I had a dream last night that I went back to listen to ILLIT’s Cherish (My Love) and there was this whole new layer of production on its instrumental I’d never noticed before — including a prominent violin solo. During the dream, I wondered why I hadn’t loved the song on first listen. Upon waking up, I wondered why the hell I was dreaming about ILLIT’s Cherish (My Love)! But it turned out to be fortuitous, as the group has unveiled the music video for follow-up track Tick-Tack today.
Recently, I’ve used the term “beige pop” for K-pop’s current trend of subdued, easy-listening mush. ILLIT’s latest record crystallizes this idea, stuffed with two-minute songs that largely repeat one idea rather than grow into something more robust. Along with Cherish, Tick-Tack is the shortest track in their repertoire, but it’s got a bit more bite to it. However, it’s still “one idea repeated,” with its rhythmic chorus immediately forging a repetitive calling card. The verses act in a supporting role, doing nothing beyond filling the necessary space between the blippy “tick-tack, ti-tack, tick, tack-ta-tick, tack” centerpiece. There’s technically a (very brief) bridge included in the structure, but Tick-Tack has come and gone before you know it.
Because of this, the song feels more like an advertisement than a proper single. I appreciate the retro chiptunes production that underlines the chorus, but the song could do with a secondary melody to counter the repetitiveness at its core. Without anything beyond its hook to grab hold of, Tick-Tack is a quirky diversion that’s fun the first few times but quickly grows stale.
| Hooks | 8 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 7 |
| Bias | 7 |
| RATING | 7.5 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Basically Magnetic’s little sister, but with brighter production.
7.75 (8, 9, 7, 7) for me.
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isnt that an 8?
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As I had already reviewed the songs from ILLIT’s album, well, what I have to say about this (and the other tracks from this album) is: Enough of this type of music! It’s getting boring!
7.25 for me
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In line with your dream, they did a remix album of Cherish. The Moonlight Remix stretches the song to 3:24, and gives it some more dance heft.
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On first listen sounded interesting. On the second one I wished that the chorus was shorter, that would make an already short song (2:09 on spotify) even shorter 🤷♂️
It’s not my type of music. 6.5 for me.
I really hope that next year songs will start to become longer ….
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And then it ends. It just cuts off.
…. for those who stream this on repeat, does it make sense run end-to-end, so when the song cuts off and it starts again it is all seamless? If so, its all really truly just pure commercialism.
I used to play songs on repeat on my own CD player. The repeat button. For free. Even better, a burned bootleg CD, with the track on repeat. One of those from back when was something something in Japanese. We were all on a consulting job away from home, back when computers had CD players and a burner so you could burn your own, and we shared a CD around of someone’s mix which included this and we all got into it. None of us had any idea what it was because the internet was in its infancy and googling was in its infancy. There was a time.
Years later, I mean a decade or more, out of the blue I get an email “IT’S THIS!!!”.
Sharing, because sharing is caring. This one is mom approved.
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Generic. No personality or unique aspects to it, just a lame TikTok cash grab. People on twitter comparing it to NewJeans but it doesn’t sound like them at all. It has to be a good song first before you compare it to NJ lol.
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New jeans and Illit’s sound overlap a lot now. To deny that feels a bit disingenuous, I don’t get how you couldn’t at least see where people are coming from. I wouldn’t say tick tack necessarily fits the bill and maybe retro video game sound could become more integral to their sound. Earlier new jeans felt really fresh but their music has had a dip in quality. Regardless, your preference doesn’t negate the similarities
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I think they meant to say that as much as the style is similar, most of the songs suck… which sadly highlights HYBE’s obsession with copying the style without realising that they also need a hit song – and I agree about this.
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that’s not what said. They said it doesn’t sound like new jeans at all. And then they said the song has to be before you can compare it to new jeans which is dumb. And again new jeans first come out with good music, their recent stuff hasn’t been good. Illit only has two title to tracks and one of them was solid. I don’t even know why I’m validating such a foolish talking point but yeah
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lol I was saying it in a more joking way, but what I meant is that Hybe been trying to achieve a similar newjeans sound with no success. You’re right that there are def similarities, but that’s why im saying it should actually sound good first before making any comparison since all of newjeans songs blow illit discography out the water, even their one hit. Agree to disagree on their recent stuff. Each comeback brings something new/fun to the table that doesn’t feel disingenuous to their brand and not all of them have to be a ditto or hypeboy hit to resonate with fans or casual listeners. They explored different genres while staying in their lane, they’re not out here doing amapiano just to shake some butt. Who knows, maybe they were saving their best stuff for the album that may never see the light of day. With illit they’ve released more of the same songs since debut and it turned out lackluster. I firmly believe the songs Newjeans puts out is very unique to them but these illit songs could’ve been given to any other girl group trying to ride the newjeans wave
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“I meant it jokingly” then goes on to explain what was supposed to be meant in a joking way. Honestly you seem like too much of a stan to have a real productive conversation on this. Granted a lot of these were silly points anyway
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Dude, I “said” it jokingly in my initial comment – now you’re searching for productive conversation so I gave you one in my next comment, which I guess you just chose to ignore. Have an awesome day. 👍
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You were trying to walk back your argument without actually walking it back. It just confirms you were never joking. I will have a nice day If you could talk with your urself you’d hate it
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Honestly, I can’t agree with some of you, but maybe it’s because of the many aspects of the song that you all mention, but it has catchy elements, good performance, and a catchy hook. Again, maybe its just the fact that I like this style, but nothing makes it a bad song. Although, it is annoying how it cuts off.
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If this song was made 5 years ago that chorus would be the post chorus that you’d hear after the first and last Chorus. It has its place but I think it’s been misused. I really appreciate the video game noises and I got a little personality from the girls’ performance. Good on them for getting another great video and dance outta this track, but you can do all that with a song that stands on it own
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i like the mv but there needs to be more. feels uncomplete. reminds me of debut/touch from katseye. i give this a 7.75 only bc of how good production/hook was (i like it)
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…This is the Crazy Frog!
I promise I’m not intentionally making this comparison to make the song look bad – the chorus just reminded me of it immediately. It has the same repetitive grating factor, but unfortunately it’s not as catchy.
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Not going to lie, I’m kind of addicted to this. It scratches my brain in a way I like. I think this song and Magnetic are the kind of styles that Illit should go for in the future. The chirpy, electronic-sounding hooks work for me and I think they’re on a great track if they make this their style. It’ll be a distinct calling card for them.
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I couldn’t agree more. Magnetic and Tick Tack both stand up more to repeated listens because of the addictive dreaminess to their vocals married to the unique digital grooves. When so many groups can’t find an identity all their own, Illit would be smart to go all-in on this concept, if not on every song (that would probably be too much!) at least once per comeback.
This is a solid 8.25 for me (9,8,7,9), with my main gripe being the abrupt end and really short run time.
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fr
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ok im coming back to this saying omg i really like this song. i dont really mind the repeating tick tacks in the chorus because this production is just to die for. love the 8-bit chiptune and i agree with how the comment above says it scratches your brain in a way.
if i were to rate it with “The Bias List Criteria” it would be a 9 (8,10,9,9) ❤
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