Sometimes it feels as if the K-pop industry is toying with their fans – seeing just how awkward a song they can force upon us. This year, no agency has been guiltier than JYP. From NMIXX’s mixx-pop excursions to ITZY’s footwear fantasies to Stray Kids’ ping ping pings, it’s as if everyone at the agency is engaged in the same cruel joke. Good on them, I guess. That joke makes a big punchline with Xdinary Heroes’ Hair Cut.
On a positive note, I appreciate how Xdinary Heroes aren’t playing things safe. They’ve carved their own path, far from most previous idol bands from notable agencies. I have no desire to join them down that path, but I give them credit for their sheer weirdness. Weirdness can be great. It should be celebrated in all its beautiful forms. But, you’ve gotta give me a song I can work with.
Hair Cut is… a choice. Actually, it’s a lot of choices — from the incessant cackling to the snipping scissor sound effects. I’d advise someone at JYP Headquarters to make off with the stock sound effects library, pronto. The lyrical conceit of cutting one’s hair to change perspective and fortune is a K-pop staple (exhibits a and b), but we’ve never heard it funneled through carnival-like psychedelic rock before.
Oh, who am I kidding? Hair Cut’s chorus is literally “get a hair cut, get a hair cut – cut, cut, cut” performed with some weird, drawling vocal fry. I have a pretty large musical imagination, but that hook alone disqualifies the song from my playlist. Like ITZY’s Sneakers, it feels so obvious and gimmicky. And thanks to its plodding energy, it’s half as fun. That chorus lands with a thud, and not a satisfying one. I assume it’s trying to be clever, but it comes across like an arm-farty plead for attention. It’s just really, really dumb. That could be an asset in the right hands, but like so many of these recent novelty songs, Hair Cut seems to take itself quite seriously.
| Hooks | 4 |
| Production | 7 |
| Longevity | 5 |
| Bias | 3 |
| RATING | 4.75 |
Grade: F
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
The prechorus is great though! I like what they were going for.
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Its uhh…decent. Not good as in Happy Death Day, but not bad as in WHO by TRENDZ.
8.25 for me (9, 8, 8, 8)
(I cannot wait for people to come at me stating I have terrible taste)
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As a fellow Happy Death Day enthusiast, I support you fully.
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It’s my first time commenting and I just have to say: what the hell is this song?
When I read your review I thought, ‘surely the song can’t be THAT bad, right?’
But the moment I heard ‘wE ArEE xDINarY heeEROES’ I lost most of my hope for this song being fine at best, and then the pre-chorus gave me a small glimmer of hope that MAYBE it would turn around and actually improve only to immediately be disappointed by the chorus. I tried listening to the Overload album and oh my god all of the songs are forgettable at best and awful at worst.
I had to go back to Day6’s SUNRISE to get rid of the horrible taste the album had out of my mouth. (ears? brain?)
Side note though, at least their covers are good, particularly Love Me Right and Hellevator. I just wish I could say the same regarding their actual songs.
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I really liked their cover of Hellevator! Though it’s hard to mess it up, that song was made for a rock cover.
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Wow thats the lowest score ive seen you give!
But imo its really not that bad. Yeah its cheesy especially the first part of the chorus but I personally like the rock elements and the fact that it sounds kind of unique. I probably won’t listen to it outside of this but I really didn’t think it was attrocious
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Eternity’s “I’m Real” begs to differ lol.
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that chorus…but the prechorus is nice imo. Side note, a song less than nxde we did it !
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we managed to find his least favorite single for the year.
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I have to say I dont often agree with you Nick but this one I am totally with you. I am desperatly trying to find something redeeming (sure these boys are very talented and worked hard!) but omg this song is just one annoying mess. Who writes their music? But whoever it is I blame JYP!
I know on this blog its all about the music but I do also have to mention those super annoying MVs (all of their MVs are so totally cringy), I really dont get it, it is a chore to actually watch it all the way through (and alas, in the end I had to jump off).
I need to stop crying about the good old days when Day6 released brilliant music and maybe also stop comparing BUT…….. buuuahhhhhhh…… I miss them!!!
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1) The opening riff they use bears a passing resemblance to an oldies rock song by Jethro Tull “Aqualung”.
‘https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdydtDuj3VU
2) For awesome rock band hair, nothing beats this guy from Polyphia right now.
That’s all I got.
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Can already tell I’ll be one of the brave few who’ll defend this song. The weirdness of the get a haircut repetition with the psych blues guitars is doing it for me and the rest of the song follows suit outside of the weird rap breakdown after the first chorus (a staple in seemingly every bg song) but this has left a really good impression on me!
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cannot believe i am gonna say this but i kinda like it lol! it weirdly works.
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Omg me too! My first listen to it was nah but seriously the pre-chorus when they play they are strumming got me interested in the song but the chorus went a bit bland.
Actually I’m curious why did o.de’s rap went distorted while gaon’s was fine…
But tbh it’s not that bad but the b-sides on the album were really good and I would personally prefer lunatic or zzz as the title because it was stronger than the tt.
