I keep seeing headlines about how well BABYMONSTER’s Batter Up has done with streams and views. The amount of interaction and hits on my review of the song bear that popularity out. Admittedly, I’m surprised there’s still such an appetite for this specific YG Entertainment song template. The debut of a new YG act is always exciting, but after that initial review I haven’t found myself returning to Batter Up at all. Instead, I’m waiting for the group to push beyond the agency’s stereotypes and deliver something fresh. With pre-release Stuck In The Middle, they have that opportunity.
This song emerges months before their first mini album and before member Ahyeon rejoins the group. It’s a sharp turn from Batter Up, disposing with the bombastic posturing in favor of stark balladry. While the track does an okay job showcasing the group’s vocals, I’m surprised YG decided to release such a subdued sound this early in BABYMONSTER’s rollout. I mean, it is winter and Korea loves ballads during winter, but Stuck In The Middle is just kind of… dull?
The first time through, I kept waiting for the song to morph into something more than a traditional piano ballad. Brief percussion in the mid-section gives hope, but it’s quickly ripped away as the song’s second half retains focus on piano and vocal. If you’re going to target such a reserved sound, the melodies need to be airtight. There’s a definite sense of familiarity to Stuck In The Middle‘s tune, and I can’t quite place where I’ve heard these hooks before. In any case, they call for a much more dynamic performance than we have here. The vocals are reminiscent of an audition series — pretty and competent but ultimately not very memorable or revealing. The best piano ballads use dynamics and texture to compel listeners despite their hushed atmosphere. Stuck In The Middle is just drowsy.
| Hooks | 7 |
| Production | 7 |
| Longevity | 7 |
| Bias | 7 |
| RATING | 7 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
To me it does sound like an audition competition show, in which they super slow down Colbie Caillat’s “Bubbly” from a midtempo to be a ballad “vocal showcase”. And everyone goes OMG wow I never thought this was possible, how is this possible.
Its fine. Pretty at times. Serves it purpose as a nugu vocal showcase, with a key change and high vocal adlibs on cue. I wish they used less vocal fry, if I were to be picky.
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I mean, Batter up getting lots of streams was mostly just a mixture of post Blackpink girl group hype and a ridiculous amount of ad views.
Most people I’ve seen who aren’t hardcore Babymonster stans hated Batter up. I feel like the “YG sound” is getting tired, not sure if people will still care about them in a year or two if they don’t improve the music and do it fast.
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Yes, I saw basically the same stuff, people said that more than a half of views were from ads I think. Then I also saw they hired like 40 new in house producers a few weeks ago, one might ask how many did they have in the first place when they got so many new at once.
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I’d also say a good amount of streams/views were from people seeing it getting pretty much universally panned and wanted to see what the fuss what about and/or join in on the deriding.
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one of the members kinda sounds like Selena gomez in this
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which one?
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i don’t know the members
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this song is boring
7/10 for me
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I love the decision to release a track like “Stuck in the middle” so early. Not because it’s a standout song or anything but because it’s different from how 2ne1 and black pink started out. I don’t have much hopes for the music itself but better promotion is a change I can have reasonable hope for with babymonster. 2ne1 and black pink released much less music than their other popular counterparts (more so BP) and I can’t go through another 2020- present blackpink phase. It’s like waiting for the arrival of a futuristic UFO then learning it’s just aluminum foil
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It’s very pretty. The girls sound great. I can see this being really nice for the slow song segment of a concert. They almost lost me right from the get-go, because I find spoken openings to ballads so incredibly cheesy/cringey. Cringey, but easy enough to look past. You just cringe through it for a few seconds and then it’s over (I have a lot of practice with early Super Junior tracks, but they also have heavy bias working in their favor, heh). The bigger problem is that the song doesn’t build much at all. You do get that brief fake-out with the percussion, but then it goes away, and the end of the song where they’re the biggest vocally feels really empty instrumentally by contrast. They do a bit in the last 30 seconds or so with a brief piano build and then some cymbal rolls, but then it fizzles out so quickly. I just wish they’d done a bit more with it.
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The Olde Timey soft speaking over the instrumental reminds me of in sageuk TV series, when the lead character voices over the instrumental of the main ballad song at the closing of an episode words about longing and loss. Its usually the male lead character intoning in a whispered baritone, with a montage of the female lead smiling and doing romantic meet cute things, while he stands there in some gorgeous silk hanbok in the middle of the road watching the female lead walking away. Closeup to single tear rolling down his cheek. Its a Korean style thing.
Am I right? I am not wrong.
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You’re exactly right!! I can see it very clearly in my head. Somehow I can handle it most times there, but for whatever reason, in my music, I’m like, “Stahhhhp!” hahaha
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I prefer Batter Up over this.
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terrifying song…cheesy and boring af…i expected a lot more but they’re like a bunch of clowns at a middle school play. at least bp could pull somethin like this off bc all members give much more mature/professional vibes.
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And how would a group with only two decent vocalist surpass a group with 3 main vocalists and 3 lead vocalist. If you don’t like the song that’s fine but don’t sit there and lie, BP is not a vocally strong group and they never have been. BM excels greatly in the vocal department the only thing in their way is the English pronunciation since they aren’t fluent in English other then that they sounded wonderful. Blinks like you honestly make me pity BP cause it’s disgusting fans like you that cause them to get unnecessary hate, you should be ashamed of yourself.🤢🤢🤢🤢
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dude get over it black pink isn’t the only girl group that has good music
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Now I’m really curious about their next comeback. They started with the most predictable + recycled YG song and now we have a ballad? Baseball concept to majestic slow song? It’s messy for sure, but maybe it’ll make more sense later on. I don’t particularly enjoy this ballad and it doesn’t feel unique in any sense. It seems like the token B-side ballad that you’ll see on almost every kpop album… but I guess it’s the title track? Unless I’m wrong and this is a prerelease or something. I don’t really keep up with any YG groups so who knows!
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its similar to stuck with you by jb and ariana
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How?
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very bland and trying to be consensual and international, like the most toothless American ballad. A little like The Happiest Girl on the last BlackPink album which was way better.
They can sing in English but what for? It’s very Miley Cyrus coded, ballads like The Climb. So I guess that’s what YG is aiming for. But if you add the fairy visuals it’s all embarrassing, like highschool performance. Shame for a prerelease
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Stealers wheel it ain’t
It’s not that bad though, just a bit generic. Maybe their next song will give them some personality.
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I wish them well, they’ve worked hard to get where they are, but I thought it was boring. Nothing special at all about the song sadly.
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the melody is similar to ‘jason mraz – i’m yours’
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Oh you are so right! Thanks 🙂
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With the spoken word intro, I was immedietely taken back in time to the BTS song Just One Day. Beautiful song. I love it.
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Well, they named the song perfectly. Because the only place I would ever expect to hear this is stuck in the middle of an album as the obligatory ballad (aka the skip track). Yikes.
For those of us around back in the day, I would have never thought the agency behind BigBang and 2NE1 in their prime would have such a lackluster discography for so many consecutive years across nearly all of their acts, and certainly all of the ones that don’t self produce. It’s kind of hilarious that the best music YG has put out in years was not only relegated to B-side status (Treasure’s Reboot album), but honestly sounds like it could have been pulled out of a wormhole into BigBang’s recording studio from over a decade ago.
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