Shocking no one, my write-up of Jimin’s Set Me Free Pt.2 (and its accompanying comments section) brought all sorts of drama to the blog. I write about a ton of K-pop and my opinions aren’t always flowery. But, one thing has remained consistent throughout the years: Army are the only fanbase who flock en masse to negative (or mildly positive?) reviews to wish death and destruction on all who oppose them. At this point, it’s parody and should be treated as such.
Moving on, I’m curious to discuss Like Crazy since its predecessor elicited such strong (and polarized) opinions. Initially, I found more merits in Set Me Free’s choir-and-brass drama than most of my readers did, though I still don’t think it’s a good song. That was put into stark contrast by the track I featured the very next day, which happens to showcase a much more robust example of theatrical production and choral arrangement.
Like Crazy is an entirely different situation. Gone is the swaggering posture and cringe-inducing vocal effects, replaced by more nuanced pathos and an addictive electro thump that fits Jimin’s characteristic vocal tone surprisingly well. Synthwave influence is hardly new. Most would say we’ve had our fill (and then some!) over the past three years. But, Like Crazy adopts a clubbier ambiance. I love the scuzzy, trance-like instrumental that acts as a post-chorus midway through the track. It makes me wish the producers had travelled further in this direction.
There are some nice melodies peppered throughout the song – especially during its pre-chorus. However, Like Crazy would benefit from a stronger centerpiece. Its structure plays more like one long journey than a ‘build-drop, build-drop’ EDM pop template, and this extended release calls for a striking payoff. Dance genres like house and trance know this well, taking time to work their groove until everything comes together during the final moments of a song. Like Crazy is satisfying throughout – even with its enigmatic chorus – but the music fades before it can reach its true potential. Maybe that’s a thematic choice.
Still, it’s hard not to imagine what could be lurking past these three minutes and thirty-two seconds. The track clearly has more fuel in its tank and Jimin makes a convincing guide through its ebbs and flows. Even if we never get an extended edit, Like Crazy delivers all the right ingredients for a compelling solo career.
| Hooks | 8 |
| Production | 9 |
| Longevity | 9 |
| Bias | 8 |
| RATING | 8.5 |
Grade: B
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
This is a sexy song and it’s very much up my alley. I’m so thankful of how different it is compared to set me free pt 2.
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Lol I just randomly saw this at like 1 am. I’m so used to you posting stuff in the morning when I’m on the train to work
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Haha surprise!
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So sind die Geschmäcker verschieden. Set me free ist das erste Solo, das mich direkt und vollkommen überzeugt hat, während like crazy mich so gelangweilt hat, das ich es nicht bis zum Schluß gesehen/gehört habe. Mal schauen, wie die restlichen Songs des Minialbums sind.
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A translation:
So tastes are different. Set me free is the first solo that hooked me straight away and completely, while like crazy bored me so much I didn’t see/listen to the end. Let’s see how the rest of the songs on the mini album are
Unrelated to my comment completely and for some reason feels the need to say “tastes are different”. Not to mention obnoxiously being in another language
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I like that the song takes it time and the instrumental won me over. However, while I see the appeal of it, jimin’s voice is rather unpleasant for me. I weirdly think it fits this genre pretty well though. Unfortunately, the way other fans interact with groups like blackpink, bts, and gidle tend to be so disheartening that it’s hard to fully enjoy the artists’ music. Not that I’m in love with all of their tracks, but even songs I liked such as “spring day”, “dope”, “as if it’s your last”, and “hann” are unlistenable. All thanks toa heaviness that didn’t need to be there
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I hate his voice so much
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Don’t push the butcher away, if you hate his voice so much stop listening to his songs that’s all
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I mean… You could also stop reading comments about people not liking his voice. Comments like yours never seem to be about resolving an issue and more about “you said something I don’t like and now I have to respond”. Like you know the beginning of this is obvious and your comment isn’t saying anything new either so I find it hard to believe you actually wanna help
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Why do they need to help? All they said is stop listening if you don’t like his voice. It’s not difficult to comprehend.
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Never said they needed to help so apparently you had difficulty comprehending
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You replied with a paragraph on how you don’t think their comment was there to help or “resolve the issue”. I never said you told them they need to help LMAO. You can’t come for me for not comprehending your comment when you can’t do it yourself.
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I love his voice. It’s so rare. Nobody else sings like Jimin.
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Now THIS is more like it.
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Also, I fear the arrival of you know who but I’m glad you’re deleting them. It’s clear some of them aren’t gonna listen to reason and are really deep in worship
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This would definitely be enjoyable as a backdrop to a late night drive or something. The melodies aren’t really interesting enough for me to come back too often, but it still goes.
