With the debut of SM Entertainment’s new girl group just around the corner, Starship Entertainment has lodged a stealth attack by pre-releasing music from their upcoming girl group KiiiKiii first. Given the agency’s huge success with IVE, all eyes are on KiiiKiii’s emergence in the industry. And if I Do Me is any indication, the group seems to be targeting a similar pop-minded audience.
As a pre-release, I Do Me‘s main tasks are to introduce the members and quickly establish a sonic calling card for the group. I’d say it’s successful at the former, but less so at the latter. At just five members, each girl is given plenty of spotlight. Overall, I enjoy how they all sing in a lower register. The vocals instantly have a different appeal than the airy style tackled by most current girl groups. If given the right material, KiiiKiii could really stake their claim to a new era of K-pop.
On the other hand, I Do Me is a total nothingburger as a song. It has a polished pop sheen but no real drive. I feel like I’m listening to the same twenty seconds on repeat. Apart from a nice flourish of synth during the climax, the arrangement never grows or goes anywhere. It’s very monotonous. It also feels strongly catered to Western taste, serving a vaguely retro synth pop sound that’s been inescapable for the better part of this decade. Because of this, I can’t give the song itself a high rating. However, I’m intrigued by the group and hope they find better material in the future.
| Hooks | 7 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 7 |
| Bias | 7 |
| RATING | 7.25 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
I just want a WJSN comeback…
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The song is certainly a nothingburger, at least the mv is pleasant. I love the nature shots
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Have you seen the concept photos? The song is indeed a nothingburger, but I enjoyed the voices and the aesthetics are incredible both here and in photos. I am going to give them a second chance for sure just because of that!
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How dumb is Starship?
Siphoning resources from IVE’s creative team to debut a new girl group while IVE is still promoting. While also targeting the SAME demographic.
Like RH is doing well on the charts due to it being a pretty much empty house, but Ive have been stumbling ever since Baddie.
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It does feel like an odd choice. If they had to debut a new gg, they should be completely different from IVE.
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Yeah, or if they couldn’t do a different concept then at the very least wait until 2026 or something.
I was expecting a new BG from SSE later this year, but for…some reason…they decided to throw their hat in the 5 gen GG ring.
They’ve done real well with IVE, but I wonder if that is due to business acumen or just getting lucky with a combination of quality producers and concepts.
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I mean, Heya did pretty well in charts, just got overshadowed by Fate and Supernova (and arguably How Sweet) at that time. And Seventeen were dominating in physicals as well, so there was that. But Rebel Heart’s slow rise to the PAKs is quite commendable, though Starship could capitalize on it further. :
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Sure. IVE is still a successful group.
But most of their metrics were halfed for Baddie and then once again for Heya. Like Melon, YT, Spotify and so on.
Popularity fades, but I think it’s pretty clear that IVE’s decline in popularity is due to the decline in the quality of their music.
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Agreed on the reasons as to why Heya was overshadowed when it came to discussions about who was doing well on charts; that must’ve been largely due to those songs (+ Magnetic, I’d say) absolutely DOMINATING the charts. But in terms of discussions between casual kpop fans, I can’t say it was ever brought up either, and that can’t be attributed to chart activity– sadly, it just wasn’t as amazing as compared to their prior hits, even if it wasn’t a bad song. I hope I’m wrong when I say it might be their last good song for a while (although Rebel Heart has snuck up to me a bit and has gone from a 7 to an 8… drat.)
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Yeah. If you’re going to compete with the top groups then you need top music.
And IVE went from 10s to 7s, for me at least.
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Yes STARSHIP wants some $$! This is way more westernized than IVE and you can tell NewJeans (rip) and ILLIT were on the moodboard. Interestingly I DO ME also reminds me of the perky sound of STAYC. This could go in a good or bad direction but they are definitely charming.
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STAYC? Which of their songs do you have in mind? Thanks in advance.
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It’s the punchy repetitive pop sound. Reminds me of Stereotype or even GPT in a less polished way obviously.
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Their marketing was great and unique. That’s all. 0/10
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it’s nice, I like the synth bass, but very forgettable. could be worst for a debut pre release though. I do hear a TON of processing on most of the girls voices though (well that’s usual in kpop/pop today so nothing surprising) and that just takes me out, my brain just tell me something sounds weird and I can’t focus
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This group is Starship’s answer to NewJeans which is still finding their footing amidst everything. Smart move on their part. The music video is amazing and a breath of fresh air in Kpop honestly. I like their voices, they’re all distinct to one another.
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How is it a breath of fresh air?
NJ, 5050, illit, meovv, rescene, etc. all released music exactly like this.
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I think she is talking about the MV, it really felt fresh.
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There’s no NJ song that sounds as bland or uninspired as this song at all sonically. The MV is just Bubblegum 2.0. that’s pretty much it. They’re just trying to capitalize on the branding while NJ is still in their legal mess – but it’s not enough to grab people’s *Attention* if the music sounds like deedeemegadoodoo.
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I was so excited by the marketing but the song I’m not super stoked about yet. Hoping the actual song they release this March actually fits the fun and kooky branding that they’ve been building up.
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This is one of those songs that make me think “I should put on some music” while it’s playing because it blends into the background so much I forget it’s there. It’s definitely a bit too much bland Western pop. I do appreciate it being in a lower register because I’m not huge on the predominance of squeaky high notes in kpop. Here’s hoping the title track is something more exciting that plays to their strengths.
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I like the video. The hills are alive with the sound of music! The music is okayish. Okay enough, I guess.
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I don’t think this is bad by any means, just like everybody says, it’s a little bland or forgettable. I’m guessing that coming in with a “softer” pre-debut will make the debut feel more impactful?
Having a”subdued” and “toned down” debut like NewJeans had can always, so I see why other agencies would try to replicate it. I just wish this track was a little more upbeat, considering it’s the group’s intro. Then, again, this is actually not a debut so I guess they probably have a better song in store.
Also, it does feel like this debut is coming way too son. The time gap between Red Velvet and aespa was about six years, and the distance between aespa and Hearts2Hearts was about five years? So yeah, I can understand some of the more negative reactions.
It is also kind of hard to avoid the IVE comparisons since they’ve worked with a lot of popular genres in their songs (R&B, pop, dance-pop, EDM) so it becomes a lot harder for an newer girl group in their agency to establish a different sonic identity, considering IVE pretty much does every popular music style.
For now, it leaves me wanting for more like KickFlip did in their pre-debut.
7/10 to me.
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not very happy that this group has minors in it. Why do they put minors in these groups? Why do fans support these groups when they know it is wrong to support minor idols. Enough is enough already!
https://kuorasslanderinghall.quora.com/How-long-is-it-until-these-companies-stop-debuting-children-The-youngest-is-a-10-liner-I-hope-their-debut-flops-show https://kuorasslanderinghall.quora.com/How-long-is-it-until-these-companies-stop-debuting-children-The-youngest-is-a-10-liner-I-hope-their-debut-flops-show?ch=15&oid=206030889&share=09b93e6f&srid=45it5&target_type=post
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I mean.. it’s an “OK” song. Sounds like IVE but without the quality. If it was a boy group I would excuse it because there’s so many of them and they sell mostly albums even when the singles aren’t amazing, but to launch a new girl group right now you need a killer hit that also makes them stand out sonically from the rest. Hopefully the actual debut will be better.
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it sounds more like oddyouth than Ive to me
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