OnlyOneOf’s 2022 “Underground Idol” series gave them great focus, helping to carve out a sonic and thematic place for their music. Since then, their work has become more fractured. The abrasive Seoul Drift grew quite addictive over time, but their BL drama “Bump Up Business” was so cheesy I couldn’t even finish it. It’s probably a good time to turn the page and step into a new era, and dOpamine is the track to do it.
OnlyOneOf are at their best when putting their own stamp on current trends. With dOpamine, they’ve extracted the essence of the drum-and-bass/garage sound and transformed it to fit their whims. Judging from the first verse alone, the song is not what I expected. Up until the first chorus, I was prepared for another pleasant — but underwhelming — entry in this genre. However, the guys up the tempo considerably as we hit that chorus, adding real fuel to the arrangement. This is paired with a standout melody that shoots for the rafters, delivering what might be their strongest hook yet.
dOpamine fits well into the group’s catalog without sounding like anything they’ve done before. The production throughout is immaculate, and maybe that’s the common thread linking this track to past efforts. I love the use of guitar and bright, 90’s synth. The call-and-response backing vocals are even better, adding such character to the track. It’s the rare song that manages to be both an upbeat banger and an emotional centerpiece. I’m liking it more with every listen — a great sign, for sure!
| Hooks | 9 |
| Production | 9 |
| Longevity | 9 |
| Bias | 9 |
| RATING | 9 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
God I really need to listen to this now… but I can’t find it anywhere. The video says it premieres in 17 hours, that is so much time to wait for a 9!
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Oh no! I thought they might have uploaded it by mistake. I guess they figured that out…
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Woah, the track sampler didn’t get me hyped enough for this. The dnb sound combined with the propulsive chorus is the perfect fusion of new and old kpop for me
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Yep, that sampler totally undersold.
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Doh! I was wondering how you got to hear it, and now me both too early this morning and also too late right now to the party will have to wait.
… … … It reads like it will be worth the wait.
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I hope you like it! I was pleasantly surprised.
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time to wait 13 hours to see if this is good…
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2024 is bounding out the gates with these first few releases. Can’t remember the last time we had more than 1 9 rating within the same week on this blog. Hopefully it stays this way!
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I hope so! It would be a nice change of pace.
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It really is shaping up to be a strong week! I enjoyed almost all of the songs that everyone has put out this week so far.
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FINALLY! I absolutely felt that this song was gonna be a classic the moment I heard it. It is just an emblematic OOO song and is a great return to form. 9/10.
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This song sounds like it was written for Zerobaseone but they decided to take “Crush” as single… but I like this one so much I wish they took this one 🔥 incredible chorus and energy
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I can’t help feeling they botched the Underground Idol series. To find the songs, you need to search for the individual members (for example: “Nine Beyond”). Only already-fans are going to know how to find those tunes. They should have been released in the same format every other group does (for example: Dreamcatcher – Entrancing [Siyeon solo]). And if they had packaged all the songs together in one album release, I’d have bought a physical copy. I think those songs had a chance of finding a bigger audience if done the right way…
Listening to the new EP, all the b-sides sound like more languid and laidback iterations of the Underground Idol series. I think Give Me the Love might be my favorite right now.
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“I think Give Me the Love might be my favorite right now.” Honestly, all the tunes are going on my playlist, the whole release is really good. Nick, it’s probably too laidback for your tastes, but there’s enough melodic hooks to keep me coming back, and I’d have a difficult time choosing just one to be my Buried Treasure.
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this song reminds me a lot about DARARI. and I like it
Probably an 8.5/10 for me
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KPOP IS SO BACK
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OK finally got a listen to it! Big ell Like!
But is it one of the cases where I give it that because it is a lull and what is good passes for great. Or am I underrating it, because last year bot Chrome Hearts and Seoul drift became regulars in my ipod rotation.
In any case the answer is: Yes. Yes please. Thank you.
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Now that I finally got a chance to listen to the song…
I love it! It’s so nice seeing them doing a more straightforward song this time around. I love their take on the d&b/garage trend.