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Felt it ended too soon, liked where it was going but dissapointed in where it ended.
Now I await all the negativity for this not getting solid 10s across the board
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I definitely liked it, but it sounds oddly squished? Like jimins voice and the instruments sound flat?
Im giving it a solid 7, definitely needed some more oomf but enjoyable
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I had the same feeling -like a bit poor quality or not enough depth for the sound – BUT i played it on spotify and I loved it XD like seriously after watching it with mv on yt I was thinking like meh some popish “american-style” song, buton spotify the depth is mmmmm! and I got the ’70/80′ vibe’ and the sounds, melodies just come together nicely
TL;DR it sounds different on spotify compared to yt :*
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I agree with the 1980’s vibe.
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YouTube is notorious for poor sound compression! You need to play everything on Spotify to get the full effect.
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This is something I just don’t understand about the modern world. Why don’t all big companies and big producers use an algorithm simulator for what a new hot song will sound like on each of the major contemporary platforms? Why isn’t this a routine thing?
For me, I have often lamented here for new releases “what speakers does this sound good on?!”. I have my best earbuds, computer audio, phone audio, car audio, and and and and if a song sounds lousy on all of those, then where does it sound sonorous?
Back when, bands used to take a break from recording to make a quick copy of a rough mix onto a cassette tape to go for a drive and listen in the car. It was a regular thing, to hear how it sounds where half of everyone would hear it.
Then there is also contemporary song construction to consider, which in its nature is a lot more crowded than songs used to be, because they can. Today with additive construction, composed by accretion, more samples and more lines added particularly in the middle, all overlapping and interfering with each other, many lines living sonically on top of each other with adjacent timbres. Inherently, when a contemporary song is squashed by an algorithm, it becomes like sonic mud.
I was a child of the 80’s, so for me all these “80’s synthwave” revival songs miss the clean lines of the original 80’s new wave songs. Less was more. Air and space was given to individual sounds. I usually use Pet Shop Boys’ “West End Girls” as an example, but since Depeche Mode are back this month with a hot one, lets go to classic Depeche Mode “Enjoy the Silence”, 4 instrumental lines total in the verses (bass, drum machine, synth chord, vocal). Perhaps 12 separate lines total in the whole entire song. Here on this song, there are more than a dozen vocal layers alone, not counting everything else going on.
‘https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGSKrC7dGcY
Thank you all for your time and patience =rant over=
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Tbh I personally wasn’t the biggest fan of Set Me Free Pt.2, but thankfully Like Crazy takes a totally different sound. I love that you can hear his unique vocal tone without all the overuse of autotune and I feel Jimin’s voice fits this genre so well. I see myself listening to this on a nice night drive thru the city.
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Waaaaaaaaaay more my taste.
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I like this more, it suits him better. Love the instrumentals, esp after the chorus, reminds me of 2000s/2010s French house ala Justice or Kavinsky.
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This is definitely more like it! Oh I found my Jimin again 😂
Not totally won over by the chorus, and as you say this style has been done already a lot, but the verses are amazing and his vocals are emotional and lovely. I’m feeling better now and think it will grow on me quickly!
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Well thank goodness it’s a big departure to Set me free pt2. This one fits well into my spotify list.
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Ah another BTS release, another day the comments section turns into the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.
Alrighty, this is more like it. Jimin is present. It is still a rather safe song, radio-friendly, doesn’t push any boundaries, but it does paint within its proscribed lines well.
Though worth noting, I am not an ASMR person. I find it creepy. Minus a point for that.
Also the abrupt ending. To quote the lyrics last line, “What’s the point “? There was the space for more, some cool instrumental solo perhaps, complete with sexy dance solo. They pay too much attention to song length for repeat listening value and not what the music and the artist deserve.
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This song reminded me of the 1980s. It has the 1980’s synths. I played the English version of this and I loved it even more. This is my favorite song on the album. I played the English version multiple times and it became an instant favorite. I am going to put the English version in my apple music library for sure. I was chasing my dog Molly who had my papa’s socks and the English version of this playing on my Nintendo Switch.
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I love that image! So wholesome.
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I’ve said this before, regardless of the group or artist, I have very simple standards for music:
Can I listen to the full song?
Do I enjoy it?
To me, this one is underwhelming and the previous one was overwhelming. I could not find a happy medium in the album, so I’ll patiently wait for his next work.
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Well, yet another disappointment. It’s true that it’s nicer than the first song but this is not Park Jimin and it’s another attempt to please the American public.
The album is an absolute mess. “Alone” is salvageable but not enough.
Without a doubt the worst of the year.
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I like the album. It’s kind of quirky, moody r&b, maybe like Kai or DPR Ian, but with his own flavor.
