Review

Song Review: TIOT – Unbeatable

TIOT - Unbeatable“Pre-debut” releases are quite confusing, but I guess it’s a nice way to introduce your group without the pressure of official debut promotions. The members of TIOT will be familiar to viewers of Boys Planet, and their song Unbeatable (백전무패) will be familiar to much older K-pop fans. It’s a cover of the 2001 track by Click-B — a group you should check out if you haven’t already.

TIOT pull this song into the new K-pop era, imbuing it with plenty of rock star attitude and swagger. Its blend of rapped verses and explosive chorus maintains the appeal of the original version, proving K-pop hasn’t really changed that much since the early 2000’s — at least in some ways. The melodic chorus remains a highlight, giving the track a sense of weight that anchors all the anarchy swirling around it. I’m interested to see if TIOT will pursue this sound further when they make their full debut. It would be a nice niche for them.

Hooks 8
 Production 8
 Longevity 9
 Bias 8
 RATING 8.25

Grade: B

9 thoughts on “Song Review: TIOT – Unbeatable

  1. Hah! That key shift it does at 1:30 and when it repeats is everything. The rest is some combo of rap rock shouty posturing and it is all fun.

    Its been a looooong time since I listened to ReacttotheK youtube channel, I don’t even know what they talk about these days, but those people would immediately illuminate what goes on there. I’m going to guess a shift to the relative major.

    alright alright
    FLOVE
    both old and new versions.

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  2. as a semi-regular reader of this blog and a huge boys-planet-to-tiot fan it’s surreal to finally see them here!

    i’m in love with this song: the rock sound and edm, the energetic ad-libs, and i absolutely agree that the chorus is the star of the song, especially the final one. it is so cute that this chorus gets its own little outdoors fun segment in the MV. i’m glad junhyeon finally has the main vocal moments that he could never get in his performances on boys planet or that he wouldn’t get if he made it to zb1.

    regarding their musical identity, i find unbeatable to be similar to the song they introduced themselves on boys planet with (a remix of Jessi’s Nunu Nana), but upgraded, richer, and more definitively musical and reflective of themselves as singers. as another commenter’s recommended, surfing is another highlight on the album with a super addictive chorus. thanks for checking them out and excited to continue reading your thoughts on their future releases!

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  3. KUM JUNHYEON DEBUTATION NATION!!!! The music video seemed very high budget and I thought the concept was really cool, looking forward to their official debut 🙂

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