From their late-2021 debut to 2023’s I Am, IVE unveiled one of the most bulletproof singles runs we’ve seen in the past few years in K-pop. Song quality became more hit-or-miss as we moved into 2024 and the group expanded their sound. I firmly believe they’re at their best when delivering mini pop epics. Pre-release single Rebel Heart seeks to rekindle this approach, even enlisting Swedish mega-producer Thomas G:Son (of Loreen – Euphoria/Tattoo fame) as part of its composition team.
On the surface, Rebel Heart does many things right. Its bombastic sound recaptures the glory of I Am, even building toward a similarly overwhelming finale. The mix of stomping percussion and powerful guitar gives the track a hulking presence befitting its anthemic ambitions. And overall, the melodies echo this sense of bigness. I love the sound of the group’s vocals layered together, especially as the instrumental chugs behind them. So with all of these great ingredients, why is Rebel Heart simply “good” and not “excellent”?
Well, there are many reasons for that, too. First off, the chorus is too repetitive to work. I never have an easy time with K-pop idols shouting about being rebels within the most tightly-wound music industry in the world. It rings hollow and feels more like branding than an authentic manifesto. Rebel Heart drives this mantra into the ground, failing to find a more interesting lyrical structure to contrast its increasingly plodding hook. Then there’s the playground chant of a bridge, which takes the song full Kidz Bop for a moment. These elements collide with an otherwise solid pop track, making it difficult to fully embrace Rebel Heart in the way I had hoped.
| Hooks | 8 |
| Production | 9 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 8 |
| RATING | 8.25 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
good, but nothing on the level of ‘I Am’ or ‘After Like’, when will we have these hits back on the table?
8.5 (8, 9, 8, 9)
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Damn, I was expecting you to put it in the 9s 😭 but a matter of preferences ig 😅
I admit the hook is repetitive, but the execution around it makes it very effective (like how the 1st, 2nd and the outro are different and builds up with each component like how the “love me, hate me” hook becomes a part of the chorus in the 2nd chorus). Ofc you can’t expect K-Pop idols to be rebellious, so even if the message seems shallow, I’d rather focus on the music itself than the message. The verses are servicable, but the pre-chorus and chorus is the real treat. The production also reminds me a LOT of I Am (simple, yet has that anthemic feel). But it definitely ends up being their best work since I Am.
9.25 (9, 9, 9, 10) for now.
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The cadence in which they’re singing and the percussion really reminds me of TXT. In any case, this feels like a semi-return to form, hoping they can get all the way their with the next release.
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Wait as a TXT ult i couldnt hear anything txt in this…
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yeah, it sounds similar to TXT’s We’ll Never Change.
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As soon as I heard the chorus, not only was I disappointed but I immediately thought of how your review would 1000% talk about how it’s repetitive asf, even guessing the 8.25 rating🫣 I would give it around the same…
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it’s not like after like or I am, but it’s still a very fun song
8.5/10 (8, 9, 9, 8) for me
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Thank you for saying what you did about the “rebel” theme in K-pop: not just this this song, but Dreamcatcher’s “Justice,” Ateez’s “Guerilla,” and on and on…. It’s pretty ironic, and not in a good way. Not only does it make me sad for the idols and how controlled and exploited they often are, but it’s also queasy how little they seem to know about the legitimate struggles around the world that they’re turning into pop anthems.
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very well said. Serving these types of messages to the world they’re largely ignorant about
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Not sure this quite adds up for me. You recognize that idols are controlled and exploited (a legitimate struggle imo) and also claim they know little of legitimate struggles around the world. I would argue that most struggles around the world stem from control and exploitation. You don’t think idols are rebelling in their own ways, working within the political and social structure they are living in? How do you expect idols to rebel? Should they cancel their contracts, likely saddling themselves with debt, and make ‘legitimate’ rebellious songs, independently produced and released that no one listens to because it has no reach?
Like I get the sentiment of inauthenticity to some extent, but for me it comes from knowing that the idols aren’t actually writing these songs for the most part. It’s not like IVE got together and said, “let’s write a song about rebellion, girls”. Still, I don’t see a problem with it. Most of these types of songs are written generically enough that people with ‘legitimate’ struggles around the world have no problem applying them to their own lives and gaining inspiration and strength from them. That’s the beauty of music and personal interpretation.
The idea that idols don’t have the emotional ammunition and life experience to write a song about rebellion or injustice or fighting back though is pretty silly to me. Do people need to be literally Fidel Castro to write a song about revolution? Or can people who want revolution write songs that seek to inspire revolution? Much to think about.