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Like Set Me Free, this sound is not one I would have predicted for Jimin’s debut. It’s probably a bit darker than expected, and if so I was hoping for something more like Pied Piper Pt. 2, but at least it allows his vocal tone to shine through. None of the BTS solo debuts so far have really stood out to me, but I think they are representative enough of the individual members to satisfy the hardcore fans.
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even RM’s Indigo? I feel like it’s a big album. I was even shocked that i truly like and listen after time the 8/10 songs without any less of an enjoyment. That usually happens with Kendrick’s Lamar works for me 😀
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I absolutely loved this song! I must admit, as much as I enjoyed the meoldy of Set Me Free pt 2, I was a little nervous that Like Crazy might choose to take the same route.
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Happy to see that he’s branching off into so many different genres instead of sticking to just one.
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But it went the synth-wave route. There’s an English version of this by the way
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What I meant was I was afraid that it would also rely heavily on autotune and distortion(even if just for purely artistic reasons), and the teasers really didn’t reinforce my confidence.
So the actual song was an extremely welcome surprise.
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I thought Set Me Free was a fine performance piece. My K-pop indifferent husband, who likes it much more than I, called it an anthem. He generally does not overreact, so I respect his opinion. I do like Like Crazy quite a bit, but being a b-sides queen I think Face-Off and Alone are the kind of moody, broody “haunted dollhouse K-pop” (trademark the Cerulean Rose on Twitter) I really dig. It’s very Jimin and some of the stronger BTS- related stuff I’ve heard in forever. It’s no Supertuna, but it’s strong.
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I love the description “haunted doll-house Kpop”, it’s my favourite type of Kpop songs, and I’ve never seen someone describe it so accurately lol.
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She has a playlist!
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Thanks! I love many songs of this playlist, but some others I didn’t know, I will save it and listen to it!
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Great! And Kingdom’s new Love is Pain is very haunted-dollhouse.
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I totally love the album, and it’s made my day! Today I had to go to work at 5:30 am and the MV and album in Spotify came up at 5am where I live, so I listened to it while going to work and it was amazing. I am obsessed with all the songs, but especially Like Crazy, I just love synth-pop.
And a few hours ago I came back home and my copy of the album was in my mailbox! (thanks Amazon lol). I am feeling so happy right now ^^
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It made me happy reading this
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My conspiracy theory is that they released Set Me Free Part II to lower expectations for the title track – and it worked. I mean, most of the comments I see here and elsewhere are just sheer relief this song doesn’t sound like SMFPII. Like Crazy is an okay song, totally fine, but it’s also not terribly interesting. I generally like chiller, “driving under neon lights” synthpop but this just didn’t hit the mark for me. Its most compelling quality has to do with production (the “scuzzier instrumental” that Nick mentioned), not Jimin’s role in it.
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Thank God, I was worried the whole album was gonna sound like set me free pt.2. Anyway, I love this song, I agree that it takes it’s time some might find it boring, but I like it. Another great thing is we can hear Jimin’s beautiful voice this time. I just love his voice, and I’m so glad it’s not overly processed this time. I think I’m gonna be replaying this song quite a bit. Time to listen to the rest of the album.
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This is so much better. I was a little worried after the last song but this and the rest of the album are so good. I love this song so much. Its one I’ll probably make myself sick of.
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SO glad this is much better. Set Me Free makes sense in context of the album but isn’t the greatest first impression IMO. The hidden track could’ve been better for that TBQH
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Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh my guilty pleasure for anything synth is coming out mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
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It’s a better song than ‘Set Me Free’. I like it. It’s a great song that I’ll listen to over and over again
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I commented on the last post about SMFp2 and I was not here for the song.After almost a week of it being out, I can definitely say it’s my favorite of the entire album, with Like Crazy coming in at a close second. I stand by my previous point: the autotuned part in the second verse is A LOT to handle. I was informed that the reason that it’s that was is to add to the eerieness of the song, and it did sell it for me a bit, but I still hate the sound. I feel like there’s better ways to add eerieness to a song other than auto tune personally, BUT the song has definitely grown on me and is high on my Jimin releases. As a fan of the boys, we never count the people who attack others apart of the fandom, so the people who were attacking you were not ARMY. I’m sorry you had to deal with this, but I can guarantee that we actual fans are not like that.
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As an army, I’m sorry about the others fans who are quite aggressive. I enjoy this song and all of the album especially alone. But I’m sad about the fact that a part of the fandom is hating on others opinions, and all the army are taking like credit for it and it’s a little bit annoying. Don’t take my words to sincerely, I’m not English, I tried to express myself, my sadness. But I enjoy seeing people’s opinion aboutall of their songs and more
As I said, I sincerely apologize for the army hate on you (by the way I absolutely love this website )
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