ITZY were without their main vocalist for January’s comeback, but still managed to drop an early-2024 highlight with the rugged, exciting Untouchable. Now, Lia has returned to the group and everything’s golden. At least, that’s what their new single Gold seeks to portray. It’s an interesting sonic shift for them, throwing disparate musical elements together in an arrangement reminiscent of NMIXX’s debut.
I’m a big proponent of keeping K-pop weird and shirking international influence for something more specific and unique. With this in mind, I admire Gold‘s chutzpah. Its blend of heavy rock guitar and quirky EDM hip-hop is interesting and ambitious. With a different song attached to this production, Gold could be a very quintessential K-pop standout. However, the song itself borders on awful at almost every turn.
After opening with a strong shot of energy backed by power chords, Gold quickly devolves into a weird mix of sing-talk and straight-up… rambling? I want to call this a rap song, but I’m not sure that’s what’s happening. Instead, it feels like the girls are simply vamping over the instrumental for three minutes. The track is riddled with awkward pauses and strange choices in phrasing, causing it to feel quite disjointed. I wish the producers had capitalized on the cool choral elements within the chorus, finding a melody that could have stood up to that bombast. More than anything, Gold feels like a ton of missed opportunities. However, I have a weird hunch that its sheer audacity might make it an unexpected grower.
| Hooks | 6 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 7 |
| Bias | 6 |
| RATING | 6.75 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Honestly, the way they seesaw between melody and chanting in the chorus grinds my gears, but it’s also oddly addicting? I wish they kept it as separate sections. The verses are forgettable, but yeah
7.5 (7, 8, 8, 7) for me. Man, I’m on my way to stream Untouchable instead.
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I hope it’s the OT5 version of Untouchable you’re streaming.
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I fear for TXT knowing theyre up next with Dem Jointz.
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On the bright side, he gave us Supernova and Heya, so there’s still hope, right?
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Yeah I agree, I feel like it’s either a 100 or a 20 and no in between
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Dem Jointz hate??? I’m guessing you aren’t an NCT fan then… Although I do agree their GG songs are a hit or miss
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their nct work is like my least favourite lmao. I dont hate that its just not my style. As for this song though, there are 15 different songs in one and they sound so disjointed. Cake was like that too but had a better outcome somehow.
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it might be a grower I can feel it
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The song is so bad but the b-sides are INCREDIBLE. What were they thinking with this god-awful chorus.
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UNTOUCHABLE was such an amazing comeback for them… at this point what the hell happened to their A&R team
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I have a feeling that this is going to be one of those K-pop songs that constantly gets stuck in my head to the point where I think I might actually like it, but then I relisten to it and remember that just because it’s catchy in its own way doesn’t mean it’s good 😦
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its fine. Instrumental could use work though
7.75/10 for me (8, 7, 8, 8)
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I’m just really confused. What is the song supposed to be about? What is the song for?
In the US we have a hardware called Harbor Freight, and even better than Harbor Freight are the mock Harbor Freight ads. Like one for “cordless hammer”, and another for “200KW noise and smoke generator”. I feel like this song is making song-like noises in a song-like structure, but is not song.
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all the intrigue comes from the instrumental . “G-O-L-D GOLD” is the only vocal part I remember. You would think with your main vocalist back you’d sing more of your song lol. I can see it either growing due to the strength of it’s production choices or getting really irritating because of what the girls are doing
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I absolutely love the insanity of the song and the arrangement. I also love Debut era NMIXX and everything they’ve done though… so I have to assume this song was made for people like me and everyone else will just be left scratching their heads.
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im just a sucker from unconventional sounding songs and while i feel like they could’ve pushed more with this song and made it weirder, i can sense that i’d be listening to this a lot
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It’s been a while since a song has made me feel… perplexed.
I really don’t know what to make of this. I think I like it..? But this feels like a sample plate of interesting song fragments, not like a finished song. I felt the same way about NMIXX, a few really great ideas chopped up and thrown together haphazardly.
I really miss songs that have daring, weird production choices and ALSO form a cohesive, wellcrafted unit (yes, I am still on that early EXO nostalgia run).