Also, whoever belted the high note towards the end of the song has my kudos. :0
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It and the SF9 title are slinky cousins skulking around nightclubs and making bad life decisions. I enjoy that.
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This is nice but I have to admit I miss the grittier, more industrial sound from their last few title tracks. Still, you can’t fault them for wanting to go with something mellower this time around. The stabby little synths here and there make me think they’re trying to act like dopamine in the listener’s brain.
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Nick, I have to hand it to you for always being able to cut through the clutter and focus on the actual music, which I find it hard to do a fair bit of the time. Especially with this group: I like them and I like their music; the marketing approach is in-your-face enough that I keep wondering if this is really what the guys signed up for. I don’t want to be reminded of Stellar (and in fairness, the evidence that the Stellar members were unhappy came more quickly and was a lot more clear-cut).
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I’m glad you brought this up because although I didn’t mention it in the review I find the music video quite awkward. I hope the guys are actually okay with all the tight close-ups on abs and such. It feels a little exploitative, which their previous videos only hinted at (and did in a much more artistic way).
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Fair! The ab shots reminded me of way back when on the Jukebox when we were debating the MV for Hello Venus’s “Wiggle Wiggle,” which has a lot of shots of, well, wiggling butts (I just went back and rewatched it, and the opening sequence has all the performers’ faces in shadow, which really, really does not help). Ultimately I came down on Fantagio being better at generally allowing the Hello Venus members to be human and multidimensional on camera than whatever Stellar’s doesn’t-deserve-to-be-remembered company was doing.
I do think the problem (in case Kpopalypse is reading along, in which case, hello and best wishes to Stiglitz) is not so much the ab shots (and the shippy videos, and Bump Up Business, and so on) as the guys’ agency, and that question isn’t answerable in the larger context of K-pop being such a top-down, cruelty-filled industry. I got on the OOO train after “libidO” — the marketing works! — and was at first relatively comforted by all the behind-the-scenes footage of the guys seeming to have a good time and joking around with the choreography. Then Love left or was kicked out (???) and all performances of ease suddenly seemed a lot less trustworthy.
They’ve got a performance video out today that has everyone in undershirts except KB and Nine. Which raises the possibility that the guys get to say, “Can I have a shirt on for this one, please,” and have their wishes respected, but also raises the possibility that they have to enter into that negotiation for every MV and photoshoot, and that just sounds like exhausting conditions to work in.
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i saw a comment that said “please buy their albums they are too poor to afford even shirts” which was hilarious
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I haven’t been a lyOn for a long time, but were their comebacks always this good? I love this review, because I had no idea what the “Underground Idol” series was, so hopefully I can learn more about them that way. dOpamine’s M/V was so attractive though, and did you see the little choreography at the end that was similar to their “Sage” choreo? I screamed when I saw that part lol.
Good review though! Can’t wait to see more of your reviews!!
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The Underground Idol songs are my favorite by them. Almost all the tunes are really great. In order:
– Yoojung – Begin (this is my favorite)
– KB – Be Free (I think this was Nick’s favorite)
– Junji – Be Mine (excellent b-side type-song)
– Rie – Because (another great single)
– Mill – Beat (honestly I don’t like this one; it’s closest to their industrial sound, but sounds out of place to the rest of the series)
– Nine – Beyond (ended on a great note! Shame on Nick for not scoring it higher! haha)
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My favorite was Rie’s, actually 🙂
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Oh wait, so those solo songs that were on their youtube front page are the Underground Idol songs? Nevermind then. Those were the first songs of theirs that I listened to funnily. I didn’t know they belonged to a series though. The more you know i guess.
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I’m not sure how I feel about the song yet– I’ll give it a few more listens– but I also found the music video a bit awkward. It was all in one room, where’s the budget? I hope they didn’t blow it all on a flop BL drama… But the combo of denim + Calvin Kleins specifically made me think of those infamous creepy commercials from the 90s, and I wonder if that reference was intentional?
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