Le sigh. It’s a bunch of super-generic boy group slop this year. But, is any of the slop tasty?
The answer is… vaguely so.
Thoughts on BOYS PLANET Episode One
Thoughts on BOYS PLANET Episode Two
Thoughts on BOYS PLANET Episode Three
Thoughts on BOYS PLANET Episode Four
Thoughts on BOYS PLANET Episode Five
Thoughts on BOYS PLANET Episode Six
Thoughts on BOYS PLANET Episode Seven
Thoughts on BOYS PLANET Episode Eight
5. Switch
This seems to be aiming for a more laid-back vibe, at least when it comes to the melodies. But, the overstuffed percussion is at odds with this energy and results in a track that’s way noisier than it needs to be. Switch would’ve been more successful given a buoyant arrangement like GOT7’s Just Right. As it stands, the song feels rather dull and leaden. The best part is its brassy breakdown, which hints at a far funkier sound that should have been capitalized upon.
Grade: C
4. SuperCharger
We already got to hear this track as part of last week’s show. I enjoy the production during its pre-chorus and chorus, but this speedy pace is let down by overly languid verses and an underdeveloped hook. The song feels like one long mumble, lacking the melodic centerpiece that could have been its calling card.
Grade: C
3. Over Me
This is much more of a vocal showcase than most of the songs this year, and for that it stands out. However, I’m not a big fan of this style. The beat lurches throughout the track without much character or verve. It’s got that future bass style that rarely appeals to me simply due to the energy (or lack thereof) that it generates. Still, Over Me scores extra points for being a decent display of the trainees’ skills. The electric guitar during the finale is a nice touch.
Grade: C+
2. En Garde
This song was already performed and I’m still baffled how the producers are calling it “funk pop.” Whatever En Garde’s charms may be, I wouldn’t call it “funky.” It’s much too predictable and measured to elicit a truly lethal groove. I guess they just threw the “funk” label on it since it sounds a bit like early Seventeen. It’s not nearly as catchy as a Seventeen track would be, but it’s definitely one of the better offerings in this bunch.
Grade: B-
1. Say My Name
Finally a groove! Compared to the other songs this round, Say My Name is definitely the one most aimed at my own taste. I don’t think it’s anything special, but I like its vaguely New Jack Swing beat and the emphasis on vocal harmony and melody. The final product is a little “easy listening” for me, but it’s a nice enough earworm. The songwriters could do with a steady diet of early-Astro and early-Golden Child to learn how to squeeze the most out of this formula!
Grade: B
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Say My Name is good but I think it sounds so much like Produce X’s ippeo ippeo and i notice in survival shows, they only do this exact one style of cute song when there are countless ways of doing a fresh concept or making a song sound fresh
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Definitely felt like they were trying to replicate that! I wish they’d throw another one like Show Time out there — decidedly a brighter concept, but packs a lot more punch than the clasped-hands, pastel-beret music they trend towards with each show’s token peppy song.
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Exactly!
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I mean idk how much attention you focused on in the produce series but showtime and super special girl were both fresh concepts that were not your typical cutesy concept ig
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Yeah they are good examples of fresh songs, in fact SSG was my favorite pdx concept song and it wasn’t even assigned as the cutesy one (it was funk iirc). En garde that is assigned as the funky song in this round doesn’t even sound as funky as SSG.
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OMG how boring and annoying these songs are.
In this case, Peak Time contestants had some much better stuff to work on (Bae173’s Criminal, MASC’s Doesn’t Matter, DKB’s Coco Colada and even Vanner’s Skyscraper and NTX’s Circuit sound – if not exactly great or good – at least *listenable*). I look forward to seeing how it all will come to an end, because I was expecting a sort of “The Uni+ effect” but, as they say, #TikTokmademebuyit.
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I’m personally obsessed with Over Me’s production. It feels so dynamic. I don’t hear KPOP songs with that kind of dynamics these days. The use of crescendo’s among other forms of dynamics (I forget the specific names but it is so evident in the vocal delivery, there is so much personality and spunk behind it) really won me over. The deep bass is also something I’m a big fan of. Not to mention the chorus and pre chorus has such a well written melody that I won’t be able to forget it. I’ve been singing it ever since I first listened to it.
I just really like Over Me and it would likely grow into one of my personal songs of the year. I knew you would like say my name the best too haha. I like it a lot as well, it is my second favorite from the bunch.
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I dig En Garde, honestly. Sounds vaguely like a solid late-2nd-early-3rd gen offering, plus I like the understated feeling of the refrain. I don’t have any huge problems with any of them, though — Supercharger makes me laugh (and I actually think the propulsion of the drop is quite nice), and I think the guys that got assigned to Switch elevated it a bit above the demo they were given. All of them except for maybe Over Me have decent odds of not getting skipped if they pop up on shuffle, which is pretty solid for survival show music! I’ve only got threeish other Produce-and-friends offerings that I listen to.
