I must be getting old, because I’ve got absolutely no idea who this HRVY guy is. For some fans, much of Don’t Need Your Love’s appeal will likely lie in the interaction between the British singer and NCT Dream. For me, the song is most notable for being the first Dream release not to feature Mark and Haechan.
Unless I missed something, Haechan is still a member of this particular NCT unit, but I imagine his promotion with 127 presented too much of an overlap to participate in this song. His vocals are definitely missed, but the rest of Dream holds their own. HRVY kicks off the track with an English-language verse and chorus, offering a Bieber-esque performance that’s polished but generic. It doesn’t capture my attention at all, but I’ve been pretty divorced from Western pop music for some time now.
Once NCT Dream take over during Love’s second verse, the song starts to feel like a true collaboration. When it comes to K-pop, I’m still not a fan of these cross-cultural team-ups. They tend to cater to the least adventurous aspects of the industry. But, minus the English-language portions, Love feels very much like a b-side from Dream’s 2017 album We Young. It pulses on a tropical beat that would have been perfectly welcome during that era. In 2019, Love’s instrumental is yet another case of “been there, done that.” Fortunately, the song’s slick chorus is relatively engaging. It would have been a great candidate for SHINee-esque vocal layering, transforming this amiable toe-tapper into something more impactful. But alas — the ambition is pretty low here.
| Hooks | 8 |
| Production | 7 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 8 |
| RATING | 7.75 |
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The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
This song was created for a different demographic than mine. Its competent, but not for me.
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{Watches video, loses concentration because the “One of these things is not like the other” tune takes over the music}
HRVY? This seemed like a release that someone, somewhere thought would be a good idea, but… ..eh?
I’m not opposed to collaborations with western artists; if it is done right and not for expediency or an attempt to cash in. For example, I think “Gallant, Tablo, & Eric Nam – Cave Me In” was a good match. Another is “John Legend & Wendy (Red Velvet) – Written In The Stars”. In both examples, there probably was some cross cultural marketing motivation, but both of those pieces were well executed and played to the strengths of the artists involved. In short, art was made. This song (Don’t Need Your Love)? Seems a bit puerile. Not trying to offend; just my2p. I’m a little out of touch with current western trends, so, yeah.. ..there’s that.
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It’s funny. I’m super out of touch with Western trends, have never heard of HRVY in my life, generally prefer songs that are pretty different from this one, rarely play songs on repeat… and this is the only song I’ve been willing to listen to all day.
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sometimes life it like that
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I feel you. The chorus has been lodged in my head for days. I’m not sure whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but it’s there all the same.
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Mark has graduated from NCT Dream according to this article.
https://www.soompi.com/article/1286347wpp/watch-nct-dream-holds-fun-graduation-ceremony-mark
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I quite liked this song! I think if this song hadn’t popped up on my spotify, I might have missed out on all the gold in NCT Dream’s albums. But I do think I wasn’t actually the demographic for this song.
Also, while i really like this song, I’m nooot quite sure what the goal of this song was though.
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