Dear K-pop gods, I beseech you. Please, please rekindle your ability to craft an upbeat summer track that isn’t 85% exuberant chanting and melodies in nursery rhyme style. These elements can be fun in moderation, but too much of this fizzy sugar rush results in fatigue and stomach pain.

I dig Kick-Start‘s punky guitars, and there are a few nice melodies sprinkled throughout the track. With a different approach, this could easily be a summer standout. There’s even a moment during the bridge where the omnipresent chanting works quite well. Used sparingly, it has a cool 80’s sound — think The Go-Go’s as heard through a K-pop prism. But too much of Kick-Start feels like a kid’s toy commercial. I guess there’s no harm in that. I’m just not the target audience.

Grade: C