothing about it that’s downright horrible either. The playful melody allows the girls plenty of opportunity to show their personality, though it’s largely wasted on a composition that doesn’t give them anything to sink their teeth into. Luckily, the single’s b-side, Shh, is utterly fantastic.