Early visual teasers of LE SSERAFIM’s special Overwatch 2 single Perfect Night had me excited. Their 80’s aesthetic seemed to portend a concept change — maybe a successor to fellow retro girl group tracks La Di Da or I Can’t Stop Me? I mean, isn’t it time the HYBE girls turned up the synths and amped up the energy?
That’s not really their thing and… fair enough, I guess. After all, K-pop is in its subdued era and Perfect Night fits neatly within that realm. Rather than be the party, it’s the understated musings of a party yet to happen (or maybe one that’s already passed). There’s a bit of groove in the song’s unobtrusive beat, but nothing that’s going to wake the neighbors. It’s a whiff of a song, airy and downright ephemeral. This hazy atmosphere spotlights the girls’ voices and I really enjoy the layered arrangements found throughout. But without a hearty series of melodies to play off of, too much of Perfect Night feels inconsequential. The song is nice, but I struggle to muster up even an ounce of passion around it.
| Hooks | 7 |
| Production | 7 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 7 |
| RATING | 7.25 |
For added context: this song serves both as their Overwatch 2 contribution, as well as their first all-English single, pushed by their American label, hence the hazy-slash-chill sound this song has (aka to impress the GP)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah, the GP…
Agencies have such a low standard for what they think the GP can handle.
LikeLiked by 7 people
meh, thats all
LikeLiked by 2 people
Couldn’t finish listening, got way too bored. Prefer NewJeans Collab with LoL, at least I got pumped by that one.
Can’t give a score considering I never got past 40secs
LikeLiked by 2 people
Considering the fact that nothing interesting happens past those 40 seconds, that is perfectly understandable
LikeLiked by 1 person
Before the music release they have released like 3 to 4 music samples but all of them sounds dull, thus still expecting like there would be a upbeat chorus that is not yet revealed.
Turns out all of the samples basically form the whole songs. Quite disappointing for sure. Agree to what you said: this is a song that sounds like a after-party music (similar to Off the Record by IVE) and right now I’m not that into it since all of the K-Pop group releasing those chilly-airy-atmospheric type music rather than heavy instrumental influenced type of song.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Even Fearless was more exciting than this. I was at least expecting some fervent energy like in Antifragile (The best 4th gen hype track so far, absolute 10/10 material) and Unforgiven. The music video also felt a bit awkwardly put together with the animated characters and the members parts but it was cute. It’s a decent song which I wish had an additional b-side.
Two mega girl groups (IVE and LE SSERAFIM) have already killed their trilogy and tetralogy, which is something I’m far from ready for.
LikeLike
Can’t believe I’m saying this but let’s go back to making their #100 remix. This wasn’t what people had in mind when asking them to stop and release a new song finally
LikeLiked by 2 people
This sounds like another case of HYBE going “Oh I love this groove, let’s ask 20 songwriters to hum melodies on it and pick randomly what we happen to like that day” cause the vibe is nice but there’s no song (plus the list of writers is infinite). If you want to do understated then you need something as good as “Ditto” or “Supershy”. I don’t think this will break in the US but then what do I know, I’m just a listener with my personal taste.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Damn, you really described my main issue with most of the music coming out of KPOP lately. I don’t mind “subdued” music here and there (hell, I really enjoy IVE’s “Either Way”, and that’s pretty subdued), and if a ballad is actually good and not boring I’ll eat it up like the emotional sap I am, but I’ve never been a “chill” or “vibe-y” kind of person with the music I enjoy.
I CAN enjoy it here and there, but again, it’s gotta be actually good, and to my personal taste. I’d 100% take noise music over any of this subdued music that’s been happening. I was thinking the other day, actually, that I really miss the “westernized” sound KPOP had in the late 2000s and early 2010s, because at least it was catchy and interesting.
LikeLiked by 1 person
WAIT IGNORE THIS I meant to comment this on the article you linked in this review, not here!
LikeLike
The thing is, since so much contemporary kpop sounds like this, your comment is still valid for this song and a half dozen others you might have posted it on too.
LikeLike
I mean kpop still has a “westernized” sound with the new jeans like sound technically. I feel they really have to for it when making a song, whether it be noisy or subdued.
LikeLike
Well I didn’t hate it but it’s a very dull song. I don’t hold Le Sserafim in such a high regard anyway and songs like that definitely don’t help. It’s a 6/10 for me. Will Le Sserafim ever manage to actually produce a good song?
The quest continues…
LikeLike
For me they have released good songs so I don’t feel the need to go on a whole quest for a good song.
LikeLike
Easy pass.
LikeLike
I meant to listen to this song and had it on in the background, but I got distracted by something and didn’t realize when it had finished. I can’t tell you what it sounds like because it made no impression on my brain. Oops.
LikeLiked by 2 people
This sounds like something that would go in a cafe or something
7.75 for me
(Also hooray I didn’t mention Blizzard yay :D)
LikeLike
I quite like this; there, I said it! 🙂 It could almost be a tune by Twice or a STAYC b-side (which I often like as much as their singles). A nice tune for the beach.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I quite like this; there, I said it! 🙂 It could almost be a tune by Twice or a STAYC b-side (which I often like as much as their singles). A nice tune for the beach.
LikeLike
This is sort of…. strange? It’s so rare for groups to actually use these special collaboration singles as their comeback track. And after delivering an album that was mostly full of “new versions” of their earlier releases, going with a digital single for Overwatch as their comeback track feels off. LSF also seems to thrive more on their B-sides. Even if you their title track is a skip for someone, they usually find at least one album track that they love. To follow up a divisive release with a single just doesn’t seem like a sound strategy for the group.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah I also feel it’s a bit strange. I also found it strange when GIDLE released a full-English album as their comeback but that doesn’t feel as strange as this does
LikeLiked by 1 person
I thought I didn’t like this song till I was walking at night in the snow… the repetitive guitar riff and beat just kinda settles. Which sums up the song, it’s in the name, Perfect Night. It serves to be a song you leave on repeat and it’s just… there. For that, it works well. But in the realm of pop music, it loses to basically everything else they released. (Blue flame and No celestial being my favs)
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love this song, but gosh, it really doesn’t sound like a LE SSERAFIM song.
LikeLike