After completing their lengthy fantasy-themed series, Kingdom have undergone a branding change with new team name “The KingDom.” Apparently, their lore dictates they now exist in the present era where capital-letters-in-the-middle-of-words is completely normal. As cool as their fantasy influences were, I tended to prefer their more contemporary b-sides so this rebrand isn’t unwelcome.
With a new name comes new collaborators, as Flip That Coin sees the group paired with the D_answer production team. They’ve given The KingDom a trendy boy group transformation, complete with bass-driven, anti-drop chorus. The song is totally fine but wholly unremarkable, making every sonic and structural shift you’d expect from a track of this nature. At this point, I feel like AI could write this material with a few simple commands.
The KingDom deliver this sound as well as anyone and there are some nice vocal tones on display. The second half of the chorus offers a burst of energy missing across other parts of the song, but the groovy hook that precedes it grows more tiring each time it comes around. Again, nothing here is “bad” or even amateurish. It’s just that we’ve already got iterations upon iterations of this exact song and I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with another one.
| Hooks | 7 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 7 |
| RATING | 7.5 |
Grade: C
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Personally I really liked this one, because 1. there are some really cool synth textures throughout 2. that ending goes OFF 3. I love how their vocals are just ATTACKING that chorus.
Yeah that chorus is a bit of a bummer, but tbh I’ve come to expect then now – catchy-but-not-particularly-interesting choruses are all the rage rn, and I don’t expect that to go away for as long as short-form social media exists. 8.25 from me. (7, 9, 8, 9)
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I know it is not that big of I change but I like how “Kingdom” reads way more than “The KingDom” lol
Regarding the song, it’s alright! Vocals are great esp during the chorus like Whoami pointed out, and agree on the song being not too interesting overall to keep me coming back to it, but I’ll add to the playlist and see how it grows from there.
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I think I would have loved this song about 5 years ago. Its is actually very solidly built, produced, performed. However, at this point I have a full ipod or three of this sound, and don’t need any more.
As for the rebrand, skeptical. Have they truly exhausted knights in shining armor theming? I mean, half of every movie is a knight in shining armor theme in disguise. The Hero’s Journey. Great quests and great adventures. Epic battles. I remember Kingdom precisely because of the corny theming. Its like Medieval Times but make it kpop. Now here it is generic boy black leather bondage styling. They could be any XYZ123 group, pronounced “sizzle” because of course.
(… … still waiting on SP_ACE to appear)
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wouldve preferred them to lean more into the medieval theme but shift the sound a bit. Maybe do something like bardcore?!
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I’ve been waiting for The KingDom to break free from the shackles of their musical concept, as cool as it was sometimes, but unfortunately this song isn’t it. Also, I know they were already on Peaktime, but it really is a wasted opportunity if they don’t go on RTK 2.
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It’s not their best, but they sing the hell out of it. The b-sides are better, naturally, and gave us the infectious and deliciously idiotic GUNDAM.
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I loved their original concept, but I guess it didn’t pay out. Their bsides were always more traditional Kpop and that gave them a good balance, imo. I guess what I’m saying is this song would’ve been a great bside if they hadn’t gone for the concept change. I liked it…8/10
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