Though just a year and a half old, Primrose have already gone from a duo to a solo to a four-piece group. Freyja is their second comeback as a quartet, including members from disbanded groups Hot Issue and BugAboo. It’s a striking title for a song, referencing Norse mythology. But the music of K-pop has been heavily indebted to Scandinavian creators for many years, so a direct homage makes a weird sort of sense.

I only wish Freyja sounded the least bit Nordic. With a title like that, I expect a specific style of melody and an atmosphere different from standard K-pop. The song wants to deliver this during its grand chorus, but its generic production gets in the way. Apart from some cool synths at its center, Freyja‘s lumbering percussion feels lifted from any number of “badass” girl group tracks. I’m not a fan of this arrangement at all. It’s completely at odds with what the melody is trying to do.

On the plus side, Freyja‘s chorus is quite entrancing. Its vocal blend offers unique texture and the hook has a sense of lift that elevates the energy without feeling like a different song entirely. There are building blocks here for a future comeback that could really set Primrose apart from their peers, but the group’s management still has some fine tuning to do.

Grade: C