XUM is the rebooted name for three-fifths of disbanded girl group Neon Punch. In my opinion, their fun music never needed a reboot. But, XUM has arrived, and their name stands for… drumroll, please… “Xumething Unlimited Move.” So… there’s that. For the record, Neon Punch was a much cooler name, even if it became threatened by Woollim Entertainment’s Rocket Punch. With this reinvention comes a new sound, as the trio move closer to the chant-and-swag-heavy style favored by many 2020 girl groups.
Ddalala also borrows the popular onomatopoeia naming structure of this year’s K-pop title tracks. Honestly, I can’t remember another time we’ve been treated to so many bimbam tralala doop doop burumpumpum songs. Sometimes I feel like I’m wading through a kindergarten class. Ddalala’s title pretty much gives away the plot. This is a song that thrives on rhythm over melody, and that’s okay. Because of this, it’s useless to discuss choruses and refrains. When it comes down to it, Ddalala succeeds or fails upon the strength of its groove.
With this in mind, I think the song is pretty average. It’s consistent in sound, but even though there’s a ton going on inside the instrumental, Ddalala never builds to many peaks. Instead, the track is a playground of endless percussion. The central rhythm is addicting, and improves with bright stabs of synth. But stretched across three minutes, it becomes a bit monotonous. This is where a beguiling melody might have elevated things. The closest we get is Ddalala’s pre-chorus, which unveils itself in expected fashion before plunging into a minimalist drop that underlines a taunting hook. It’s performed with plenty of attitude, yet struggles to stick.
| Hooks | 7 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 7 |
| Bias | 7 |
| RATING | 7.25 |
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The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
I figured you’d be pretty eh on this, but I’m surprised at how much I love it – it’s immediately one of my favourite tracks of the year. The core rhythm is incredibly compelling, and they were smart to crank the BPM. The pace is so brisk, I always find it ends too quickly!
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It starts off as a more than obvious successor to Ciara’s Level Up and right when you expect the song to reach momentum, it immediately waters itself down with that underwhelming drop.
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bimbam tralala doop doop burumpumpum
THIS is 2020
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Accurate.
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Xumething Unlimited Move, Enhyphen, when you had said Craxy were on the shortlist for the worst name of 2020, I thought that it would easily peak, I was SO wrong..
I feel nostalgic for Sexy Zone and Super Junior now.
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I always have “Drug Restaurant” on my list for oddball names. But then again, in the US we have “Toad the Wet Sprocket”, as but one example of dumb names, so who am I to judge.
At least XUM, despite being an acronym it can be pronounced instead of spelled out. Xsum! like pow pow piew piew xzoom xzoom laser pistol sounds. xsum xsum!
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Ooh, forgot Drug Restaurant (kinda ironic now though) and (ugh) Dickpunks!
All this onomatopoeia makes me nostalgic of the 1966 Batman show
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Um… 1966 Batman show for the win! Literally my childhood 🙂
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nanananananananana.. BATMAN!!!
I can’t help but laugh at how silly the show is compared to modern batman adaptations or the comics (it is cheesy even by golden age comic standards)
But it is still hella fun!
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The fun thing about kpop’s dumb names is that, more often than not, they were intended to sound unironically cool :’) It’s beautiful.
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It’s okay, I don’t like it that much but I definitely don’t hate. I was honestly expecting much worse lol The drop just ruins it a bit…
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I know I am late, but here is my review for Everglow’s new song
https://108ent.blogspot.com/2020/09/review-everglow-la-di-da.html
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I think all these people are mining from that Grease song “We go together”. rama lama lama ka dinky dink ding da gong, shoop da doop da boopety boom da boom
*sigh* another one on today’s list of “not for me”.
mid 6’s at best for me.
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Upon first listen I was almost as confused as I was when I listened to CRAXY’s “ARIA” for the first time. But (as with “ARIA”) “Ddalala” gets better with every listen in my opinion. That drop is certainly something and the track is quite addicting.
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Can’t believe Neon Punch old titles such as Good Time and Moonlight gave room to this. I don’t have anything specially bad to say about it, I just enjoyed the old group a lot and this feels like a lukewarm departure.
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believe it or not, this song is produced by SHINSADONG TIGER, probably the first track we’ve gotten since I’m So Hot/WOOWA, sigh i miss when he would rule over K-Pop
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I’m honestly surprised, as this doesn’t sound like his work to me.
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How the mighty have fallen… He went from producing Roly Poly and Every Night to this.
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