After pre-releasing the pleasant Underwater last week, Chuu has returned with her official solo debut. Howl leads her new album with a pulsing electro beat that compliments her clear, pleasant voice. I hadn’t been keeping up with song teasers, so its gradual transformation surprised me on first listen.
What begins as a wistful ballad gains a percussive foothold as the chorus sweeps in. From here, Howl is underlined by an insistent chug of electro bass, forging a driving energy that gives the track more urgency. Without this production flourish, I fear Howl may fade into the ether — another pretty, but slight, K-pop offering. As it stands, the song doesn’t take enough advantage of its more adventurous instincts. At just under three minutes, there’s not enough space to blossom into something truly spectacular — especially when almost half of the track is mired in a very slow build to its first chorus.
Howl‘s best moments have an emotional pull, a tears-on-the-dancefloor energy that suits Chuu’s strengths as a performer. I love the synth textures during the chorus and wish they more prominent throughout. A song like this doesn’t benefit from restraint.
| Hooks | 8 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 8 |
| RATING | 8 |
Grade: B-
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Yay! Chuu is back!
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This song is nice. Agree with your rating.
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Agreed! Love the song but I wish it could have been longer to actually let it grow and sink in fully.
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I like it a lot, but it really deserved a proper bridge
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I really like it! It is shame is so short.
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The intro takes up almost an entire minute of the 2:49 runtime, the song should have been 3:30 at least. Chuu deserved to have a killer bridge and explosive 3rd chorus+outro. That would have made the song a 10/10!
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Solid release, I vibed. 8/10 is just right, at least the synths wasn’t as boring as TXT’s Chasing that Feeling, though still not *that* amazing. Favorite was Palace however
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It makes me genuinely angry that this song is so short and that they don’t let chuu go all-out on a good bridge and final chorus/post chorus with adlibs. Kpop is sliding more and more into this particular song structure and it just makes everything feel incomplete
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