The Snowball Project mockumentary has been one of 2017’s best surprises, offering continually entertaining doses of heightened behind-the-scenes mischief for SM and Mystic Entertainment. The series’ soundtrack has been more hit and miss. The unapologetically lame Lemonade Love kicked things off in upbeat, earnest fashion, but Snowball‘s next mission saw each agency cover a song originally performed by their rival. As ragtag a team as Mystic seemed to assemble, their version of Red Velvet‘s Dumb Dumb felt more notable than Velvet’s own update of Yoon Jong Shin’s ballad Rebirth.

Working again with original material, U&I (쟤 보지 마) pairs SM artists Henry and Sunny (from Girls’ Generation). Snowball Project quickly became The Henry Show (as happens with most of his variety work), but Sunny makes a smart foil. The two are close in “real life,” but more importantly, she has the kind of self-possessed personality necessary to compete with Henry’s tendency to ham it up whenever possible.

Given this pairing, you’d expect U&I to carry more energy. Unfortunately, the two were saddled with the ill-suited theme of “twilight years” when challenged to create the song. So instead of a track that takes full advantage of their considerable charms, we get a sentimental, airy mid-tempo that drifts by without leaving much of an impression at all. I suppose it’s sweet in its own way, but my tolerance for “sweet” has been lowered with each song of this style that gets released. It’s quite telling when the dramatized story behind the track is more interesting than the track itself. Oh well, at least it gives Sunny some much-deserved solo attention.

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