Sometimes K-pop salvation comes from the most unexpected of places. With most of July’s big-name comebacks disappointing, it’s up to the industry’s under-the-radar artists to pick up the slack. With the Ghostbusters-sampling BlockBuster, Dongkiz have done just that. The group first burst on the scene with November’s Nom, which was later recycled for their official April debut. I was high on Nom’s explosive funk-pop sound initially, but repeated listens haven’t done the track many favors. BlockBuster, on the other hand, takes the best elements from their debut and forges them into a thrillingly fun follow-up.
Direct samples of existing songs are pretty rare in K-pop, so I was shocked to hear that BlockBuster would incorporate the 80’s Ray Parker Jr. Ghostbusters theme so heavily into its structure. The central synth riff will be an instant touchstone for many listeners, even if you were born after the 80’s had ended. Thankfully, the song finds a way to fuse this instrumental to its backbone without being completely beholden to it.
BlockBuster opens with the movie’s familiar spooky synths before catapulting into a brisk funk-pop verse that sounds like the kind of thing Seventeen used to deliver on the regular. From here, the track moves into its weakest moment — a cut-and-paste pre-chorus that too literally copies its source material. But, this small misstep is easily forgiven once the rollicking chorus comes in. I love the use of the Ghostbusters synths here, giving the already-robust hook an extra zap of electricity. I wasn’t surprised to see that BlockBuster was co-produced by Chung Ho Hyun from the veteran e.one team. There’s an undeniable polish here that was missing from Dongkiz’s debut. This is K-pop at its most off-the-wall fun, and with any luck should serve as a springboard for this promising young group.
| Hooks | 9 |
| Production | 9 |
| Longevity | 9 |
| Bias | 9 |
| RATING | 9 |
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The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Yay! It’s relatively rare for you to receive a follow-up better than a debut, and I completely agree with you on this one. K-Pop needs high energy music more than ever right now (looking at you, EXO-SC) and I bet this song will have crazy longevity for me.
(Unrelated, but today is the day before I leave the country for a yearlong study abroad program. You may not notice at all, but I’ll probably either comment less or at stranger hours of the day. I’ll still try to keep up here, though! Gotta get my daily fix of healthy bias.)
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Good for you! How exciting 🙂
I hope you still find time to comment. I always love hearing your thoughts.
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This is a helluva entertaining song. It isn’t a great song, but it is much better than a lot of other stuff out there. It has also been a while since I heard a pop song riff on an old song sample, and the only time I can recall it happening for kpop. (I could be wrong here, not an encyclopedia.)
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I’m sorry so unrelated but can you do a review on Gaho’s songs? Like Stay Here or Fly?
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OMG omg Gaho! Yes please!
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This song feels like such a breath of fresh air right now! I had some cautious hope after Nom, and Dongkiz did not let me down. I’m just a bit sad that this song will most likely not get the recognition it deserves, as they’re a very new group still ;;
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