Mystic Story has become known as a creative, slightly left-of-center agency, home to quirky girl group Billlie, the violin-powered idol band Lucy and K-pop’s original sonic rulebreakers Brown Eyed Girls. Now, it’s time for a more traditional boy group with the soon-to-debut ARrC. Before their official unveiling next month, they’ve teased us with pre-release Dummy.

I hope ARrC will emerge as true industry wild cards, abandoning boy group tropes in favor of their own musical playground. However, Dummy tempers that hope. Instead of swinging hard right out of the gate, the song delivers a relatively standard, NCT-adjacent retro chant rap throwdown. The track is likely positioned to showcase the group’s skills and energy rather than unveil a grand ambition, but even within these expectations Dummy could be stronger.

I enjoy the song’s bass-heavy groove, at times hearkening all the way back to K-pop’s first-gen stalwarts H.O.T. The production has an easy rhythm, instantly ingratiating without needless switch-ups. There are a few nice vocal flourishes sprinkled across the verses, pointing toward exciting potential. However, Dummy‘s repetitive (borderline annoying) chorus is less enchanting. To be honest, I don’t enjoy the word “dummy” in general, and the monotonous way in which it’s deployed only adds to that concern. More than anything, Dummy confuses me. I’m interested to see who or what ARrC become, because this doesn’t feel like their final form.

Grade: C+