HYBE has a reputation for filming follow-up music videos for its acts. They rarely pick the songs I would, but that’s pretty much true for every K-pop agency. When it comes to ENHYPEN’s newest album, I’ve already put my weight behind the anthemic rock of Shout Out. But if I were to pick another song, ParadoXXX Invasion would be it. Truthfully, the entire mini has grown on me, making my initial review of Future Perfect (Pass The Mic) at odds with my current thoughts.
ParadoXXX Invasion has a nice swagger, especially during its chorus. I’m not a fan of the muffled instrumental elements that kick off the track and pepper throughout most of its running time. The producers seem to be aiming for “lo-fi,” but it sounds more like an mp3 encoded at 96kbps. It’s a weird aesthetic choice, for sure. But, the rest of the song is solid. The beat bounds with confidence and the melodies have a blustery quality that reminds me of early-00’s hip-hop inspired pop.
As we’ve come to expect from HYBE, ParadoXXX Invasion is very effects-heavy. In fact, the guys’ performance is more warped than anywhere else on the album. I’ll spare you my repetitive criticism of this approach and simply say the song would have been stronger without it. But, I guess if you’re going to throw in vocal effects, you might as well go full bore. In a strange way, the studio trickery compliments the rambunctious nature of the track. ParadoXXX Invasion is meant to bolster energy over all else, and despite a few stumbling blocks, it delivers.
| Hooks | 8 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 9 |
| Bias | 9 |
| RATING | 8.5 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Same as Nick, I wanted to see the music video being released for the masterpiece called Shout Out. It was a light disappointment when I got to know that it would happen to this one, but it’s also solid, though not perfect. I find the early-00’s hip-hop-inspired pop vibe refreshing, which makes the song receive some extra points from me.
In contrast, I hate to hear it sounding like a low-quality mp3 file and having that much vocal processing. This makes me think that HYBE’s recording equipment broke long time ago and their staff continuously forget to fix it.
Agree with the rating.
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*takes stick*
*starts beating people with stick*
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The song and the MV itself reminded me a lot of Gi-dle’s Uh-Oh, although I must say that being far from being a fan of that group, I prefer Uh-Oh in delivery, melody and final result.
Anyway, I didn’t like this song very much, it seemed like one more of the bunch. Well, I still need to check the entire mini.
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This was actually my favorite track on the mini. For some reason, Shout Out never sat with me. It’s an objectively GOOD song—but just never really hit where it needed to for me. This song definitely fit my groove a little more, but I genuinely think that HYBE is on some form of steroids with the way they’re pushing ENHYPEN’s voices through these effects. Solid song though, easily an 8.5/8.75 for me.
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I feel like this song makes more sense for a music video than Shout Out, it’s more choreography friendly and fits the image that HYBE obviously wants to give them right now. Imo, Shout Out is literally just the 2006-2012 pop punk starter pack. I feel like I’ve been hearing the exact same song from All Time Low, We The Kings, and Boys Like Girls for the last 10-15 years. While this song may not be as fun to listen to, it does give off more “dancing boy band” vibes.
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