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Good points. Tell you what: if you can find any evidence of protestors on the streets of Seoul or Gaza or Pucheng using a k-pop song as an anthem, I will stand corrected. Till then, I stand by my argument that it’s cringey for k-pop producers to make their idol groups sing about and make money off sentiments that actually oppressed people around the world are getting hurt and dying for.
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Well, the recent protests demanding Yoon Sukyeol’s impeachment sang SNSD’s Into The New World. And tbh, that song is used in almost every protest in SK
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As someone else already said, with the recent protests over Yoon Sukyeol’s impeachment, there have been many KPOP songs played during the protests. I can’t name all of them, but I’ve seen dozens of videos on TikTok of it and it’s not just one or two songs. It’s several, if not dozens.
I’m just one person who isn’t online all the time, however, and thus I can’t see EVERY video of it happening. You should try looking it up yourself, because it absolutely has been happening. Therefore, you’ve already been corrected.
And also, don’t use what’s happening in Gaza as a “gotcha!” for things like this. It just makes you look ignorant and heartless. Multiple struggles of varying levels can happen simultaneously all around the world and all of them are/can be valid. This oppression olympics you seem to be playing is weird and doesn’t help anyone.
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To add on to what the other have already said, IVE aren’t even making a call to be rebels. They are making a call to be true to yourself even if that causes others to label you as a rebel. They aren’t saying that they are rebels or that you should be a rebel, they are saying that they stand by those who have been outcast, who have been isolated and regardless of their struggles, to stand in solidarity, that you should accept your own uniqueness and accept each other as they are.
The whole MV was displaying different sub-cultures and even highlighted Leeseo’s own struggles feeling and being treated like an outsider as a student because of her life as an idol. Why are any of their struggles, many of which are things girls, especially of their age, should never have had to go through, less valid than anyone else’s?
You seem to be claiming that someone needs to have experienced the depths of depravity and human suffering before they are qualified to make a song about being a rebel. If that were the case, making a song would likely be the least of their priorities and the voices and struggles of these “rebels” would forever remain unheard.
IVE are advocating and using their position to shed light on the struggles of everyday people who aren’t in a position for their experiences to be heard. They are simply calling for more empathy, love and acceptance, for others and yourself.
(If you need evidence of the claims of the previous posters, here is one of many easily available online: How K-pop hits became anthems of South Korean protest)
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LOVE ME! HATE ME!!
Pretty dang solid.
Yes, the chorus could lyrically have more meat on its bones, but by god it still works.
WE ARE SO BACK!
No more talky-rapping from Iso.
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who is Iso?
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i think leeseo
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Well they do say “We are Rebels in our Heart!”. But yeah, the number of times kpop sings about how bad they are versus the number of times kpop is actually allowed to be bad = does not compute.
And then it is over. It’s a 3:13 long song that sounds shorter. IVE has always has sing song verses which move along well enough until a Monster Chorus HITS and we all forget about how two note the verses are. Here the verses are longer and the chorus is not monster enough to compensate (qv “I am”). The other IVE trick is to use the best cleverest samples which lifts the whole song (qv “After LIKE”) = also missing here.
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LSF was on to something by reversing this with “Act like an angel, dress like crazy” 😂
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I like this song, and I hope the title track hits the same way.
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I agree with the sentiment about idols shouting that they’re rebels; it definitely takes me out of the experience a little bit. The chorus and bridge don’t bother me, but you know what does?…. The prechorus. something about “never be never be never be me” I find very irritating. And the way they switched up the end with the instrumental dropping out and the vocals getting muted was almost as frustrating. I think that approach of truncating something you expect to be longer can be quite exciting like it is in “secret” by wjsn or “ice cream cake”, but here it’s a let down. I don’t think something that’s trying to be cathartic and even stadium esque should do that. Imagine if “bon voyage” by dreamcatcher did that or “forever young” by alphaville. I WOULD BE PISSED
All that said, I like the song and really appreciate how strong Ive’s discography has been. I missed a couple songs so I will go listen to them.
On a different note, is anyone else finding it hard to get into groups as personalities? Weekly idol isn’t a good as it used to be, we don’t have dream team anymore. I haven’t seen many idols go on running man recently. Relay dance is just a dance practice now. Mafia dance had seemingly dried up same with trans inflation. And when groups do their own shows they tend to feel boring. Any suggestions?
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I wouldn’t consider myself a ZB1 ‘Stan’, my I tend to enjoy their variety content. They guys had this unique charm and group dynamics. Might be a preference thing, but I enjoyed their Sport Club of the Sun or whatever it was called. I like idols trying new sports, and there was surprisingly a lot of comedy
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I really like them I will check that out
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For me, I have to like a group’s music and group personality/chemistry to put in the time to watch their content.
