After LOONA dissolved and re-formed as acts like Loossemble and ARTMS, Yves made her solo debut earlier this year. The stylish Loop offered plenty of potential but succumbed to so-so songwriting that failed to leave much of a mark. Now, she’s back with the Viola and she’s brought the beat with her.
As soon as Viola started, my mind immediately went to Charli XCX. I hadn’t yet considered what impact her hit album Brat might have on the sound of K-pop, but its brash electro textures make an obvious fit. Yves isn’t a — for lack of a better word — bratty singer in the same way, but her airy vocals work well against Viola‘s electro thump. At its best, the production has a compelling late-2000’s bloghouse appeal. It’s quite simple but full of texture and personality. There’s an almost DIY appeal to the track.
The song itself is less exciting. The “I just need some space” hook works very well as a centerpiece, but beyond that there isn’t enough melody to grab hold of. And without a firebrand personality driving her performance, Yves struggles to compensate for the track’s more underwritten moments. So rather than regard this as a total triumph, Viola feels like the opening of a door that could very well lead to total triumphs in the future.
| Hooks | 8 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 8 |
| RATING | 8 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
the more mechanized instrumental in the chorus is cool
8 (8, 8, 8, 8) for me too
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ooh, love the production! But the hook gets pretty repetitive easily. If Yves finds a more engaging hook to go with her production, she might have a winning formula in her hands.
8.25 (7, 9, 8, 9) for me.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like where this is going, just needed the chorus to be a bit more “full” to really contrast with the rest of the song.
but I agree that this could lead to something very solid.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Agreed on the DIY appeal of the track, as in my just-woke-up stupor when I heard the song this morning I actually thought it was little-known Eyedi singing for some reason.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I liked it. It’s an 8. I’ll put it into my playlist.
LikeLike
I love how you refer to it as Voila instead of Viola multiple times in this review. While I don’t think I hear any Violas, I still really like this song. Automatic 10 on the bias because I love LOONA, but even still I’ve fallen in love with Charli XCX’s Brat alongside the rest of her career and I feel like this pulls of the sound really well. Someone in the comments of this MV mentioned this song and Loop fits well with her sound from her LOONA solo “new” and I lowkey agree with it. I do think this song could push a bit harder but I’m just super glad all of LOONA is continuing to make music and venturing into various sounds of their own (8,9,8,10)
LikeLike
Oh my gosh I feel really dumb now. lol big difference between “viola” and “voila”…
LikeLiked by 1 person
LOL it’s fine, i and o are literally next to each other in the keyboard so I can see how one could make that mistake XD
LikeLike
Funny, I just searched for “Yves Viola” and had “Did you mean Ives” returned with a list of Charles Ives works for strings.
LikeLike
Just yesterday in the car Charli XCX “Baby” came around on ipod shuffle. Great song. Filthy dirty. Thank heavens the kids were not in the car.
Yes it is about time for Charli XCX summer of Brat sounds to have filtered through to global pop sounds release this late autumn.
I think Yves does a good job of our initial kpop sounds of this sound. It is a little clean. Not saying that songs like this need to be dirty (though most 80’s hits were all filthy dirty). Just saying although kpop stans want their bad boys to be so bad, kpop has to be so clean in reality. There is a gap here between the crusty raw sound and the lyrics and image which don’t match.
I am rooting for the winter of Brat too and its still Brat still, and that Charli gets a grammy. And I guess we should prepare for the Kpop of Brat so its not Brat but it is Brat.
LikeLiked by 2 people
tune in for fka twigs she’ll be taking winter this year 🤩
LikeLiked by 2 people
Why not both? Do I have to choose?
LikeLiked by 1 person
hmm guess not!
LikeLike
I am a prude, or too sensitive, or have a too-active imagination or whatever – that is, I have a visceral reaction to explicit descriptions or imagery (be it gore or nsfw). That’s why I actually don’t mind kpop’s tendency to produce cleaner versions of trendy sounds. It’s kind of a safe space for me. That said, some genres really lose their spirit when ‘cleaned up’, and it doesn’t always work.
Some of the songs off Brat will definitely be in my Spotify wrapped though, such a solid album.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Kpop hoping on global hits often doesn’t deliver in my opinion, but in this case it’s close enough to her previous work to feel natural
Ditto everything you said on this track. I mostly just want to comment on how I’m disappointed that we haven’t gotten more robust vocals from Yves. Her loona single “new” made her my bias during her tenure. She had a moment in the bridge where the instrumental falls out and it’s just her voice. While I’m content with some of the tracks she’s released, I miss that Yves
LikeLike
Sparkling dots/
Feeling good on a Wednesday/
I just need a little bit of shelter
I’m not sure her music grabs me like Chuu’s or Loosemble’s.
LikeLike
Not a bad direction for her, but it feels just a bit too repetitive for me. The song isn’t even that short, but it feels like it’s over so quickly without ever building up to a big standout moment.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree, I ended up needing, some space from that refrain 😂 but I really enjoyed it overall!
LikeLike
Very happy that I loved this song. Was in love with her previous single too though that lil cherry rap verse was horrid. This one for me is pure serotonin. The electro textures sound so luscious in my headphones. As someone who loves deep house, I appreciate this song and genre for its similar bouncy textures. Yves’ vocals always leave me satisfied and the conclusion is exactly what I wanted.
Just like Aespa’s Whiplash, this song might not have the most fleshed out hook but I’m completely sold on the refrain and expect it to grow on me heavily over the coming weeks. Not to mention electropop and deep house are perfect for STUDYING lmfao I’m going to be playing this for hours while doing assignments.
In the hook there’s a small voice singing in the background that is so cute I love it! I’m so happy I love this thank god!
I’d give it an 8.75, “I just need some space 😆”
LikeLiked by 1 person
Now this is a song that I think it better at 1.25x speed!
I like the ‘ I just need some space’ hook a lot, but I agree there’s not really much surrounding it. There is clear influence from Charli XCX here that I won’t complain about. I loved some of the songs on Brat and all the better if we get more in the same genre!
LikeLiked by 1 person
What’s bloghouse? I never heard of that
LikeLike