Happy death day was really good and test me was too! But hair cut just let me down eventhough i kinda like the song because it didn’t give as much impact than the other two.
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Last week, I believed JYP Ent would earn a C- for so many pleasure-killing tracks this year (but haven’t caused any pain yet). And this song is the last straw that will lead them to the D or F level.
By the way, I don’t expect that much for the coming up next comeback of ITZY.
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Short Hair and Hair Short are CLASSICS. with that being said, I kinda liked the song… it’s not as bad as DICE which is the worst JYP release of the year (or ever) for me.
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I wished “Lunatic” was the single instead.
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Lunatic is good! Thanks for the rec!
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I think this one shares the similar problem to G-Idle’s recent Nxde. The entire track focuses too much on concept, thereby being obsessed with its own cleverness.
I can imagine it working as a goofy ahh sound effect, but as an actual song, not really.
My rating of it would be 6.5 (6,8,6,6).
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Ha! Pop-rock song of the day is this gem from EunJi of Apink.
I did not expect this.
When the guitar kicks in after the intro, I lifted my head and thought out loud wait what, then darling daughter wandered in to listen as well. She says “it’s pretty peppy”.
Is it too major key happy clappy? Probably. But it makes me smile, and she sings the shit out of it and still sounds true to herself.
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agreed! i love the original song and eunji really did it justice! so fun.
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As Sungjin just got out of the military, I hope he gives these kids a seminar on how to make title-track melodies that are actually memorable. XH only has 3 titles yet I still can’t remember a verse or a chorus from each one. Their bsides are more catchy IMO and definitely more well-written.
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This wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be! I like it better than Happy Death Day and…I can’t remember what their second song was. Aside from the “get a haircut” part, it actually seems pretty straightforward. It sounds like a typical 4th gen bg song put through an idol pop punk/rock filter, which doesn’t make it any better. But it’s not as terrible as expected.
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“I can’t remember what their second song was.”
Second was Test me! That sentence cracked me up bc it has the least views of the three. I like it but felt a little bland and sounded a little underwhelming for me. I am a huge Villain (their fandom). There was a two month disappearance period in february where villains didn’t see anything, no videos, pictures, updates, anything. In april they apologized for it: “During the two-month period, we had time to review and redevelop what we lacked as a team, as members of the company, as musicians and as human beings.
Throughout this time, we were able to envision a bigger future.
We also vowed to become a better team.
We sincerely apologize to all the fans who have been waiting for us, and also want to say thank you for your endless support.
We still lack in some parts, but we will continue to work hard and show how we can improve.
Please look forward to our growth.
We, Xdinary Heroes, will do anything to give your unconditional love back.”
A couple months after was Test me and their first mini album.
When I heard Happy Death Day, it was one of my least favorite songs I had heard. After a long time, I have come to accept it. I am sounding like I dislike their music but on the contrary, Hello World is one of the albums I have felt the most attatched towards, ever.
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I liked Dice and Strawberry Cake, but I don’t like this. They look great, though.
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I also did not like Happy Death Day, but it’s like fricking NCT 127 Superhuman next to this.
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The instrumental of Hair Cut is surprisingly cool.
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Who greenflags a chorus like that? Like who listens to that and says “Yeah shit goes hard let’s release”?
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The worst thing about this song isn’t the gimmicky scissors sounds, or the drawling chorus, or, hell, the lack of memorable melodic hooks, though those all don’t help. It’s the needless putzing around, the stop-and-go energy of it. For god’s sake, you have a drummer. You’re a fucking rock band. Go hard or go home.
It doesn’t deserve to be lower than Nxde though. Nxde is quite possibly the worst idol song I’ve heard all year.
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For me, it feels like these guys are handed songs and have to make something of them, instead of being a band that develops songs. Dare I say it “make it their own”. It feels like they just don’t play enough together, just messing about, see what works for them as a team and what doesn’t. This song here, it is as if the producer tells them when each of their parts start and stop.
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This was kinda fun ngl. The instruments were great and some of the parts were cool! The prechorus part especially was really good! I’m just a casual fan – but that one vocalist who sings that part – damn his tone is soooo good! They are all pretty good vocalists and I like that they are not conforming to any expected band templates and doing there own thing. I totally understand why it may not be for everyone but I found it pretty fun. Haven’t listened to the bsides yet – their last album was amazing: probably one of my fave albums of this year – there songs can fall anywhere within a wide range – but their voices are definitely a treat!
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Oh I think it’s fun. It does have the feel of an overly-earnest song penned by a high school student in their composition book, but I find that rather charming. I thought this would be a song about keeping your hair long and thus defying the cultural norm of short hair for guys, but no, we have a song about changing your perspective. Oh how the times have changed.
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Didn’t really like Haircut either myself. But I constantly have LUNATIC and Crack In The Mirror on repeat!! I think LUNATIC maybe my new favorite song
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