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I guess us NMIXX fans are going to love the song… the others will have to catch up with us later, the song is excellent. The choreography is amazing too,as always
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This is… disappointing. It really feels like JYP has no idea what to do with ITZY in just about every department from image to sound. The frustrating thing is that if you judge by what JYP releases as teasers, it seems like they *do* know what fans want in those departments. But more often than not, they do a bait and switch when the title track is actually released. I wish they would sit back and look ITZY’s first trio of releases and think “where would this group be in 5 years” while cutting out all the odd filler tracks they’ve released. Untouchable and its B-sides showed a lot of promise, and this was the comeback with Lia returning that people were paying attention to. It’s a shame they squandered it.
On another note, is it just me or is something lacking in the vocal production? It almost feels like whoever is mixing and producing this just has no idea how to work with their voices. It’s tough since they don’t have many vocalists that can be used to record additional backing vocals and harmony without it being extra work on the production team, but production teams have turned out far better products with lesser vocalists. It’s like someone decided to just not try in that department
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It just sounds like they should bring GALAKTIKA back to produce their titles. Dalla/ICY/Wannabe/Loco have all had the best amount of “itzy” in the production.
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i love this type of music for itzy!! i know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but something about it is so satisfying. already obsessed
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Considering they’ve done this type of experimentation with Nmixx and it wasn’t well received by fans, trying something similar again is a little odd? I want to like the song because there are some interesting ideas in there but it just isn’t working for me. It’s not the kind of weird I like from k-pop songs. Give me something “Dalla Dalla” weird or “ICY” weird, unusual but coherent.
O.O had one really good part that was then turned into a whole song by a fan, so I’ll just wait to see if someone can do the same for this song.
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actually nmixx themselves made full versions of each half of o.o for their fancon (?) rlly hoping theyll release them officially on a full album r smthn
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from the melodies to the chanting and the instrumentation, this essentially sounds like an nct reject. i don’t think there’s anything wrong with experimenting in sound and style, i just don’t think itzy has the swagger to make this work for them.
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honestly this kinda reminds me of heya but not as nice. like the ideas are there but why did we end up with this?
i feel like their titles have been all over the place since post-loco. sneakers grew on me but the marketing was all over the place for that one. but the last few title tracks have not clicked with me at all. weapon and kill shot are great songs that fit a maturing itzy AMAZINGLY, plus really suited their vocals – why not use what works so well?
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Having good ingredients does not make sure that you’ll have a good dish as well. This looks like an attempt to redraw ITZY’s musical directions and I don’t think it will be quite effective.
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I thought I was going crazy when it oddly reminded me of Nmixx lol.. Instrumental seems interesting, as what they say it feels “experimental”.. Fans of this sound might like this but not sure about the general fans.. Good to see them back as five tho, but Loco is probably still the last itzy release that was to my taste
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This is a song that’s like two sides of a coin, either you like it or you hate it! For those who love melodic music this song is obviously not for them, and for those who love chaos this is the best track you can find. Absolutely chaotic, Energy and power to make your day either good or a disaster! hahaha
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I’m aslo quite diappointed, ever since Not Shy the quality of music went down fast. People still trash Sneakers, but you know what? Since Sneakers dropped, they had like 6-7 singles and they have all been worse! Gold now has to be their weakest single ever, even worse than Cheshire (at least that was kind of catchy?). Why start the song with rock and thumping guitars for 30 seconds only to change into some 90’s gangsta rap? Why? That worked for NMIXX, but not Itzy. Look, these kind of “yo-yo, I am a super bad girl yo” song wokr for Blackpink or BabyMonster, but NOT Itzy. Like, Itzy is the LAST girl group on Earth who could pull this off. what were they thinking??
The album isn’t much better IMO, the best song is Imaginary Friend, which is really nice, but the rest? Not my cup of tea.
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I hope GOLD grows on me. So far though, EVERY OTHER B-side track is more impactful for me. Especially love Bad Girls R Us, Supernatural, and FIVE.
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Dem Jointz claims another GG.
Will someone stop this madman?
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🙃
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This is not my style but I like the album. Supernatural and Imaginary Friend are gorgeous.
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Here a week late, but I have to say that chanting during the chorus gets stuck in my head. I love this! The b-sides are also incredible. Itzy’s real musical strength is in their b-sides, in my opinion. Time will tell if anything on this album will dethrone Kill Shot as my favorite of all time.
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