I remember Victon’s debut like it was yesterday. Not to veer completely off-topic, but it coincided with the 2016 U.S. presidential election and was overshadowed by a sense of despair felt by many of us on that night. The song itself was quite good, but I’m not sure I gave it much of a chance to grow on my playlist. Five years later, we’re all in a very different place and Victon have released a special single to celebrate the anniversary of their debut. The song arrives without member Seungwoo, who is currently serving in the military.
When I think of anniversary songs, my mind immediately conjures cheesy ballads. This has been a K-pop trope forever, and I’ll never understand why groups can’t celebrate moments with music that actually sounds celebratory. At the very least, Sweet Travel ups the tempo and energy. It’s still quite sentimental and borderline cheesy, but those aspects are better tolerated when fueled by a bounding pop-rock beat.
No other single in Victon’s discography sounds quite like this, and it’s nice to hear a track that’s light, simple and joyful. Sweet Travel doesn’t make any unexpected detours, and its formulaic nature will likely limit its long-term appeal. However, the punchy guitar and vocal hook crafts an optimistic atmosphere that works well. All elements – from vocal to rap – are integrated seamlessly to create a sunny, singalong pop song. I like the chanted effect on the chorus, which retains melody while providing a big, effusive sound. For better or worse, Sweet Travel accomplishes exactly what its title promises.
| Hooks | 8 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 8 |
| RATING | 8 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Nice song. Not my favorite Victon song, and I much prefer their darker songs, but a fun little song nonetheless.
OT: While working on one of the IAMCA award festivals (a little thing Deforested started), we found this city pop jam which I think actually fixes many of the issues of K-Pop city pop (the lack of impact, no peaks). This song is surprisingly good, so I thought I’d share it.
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Slightly off topic but I remember when you reviewed “What You Said” earlier this year. A lot of people in the comments all had like a specific Victon song they really liked. Some liked Time of Sorrow, others liked Nostalgia Night, and others like Unbelievable. Idk why that was always interesting to me. My song is Mayday. Found it right when I was getting into kpop so there’s some sentimental value. This song is fine though.
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Also, I find it kind of cool how Victon and some other groups (ONF, Golcha, Pentagon, Nu’est, and SF9) kind of used the different kpop reality shows to kind of “revive” their careers. All these groups had kind of stagnated selling around 15-20k each comeback and then due to whatever show (Produce, Kingdom/RTK) they had a HUUGEEE surge now their all 100k+ sellers. Cool stuff.
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unrelated but whaddya think of this?
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We shall see in two days, but this preview doesn’t sound particularly… fresh.
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The old lady here immediately thought of Kool and the Gang “She’s Fresh, fresh! Exciting! She so exciting to me”, but the sampler was too short to see if they sample it. I mean they do chant “Fresh, fresh”, and then I go “Exciting!” and then … aw, nothing. Not exciting to me. (I am going to reuse this of course)
‘https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTJ1XwGDcA4
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This is so pleasing, even as a What I Said and Take Over fan. It’s really unforced and fun. A little bit of sun before winter hits.
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I was not expecting a lot but was pleasantly surprised! I’ve added this to my wake up playlist, towards the end when I’m moving around and getting going for the day. And from the standpoint of a fan, it was nice seeing the guys (mostly) together again – they seem to be having good to great years doing their own acting/modeling/solo career things but it’s been a while since “What I Said”.
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I am glad you let us all know it if the anniversary fan service song, because otherwise it is just OK.
On a related note, per the notion that Victon songs seem to be pick a mix for just about everyone, their “Unpredictable” is in the top 10 most played in 2021 on my itunes. I started to do some pondering and math and pulled out the data, and yeah, it is as of right now #9 most played this year. Howboudat. I would not have predicted this. I can even sing most of it. Now, did I know it was Victon and not ABC247 or V.lance or SP-ACE or 5IVE Teen? Well, now I do.
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Meanwhile, this came across my feed this morning. Junny “Hide and Sick”. I don’t even know who this Junny is, but here is a half better version of the “bright theme” theme. This Junny, on the smallest budget, showing how its done to the rest of them who have a much larger budget.
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JUNNY is a cool singer-songwriter from Canada. He co-wrote MMMH for Kai.
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I finally pried myself away from Billlie and ONEUS long enough to start catching up on other releases and I like this one! I think it’s a better song than “Sweet Travel”, but it doesn’t seem as happy to me, either because the lyrics are kind of bittersweet, or because I’m just soft for VICTON.
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I think this one is going to really grow on me over time. The chorus is nice and catchy but the vocal isn’t jarring, it’s sung well and I found myself humming it after just one listen. Is it playing it slightly safe? Yeah, but I’ve got time for it.
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