BTS members’ enlistment-era comebacks have been so meticulously planned that they even incorporate pre-release singles and music videos. Jimin returned late last month with the quirky Smeraldo Garden Marching Band, a song that sounded nothing like he’d ever recorded before. In contrast, title track Who sees him take on a more conventional dance pop role.
Who draws from the same ‘Justin Timberlake circa Like I Love You‘ well as much of bandmate Jungkook’s solo work. We’ve got the strumming rhythm guitar, the MJ-lite percussion and a general sense of smooth, never-going-to-offend-anyone radio gloss. Jimin’s vocal color tends to be quite polarizing and this song — more than any before — will succeed or fail depending on how you receive his performance.
Melodically, Who utilizes a larger range than you’d expect from its nimble production. Notes are often stretched and belted with gusto. However, they tend to be painted with a heavy layer of studio effects. At best, this gives the track an almost psychedelic, otherworldly appeal. At worst, it sounds like two cats fighting in a bag. Regardless of where you land on this spectrum, it’s an odd choice for this style of track. The structure and arrangement call for a gritty, down-to-earth delivery but we end up with the exact opposite. To sum it up briefly, I like the song but I have concerns about the execution.
| Hooks | 8 |
| Production | 7 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 8 |
| RATING | 7.75 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
this autotune is basically set me free pt 2 all over again. Other than that, its fine
7.5/10 for me (please do another like crazy jimin I beg of you)
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Yeah. The vocal effects ruined an otherwise solid song for me. It’s a shame because Jimin has some REALLY good vocal moments in the song. I also love how 00s R&B reminiscent it is.
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this transported me to late early 00s Enrique Iglesias…
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early*
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The autotune bruh… I am sick and tired of countless BTS and BTS-adjacent songs being ruined solely because of the vocal processing 😭 when will HYBE get the hint that noone likes it😩
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Since Hybe proved to have a peculiar fetish for remixes, I hope this song can be remixed as well in order to gain some more twist and groove as it seems to deserve (especially its chorus).
Anyway: after what happened with Jimin’s live encore performance of Like Crazy at M!Countdown, *WHY* raising the bar to such these high notes? I guess he won’t ever need to sing them live because it’s gonna be all background vocals, but I’m not sure this is definitely fit for him at this moment of his (solo) career.
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Seeing your comment about Jimin’s performance at M!Countdown I understand that you’re not very familiar with music and especially with vocalists ! Let me tell you then that vocal cords for vocalists is an instrument that is controlled by many factors, ( which I will need a lot of time to analyze) and hearing is one of these factors! In M!Countdown case, Jimin’s IEM (in- ear monitor) was broken and he couldn’t listen his voice and the music! The IEM the vocalists and musicians wear helps them to hear clearly their voice and other instruments and it isolates the external noices! I would also remind you that musicians are not robots and they are entitled to make mistakes! Since I see you are really interested at Jimin’s work, otherwise you wouldn’t follow his performances, hear his new song and loose time from your life to comment , I will advise you to buy a ticket for BTS’s upcoming concerts to verify yourself if he can sing live or not while dancing ” Like Crazy”! This of course means you have to manage to find one since they usually are sold out in the first 10-20 minutes! Anyway , Good luck!!!
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The contrarian here. So, first of all, the BTS concerts are not necessarily live live, they have autotune on the mics, and layers of backing vocals. Its really clever audio engineering actually, but it isn’t all live live. The only thing in kpop truly live live consistently is Knowing Brothers, various radio shows, and the encore stages. Even Masked Singer and Immortal Songs have a post-production polish. That’s part of the problem. We are not used to hearing actually live singing much nowadays.
The M Countdown encore. Song is in F Major. What I was hearing was intonation problem and practice problem. Most of the time he was in the right key. He would hit the right initial note of the line. But when he did the ascending or descending part of the line, one or more of the notes in that line would be flat, so it sounded like minor key or a blue note and or some other interesting scale. Really, a singer ought to be able to practice a ascending major scale and nail it regardless of what else is going on.
Now, it might have been interesting if there was a blue note in there, or an interesting shift into an interesting scale. I mean, SHINee do this all the time. But the song wasn’t written that way. Perhaps he extemporaneously threw in a blue note, but then the singer has to OWN it, which did not happen.
I have a darling daughter in marching band. She has to hit her note even when some other loud deep brass is right behind her with the quad drums going and the rest of her section spread out so she can’t hear them. The coaches look and point Right at You, You Are The One Who Is Off, and they are up sitting up in the stands. The judges are crazy good at picking out the One Person Who Is Off, and they are 10-20 yards away with all that going on. Its about intonation practice.
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*sigh*… another BTS solo that has me scratching my head. Although I’ve never been too fond of Jimin’s voice, he has millions of fans that love it…why change it so much?!? The song is an 8 but the vocal effects make it an unlistenable 6. It pisses me off a little bit.
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Then don’t listen if your getting pissed off but I do not care
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(Obviously you care enough to comment)
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>Watch “WHO” LIVE while dancing on FALON, he sounded GREAT! >He obvously doesn’t need “effects”…Wish they’d use his awesome lower range more….Your “pointed” dig, for all to read: “I’ve never been too fond of Jimin’s voice” was unnecessary….I’m “not particu-larly fond” of another vocalist’s “hollow” voice in the grp, but I’d never use a “dig” to point that member’s Name out, I’d just listen to my faves more, but still show respect..>>> Need NOOO Reply👌
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I loved it! It’s a catchy song, his voice range is terrific and the lyrics fit a generation of “singles” looking for that one to be with. I predict it to be a hit. The MV was a little too dark for the song in my opinion. I am not a music person, I just know what I like. Too simplistic of a review? Maybe, but I’m probably your average listener.
