HORI7ON were brought together through MLD Entertainment’s Dream Maker series, and have already revealed a couple of songs (to various degrees of success). They’ve just released a mammoth, twenty (!) track debut album, though a number of those tracks are only available on the physical CDs. SIX7EEN is their newest single, and sees them approaching a lighter funk-pop sound.
There are moments of potential in SIX7EEN. I enjoy the first half of the pre-chorus and second half of the chorus, which makes me chuckle because this perfectly describes K-pop’s increasingly piecemeal approach. The fact I can call out such specific moments means the track isn’t really working as a whole. For every time SIX7EEN gives us a fun, bubblegum pop refrain, it also plunges into a mind-numbingly dull “la la la da da” hook that breaks up the flow and comes across as a waste of everyone’s time. SIX7EEN could do with the some tightening because many of its core ingredients are strong and the guys do a nice job selling them.
| Hooks | 8 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 8 |
| RATING | 8 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Bright poppy fun, bright (again). The sections don’t bother me that much, but the rating is still about right.
“The fact I can call out such specific moments means the track isn’t really working as a whole.” is a true statement for most contemporary songcraft. What ever happened to verse-chorus-verse-chorus-verse-chorus?
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the fact they went from having the worst chorus of 2023 to doing light bubblegum pop is just wow
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If Nick is one of the people that encouraged MLD to stop with the noise music, then I’m so thankful for him.
Idk what MLD was thinking when they chose that song as their first pre-debut single when the show had much better choices.
It’s interesting seeing the complete musical direction. Lovey Dovey did have a different arrangement compared to the shows version. So I guess they did have a few months to decide on what sound that may be. Lovey Dovey did get WAY BETTER reception from everyone, so I do hope they never approach noise music ever again.
As many people said,all they need is for their songs to have a bit more polishing then this group will be fine.
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if only nick could convince mld to do the same for lapillus 😕
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If only I could convince any agency to do anything!
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I know they pronounce it like 16, but like, is it “six-seven-een,” or “six-seven,” or like “six-teen” but if so, what does the seven mean. I know it probably refers to the group’s name, but I want to see the MLD A&R team try to create some stupid lore behind the name. Lord knows that all agency’s got some of that for the group names at least.
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Not a fan of what they’ve put out so far (except “Lovey Dovey” a teeny bit), but what I appreciate about this comeback is the fact that they released 20 songs for their debut release. I haven’t listened to the album, nor will I have a high expectation for it since it might be a case of “quantity over quality”, BUT STILL, I appreciate the fact that they released a 20-track album. Not even Blackpink or Newjeans or Lesserafim does that.
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There are a couple of strong songs on it (mostly the unit tracks), but many feel like demos to me.
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Agree. Surprisingly, the unit tracks were pretty good. I loved “How You Feel”. Probably one of my favorites.
The group themselves apparently wrote the “Mama” track which probably sounds like any other Kdrama OST lol. And the Korean accent is kinda apparent.
Odd Eye was pretty decent as well. Although I do think they could have worked on that a bit more.
Wasn’t a fan of the intro track Meteor. Maybe that’s just me.
All in all, I do think many of the tracks could do with some polishing. Probably the consequence of rushing it somehow, but overall this debut is 100x better than many MLD music. I do think this is a good direction for the group to take.
I haven’t heard tho the Solo Tracks, but based on the medley, they sound pretty decent. Hope they’d release it soon cuz it seems to be up my alley, but since they’re not being digitally released then idk.
Like I actually wonder if Hori7on may influence Lapillus, cuz the girls seem to have the talent, they just have poor songs.
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Just listened to the whole album. Overall, it’s not my cup of tea, but “How You Feel” is good. “Take My Hand” is also a club banger.
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By the way, what do you think is their strongest track?
I personally still think Lovey Dovey is stronger, and that track was probably the gateway for their current sound. I mean Six7een is definitely a bit more unique, but I dunno I just think the melody hits better.
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I wish I could get the CD to listen to all the CD only tracks.
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WAIT! THIS WAS ACTUALLY REALLY GOOD?! 😍😍 Like… I didn’t listen to this earlier because I wasn’t really interested in them… And I’m probably that rare person here who found Lovey Dovey really boring.
Even that debut song though not that good felt kinda memorable but I didn’t care about Lovey Dovey at all and thinking this was gonna be the same gave it a skip.
So imagine my surprise when this sounded so really nice!! There’s some great retro old style vibe in their, the chorus was really nice and the raps were so fun too! Damn! These small groups keep surprising me this year!!
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This is like if GOT7 Lullaby and WJSN’s As You Wish had a child in the chorus and with some old SEVENTEEN flavor for the “la la la”. I think the reason why they continued going for a fresh concept is because of the 13-14 y.o. members in the group.
I’m curious, if HORI7ON gets to be in countdown posts in this blog, will they be counted as K-POP or global pop? Because with their regular promotions in Korea and Korean lyrics they can be counted as K-POP now too but there is no single member that is Korean as the members are all Filipino (and 2 members who are ethnically mixed Chinese).
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