TWS has been a musical balm this 2024, offering structurally diverse bursts of exciting pop when everyone else was going beige and repetitive. To me, there hasn’t been a debut year this airtight in years and now the guys are tying a bow on their successful 2024 with a shift to a more sentimental sound. Last Festival (마지막 축제) acts as a send-off to this era while simultaneously appealing to current trends in a way their music hasn’t attempted yet.
Last Festival references the 1993 Seo Taiji & Boys song of the same name, though apart from the fireworks sample I don’t hear much connective tissue in the music. I didn’t have “TWS does afro beats” on my 2024 bingo card, but Festival bends that genre to its will, connecting it with K-pop melody and the chill, subdued tone that’s become so popular lately. To be honest, I don’t want “chill, subdued” music from TWS. Their energy is precisely what’s made them so captivating this year. But if they must go down this route, Last Festival is about as strong a version we could hope for.
Though the energy is very reserved throughout, there’s a fullness to the production that makes it more compelling than first glance. The synths have a fluid, dreamlike quality that feels as if you’re swimming through the track. There are repetitive moments to the melody, but Last Festival largely avoids the monotonous sing-talk that can often plague this type of song. Its lengthy frame offers room for a bridge that builds to a satisfying peak and keeps the track from flatlining. More importantly, there are at least two melodic high points that anchor the track — most notably during its gorgeous pre-chorus. Last Festival is far from my favorite TWS single, but I have a feeling it will enjoy a long life on both the charts and my own playlist.
| Hooks | 9 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 9 |
| Bias | 9 |
| RATING | 8.75 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Thanks for a fair review!
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this sounds sarcastic asf
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A little too subdued for my own good, but the melodies and the guys’ performance saves it from being a total snoozefest. Even the afrobeats have some decent bounce to it, so there’s that.
8.5 (9, 8, 9, 8) for me. I sense it’ll age well for me as well.
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“I didn’t have “TWS does afro beats” on my 2024 bingo card”
Lmao. To me this is a “TWS take on Perfect Night”. It is fine, definitely not their best, heck, not even the choreography looks that fun, but it’s still fine. For the first time I don’t have to unpack a TWS release for days, for better or for worse. I like Highlight and Comma better than this, Highlight is more downtempo, but it has that tight, TWS flickering sound.
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I have some questions
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*questions and thoughts on the songs!
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Meh… I don’t like this genre but ok 😐
Rating: 8 (8, 8, 8, 8)
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I agree with everything you said + rating! the classic k-pop melody is what makes this song work unlike other k-pop songs of the same genre/trend. it was always gonna be hard to top SN but this one isn’t all bad.
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I’m mostly just hoping this isnt the end to their school concept now that they’re “graduating” in this MV 🥹 from plot twist (the first meeting) to this song (the last bell) in one year oh I’m going to cry
Anyways this song is probably my least immediate favourite from their three title tracks just due to the energy but I still quite like it and I see it growing for me! Thank you TWS for basically the most perfect debut year of music I’ve seen in kpop basically ever
(and please dont decide you want to “mature” suddenly next comeback we have a few years left of this please I beg)
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It’s serviceable, but I wouldn’t rate it higher than an 8. I though it was sorta bland but I appreciate their incorporation of actual melodies, unlike a lot of similar material that has been released
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I like the b-side 점 대신 쉼표를 그려 (Comma,). TT is pretty okay.
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This feels like a song that could’ve been released by any 4th gen boy group and would’ve been rated a C for being boring. I suspect bias is inflating this rating quite a bit (which is fine). To me, the song is just fine. I could listen to it as background music, but I would skip it if I wanted to listen to something compelling. So, my rating is a C.
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Bias definitely plays a part! I also think this song (specifically the chorus) has greater melodic range than most similar boy group efforts. Of course, that’s part of why I’m biased toward TWS in the first place. So far, melody has been a hallmark of their sound.
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This ‘graduation’ better not mean that now they’re going to shift into repetitive chanting, raps with poor English at the lowest pitch their voices can go, noise music.
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I liked this song but I wish they would flesh out the chorus a bit more,cause it feels very subdued.
8.5(8,8,9,9)
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TWS are a bit too cute for my personal taste, but I gotta admit they deliver and they do it very well! Not for me, but fantastic group.
personally I am more for Riize in this gen, but it is a matter of taste. Every time I see TWS, they are nailing it. Amazing debut year indeed.
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I was worried when I heard those afrobeats but towards the bridge and the final chorus, I quite liked the song. They were able to put some character into it which I appreciate. But I am sure after their “graduation”, they are definitely going to go for more styles. I have got no problem with that, as long as they do it good.
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They should release this as a special single instead of a comeback with promotion. While it’s not a bad song, it’s still a boring song and we know tws could do much better than this
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Way too subdued for me – I feel bored. I hope at some point there will come a point where not ALL groups have to hop on the same trend.
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If this means they’re done with their old concept, I’ll be so freaking sad. Their music was such a bright spot in the too-often samey boy group scene these days! And like another commenter said, I think they still have a couple years of their normal concept in them. Only one year of it is much too little for me! This probably ranks around a D for me—passable, but not really anything to keep me coming back. And it sucks, because TWS is one of my favourite new boy groups BECAUSE of their new sound—much like CSR is for girl groups, and when they released that song “Pretty Mob” (which I think is talking about the mob outside their agency’s door after they made that concept change) I was similarly disappointed. The resurgence of youthful, energetic K-pop needs to continue! I don’t want to go back into the dark dredges—the only groups whose darker concepts I really like are my ults Verivery and SNSD, and a couple other songs here and there from other groups. But I digress.
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it’s ok. Forgettable, though.
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First listen was good. Now it’s on repeat. Plz bring back winter releases!
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