Brand New Music’s Lee Eunsang made his debut with the short-lived X1, moving onto solo and duo work after that group dissolved. I had to search to see if I had reviewed his solo debut (I hadn’t), which gives a sense of how little impact it left on me. Because of this, I come into Lemonade completely fresh. I enjoyed Eunsang’s duet with Kim Wooseok last year, but don’t have any impression of him as a solo performer.
In this case, my lack of expectation greatly benefits Lemonade. We’ve heard its musical bag of tricks many times before, but this is a fun, buoyant pop song that goes down just as easy as the drink that shares its name. I could do with more pucker (always love the sour…), but I’m not mad at Eunsang for being generous with the sugar.
Okay, enough lemonade wordplay. Beyond the gimmicky title, Lemonade unfolds with a bright, summery beat that would have been perfect for early June. The instrumental ties tropical synth to a more driving beat during its chorus. In this way, Lemonade feels stuck between K-pop trends, melding 2017-era sounds to rhythms that are more popular today. This creates a track that feels simultaneously familiar and exciting. Its various segments threaten to bump awkwardly into each other, but the arrangement manages to smooth over any problematic transitions. I love the central beat drop, and wish it came paired with a stronger vocal refrain. There’s not much meat on Lemonade’s melodic bones, and I come away from the track without an added sense of who Lee Eunsang is as a performer. But, there’s an addictive comfort in Lemonade’s amiable energy.
| Hooks | 8 |
| Production | 9 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 8 |
| RATING | 8.25 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
I am divided on this song. I mean, it sounds like a perfectly fine pop song, right.
There is the verse which bubbles along and sounds like one tempo. And then the chorus comes along, and it quasi half time, except it is the same bpm. And then the break, and that seems faster but isn’t. So there is this lurching that is odd.
But my real problem is that except for the vocal styling and a few instrumental choices here and there (or lack of instrumental highlights), I swear the chord progression is thiscloseto Mikrocosmos. Go on, sing Mikrocosmos chorus over this one’s chorus. Or listen to Mikrocosmos and interject “Drink Lemonade” over its chorus which is slightly easier to do. It fits pretty well.
So I went back and look at my comments on last year’s song (which I did not remember either), and I said almost said the exact same thing about that song, that this guy has a serious BTS style thing going on.
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Well, I love Microkosmos, so I quite honestly don’t care even though it is very noticeable.
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My post is not to demean Mikrocosmos, which is a pretty good song, melodic and very sing-along friendly. Its more a general comment about this agency’s song choices for this artist. They are trying to ride on another group’s sound and not bothering to define him as a unique artist, and neither is working out.
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They should’ve put him in a group a long time ago. He doesn’t have solo quality. That’s just the way it is. Now his popularity is.. questionable. Well, he was the X member to begin with.
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I agree, they should’ve just added him to their boygroup BDC (which was originally the members who didn’t make it into X1 anyways)
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Brand New Music actually announced they’d be debuting a 13 member BG not too long back. I kind of expect him and BDC to be in it
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I wonder if they’ll be able to make that work. I fear that AB6IX’s impact is kind of fizzling, and as much as I love BDC’s output they haven’t exactly set the industry on fire.
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Speaking of AB6IX, I was scrolling through Twitter until Arpydarpy put this song to my notice. It’s extremely good!!
“https://youtu.be/kLyrpd_ZO9k”
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I actually dislike this a good deal. It tries to be smooth and calming, and at the same time, unpredictable. This can be done, but that drop chorus ruins any semblance of balance.
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Me: I don’t know, this song sounds like a commercial for lemonade.
Also me: “Chip, chip, chip, honey
Chip, chip, chip, honey butter
Chip, chip, chip, honey
Chip, chip, chip, honey butter”
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For a company that contains two groups i enjoy quite a bit in BDC and AB6IX, this is super meh for me. Not necessarily bad but it feels a bit too conventional for me ig.
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seeing the title reminded me of beyonce’s lemonade album (unpopular opinion: i don’t like “formation.” yes, the lyrics are deep and meaningful, but the trap instrumental and delivery got in the way of my enjoyment for the song.)
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