But funnily, I like Le Sserafim and keep up with their music to the extent where I’d call myself a casual stan, but I’ve only watched one episode of their own variety content and some behind vids. I feel like I have to be somewhat interested in the variety content first. They have quite a lot of stuff and idk, I don’t feel all that inclined to watch their stuff to get to know them.
KIOF doesn’t have much individual variety content yet, but the few behind stuff has shown me that they’re a really fun and interesting group to get to know.
Whereas, I have watched all of MEOVV’s own show because that’s the only place right now where we get to see their personalities and know more about them. It does help that MEOVV is currently a very mysterious group with little content and appearances elsewhere.
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I know people are comparing it with I Am, but I think it’s closer to a mixture between I Am (instrumentation) and Crush (delivery and verses)
It’s a cute song, not the best but serviceable
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It’s kinda crazy how those 3 songs are super interchangeable now…
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I really like the track! It’s nice to see them return to the bombast that defined I AM.
I can’t wait for their new album.
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Right direction, not the best execution. With IVE, too many of the members have fairly childlike voices, so when they go into the nursery rhyme or chants, you get pretty Kids Bop. I’m not a big fan of that in general, but overall, for groups that I think that have done things like that well (EXID, Secret, RV), it only worked because you had predominantly mature sounding vocals throughout the rest of the song to give it the weight and contrast those parts need to come off as catchy instead of cloying. For me the song is also very reliant on the MV. Take that away and falls much flatter, which isn’t what you want.
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I think I like the verses a LOT more than the chorus. Why do they mute the instruments for the chorus? What’s that about?
I think in general the big groups of this generation are just not for me.
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Without the chanted bridge, it could be a straight 9. Otherwise, the lyrics and general structure are a bit cheesy, but it works, so I really like the song. It’s very solid pop.
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Good song but poor execution. I agree the chorus is repetitive but this song just have a weird factor that make me goes off very rapidly. Some of the other song that comes with repetitive chorus could possibly become earworm for me but I just get tired of this particular part and I do not know why.
Meanwhile, I would also like to call the “chanting bridge?” another name – a bad beat switch. The momentum is disappearing so fast that even the last chorus could not bring back the power of the song. Such a miss.
I give a 8 for this.
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The chanting is definitely the worst part.
Jhun going full time amateur hour with his work in 2024 and 2025.
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This is starting to grow on me but I agree it’s somewhat shy of a classic. Still, good IVE can beat great anyone else 👍
8/10
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I don’t understand the gripe about idols singing about being bad/rebels/etc being cringe (but I also hate cringe culture and those who perpetuate it, so *shrug*) because there are plenty of non-idols all around the world who do the same when they’re clearly not bad/rebels/etc and are just pretending without having any actual experience with being bad/rebels/etc.
I’m aware the KPOP industry is different and so are idols, but it still makes no sense to me to single out idols singing about being bad/rebels/etc when they aren’t because then you’d have to do the same for all singers/performers/artists around the world that it can apply to.
I highly doubt most who have a problem with the “cringe” aspect of songs like this would actually do that, which makes the singling out of it within KPOP specifically kinda weird and borderline hypocritical, regardless of how global it’s become.
I like the lyrics (and the song, of course, which I saw someone say reminded them of a combination of I AM and Either Way, and I fully agree with that, plus those are two of my favorite IVE songs), no matter how corny or on the nose they may be.
I’m not looking for serious masterpieces when it comes to the lyrics of KPOP songs, even when it comes to the ones about being rebellious. Let them sing about being bad/rebels/etc. There are much worse things they could be singing about. Stop caring about things being “cringe”. To be cringe is to be free (and authentic).
(What words am I using that make it so my comments don’t get posted sometimes btw, because I’d like to know so I can make sure not to use them)
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A better chorus would have made me love this song, I really liked the verses still.
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I think this song is very good…very IVE. The “nanana” part scared me a little, but it was short enough to not screw the whole thing for me. That particular part sounds lazy…maybe actual lyrics would’ve made the song a 9. As it is, 8.25 sounds fair.
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they all be hating on ive nwdays, the song isn’t their best work but is decent, and “copying” txt is such bullshit, it’s one line and the beat of both songs are just different, repetitive is the trend in kpop and ive be getting hate for singing “youll never be me” is insane
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I’ve gotten to like this quite a bit. Not classic IVE but very good.
8/10
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Sometimes I feel like you hold girl groups to some kind of imaginary standard different to boy groups.
Where a boy group can do a fast pace by-numbers and get away with a lot of stupid bits in the song, I notice with IVE it’s always too much chanting, or nursery rhyme melodies, or trite lyrics. It’s like there’s always a pushback when you first review IVE and certain other girl groups.
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I think what was meant was “love me hate me you will never be me, try me i will break free”, “love me hate me I will never be yours try me i will break free”
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