Last time we heard from The New Six, they were kicking it old school with the upbeat Kick It 4 Now. That track leveraged nostalgia to its advantage, melding new jack swing beats to catchy hooks. But this being K-pop, we can’t simply build on a good thing. New single Fuego offers a completely different sound for the group.
Fuego is also the first release in nearly two years to include member Junhyeok for promotions, and acts as a harbinger for a mini album slated for later this spring. That’s a lot to live up to, and Fuego plays things safe. It’s the nth boy group release of this style, melding brash, attitude-driven verses to an electronic drop that takes place of an actual chorus. For a group managed by the ever-inventive PSY, I expect something a little more unique and creative.
As far as song templates go, Fuego is a fine example of this specific form. It’s performed well and the electro throb at its center is suitably propulsive. Yet, there’s not a single hook or melody driving Fuego that sticks in my head. “Fire fire” and “we rollin’ rollin’” are such overused clichés they’ve become meaningless. The track only heats up when everything comes together during its finale. Even here, it’s too little too late, making me wish the group had abandoned all the posturing and headed to the dancefloor right from verse one.
| Hooks | 7 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 7 |
| RATING | 7.5 |
Grade: C
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
This song reminds me of a boy group version of the lovechild of ICHILLIN’s “Bite Me” and “Demigod”, and it’s pretty much a compliment for me. I like its instrumental, it kinda goes hard imo. Wish it had strong melodies, cause that would have been perfection.
Also, I was expecting you to give production a 9 because from my observations, songs with a beat drop like this (similar to NTX’s Holy Grail or the forementioned Bite Me) often gets a 9 or even a rare 10.
Also, a correction, but Fuego is not really “the first release in 2 years to include Junhyeok”. He was there for Love or Die and Kick It 4 Now as well, but didn’t participate in their promotions.
Anyways, I’d give it an 8 (7, 9, 8, 8), will most likely age well cause I’m a sucker for electronic drop music.
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this might be my least favorite TNX track rn
7.75/10 for me
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jjb
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This is basically MOVE 2.0, but I think it’s still very well-performed.
8/10 for now.
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I really like this song, but I’m a big fan of this type of music so no suprise there. 8.5/10 for me
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so tired of “loco” “vamos” “fuego” and “uno, dos, tres” being the only spanish words used in k-pop lol
switch them up a little and make them make actual sense or don’t use them at all
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At least most songs named “Loco” go hard 😭 Favorite actually used “Loca” correctly!
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Have you found the master turn that is Super Junior’s cover of “Ahora Te Puedes Marchar”. It was released around when they did the songs “Otra Vez” with REIK and “Lo Siento” with Leslie Grace.
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YESSS!!! I love it, great cover of the legendary Luis Miguel. It’s hilarious
there are great covers in spanish (like EXO’s Sabor A Mi or that song D.O released entirely in spanish where he absolutely nails the pronunciation) but nowadays groups just thrown in one or two recognisable spanish words that make no sense
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There is also this stunner which I click whenever it pops up on my youtube suggestions.
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Vamos flashbacks
“FARTY BRASS LOOPS”
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i’ll never forget BLANK2Y’s Fuego…
they literally sing “encender el fuego” which makes no sense in that context.
One group that likes using spanish like that is TRI.BE. they use a lot of spanish words with mixed results, one of my least favorites being in the song LOBO where they just randomly sing “Why is the night dark?” lol
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that’s why we love ateez!!
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I think it is “fine”. but I had a heavy sigh because it has a full bingo card of kpop trends from the current gen, like ticking all of them would equal awesomeness, and it just doesn’t. Maybe if this song came out in, say, 2017 I would have been more excited, but right now instead I am scrolling through my itunes enumerating which part is like what other song I already have. For example, 1:20 is all NCT Firetruck. The only one who gets away with this sort of highly polished collage of interpolations with ease is Beyonce. Rolling rolling rolling, Brave Girls, also B1A4.
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The chorus makes me think of EVNNE’s Trouble and Ugly, but this song doesn’t fully embrace its club banger identity like those did. Every time this group comes back I feel like I’m listening to someone new because they never sound the same (also probably because of The New Six/TNX rebranding).
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I really loved the song, the energy and the visuals. About 6 members came back and that filled me with happiness. Regarding comments and for those who complain and don’t like that they use short words in Spanish for who knows what reason, let them pass by just like they did with other bands. And also mentioning that there was a Band that recently dissolved called T1419 (TFN) and they even released songs with a lot of content in Spanish and even then they were not noticed. It doesn’t matter if they are one, many, or a few words, no one is ever given consent and they, the idols, are always the center of such critical comments. Ah! but they don’t say anything about always including some English words. But hey, live and let live, enjoy Kpop, enjoy the music and above all enjoy the great work that each Idol does that really costs them blood, sweat and tears. Welcome Junhyeok back! Here we are THX to shout for you.
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Best
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EXACTLY!!!
they should be voguing and/or waacking to the chorus.
Also, I love noise music so when nick hates something I usually like it but this song has parts that just don’t fit together well.
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