Few rookie groups have endured a story as dramatic as Fifty Fifty. Initially emerging from a fledgling agency, they quickly gained international notoriety and incredible momentum, only to have this success undercut by alleged abuse, escalating lawsuits and contract terminations. The timeline is too complicated for me to recount here, but we’re left with an upcoming “comeback” from a group with almost completely new members. Starry Night acts as its pre-release.
This doesn’t only apply to K-pop, but I’ve noticed a worrying trend over the past year or so of increasingly vacuous pop music. I don’t mean “vacuous” in the way many pop-detractors do. I love nothing more that a meaningless bit of bubblegum fluff with a killer melody. I mean “vacuous” as in “pretty song, pretty sound, but nothing much going on under the hood.” It’s like a modern redux of watered down easy-listening. Starry Night fits within this realm, delivering a wisp of pop aftertaste without the substance that makes you feel satisfied.
The vocals are lovely, the production is slick and the melodies go pretty much where you’d expect them to. But without individual quirk, Starry Night could have just as easily been recorded by AI. It’s the latest in an increasing line of globally-minded K-pop singles that fill a couple minutes on a playlist but won’t be remembered in a year’s time. I’m more curious where Fifty Fifty go from here, because this song doesn’t hint at any specific vision.
| Hooks | 7 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 7 |
| Bias | 7 |
| RATING | 7.25 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
jesus fucking christ you finally gave me the right word to describe these kinds of songs recently, “vacuous”
like im all for this bright recession pop revival (chappell roan’s been on loop on my playlist), but some of the kinds of songs that are being put out in the mainstream just feel underdeveloped and surface level. this kind of criticism for me really sparked with katy perry’s comeback attempt
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or maybe when jojo siwa released karma
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Not the karma diss sisssssss 💀💀💀
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ooh as the resident crankpot yelling at clouds, I feel this comment. So much meh music.
Music for me should make you shout to the rafters about the joys and agonys of being human. This kind of song here is just a product to sell. Another fizzy soda flavor in that aisle of the store.
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Cute song, needs more bite to it as with most songs nowadays.
7.5 (8, 8, 7, 7) for me
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I actually quite like it, but the mixing is sooo bad…
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im so bored…
7/10 for me
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Too floaty, airy and empty.
I literally slept in the train with the songs on.
I think this is because the mixing of vocal to the music is quite off.
5/10.
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off topic but you are kinda getting cooked on twitter for this 🗿
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Luckily, no one is forced to watch the video if they don’t want to. However, I am committed to writing about every major K-pop release regardless of its background or extra-musical scandals.
Fans have a right to boycott and given everything that’s come out they are justified in that stance. I won’t be listening to or supporting the song either way and I can’t imagine this less-than-glowing review will convince anyone who’s on the fence to press play.
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if you can, you should probably at least remove the link to the mv from the review 🤔
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Which one? Again, no one is forced to click and it doesn’t auto-play. The links within the review simply point to old reviews on the site.
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as if Twitter stans opinions matter, especially k-pop stans.
most k-pop companies are abusive yet FIFTY FIFTY is the only one being boycotted. this is pure comedy.
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Right, cause it’s peak hypocrisy to boycott FiFi for mistreatment yet several companies have done the same (or even worse) over the years. By that logic, the Big 3 (esp SM with all the lawsuits they’ve had) + HYBE wouldn’t even be a thing cause they would be boycotted to death.
And besides, I’ve seen support for the group in every other site, from YT to Reddit + K-fans supporting the group, so it’s just Twitter screaming boycott
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erm yeah about that…..i get what ur saying here but this is VERY much a false equivalency. this isnt just abt mistreatment of the idols themselves its abt how attrakt decided to go one step further and not just replace but outright scrub sio and aran (the two responsible for cupids success) + saena from the groups history entirely and have a whole new set of idols + keena get credit for a song they werent even a part of
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I liked the melody of the chorus, but I wish they belted it. I’m not a vocal technique expert but…. Did they falsetto the chorus in unison? It sounds halfhearted.
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I liked the melody of the chorus, but I wish they belted it. I’m not a vocal technique expert but…. Did they falsetto the chorus in unison? It sounds halfhearted.
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First of all, I do like this. It’s not a departure from their sound – although that first EP for me is far and away the best thing they’ve done.
Second, the best vocalists of Fifty Fifty were the ones booted out, and those are the ones I hope make a comeback soon, I’m really enchanted by Aran’s vocals in particular.
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I should add that the one welcome development in this new song is – *no rapping, hurray*! The label must’ve figured out they had the worst rapping in k-pop, and I hate to admit this since I did like the group so much. (At the time, I actually rated them at the same level as another new debut act, NewJeans.)
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Nothingburger.
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i feel bad for Fifty Fifty….they had so much going for them, and it was so magical and good because they came from a small agency that was not one of the “Big 4” k-pop agencies….a lot of times, with these fledgling agencies, they drive me crazy because they are not ready to go the distance with the groups they debut, whether it’s money issues, lack of talented producers, lack of competent management and staff, or if they are just some jerks that do not know how to treat the members right….from my experience in k-pop, most often these inexperienced, fledgling agencies end up screwing up and also can screw up groups that have great potential (ie: Fifty Fifty, Everglow, Nine Muses, After School, CLC, Momoland, BAP, Loona, 4Minute, Tahiti) and i could go on without missing a beat ….
but, every now-and-then, you have some of these fledgling agencies that know exactly how to maximize the little they have, get talented people, treat them good, and then pour everything they got into them to make them successful (ie: BTS, Mamamoo, EXID, Seventeen, Ateez, AOA, Infinite, A-Pink, Chungha, to name a few)….and now we have Fifty Fifty who, like Nick has indicated, almost have all new members and a lot of seemingly still unresolved problems in their agency….it’s really sad, but if there is one certainty (there are many, but for the sake of time….) in k-pop, it is that they do not often learn from history, but just continue to have these fly-by-night, fledgling, inexperienced, crappy management agencies pop up unprepared, manage to get their claws on good talent, and then screw it all up….it’s frickin irritating and appalling to k-pop fans….
i wish new agencies would all take a page out of Big Hit Entertainment’s (no HYBE) playbook to success….in fact, don’t just take a page, but read the whole damn thing, memorize it, and model it!….Big Hit only focused on BTS….they did not even debut another group until BTS has become mega stars….they poured everything they had into BTS and now look at their company….they have other successful artists and groups, accumulated other companies, and is now on the same level as the other big k-pop agencies in Korea….
i wish Fifty Fifty the best, but k-history shows that when a company / agency is having these many issues, their artist are the ones that typically end up suffering the most from it all….
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I really love the cool vibe of the song.
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it’s a fun pop song and is already heavy on my rotation. By the way I don’t think I’ve ever read a review where you have liked a song. Everyone is a 7 or 8 and a C grade.
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BOYCOTT FIFTY FIFTY
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This review took me by surprise. I came here expecting like-minded praise for a song that was finally full length and melodic featuring a driving beat, a resonant electric guitar, and a chorus that really takes off. In it’s final form we even get the bigger finish that Nick is always looking for, with extra vocals and the blessing of a bonafide outro. It’s not as hard as a song can go, but it’s definitely not light fluffy background music like the current trend. To me the song was a race through deep thoughts and feelings I guess it’s just one of those rare situations where people are looking at the exact same thing but see it completely different ways.
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