Review

Song Review: Xikers – Red Sun

xikers - Red SunXikers have already established a tradition of including at least one song on each album that I must skip for my own well-being. Last summer, that track was Koong. Now, it has a sibling.

I appreciate the energy here and I assume that’s why it would appeal to some listeners. If you enjoy being shouted at for three and a half minutes in increasingly monotonous rhythmic patterns, you’ve found the right track. It’s the equivalent of standing in a circle and smacking each other to release the nerves before a big performance or game. It’s designed to release your energy and anger and excitement, and I get that. Functionally, I guess it works. But for this exact type of song to hit me where it counts, I need more interesting production, more varied flow and a greater sense of humor. Red Sun simply hits with brute force. That quickly becomes repetitive, even with a solid vocal-led interlude at its center.

Hooks 6
 Production 7
 Longevity 7
 Bias 5
 RATING 6.25

Grade: D

10 thoughts on “Song Review: Xikers – Red Sun

  1. I suspected you wouldn’t be a fan of this song. I’m just happy you didn’t go below a 6 lmao, because I kinda enjoy this song a bit.

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  2. The fact that this song of all songs was chosen to promote for their 1st anniversary… (sigh)

    With that being said… THEY HAD SUPERCALI-fucking-FRAGILISTIC TO CHOOSE FOR THEIR PERFORMANCE VIDEO, WHY? 😭 Like, the lyrics of Supercalifragilistic can be interpreted as dancing like crazy, which makes sense cause hey, it’s their anniversary, it deserves a celebration! Or even the lyric “we’re going higher, the sun is coming up”, meaning they’ll only grow further into their careers! And the beats for the song slaps too! (And I love me some club bangers, so call me biased) Damn, KQ, you could have seized the opportunity 😭

    Like I said in the We Don’t Stop review, Red Sun is basically a 6ix9ine-lite song with the shouty rap (Minjae’s verse in the beginning especially) and shouty ass chorus. Koong’s milder brother— both a compliment and insult— except Koong happens to proudly embrace the worst boy group music tropes and make it sound worse, and Red Sun just happens to TRY to sound badass, given it’s a milder Koong, but fails, which is a major disappointment. Like Koong, where the vocal bits were the saving graces, here, the verse after the “chorus” was the saving grace.

    5.5 (5, 6, 6, 5) for me, though I debated on giving production a 7, but idk, I couldn’t find much in it. Either this, or 5.75 (5, 7, 6, 5), cause the hooks are just plain annoying and is more shouty than chanty and longevity wise, the hooks will most prolly grow to be an annoying jackhammer to the ears.

    And for those who wants to cleanse their ears from this badass-wannabe-ass, shouty-boygroup-music-ass, Soundcloud-rapper-music-ass, 6ix9ine-ass, Koong’s-little-brother-ass song, I’d recommend Lexie Liu’s The Happy Star album (especially Magician and Mira). Thank me later, whoever reads my comment 🙃

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    • And I apologize for the long rant. Most of it definitely stems from the fact that they chose this song over Supercalifragilisitc to promote and that it’s basically Koong’s little brother 🙃 (and the rest is probably my dramatic ass being… dramatic, duh)

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  3. I’m perplexed that Red Sun was chosen over Supercalifragilistic.

    I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; Xikers have a ‘seize the day’ energy and passion that I love.

    Red Sun is my least favourite song in their current album, but the performance video was fun to watch.

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  4. Xikers chose Red Sun because Red Sun IS Xiker’s brand. We definitely have different taste lol, because Red Sun has been on repeat for me since it came out. Xikers has one on the strongest rap lines I’ve ever seen, so I personally love them for creating music that suits that aspect of them as well as the member’s styles. To me, Red Sun is very true to Xikers.

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  5. I didn’t find this as off putting as Koong. If anything Koong was just silly and ridiculous. Yes, the shouting here was a little much but it kind of worked.

    It seems like these kids are inspired by drill rappers, which is hit or miss especially if you’re not rapping over a drill beat or drill adjecent beat. Someone mentioned them sounding like 6ix9ine (or however you spell his name) and that’s also the kind of vibe/rap style I get from these kids.

    I’m still not a fan of the kid’ tone who sounds like Do Hanse on helium. Maybe he just needs to go through puberty or something. He’s good but his tone just doesn’t work for me.

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  6. I really don’t understand why KQ couldn’t give “Supercalifragilistic” a performance video instead, but then again, KQ is also responsible for making “Fireworks” the title track instead of “Take Me Home” for that one ATEEZ mini album.

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