(G)I-DLE’s Last Dance is the latest single to be released via the Universe app, a frustrating approach where a song’s full music video is only viewable within the app itself. Despite gathering some big-name talent for these tie-ins, I still have no clue what the Universe app actually is, and have little desire in researching or downloading. This is largely due to the strength (or lack thereof) of the music spawned from the project so far. Both IZ*ONE and Park Jihoon’s tracks felt like afterthoughts when compared to their own promoted material. And though Last Dance shows hints of promise, it also shares that undercooked feeling.
On the plus side, I really enjoy the song’s instrumental. In keeping with their moniker, producers GroovyRoom have a way with rhythm. Much of Last Dance’s percussion hits a sweet early-to-mid 90’s nostalgia, right around the time where new jack swing gave way to a more laidback house style. This pops up most clearly after each chorus, where the production abandons its deep electro throb to enlist a fuller spectrum of sound.
Unfortunately, Last Dance’s excitement is dulled by an empty chorus. The melody here is lazy and flat, and misses the opportunity to harness the full power of that instrumental. Drop choruses are nothing new, but they continue to disappoint unless a songwriter does something novel with the format. At three minutes, Last Dance isn’t an overlong track. But the fact that it only finds room for one repetition of the chorus is a testament to the level of slack within the song. It could do with some tightening, giving its best instincts greater focus and getting rid of the elements that drag it down.
| Hooks | 7 |
| Production | 9 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 7 |
| RATING | 7.75 |
Whatever this app is, it doesn’t advertise itself well enough. This song didn’t even pop up on my usual go-to sites for what is newly released today.
The song has its moments, but sounds like a b-side to me or under-cooked as Nick says. Some parts are better done than others – the pre-chorus sounds like every girl group pre-chorus right now so that part meets expectation.
For my taste, I think where it falls flat is the vocal performance. Its very basic vocal, actually some of the vocalists sound like school girls trying to cover some hot new song on their home laptop, and using some freeware to edit it. So therefore it is also a production problem, because the producer didn’t add the usual effects that elevate subpar vocal performances, whether we love or loathe those effects. This is an example where and when the vocal processing effects are missing, we get a song like this which sounds under-baked. Therefore a 9 for production is way high for me.
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There’s some stuff here that I like. I don’t hate the minimal drop necessarily, but I don’t particularly enjoy it either. There’s also a lot of parts that bore me immensely. As a whole, this is a firm ‘meh’ from me.
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~ walks into room with something playing through headphones on his phone.
~ removes headphones to hear what everyone else is listening to.
~ contorts face into a “Huh.. ..wha?!?” look.
~ puts headphones back on and walks out of room humming “Gratata”.
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Nowhere to run!!
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9 for production? It’s got a groove but feels so generic. The vocal performance was not great either. I would rate it in the 5s.
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As a Shuhua stan I’m satisfied with her spotlight–that said, while the song is definitely my style and I was bopping my head along the entire time, Minnie’s voice sounded horribly out of place. Not her fault–whoever produced this one needs to learn better mixing. It really stuck out in a negative away.
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I staunchly disagree. I thought Minnie’s pre-chorus and the post-chorus rap talk with Soyeon were strengths of the song. And Shuhua does a wonderful chorus. No-one sounded out of place but no-one gave a phenomenal vocal performance because the song doesn’t lend itself to that.
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I like the song quite a bit actually. It isn’t as great as Latata, but few songs are.
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