Earlier this year, TXT unveiled the angsty Deja Vu, capitalizing on the rock-infused sound that made their 2021 so exemplary. However, I felt that song’s production held it back from blooming into the highlight it should have been. Now, the guys have reverted to their second mode of pop song: upbeat, disco-kissed dance music. They’ve proven themselves masters of the genre with past tracks like Blue Hour and Back For More, but Over The Moon again holds them back.
I know some readers hate when I compare an artist’s work to their past hits, but I’d like to return to TXT’s debut Crown for a second. That song is downright legendary, and much of the reason is due to its use of idiosyncratic synth textures that give it a personality all its own. In contrast, Over The Moon opts for an incredibly generic sound palette. This isn’t unique to TXT this year, but it’s disappointing given how creative their best music has been. Over The Moon is a perfectly solid (though overly truncated) piece of slick dance pop, but it could have been performed by anyone and sounded roughly the same.
This fits with my observation of K-pop’s easy-listening, overly safe trend of 2024 music (which got way too much play over on Twitter/X this weekend). In another world, with more exciting production and fully-fleshed out song structure, I can imagine Over The Moon becoming the car-shaking bop it needs to be. Instead, the song mutes anything that might provide a shock of interest. I would have loved to hear the guitar during its chorus become more prominent throughout, and the percussion needs a total reinvention. Without a bridge or final chorus, Moon peters out before it even gets going. It’s quite boring, overall.
| Hooks | 8 |
| Production | 7 |
| Longevity | 7 |
| Bias | 7 |
| RATING | 7.25 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
I like it, but I think it’s the weakest song on the album.
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This is the first time their title track is the weakest song on the album. i genuinely love every song on the album except for this one which is a bummer.
The production ruined the song for me. It sounds like Open Always Wins also (which isnt a compliment)
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Would like to add on: This album would have been their best if the songs all werent cut too short and if the title track was re-done or even replaced with Heaven!
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Came on here to say this lol. There’s hidden potential in most of the songs but they all fail to hit a climax because they’re all two minutes.
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Update: It’s growing on me + they just released a rock remix that is right up my alley!!
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Oof, this just goes in one ear and comes out the other, like a looooong lecture in a college class (or maybe not long, cause you know, when is 2:40 long? Maybe in 2030?)
Rating’s the same and I remember some people under your tweet tryna make threads of songs that were not boring and some songs they included were infact… boring (also, you should have added at least 10 disclaimers that you liked some songs from 2024, found it to be a solid year, included your top songs of 2024 so far blog and added 10 more disclaimers to be on the safer side and did I forgot to mention 100 more disclaimers?)
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This morning, Quincy Jones’s death at the age of 91 was on the news. Then I hear this song and I hear the potential for some solid early 80’s R&B pop crossover. Add whoop whelp raw falsetto, and live actual musicians instrumental, and this song could be a b-side from early Michael Jackson. Make that bass really bop, rhythm guitar going, some clever synths, background harmonies going woo woo.
Slow it down to about 0.8x with sultriness and multi-octave range and this could have been a slow jam duet on Mariah Carey “Butterfly”.
As is, the song performance and production is just too safe. There is no personality.
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I must have missed the party on Twitter-X-social media as I don’t have an account on any. I have also been missing the party on general kpop news on allkpop and those kind of sites, aw shucks.
As the old lady here,
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Music wise, there have been too many boring releases, news wise, kpop this year is kinda like a fever dream, especially last few weeks😬
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Well, the news is more interesting than the music itself to put it short 🙃🥴
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And interesting not as in “ooh, some good news!”, but as a shitshow of all sorts 🥴
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This song is kinda like a cat shaking it’s back about to jump onto a bird but then it gives up because the bird flew away and just rolls onto it’s back instead. I know it’s a stupid analogy but I was just waiting for something to happen😂.
You’re definitely not the first person to call out same sound palletes throughout this year’s songs tho, but I find it an interesting note because that’s not something I would notice easily myself. I wonder why it is that way tho because in 2024, one would expect those sound samples and palletes to be even more expanded and interesting then they ever were, no?
Btw, I was bewildered to see all those people on twt calling out The Bias List for “only listening to big4 music”, or “of you only listened to ___ group”, like….bruh. And here is the blog that reviews almost every single kpop release to ever come out during the year, and is a superfan of Infinite and Golcha. But I mean, they just got from some group chat and decided they all had to give their piece of advice.