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Okay, actually, might not skip Over Me either. It’s sitting right at a tempo I’m not a big fan of, but… I don’t know. The production is nicer than I remembered from the demo and the members did a good job with it. Maybe I just like this show’s songs better because I know a little more about it and the contestants.
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None of these songs stands out to me like in previous seasons, they’re all pretty weak and not memorable among the entire series’ concept songs. I’m pleasantly surprised by the Supercharger performance though, but as a standalone song? I don’t think I’d come back to it. I think all the songs were pretty much elevated by the performances, though for Over Me, I felt a bit.. unimpressed? Uncertain? I spent the entire time watching wondering if they were ACTUALLY singing live. That’s the problem with the stages on this show – the audio is overpolished and overedited, and it makes me doubt whether these performances are as genuine and live as we think they are. Switch and Supercharger sounds the most live IMO, you can hear the energy and power in the raps and typically hear if someone pushes out “more air” in their lines than supposed to. I can’t say the same about the others which sound a little too clean for the kind of choreo they have.
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we need another song like in the same place or never istg
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Say My Name is so annoyingly predictable thanks to it’s ultra generic sound like we typically hear during a montage of a made for tv rom-com teen movie after it was rejected to be a b-side. What made it worse is their uninspiring, fake, egotistical school uniform concept.There is nothing special about this song. Only 16 yo obnoxious overweight virgin girls living somewhere in a remote region of Asia will love this song. Also Destiny’s Child wants their song title back.
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Well, tell us how you *really* feel! 😳
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Goddamn these songs are underwhelming, these gotta be my least favourite of ALL the produce/planet series. I’m genuinely surprised that the consensus outside of here is that they’re “SO MUCH BETTER” than the Girls Planet songs when I felt like most if not all of those could stand alone as a decent girl group title track.
Man, I think I just miss the days of In the Sam Place and Never.
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Yeah, Never is so iconic. And it’s the best original song from a produce/planet series IMO. But it’s kinda hard to produce another awesome track like that, as the composer is actually one of the contestants –Lee Hoe Taek/Hui. It would’ve been better if he just composed their own song.
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My ranking is the same as you except swap ‘Switch’ and ‘Supercharger’.
On my first listen to the short teasers of each song, ‘Over me’ and ‘En Garde’ were the ones that caught my attention. The killing parts were incredibly captivating and made me want to listen to more. I was sure that ‘Over me’ would be my favourite.
On my second listen to the teasers, it was again ‘Over me’ and ‘En Garde’ but ‘Say My Name’ was the one that stood out. I don’t know how I missed it on my first listen.
I mentioned this in the Ep 9 review but ‘En Garde’ could have been a 10/10 song for me if they had just made the strings / violin part at 1:58 more prominent and kept it during the whole final chorus / killing part. From the audio, I can hear some more strings at 2:10 but you can just barely hear it. I’m genuinely so annoyed. If they’re going to start the song with the strings, at least make it one of the main sounds I hear when I listen to the song. The more I think about this the more it makes me mad. Such a missed opportunity.
Also, here are groups that I think suit each song. I can literally hear their voices in the demo version.
‘Over Me’ – A.C.E (Donghun, Chan, and Jun)
‘Say My Name’ – Cravity (All of Cravity)
‘En Garde’ – Verivery (Gyehyeon)
‘Switch’ – NCT Dream (Chenle and Renjun)
‘Supercharger’ – NCT 127
Boys Planet is the first produce show that I’ve actually been really invested in.
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Actually, P1Harmony suits ‘Switch’ more than NCT Dream
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anyway nick, i’ve been trying to find music from the swedish band Dyno since their song “Don’t Speak Love” was #5 on your top songs of 2009 on alienhits, only to find out their music has pretty much been scrubbed from the internet (not even mp3 websites are helping lol), which is why im turning to you for help, as you’re my only hope
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I’ll send you what I have!
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Each of these songs is so generic, but none of them are good or bad enough for me to remember despite hearing them seconds ago 😦
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Same. They honestly sound AI-generated…
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My ranking:
1. Say My Name (cute)
2. Over Me (probably influenced by the performance)
3. Supercharger (super.charger.super.supercharger is an earworm)
4. Switch (the change up in the middle keeps it fresh)
5. En Garde (too bland and generic)
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YOUR OPINION IS “VOMIT EMOJI” RENS UR EARSSSSSS
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Thank you for the constructive comment.
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