Given their large configuration, Seventeen has already spawned many solos and sub-units. Next up is Hoshi & Woozi: the performer and the songwriter… to boil it down to an overly simplistic description. They’re also the same age, which is where the title 96ers comes from, and will presumably need to start their military service soon. As a gift for fans, the idea of 96ers (동갑내기) is quite welcome. However, the execution leaves much to be desired.
Most of 96ers hinges on an interpolation of the children’s game “The rose of sharon has bloomed” (or “red light, green light” for westerners). Even before Squid Game brought this melody to the forefront once again, the tune had been used to death in K-pop. I can’t imagine sitting down to write a song in 2025 and thinking, “You know what would be a good idea? Using that melody everyone else has already beaten into the ground!” It’s quite an uninspired choice from a duo who are usually nothing but inspiration, and it makes for a cloying track overall.
As if the nursery rhyme melodicism isn’t enough to grind your gears, 96ers‘ production also seeks to poke and tease. The percussion has a squeaking repetition that feels more abrasive than musical, adding to the taunting nature of the track. This is no doubt intentional and from a purely objective perspective I guess you can call 96ers a success. I just can’t fathom wanting to listen to a song that seems intent on annoyance.
| Hooks | 6 |
| Production | 7 |
| Longevity | 7 |
| Bias | 6 |
| RATING | 6.5 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Uhm… it’s a song, alright! The squeaky horn in the intro grinds my gears and it was a chore making it through. I sense potential in the percussions, but the arrangement fails to bring anything new to the table and sounds like they just shoehorned some percussions from the Boy Group Percussion Starter Pack™️ into the track without working on how to make it sound unique or good. As for the hooks, it has a taunting tone to it which just sounds like “been there, done that” and again, fails to sound new. It sounds like this song’s main purpose is to sound annoying and it quite succeeded at it, but c’mon, you can make an annoying song catchy and actually good!
But oh well, rating’s the same.
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The lowest svt rating I’ve seen from u *gasp* but tbh rating is the same. Hoshi and Woozi is a great duo with a bunch of talent but this song is just disappointing coming from them and I was expecting more from them
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I feel you, I was also hoping they would choose to try something musically different rather than sticking with the Bring It kind of vibe. I’m happy that they like this, but I also hope in the future we get to see more experimentation!
The enlistment duos have been pretty interesting in that regard. Jeonghan x Wonwoo was a very fresh pair, so I didn’t really have a benchmark to consider that against. But Hoshi x Woozi have been a combo for years, and they definitely had some kind of signature vibe, so in that sense I’m a little sad they didn’t really fully break out of that yet. I hope we’ll see more from these duos/subunits in the future too, allowing them to expand their discography the way BSS for example is growing slowly but surely!
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rating is about the same for this
i did although like pinocchio from this album but it is just sooo short it hurts
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this song isn’t even funny in the slightest
6.25/10 (6, 7, 6, 6) for me
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Sigh… I knew what we were getting into from their earlier song together, Bring It, and I knew it wasn’t going to be to my taste. Mansae remains the best interpolation of Red Light Green Light for me, this doesn’t really come close. The mini album is also so criminally short.
Then again, as a fan I appreciate the references in the lyrics and the MV, although this song is definitely not it for me.
Woozi please, give us a proper 3+minute song for the next SVT comeback!
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it’s a single not a mini album
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Oops yeah you’re right, it’s a single – thanks for the correction! I can’t say I’m loving all of the 3 new songs, but Stupid Idiot is at least a lot more up my alley than the other two.
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this is a new low for them which hurts to say. they’ve already done the “red light, green light” melody 10 years ago (although short) but an entire chorus of it doesn’t quite work.
I like STUPID IDIOT more than this – and they need to stop with the club bangers as b-sides and just give us one as a title track. hopefully the 10th year anniversary comeback will be much, much better.
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A bit self-indulgent.
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Woozi maybe we just need a retreat away from whatever is making you make this type of music.
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i was hoping we would get something similar to spider (which i love), that kind of style so i am super sad it ended up being this. 😦 pinocchio on the album is interesting but way too short!
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I LOVE both Spider and Ruby, so I was expecting a happy medium between those two. A song like that could definitely remedy the damage caused by this super short single.
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so bad
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nahh guys please this song is actually good 😭😭 please i actually love it you need to see the vision 😭😭😭😭
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To be quite honest if you lot don’t like experimental music like this then maybe you are liking the wrong genre….
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Using a nursery rhyme that a million other acts have already used in similar ways is hardly “experimental”
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Though I appreciate their effort and attitude, it was definitely not my type. What I anticipated from this single and the final song were on the total opposite sides of the spectrum.
Like some others here, Stupid idiot has gotten my attention but will take few more listens to decide whether I do or don’t like it..
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I stuck around because I like many SVT tracks but I smiled at the end of this and said ‘oh, I’m never gonna listen to this again!’
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What’s annoying is hearing this nursery rhyme sung by these two makes me think that conceit could work as part of a full-on Seventeen song from their peak, funky early days.
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I prefer the song “Stupid Idiot”.
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Are you gonna review Stupid Idiot?
Absolutely in love with it.
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Huh, I do not hear the horror everyone else does. I like this. I also don’t recognize this nursery rhyme that bothers everyone.
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