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Jimin has one of the most unique, most recognizable voices in kpop. Whyeeee do they obscure it every single time.
Look, I know his technique isn’t great. If they have to because otherwise he is horribly out of tune, then send him to ear training lessons. Also, figure out his comfortable range to lower the whole song down a few notches so he could at least almost possibly sing it live while dancing. I have no idea how low he can comfortably go, but I know those high notes live are elusive.
The song itself, straight ahead pop. It might be OK or even good or better, but choices were made.
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This is something that has continuously puzzled me as well. Jimin has a very recognizable voice and singing style, so DO something with it! Spotlight it, enhance it, write a song around it! He’s a big enough star that you’d expect something tailormade around his personal style, rather than slapping a hundred filters over it.
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Yeah, agree. I think Like Crazy did that well. A huge part of why it worked was because it was well suited for his vocal tone and overall performance style as well.
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I am a massive fan of Jimin’s unique vocals but this song did nothing for me, pretty much like “Set me free”; the song sounds a bit forgettable, but above all, it sounds like it was a song that Jungkook rejected from his album 😩 and, between the accent and the vocal tone, the vocals sound awkward; honestly I am a bit angry at HYBE, because I feel Jimin is at best when he has songs like “Serendipity” or “Filter” where he can use soft sultry vocals. With that kind of material, he is unbeatable.
His vocal colour is too thin and unique to sing common US pop songs.
Just my 2 cents… and sorry for the rant ha ha 🙂
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>Jimin recorded both albums 2023, B4 JK’s album, wish they’d stop with unnecessary effects, cuz he sounded GREAT LIVE on FALLON! >Thin vocal color?…Tired of this myth…He can actually belt very well in his mid-range, he did in earliest songs…I loved Set Me Free, again, he didn’t need”effects”, cuz when he sang it LIVE, it sounded GREAT! >>Need NOOO Reply👌
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jimin and his unique vocals
if you don’t like Jimin muse song “who” then why did you want to listen to it and y’all just ended don’t like it just bc of the effects nahh it’s hybe fault 🙄 (I wanna slap them frr) but us sorry we don’t care about those (idk about others) at least we (army) should be happy and scream loud oh yes just like “set me free” isn’t there’s an effect to but he perform to army his voice like damn that was slaying shessh
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I mean, is this a troll? I cannot say if you are being serious or not?
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They aaways sound as if someone were to impersonate an army😭😂 I think we’ll never really find out
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Given my total liking for this genre and Jimin’s earlier solo work, FACE, it is surprising that I could not bear to listen to this song. And all credits go to the hefty vocal processing, I mean just why would you do that. He might not be the best singer out there in K pop but he definitely has his own style and vocal tone which I think worked well before. The autotune fit Set Me Free Pt. 2 in my opinion but it didn’t let me enjoy the song properly this time around.
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>Watch “WHO” LIVE, while DANCING, on FALLON= HE SOUNDED GREAT! >>> Need NOOO Reply👌
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For all those complaining about the sound effects/autotune you can check now the acoustic version of Jimin’s “Who” version! Let’s see what what u will find to complaint ! This will be actually interesting to see! 😁
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I agree with you. Jimin’s album “Muse” is a testament to his vocal growth, especially in the track “Who.” In the original version, his voice transitions effortlessly from soft whispers to powerful crescendos, delivering each line with heartfelt emotion. The acoustic version further highlights his versatility, stripping down the instrumentation to showcase the purity and nuance of his voice. Both versions of “Who” demonstrate Jimin’s exceptional talent and emotional depth, making this track a standout in his discography. “Muse” as a whole is a must-listen, with “Who” as one of its brightest highlights.
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I recently his performance in the Tonight Show from a few days ago that fixed most of my issues with the track: https://youtu.be/sidIL8V83Cc?si=i7fHpMbXatZ31WP6
As many others have mentioned, the song is good on its own, but the voice processing makes it worse. This new version sounds much more natural and is a better fit for Jimin’s style and his best recent releases.
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we need a non auto tune version. Easily a 9 without the added effects
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>Watch “WHO” LIVE while dancing, on FALLON, he sounded GREAT! >>>Need NOOO Reply👌
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>>PLZ READ= This SONG was RECORDED **BEFORE** JK’s SOLO SONGS! 2. L💜VE THIS SONG + IT WAS INCREDIBLE *LIVE*🔥 on JIMMY FALLON!! 3. IT SET + BROKE RECORDS, JUST LIKE “LIKE CRAZY” DID, LAST YEAR!!…… 4. L💜VE HOW DIVERSE JIMIN’S SONGS ARE, ON BOTH of HIS ALBUMS!! 5. JIMIN, JHOPE + RM GAVE US SOMETHING NEW+ DEEP+ AMAZING!👌 6. ALL DIVERSE TRACKS MADE ME EXCITED FOR THEIR FUTURE ALBUMS!! 7. I PLAY THEIR ALBUMS, OVER + OVER AGAIN, ESPEC. IN MY CAR!!………. 8. JK’S, V’S + SUGA’S ALBUMS WERE GOOD, BUT PREDICTABLE, just IMO.. >>>>>>>> Need *NOOOOO* Reply👌
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