New girl group BADVILLAIN has pluses and minuses going for them. On the plus side, the group includes the little sister of Choi Bomin from Golden Child (a Bias List favorite, as if you didn’t know!). But they’re also called “BADVILLAIN” and that’s a really dumb name. I guess it’s meant to sound imposing, but it feels more like a catchphrase from a Disney Channel original movie franchise and conjures thoughts of a posturing, sing-shout musical style. Worse yet, the group has doubled down on the schtick with an eponymous title track.
Unsurprisingly, BADVILLAIN is comprised of way too much shouty sing talk (the “bad attitude” exclamation in verse one is maximum cringe), but a dynamic instrumental keeps things interesting. Rather than bludgeon us with distorted synth, the production takes an orchestral approach. A healthy dose of strings supplies constant drama, climaxing in a mostly-instrumental chorus where these flourishes take center stage. This approach loses luster during a climactic switch-up where nursery-rhyme “la la la’s” steal some wind from the song’s sails. In fact, stronger melodies overall would transform BADVILLAIN from a fun curiosity to a potential classic.
Still, if BADVILLAIN must peddle one of these tropey, “I’m so bad” hype tracks, they could do much worse than this. I appreciate BADVILLAIN‘s sheer energy and sense of fullness. It reminds me of the go-for-broke drama that made ATEEZ’s debut year so compelling. I can only imagine how cool the group will sound when they’re able to find an equally fleshed-out song to compliment this ambition.
| Hooks | 7 |
| Production | 9 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 8 |
| RATING | 8 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
THAT INSTRUMENTAL WAS CALLING FOR STRONGER HOOKS, WHY? 😭😩 Why did they HAVE to make the chorus empty with “lalalala”s and “villain!”s? Damn, this and Maestro (plus tons of songs I would loooove to list) made me develop trust issues, as I’ve learned to never trust songs with a great instrumental or verses or both, cause in the end, you’ll end up with an underwhelming chorus or one that you’d hate! (insert that one JYP disappointed face)
Anyways, dramatic mode off, I loved the instrumental (ofc lol), the raps are cool, but damn, is the chorus underwhelming
The outro is slightly better and hype-y. And you’re right, it does remind me of ATEEZ a little bit (+ YG at their best).
7.75 (one point minus for bias) for me.
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Hah, seconding many of the same thoughts as Nick. Yes, they could do much worse than this. Yes, sounds like Disney channel music for Descendants. Yes, moments of potential drama followed by moments of la la la. Also, checking the calendar, this sounds October and its June.
That said, its OK. I am reminded of Pixy’s “Villain” which darling daughter played a lot a few years ago.
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i was rewatching the descendants trilogy the other day (me and my sister used to hyperfixate on them a few years ago) and forgot how absolutely weird they are
the dancing knights scene in the third movie probably takes the cake as the biggest wtf moment in the series
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My niece was into Descendants for a while.
But really, I was reminded of the music of Disney’s halloween parade. The way the verse and chorus can loop around on itself supported by essentially the same orchestral sample and beat, with instrumental overlays that customize each section, but then every 8 or 16 bars it resolves and snaps back to the same beat so all the dance moves and character movements get synced at the same time. The Disney magic thing.
This song is like that, but make it kpop. I have to admit every time this song did its downward motif (at 0:27), my brain overlayed “boo to you and you and you …” on the next measure.
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maybe i just spend too much time on tiktok but does anyone remember that trend where people would make “badass” edits with 4 completely random idols and this song playing in the background 😭
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exactly
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I’m just glad to have a girl crush song that doesn’t rely on those tired trap hi-hats. those strings are beautiful and really carry the song. the melodies needed more work but overall it’s not a bad debut.
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I am confused because I love everything about this but after it’s over I don’t remember anything about it. It really needed a hook or something, maybe a double part chorus, idk it could have been amazing with something to grasp on. It’s very cool when you are listening to it but I doubt about the longevity…
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While listening I constantly had to remind myself that this was not Babymonster
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i really don’t like their vocals but the instrumental makes up more for it
7.5/10 for me
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when they dropped that picture (the one used for this blog post) there were immediate claims of plagiarism from babymonster fans and, honestly, i don’t take plagiarism claims from kpop fans seriously 99% of the time. and yeah, neither this picture nor babymonster’s group pic is anything new to claim plagiarism with. that being said now that I have mistaken badvillain for baemon like 6 times with that picture now I have to say I wonder if it was on purpose 🤔 the styling IS similar, come to think of it. not plagiarism, but it can’t be said for sure it isn’t similar to baemon on purpose
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The girls give good enough (vocal) performances but the melodies aren’t memorable. The orchestral approach and bridge almost saved it. These songwriters are getting so lazy with their choruses; just because there’s a drop doesn’t mean you have to use this sparse catchphrasy toplining method. With a lot of tracks, I just go “meh” and don’t even bother sharing my thoughts, but it’s songs with such clear potential that I find the most frustrating nowadays
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Are you kidding me? An 8? That’s too high for the other song you reviewed before. The instrumentals, the lyrics, and how they bring it in a different direction – for some debut song, it feels cheap. It’s not the kind of investment in something brilliant.
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It’s a 7 from me. Not bad, not great. The real highlight is the performance (the choreo is fantastic and the girls have great charisma!) but the song itself is a bit underwhelming with no memorable part besides the rap section, while the instrumental had potential for more. Overall I like it better than Sheesh, but at least Sheesh managed to showcase the girls’ vocals. a 7 from me. Not bad, not great. The real highlight is the performance (the choreo is fantastic and the girls have great charisma!) but the song itself is a bit underwhelming with no memorable part besides the rap section, while the instrumental had potential for more. Overall I like it better than Sheesh, but at least Sheesh managed to showcase the girls’ vocals.
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imo i just watched their debut mv cause it was in my yt page so i had to take a look and I ABSOLUTELY loved it like especially the instrumentals and idk about yall but they ate this up cause most of the times girl crush songs or any concepts that is like within the dark concept,, lets say im picky and very rare do i listen to girl groups focusing/leaning more into this kind of concept and THEY slayed ittt ❤️❤️
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I think BadVillain is a genuinely talented group and has the skill to take off IF the production/creative team could give them something actually unique to work with. There are many groups who are already doing/have done this concept (Blackpink, Babymonster, XG, CRAXY, PurpleKiss, etc). The concept makes bank but then every new group that tries to go for it inevitably falls into a monolith of imitating the top the chain (which is also my exact problem with Babymonster, the difference is YG surely has the capital to not care). That’s no fault of the performers, it’s the pattern of trend chasing that bogs down creative potential in pursuit of profit (right now it’s half futuristic/bourgeois level girl crush and half Y2K).
This gets a 6 from me. Points go to the dance break outro, verses, and the promising performance of the group, but I cannot score it any higher when the material already feels like nothing innovative will be done with them.
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