Awkward band name aside, I want so badly to love this debut song. I’ll always be down for an anthemic synth-rocker with three exclamation points in its title. Add a keytar to the mix, weave in an electric guitar solo or two, and I’m sold. K-pop has a vacancy for cheesy 80’s power pop-rock and Catch The Young would do well to capitalize on it.
I’m clearly the target audience for a track like Youth!!!, but its timid production gives me pause. This is a rollicking good time waiting to break free from its self-imposed shackles. The entire track feels so compressed and flattened. This is most evident in the vocals, which fall too far in the mix and beg for a heartier arrangement. We need them right at the forefront, competing with the instrumental (which should also be much more explosive). The song itself is nice and I’m a sucker for pretty much every one of its elements. A good remix (or, honestly… remaster) could turn this into a total highlight.
| Hooks | 8 |
| Production | 7 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 9 |
| RATING | 8 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
*sigh* the resident old person who was a child of the eighties drags herself out again to comment.
The song sounds like it is trying too hard. There is the hook and the dense vocal harmony parts of the chorus, and they just don’t work as well as everyone smiling and grinning thinks they are. I think the production lifts the song to be better than it would otherwise be. But there is only so far the base material can be polished. Also the production also fills up the sound too much, too much noise and not enough spare moments for contrast.
For 80’s influences. this feels like a band signed to be a fast follower of a band like Mister Mister, using a lead single modelled on Starship “We Built this City”. This was their one promoted single off their one album, and soon dropped from the label after it didn’t work out.
‘https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NDjt4FzFWY
‘https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDI2WQJyE7I
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It’s quite a good debut anthem, except that it makes Xdinary Heroes sound like Def Leppard.
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