While “virtual” artists are incredibly popular and common in Japanese music, PLAVE have carved out their own niche in Korea. I still don’t understand why or how they’re as successful as they are, but I’m certainly not going to begrudge fans for enjoying their content. As usual, my commentary focuses on the music itself and that’s probably a large part of what makes PLAVE such a mystery to me. Their work seems strangely reserved and straightforward for such an ambitious project.
Given the limitless nature of animation, you might expect the music to push similar boundaries. That’s something that definitely happens in Japan, but most of PLAVE’s work is rather subdued, focused on a soft rock sound that would likely garner no attention if performed by a rookie idol band. Dash amps things up a bit, contrasting its softer acoustic moments with explosions of shout-rock intensity. The members are clearly talented and handle this duality very well, moving from striking falsetto to much more aggressive turns.
My issue with Dash is that neither portion of this recipe completely works because they’re not given time to develop. The softer moments are more successful, presenting an engaging melody that clearly wants to spread its wings. Meanwhile, the chorus recalls popular Japanese acts like Man With A Mission and ONE OK ROCK without fully committing to the bit. I feel like each of these distinct segments should have been transformed into their own song because there’s plenty of potential here.
| Hooks | 8 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 8 |
| RATING | 8 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Their best song yet imo!
Finally doing something with their concept instead of just pretending to be ps2 idols.
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god forbid a group actually make listenable music lol. all their title tracks so far have been 9/10s if not 10/10s and their digital singles have been 8s at the very least.
the reason they sound the way they do is because the members themselves make their music and that’s the type of music hey wanna make? the reason people like them is precisely because of their easy listening pop rock tunes. i don’t see a lot of rookie groups debut with this sound.. like, are they in the room with us now?
you’d think musicians whose initial career didn’t pan out and are now trying out a slightly different path would get a little more respect from people (especially considering they’re behind some of the best kpop songs of last year, and i’m not just talking about their own music.)
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I enjoyed their music last year but I didn’t know they worked on other group’s songs?👀👀
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i don’t wanna doxx their real identities but let’s just say the komca website is easily accessible and fun to browse.
(the songs i was mainly thinking of were girls never die by tripleS, virtual angel by artms, and hard to get to you by bewave – all co-produced by at least one member.)
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Ohh I also like to browse komca sometimes, but I thought their names there would just be Plave or Bamby, Hamin, etc. Gotta go see now lol
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Wow now you got me curious. Actually I LOVE their music. And I think Dash is fantastic, probably their best. Yeah maybe the fact that they’re virtual idols doesn’t do much for me as I’m not into that kind of anime thing, but in terms of music I really like them. But I didn’t know there were actual people behind the actual idols, I thought it was an animation. The main producer of the project is EL CAPITXN joined by his company Vendors, and he’s an ex idol (I think), so maybe I would expect he is one of the members…? I don’t know but I don’t care, the songs are so good to me. It shows that they work together as a team to write together the best material they can, instead of outsourcing. Obviously not everybody might like this kind of pop/rock..
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el capitxn isn’t one of the members nor is he the main producer as he tends to only work on the title tracks. 3/5 members are the main producers, aided by vendors as you said, and the remaining two are their sole choreographers. they use motion capture and with the exception of the 6th summer mv, which was 100% animated, they’re the ones dancing and moving around in their mvs, dance practices, live streams, etc. they’re all ex-idols and seasoned musicians.
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Wow, I had no idea there was all this structure and technology behind this band. This is insane, they have writers and producers AND also choreographers in the band? If this is the case, I am becoming a HUGE fan. I am always rooting for self-made artists, there’s something about the music that makes it a bit more fresh to me… I think that’s why I like their music so much. Anyway, this is just my opinion, but thanks for all the info.
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Welp, I’m a bit of a “virtual” artist apologist as someone who’s been following the Uta no Prince-sama groups since their inception and got hooked on a few others as a rhythm game fan/otome gamer. My “how” and “why” is basically if I like the vocalist and I like the songs, the fact that they’re using an avatar isn’t going to hinder me from becoming a fan. I mean, using UtaPri as an example, I already liked Mamoru Miyano, Shouta Aoi, Kisho Taniyama/GRANRODEO, etc so of course I’m going to like the songs they release as “anime boys,” too. Add that to loving the output of their composers (Elements Garden), it all just works for me. Especially these days when it’s getting harder to find songs that feel like a complete journey, passing the 3 minute mark, having a bridge, etc.
