Pixy have undergone quite a transformation in my eyes, moving from noisy drop-style music to funky experimentations that offer a fresh voice in K-pop’s girl group landscape. New single Karma feels like a distillation of all these sounds… for better or worse. It has its standout moments, but they’re undercut by a jarring drop that doesn’t work.
Much of Karma makes use of jazzy samples that give it an almost vaudevillian style. These segments echo (G)I-DLE’s polarizing Nxde from last year, but they’re much more successful this time around. I miss some of the vocal experimentation the group delivered on Villain and Bewitched, but this adventurous spirit extends to the production. The instrumental is varied and interesting, even if it’s not always musically satisfying. If nothing else, I can respect the ambition.
My biggest gripe with Karma is the disconnect between its verses and chorus. Both segments feel pulled from different songs, and the tempo/energy shift pulls me out of the track in a distracting way. I wish we could hear Pixy fully commit to one of these styles and see it through to its full potential. As it stands, Karma feels more like a mood board – various concept ideas that never quite congeal into a satisfying whole. It fits squarely within the growing sub-genre of quirky/spooky girl group pop (think: Purple Kiss), and equates itself well enough. But now that we’ve had a taste of Pixy firing on all cylinders, it’s hard to go back to material that only thrills in bits and pieces.
| Hooks | 7 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 8 |
| RATING | 7.75 |
Grade: C+
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
The song sounds like a Pixy reinterpretation of 2PM’s classic “My House” https://youtu.be/u2pFB1dCSo4, with the Pixy trademark whisper vocal styling. Like the girl’s response.
As for the theme, I suppose somehow it preceded and is now hitting the Wednesday gestalt popular right now.
Darling daughter played the shit out of Bewitched and Villain last year, somuchso that I became tolerant and almost fond of the creepy vocal fried “Villain” refrain.
Yeah, I’ll take this one. Low 8’s for me.
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If Nick ever checks out the EP and listens to song in order, I’m ready for a Surprised Pikachu face. Mind screwy is what this EP was. Personally like Falling the most, but my brain hurt from the mental gymnastics of this ep.
Karma is 7/10 for me, felt like a combination of the iconic parts from their previous title tracks if that makes sense. But no standout vocals. Might grow to a 8-8.5 eventually after many repeats. Nick surprisingly gave higher score than my personal despite this group being one of my top groups
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I don’t know. It’s quite promising, but…boring at the same time. The reason why is the disconnectedness between the song’s verses and centerpiece. Both feel like they were ripped off from other tracks. As a result, made it up to the second verse, then got bored and turned off. Low-7’s for me.
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“Both segments feel pulled from different songs”
They actually are! Karma is a combination of two songs, ‘Hide & Seek’ and ‘flip a coin’, I think. They’re trying to do the SHINee – Sherlock type of song. I listened to the song knowing this in mind so maybe I didn’t feel the disconnection as much. I think this is not better than Villain, but a nice direct continuation though.
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I liked “Addicted” better but this is a good song. I am even more surprised that such a small group is launching a large US tour at the beginning of April. 20 concerts in just 31 days.
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“Both segments feel pulled from different songs” because they are! Karma is a remix mash-up of two bsides on this album- Hide and Seek and Flip a Coin. It’s an interesting concept but the execution could have definitely been better.
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Ah, interesting. It’s like SHINee’s Sherlock in that way!
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It’s not a title that makes my jaw drop like their previous ones, but it’s still… okay. I thought the chorus would be really jarring, but I’m glad it’s not in the same drop category like Sugar Rush Ride. It kind of just coasts along which fits well in with their discography now. It’s actually nice that they have a signature sound/vision which can’t be said about other groups.
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It sort of works for me! I tend to dislike songs that slow down for the chorus, but it works with the spooky, intimidating vibes. It’s not quite a download for me, but I wouldn’t skip this if it came on.
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Their recent songs have been feeling less Pixy-ish for me really. Upto Bewitched the Pixy vibe was strong – Villain still had some Pixy with a little G-idle mixed in…. but this one seems too Gidle really. I don’t see Pixy anymore which is kinda frustrating lol. The song’s not bad and I did listen to it… just nothing really caught me? Compared to the other gg songs I’ve heard over the last few months this didn’t really do what Pixy usually does for me. I might enjoy the performances – yet I think I’m beginning to realise I liked them more when they did not have such a subdued vibe 😅
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Quite good.
Enjoyed villain a lot as well.
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This sounds weirdly out of tune at points and at first I didn’t get what part was the chorus. No ups or downs (there was a drop? I didn’t notice) just flat desert. I liked Villain. This I don’t like at all.
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I kind of suspected that you wouldn’t quite like this song based on this chorus. I definitely think both original songs in the album, Hide & Seek (it’s KARMA with its original chorus) or Flip a Coin (the one with this chorus) would both be better listening experiences for you. Word of God is that they couldn’t choose between the two songs as their title track, so they just combined the two instead. Bold choice, and I do like it but it does make you wonder whether it was a better choice.
I do hope Falling gets a shout-out, Pixy’s dark synth music just hits hard when they do it.
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I like it but I also don’t like it. It has potential but nothing more.
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This is such a missed opportunity for me. The idea of mixing two songs from the album has potential, but the end product just feels stale rather than impressive. Flip a coin (the song in the chorus) has great parts that weren’t used, same for Hide and Seek (the song that dominates the verses). They could have gone all out and made a song on which no parts ever repeated, but the way this idea was executed just feels like wasted potential. The final song isn’t bad, but the two songs it uses are much better on their own.
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There’s definitely a disconnect between the chorus and the verse but at least the two different songs they come from are on the same album. I really enjoy this song, what’s not sitting well with me about it is “karma’s a bitch” it stands out in a bad way. Like I agree but you don’t have to say it out loud ma’am
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