TVXQ are celebrating their twentieth anniversary with the release of their first Korean album in five years. There are few active K-pop acts I’d consider “royalty,” but TVXQ are legends among legends. It’s always exciting to have them back with new music, even if a lot has changed since 2018’s New Chapter #2: The Truth of Love. New single Rebel is as frustrating as it is thrilling — a series of strong ideas undercut by a lack of development.
My favorite songs tend to anchor themselves around a repeated centerpiece I look forward to each time I press play. This is usually a chorus, but it doesn’t have to be. Rebel plays like all the great pieces surrounding this centerpiece, but it’s missing the main course. For what it is, the song is quite good. Its pulsating, industrial dance beat is fresh and exciting. The production’s constant stop and start works without sacrificing too much momentum, and most of its individual segments are successful on their own. I can’t tell if the melodies interpolate Carol Of The Bells or not, but either way they give the track an odd Christmas sheen that may not play well in the long run.
Rebel cycles through its ideas with plenty of energy, but fails to find an engaging chorus. After the music has lurched to an empty pulse, the track moves into a spoken word breakdown — almost like an anti-drop. This is where I crave a big, bombastic chorus on the level of past TVXQ glories. It never materializes, and with the song’s two-minute-and-forty-five-second running time, Rebel could certainly accommodate some added heft. Instead, I find myself latching onto the descending melody that first appears in verse one and later becomes a post-chorus highlight. It’s not enough to forge Rebel into a beacon of their discography, but at least it’s something!
| Hooks | 8 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 9 |
| Bias | 9 |
| RATING | 8.5 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
its so weird and I LOVE IT
all I’ve been able to think about since I listened to it is “bringing the energy pewpewpeewwww”…………….so i guess that counts as the chorus……..?
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1:49~2:10 hits HARD. Wow.
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Well, welcome back TVXQ! And happy 20th anniversary!
Really nice to see them tackle something more edgier after their last Korean comeback. I wish they did more with the chorus but everything else is really good imo.
I have a feeling the song will grow on me more as time passes.
Also, it’s really nice to see how I’m not the only one who thought the main melody reminds me of “Carol of the Bells” lol.
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Definitely samples Bells. They are, indeed, royalty but the song builds and builds the energy without delivering the culmination of all that building of the energy.
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That was definitely powerful and enigmatic. Cudos to these talented and gracious men. Very enjoyable.
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why this remind me of monsta x’s beautiful liar tho
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My thoughts exactly. Even my criticisms for those are the same (underwhelming chorus in an otherwise good song). It’s kinda funny how we got similar sounding tracks at the very beginning and end of the year lol.
“Beautiful Liar” turned out to grow on me to the point where it made my top 50 k-pop songs list of the year. I could see “Rebel” growing the same way as it did. I like the song a bit more than “Beautiful Liar” since it’s not as subdued so that’s a step in the right direction lol.
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This hit hard
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somehow reminded me of the chorus in Queen Of Kings by Alessandra from this year’s Eurovision
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i guess its the beat and changmin’s vocals
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Do you have anything else planned for TVXQ’s 20th anniversary?
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Maybe once the year-end stuff is finished. We’ll see. This tends to be a very time-consuming month on the blog, even without many new releases. If only they had come back in February or something! Haha
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