Choi Yena has straddled the line between rock chick and quirky popstress, often combining the two for a bubbly sound that capitalizes on her colorful personality. New single NEMONEMO (네모네모) dives full-on into the quirk, delivering the kind of a hyperactive dance track more commonly heard in J-pop. It won’t be for everyone, but the madcap energy is quite contagious.
I had my doubts when NEMONEMO‘s initial teasers rolled out, promising a ton of affected cutesy talk that can often overtake an otherwise solid track. Fortunately, the full song has much more to it than expected. The silliness is definitely present, but as a feature rather than a flaw. In fact, much of NEMONEMO reminds me of Orange Caramel’s irreverent singles run. It’s clearly not taking itself too seriously, but at the same time you can tell a lot of thought went into the track itself. The synths are bright and explosive and the percussion barrels forward with peppy enthusiasm.
In fact, it’s because of NEMONEMO‘s in-your-face approach that its eccentricities work so well. Given a different sonic palette, its sing-talk chorus could have easily become cloying. But Yena echoes the intensity surrounding her, feeding into the song’s best instincts. I’m not sure how this will age in the long run, but for now it’s a ton of fun and likely to spawn equally addictive live stages.
| Hooks | 8 |
| Production | 9 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 9 |
| RATING | 8.5 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Thank you. Yes. More of this please.
Bonkers in a classic kpop/jpop way. The spritely speed reminds me more of jpop where songs tend to be set 10% faster than is prudent. The vocals are pure helium. And yet still resembles an entity known as “Song”.
I may be overstating this, but these days only someone like Yena can pull this off this well. Who is still promoting among the girls who can go full squeaky camp – everyone I can think of might be disbanded or not promoting much – maybe back in the day the WJSN WekiMeki NeonPunch types. Oh My Girl in their brief Banana Allergy Monkey phase.
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Appreciate its silly energy. Like you, I also worry for its longevity.
8 (8, 9, 7, 8) for me.
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YESSS. I love this. It’s interesting that you bring up Orange Caramel because it definitely reminded me of them. Weird songs like My Copycat, Catallena and Red Velvet’s Rookie are what got me into K-pop so this is a nice reminder of my roots as a K-pop stan lol :]. I’d rate this a little higher.
Pleaaase let Yena stick to her sound and not to succumb to the current trends. She really shines the most when she’s does full-on quirky/fun, like this or Smiley.
Also, It was love buried treasure?? 👀
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I love this so much. This song is like sugar to my dopamine-hungry brain. I want to turn this up to the loudest volume possible to silence every negative thought I have ever had.
Huge props to this singer, because she pulls it off PERFECTLY. This needs a ton of personality and hitting the right tone to avoid being grating, and she does it so well. It is going on the playlist immediately.
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one of the best songs of the year and Yena’s best titletrack so far imo , love the Orange Caramel mention it does indeed makes one think of their unique style and high quality , i really like this keep it coming Yena
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Fairly positive to her going in this direction.
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Not bad. I’m wondering how much the release of QWER’s TBH is going to change the soundscape in the next year. It’s not that there haven’t been J-Poppy songs released recently, but, aside from QWER, this is the first rock-ish one that’s been on my radar.
I will say I was a bit tired by the end of it, though. Not sure how much replay it’ll get.
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