Kwon Eunbi remains a bright spot in Woollim Entertainment’s dwindling roster, capturing attention with her upbeat sound and overall star power. It isn’t easy to launch a soloist in the idol industry, but she’s managed to develop a consistent discography highlighted by club bangers like last year’s The Flash. New single Sabotage delivers her biggest blast of energy yet.
I want to unconditionally love this this song. After all, I’m always complaining about modern K-pop’s lack of thumping energy. I appreciate the pounding beat that opens Sabotage and sticks around for most of the song. It gives the production instant power that grows even more robust as we dive into the chorus. The melodies also hit hard, supplying natural climaxes that keep the track exciting. The production feels indebted to the EDM bombast of the early 2010’s, an era I have great fondness for.
However, Sabotage keeps me at an arm’s length. Part of this is due to its second verse, which collapses into a needless energy shift that sacrifices momentum and, for lack of a better word, sabotages what the song is trying to do. But more than this, the vocals keep me from fully embracing the chorus. They feel sharp and too high for Eunbi’s comfortable range. Perhaps some layering or harmony could have softened this sound and deepened the texture of the mix. As is, Sabotage is a frustrating listen. It’s so close to being great but a few production choices squander is potential.
| Hooks | 9 |
| Production | 7 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 8 |
| RATING | 8 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
her voice has always been my biggest drawback on why I can’t fully get into her music. not necessarily her talent/skill level, but the way she sings plenty of songs out of her range. it’s especially bad on this song. I think The Flash (mostly) did it right on that part.
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it doesn’t really sound out of her range, but maybe the technique needs refining
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It’s funny, the high range of the vocals doesn’t bother me here. To my ears she sounds just fine. And I’m often bugged by songs pitched too high (it’s why I can never enjoy Can’t Stop Me by Twice).
I actually threw this is in Garageband and chopped out the second verse slowdown stuff. It sounds fine without it.
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In theory i should be loving this but so many problems occurred to my ears: Whats with the forced english lyrics, Kwon eunbi’s discography has never had so much english and I can now see why. The grammar is poor but thats not even the problem, it just sounds like they are trying to get her into the loop of 80% english 20% korean and its just ok… You are very right with the vocals but I feel like its the way she actually sings the lines which make it sound so off. So many of the lines sound super direct/shortened especially the “woho” part sounds like it should be sung half a second later- Its a shame I love the whistle in this. Sabotage is The Flash with a lot of sabotage happening to the track…
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Her weakest song yet.
Vocals are on point, rap is disastrous
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idk though that part is more of a breakdown, she sings in majority of that part.
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Song is okayish, just kind of odd though. For a song about Sabotage, it is rather upbeat. It has elements in the beat of a classic Stock-Aiken-Waterman sound, but instead of sultry or cunning, its just plain bright. No actual sabotage is happening, just a flow of meaningless words.
As for the pitch, it has that high shrill belt of that So Chanwhee “Tears” song that everyone has attempted on Korean variety shows. I mean, well, OK, I guess some like that timbre. (Incidentally, the best vocal cover of that song is by a guy, Chen of Exo.)
Back to the Stock-Aiken-Waterman. I think this song would have been better placed with Sunmi, sung an octave down or at least down a good half an octave. Also a tic slower, so the notes don’t just fly by but can get dug into. Y’all know SAW as Rick Astley’s production crew. Also a very young Kylie Minogue.
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I can see from the comments that the majority didn’t like the song, or at least not as much as her previous songs, but Sabotage captivated me immediately, and although perhaps the vocal technique makes some parts feel too high-pitched or out of Eunbi’s range, in fact I like that high tone, it gives me incredible energy and I can’t stop listening, I love it. And yet, I am aware that it may be her least polished title track musically speaking.
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100% agree everything you said about the song.
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