Of all the tracks I would choose for promotion on WayV’s (very solid) album, Bad Alive would be pretty low on the totem pole. And, I certainly wouldn’t opt for a (mostly) English-language revamp. This isn’t meant to be a knock on the track itself. As a piece of music, it’s solid. But stacked against some of the album’s more interesting material, Bad Alive feels like little more than “that thousand dollar shoes song.”
As with last year’s great Love Talk, I will be continuing to embrace the Chinese version of Bad Alive. I mean, most of its chorus was already performed in English anyway, yet for this re-recording they opted to change some of those lyrics. Very odd. And, it’s not as if suddenly being able to understand Bad Alive‘s deep meaning adds any appeal. Let’s take verse one as an example:
“All these women come a dime a dozen (Drip spill)
Cool me off, I’m hotter than an oven (Chill, chill)
We just touchin’, I don’t do no cuffin’”
Yeah. Pretty horrible. Still playing with that queso, apparently. I’ll take “I’m alive on the mountain top” any day.
So, let’s remove the lyrics from the equation, since they’re not an element I usually discuss anyway. As an actual song, Bad Alive has its charms. It’s the kind of NCT swag track we’ve heard many times before, which is one of the reasons I find it an odd choice for promotion. I don’t see how it would draw any new listeners to WayV’s sound. Synth distortion supports a beefed-up trap beat and an arsenal of catchy electronic flourishes add texture. In this way, Bad Alive is emblematic of many current C-pop trends, which tend to favor attitude over melody. To the song’s credit, its chant-along chorus is a lot of fun – especially if you ignore many of the awful lyrical choices. I suppose this is a testament to WayV’s charisma. They can truly sell anything. As they so eloquently put it during verse two:
“Yeah, I don’t talk, I need mine, off the top, on go
Yeah, Milly Rock on your block, make it pop, let’s go”
I mean… who’s writing this nonsense?
| Hooks | 8 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 7 |
| RATING | 7.75 |
Be sure to add your own rating by participating in the poll below!
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Can you rank all songs in the album?
Also, what are your favorite bollywood/Indian songs of all time?
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Oops sorry typed it twice
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I am an Indian but I can never connect with Indian/Bollywood songs , I mean I love the emotional songs but the So called “Hype Tracks” Just are trash
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Indian here too dude,
The last 15 years have been junk for Indian music, minus the occasional classic (Kal ho na Ho), also, WAAAY too many remakes, more than new songs.
But from the 50s to the 70s was such a golden age, SD Burman really knew how to make emotive music, Shankar Jaikishan acutally could make up-beat music fun. Laxmikant Pyarelal mastered tears on the dance floor, and RD burman lead a creative production renaissance. Our parents and grandparents got this.
We got a gazillion remakes and nothing else, why?
On a side note, my favorite Indian song of the year is Ek Tarfa, not a classic, but quite good overall.
Sorry for the rant, but modern bollywood frustrates me soooooooo much, movie quality is soooo low too
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I never really listened to 50s to 70s so I really don’t know but All I Know is that trashy Happy New Year Movie is The Worst Bollywood movie , with the best being 3 Idiots
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Ya Happy new year is the worst. But my favorite new generation bollywood movie is 2002’s Aakhen, check it out if you have the time.
And listen to old bollywood music, it was SUCH a golden era, no joke there were soooo many legendary songs.
Also, you had said you were listening to TVXQ’s discography, what are your favorite singles, bsides and albums?
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For the record, mine are
Single: Rising Sun
Bside: Love in the ice
Album: T
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Single: Rising Sun
Bside: I think U Know
Album: T
So Our is almost the same!
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Cool!
I just LOVE Love in the Ice and Rising Sun, they are both along with Kal ho na ho my favorite songs of the century
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lol I don’t listen to much Bollywood at all but off the top of my head, I would go with:
– hawayein (JHMS)
– Noor E Khuda (MNIK)
– the disco song, Kukkad (SOTY)
– Janam Janam (Dilwale)
– the breakup song, channa mereya (ADHM)
What I noticed is that I either listen to completely sad songs or EDM bangers lol.
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Those were like all literally 5 years old at best, yikes, am I that old. The most recent song in my top 10 was released in 2004, and it is an honorable mention (Oh ya, I am EDM and ballad guy too) And finally, the disco song is a remake, but if you like it, check out the Disco Dance 80s music soundtrack, it is DOPE
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Can you rank all songs on the album?
Also, what are your favorite bollywood/Indian songs of all time?
Also I think they just randomly chose words out of the dictionary
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.
Walking with the cheeze, that’s that queso
Yes thank you, super lolz, that came to my mind too.
This English version does nothing to improve on the Chinese version.
Whoever is doing their English translation needs to get the heave to, pronto.
oh, look I rhymed! Hire me, SM!
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Ok, even I’m getting tired of the memes. This horrible writing needs to stop.Even the Queso line doesn’t make me laugh anymore.
Oh god, I just imagined if ATEEZ releasing an english version of Say My Name, and while they do the millie rock dance they talk about millie rocking and dabbing.
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Stop! Stop! Please get that out of my head!!
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Maybe if we all go back to misheard Simon Says lyrics, because that hasn’t gotten old yet.
Simons says sounds like godzilla! zilla zilla!
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So we “robbing”?
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I am a big fan of NCT yet even as someone who is only fluent in english I have absolutly no desire for them to remake songs in english. The only exception would be NCT Dream’s Fireflies, but only because that song was originally written in english. So the lyrics arent automatically cringe worthy. As always Wayv will completely win me over in the MV itself but when it comes to the song I will only save the original Manderin version on my playlist.
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For me this was one of the highlights of the album. Mostly because I really like the samples/synths but I’ll forever go back to the chinese version so that I won’t need to listen to these lyrics. Idk why English lyrics always turn out like this, the lyrics aren’t nearly as bad on the chinese version (at least from the translations I’ve seen. maybe it is to native chinese speakers)
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SM i’m begging you please stop releasing english versions.. love talk was bad enough but i want to curl up with embarrassment because of this one
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That rap verse is a crime against humanity, I don’t want to hear it ever again. Other than that, it’s decent
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but its not even like full english… its like 80% english, 15% korean, 5% chinese. i don’t have a problem with english lyrics if they can fully commit to it, instead of taking the easy route and throwing in some korean/chinese in there. a big MEH for effort.
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