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I’m so over this extremely short, no bridges, easy listening trend too. The over-abundance of this has made me begin to not really enjoy songs that I might otherwise have liked well enough because I found the central hook to be engaging enough anyway.
Something about this song makes it seem like it was so intentionally crafted to be Tiktok-y and shorn off all its edges, and that annoys me more than if I felt it was just the song trying for a specific vision. Not like Over the Moon is unique in that aspect – this year really has just been full of very intentionally-made ‘trendy’ songs following this kind of template, and right now finding something that sticks out more is really becoming much rarer.
I was listening to ONF’s Bye My Monster recently, and though I don’t think that song holds up to their best work, it’s so different from the other releases this year. So at least we’re still getting something different every now and then, I just wish it wasn’t so rare!
Speaking of some unexpectedly-interesting releases, I found out a couple of days ago that JBJ95 have had a comeback (finally!) The title track Love Countdown is… serviceable, at least it’s a more engaging version of the current trends, but I’ve quite liked the b-side Spirit/Kiai, which seems like basic jpop but I appreciate some more energy wherever we can get it now lol.
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Atp I’ve just accepted that we might not get another Crown or Lovesong or Runaway from TXT. This song is nice (I’d rate it a little higher) but I miss when their songs were love at first listen.
Still, I know this song will probably be in another “K-pop is fun again!!” thread on Twitter. You know, I can respect others having a different taste in music, but some people need to accept that what they like is easy-listening, chill songs instead of trying to convince the rest of us that this is as fun as music gets 😭
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My thoughts exactly – #BringBackBridges #BringBackFinalChorusRepeats
I’m SICK of every song just ending without them or cutting the second verse in half to get things under 3 minutes. No title track should EVER be under 3 minutes IMO! I adore them still but the song isn’t done, it instead just ends.
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I like it, but they have better tracks
7.75 (8, 8, 8, 7)
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I don’t remember anything about this song and I just finished listening to it.
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The best
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The problem with such a song is that it is perfectly serviceable while listening to it – you are grooving, you’ll listen fully, the song will end and your playlist will play the next one and you would have promptly forgotten everything about this song, would barely be able to recall any part of the melody.
Don’t know what Hybe’s obsession with releasing such filler material is. Servicable is a chain restaurant thing, should not be the goal of a company that “believes in music”. Txt are an instantly memorable act, brought down by insipid material. Do better man.
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My biggest problem with this is how short this is. Given how generally muted the song feels it really needed the final push of a bridge+final chorus to reach its climax. Instead it just fizzles out just when it’s about to pop. I wish the instrumental was bigger, stronger, with some extra drama. That way I would’ve been a bit more satisfied, as the song itself is solid and it’s so frustrating when I can so easily picture a better version.
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Still pissed about this lmao
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At least we got a rock remix-
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I became a txt fan throughout this after a few months after Deja Vu so for this to be my first comeback with them is a bit disappointing. Most of the tracks on the EP sound unfinished, like they’re demos the production team did not want to work on.
I agree with what Planta has said, it needs more of a push and the short duration doesn’t help with its staying power.
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throughout this year*
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Why is this so boring 😭
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This is back to Chasing That Feeling-levels of dull. Maybe they do this on purpose so that people will listen to the remixes in the hope of finding something more interesting? I’m even more convinced that HYBE is sending all of its best bg material to &TEAM.
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Not to sidetrack (except absolutely to sidetrack cus this song is just fine) a snippet of that IVE x David Guetta collab dropped and I think it sounds really promising. It samples the melody from Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, which wins a lot of points from me already given how timeless that song is.
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I usually don’t agree with your reviews but this time I totally agree. So generic! As a TxT fan, I am disappointed.
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Well, TXT, you can risk a lot more than that…
7.75 for me
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I don’t know if this is the curse of 4th generation boy groups, but it seems like they only have the first 2-3 exciting years and then it’s a boring journey with no end in sight. I wonder if the next generation will repeat this problem.
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The best
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I like it but I can’t help but crave for a bridge and a final chorus, even just that would have elevated it so much.
But the vocals this time sound better which I appreciate.
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hybe used the same external producer for 2 songs on the txt album, the 2 new enhypen songs and a song on illit’s recent album. it’s gotten so obvious hybe have stopped caring about music and group identity. this is what happens when you let scooter braun prioritise pushing his political agenda down kpop stans throats over the success of your groups
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