Also love me some Gorillaz, but I feel like they managed to dodge that stigma.
But as for this song in particular, yeah, I absolutely agree that it feels like two songs that don’t get the chance to flesh out. I do appreciate a lot of the ideas, and would love to see them lean into the OKR side given their vocals.
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Huge Gorillaz fan here. For me, that’s the template for how to do it. An integral part of their success for me is not just the music and videos, but also the voice actors who voice their non-singing voices. Murdoc in particular, who is voiced by a quite talented British comedian, and it often feels like he’s improvising. I’d love a K-pop group in that vein. (And I wish Gorillaz would make an album that features K-pop guests, but Damon Albarn seems more focused on Afropop these days. You’d think with Noodle being Japanese, there’d be more Asian influence in the group’s collaborators. There has been some, with Little Dragon and a member from Cibo Matto, but that’s about it. Oh well.)
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Gorillaz also did a song with the Japanese girl band Chai (they had pretty quirky and fun music, they’ve unfortunately now disbanded r.i.p although I think the sisters are still doing stuff together). From their Song Machine era and called MLS, the vocals are basically 40% them (with half the lyrics in Japanese) and 60% JPEGMAFIA. Good bop, they’ve never played together live though (but Noodle did do a podcast in Japanese with the girls!). Gorillaz performed in Japan a couple of times after their revival and once in Korea so it does seem a bit wasteful they don’t do much with Asian artists. Damon was recently seen with musicians in India recently though…👀
Also agree that the non-music content is what really makes Gorillaz special. The artwork and random content of the characters especially with the voice actors involved is fun, and I love when they invest in the lore.
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Oh right, I forgot that collab with Chai! Is something going on now with Gorillaz? I saw their website was updated a few days ago, so maybe something new’s coming? (I hope!:)
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Last year I liked Wait for you and Way 4 Luv, so of course I’d tune in when these guys release something. I don’t think I’m a fan of Dash right now, the two sides of the song don’t work that well with me. Chroma Drift isn’t bad (it’s city pop if anyone wants to give it a listen), and Island has some nice moments for a ballad, so I might be keeping those.
I see this group as something we get when the visuals are kind of…out of the way?, because the visuals are taken care of by the motion track suits and editors who make the avatars, so these guys are in no way influencers and they don’t have much to do with luxury brands (yet?). Their main focus thus is music and variety I guess.
Since they’re doing better with each release, I hope they can work on getting clearer mixing in the future.
Btw, here is a video of Plave glitching a bit lol
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I love this video! I’m definitely part of the fandom now! As for the song, I’ll give it a few more listens to see how I really feel.
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tbh, I knew PLAVE were gonna go down the edgy boy group route sooner or later..
anyways, song is fine. Its kinda generic but I think I enjoy it?
8.5/10 for me (8, 9, 9, 8)
(BTW the new Lady Gaga song is awesome. GENERATIONS also released something, and I think its ok. You checking those out?)
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Not a stan but like their music and 2D boy shenanigans enough to be a shameless Plave apologist (especially when kpop twitter gets bitter over their achievements LOL). This song ain’t for me though, feels a bit disjointed. Oh well, will check out their mini-album later nevertheless.
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Well they can certainly sing, actual singing by actual humans. I am not intrigued enough though to look it up or buy, but I think the song is better than most formula pop released these months. Formpop. There I crafted a term.
Adding: The animation creeps me out. Fortunately most of the time I listen to music rather than watch.
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lol formpop is funny. I agree the animation is off to me. It reminds me of a show I used to watch as a kid called skyland
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It’s the fact that they have top ten singles and even a number one song. I can see their appeal, but the music isn’t really making me feel much either way. That’s the worse feeling I can have about a song
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They lost me when the chorus hit. Just make a song off that intro melody pls I’m begging.
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This song encapsulates the issues I have with Korean rock and metal music: It is so… restrained.
They seem to be so deadly afraid of the awesome power of their distorted guitars and of the demons they might unleash with their voices that they never fully let go. You always end up with a sort of soft rock punctuated by occasional yells of frustration.
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NME by Set it Off if it was a bit more mid. Not that either are bad songs, but… yeah.
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Chroma drift gives me Yukika’s vibes so hard
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