ARTMS are blitzing the market with pre-release songs before dropping their debut album. At its best, this strategy offers multiple jumping on points for new fans. If one track doesn’t hit with you, another is bound to compensate. I’m still hoping this project will deliver a song or two for me, because so far I’m struggling to board the ARTMS train. Candy Crush is unlikely to change that.
The previous two ARTMS tracks may have not been for me, but I still found their ideas compelling. Candy Crush swerves into territory that feels a bit dull, taking influence from subdued genres like coffeehouse and city pop. It’s very much a vibe, offering a relaxed groove and light, pleasant vocals. The performance is slick and enjoyable, but none of the melodies are adventurous enough to catch my attention. Candy Crush plays as the mid-to-late album b-side it likely is. It’s the kind of connective tissue that ties a project together, but doesn’t really stand on its own as a highlight.
Oh well, there’s always the next one.
| Hooks | 7 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 7 |
| Bias | 7 |
| RATING | 7.25 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
I’m not sure about the strategy either, but the idea between these pre-releases is to bring the ARTMS project together. So Birth is the fans (the single was fan-voted), Flower Rhythm was Heejin (it’s an extrapolation of Kehwa the intro to her album and it reuses the na-na-na hook from Algorithm) and this is Haseul (it samples her solo song Plastic Candy + lyrical references). Presumably the last predebut single, Air, will refer to Air Force One and represent Odd Eye Circle. I’m not sure if it’ll make for a very cohesive album though, we’ll see how it turns out. I loved Birth though so if the other 3 are more like bonus-feeling tracks that’s fine with me.
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I just don’t think my brain is wired to enjoy music in this way. If the song doesn’t grab me on its own merits, no amount of references or lore is going to change that. In fact, it makes things more frustrating because it feels like that’s where all the focus is going.
That’s a personal taste issue, though. I get that many people love these kind of easter eggs.
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tbf, i loved candy crush waaaaay more than i thought i would. i’m not super into city pop – i like it, but it’s not one of my favorite genres – and i thought plastic candy was, at best, a cute song. the tempo is a little bit faster on candy crush and, added to the girls’ vocal performances, really elevated the song for me. idk, they’re such a strong team vocally-wise and haseul and jinsoul’s voices were really a standout for me and made the song feel full of personality. might not be the first thing i myself think when i think of artms, even as a fan – something more dance or haunting like the previous releases come to my mind – but this was an amazing surprise for me. really excited to see the direction they’re going to take with the debut, tho, and to see if birth was a hint at that or just one fan-chosen track that had no impact in mh’s plans for them.
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DANGG you don’t like citypop mr. biaslist ? :<
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I like some of it, but many times it comes too close to easy-listening for my taste.
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I love city pop, but a lot of city-pop inspired stuff sounds like a poor pastiche. The instrumental here, though, sounds more authentically city pop than a lot of what gets labelled that these days.
Plus, there are some nice production twists that feel new, like that rising, stuttering sound that keeps interrupting. Points to for the songwriters for trying something a little new with the genre.
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Also, while we’re on the city pop subject, I always think back to Shohei Uemura from the Japanese reality show Terrace House. Before the genre’s resurgence, he was calling his music city pop. His housemates, all Japanese, had never heard of the genre.
I like to contrast his band, THREE1989, with all the city pop resurgence stuff. I feel like all the K-Pop and the city pop YouTube remixes are looking at Plastic Love and making super dreamy, reverby music, rarely with real instruments or the brass section that often gives classic city pop its drive.
Shoehei’s band feels more like a continuation of the whole genre, keeping its jazz influences, and using real instruments. Not a pastiche, but a natural progression.
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These are pretty cool, thanks for sharing!
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Completely agree- I watched Terrace House back in the day and was so surprised his music was actually solid!
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