NCT Wish had a moment last year — starting with their excellent Songbird and continuing into their upbeat banger Dunk Shot — where I could clearly hear the potential of a fun, youthful new generation of SM boy groups. But surrounding those songs has been material I’ve had a hard time connecting with. The music often feels saccharine and repetitive, with last year’s Steady a particularly mind-numbing clunker. The teasers for new single poppop promised more of this monotonous style and the song’s chorus certainly delivers on that promise.
The word “irritainment” has become somewhat popular lately. It’s a blend of “irritating” and “entertainment.” I don’t get the appeal at all, but K-pop seems to be in love with the idea. How else can we explain so many obnoxious hooks in this year’s songs? Poppop is an especially dire example, melding its trendy, skittering verses with an ear-shattering chanted hook. NCT Wish’s vocals are a bit shrill even in the best parts of this song, but the bratty wall of sound that makes up poppop‘s centerpiece nearly had me reaching for the “off” button. I’m not entertained, but I’m damn well irritated. Maybe that’s the point?
It’s rare than a bright boy group doesn’t appeal to me, but I don’t get what SM Entertainment is doing with Wish at all. They seem to want to lean into an experimental hyperpop sound but they’re forgetting the catchy hooks and idiosyncratic personality that makes that genre exciting. At the risk of taking things way too juvenile on this blog, remove the middle “pp” from poppop and you have my general thoughts on this song.
| Hooks | 5 |
| Production | 6 |
| Longevity | 6 |
| Bias | 5 |
| RATING | 5.5 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
its not that bad, but certainly can be better (also sm, please stop making your nct groups do shout a thons)
8/10 (7, 9, 8, 8) for me
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I did a double-take too, not seeing the PP in the middle at first. Then when I did, I wondered, is this a song about their grandpa (pop-pop)?
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”remove the middle “pp” from poppop and you have my general thoughts on this song” I fucking choked on air oml😭😭
But the song’s not that bad to warrant a 5.5 imo. It’s mostly the hooks that are awful. The rest of the song is cute, the verses and pre-chorus are good, but the chanty chorus borders into cloying and obnoxious. Some parts of the chorus also sound very muted, and I don’t even know if the mixing’s intentional, but either way, still grinds my gears. It somehow reminds me of Zerobaseone’s “Feel the Pop” (mostly the hook), but on some sort of steroids and with a shit-ton of sugar, and whether it’s a compliment or not… well, it’s neither.
6.75 (5, 8, 7, 7) for me.
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F is crazy loool. 7/10 for me.
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Honestly it’s not that bad imo. The pop pop thing is kind of irritating, but other than that, I think it’s pretty alright. Maybe a 7 or 7.25
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So many of the worst affectations in one! For me, it starts with the tinny-ness of the auto-tune vocals. Trap! Trap is back I guess for the prechorus. As if we need to know the chorus is coming, there is the percussion to let us know it is coming. Halftime break.
And then there is trying too hard to have fun, when no actual fun is being had.
Even the choreo couldn’t figure out how to make this work – the little choreo we see. Trying too hard again. I would have put Eunhyuk and Shindong in a room and have them goof off to the music until they found moves that are catchy.
I think SM reached peak bright theme with NCT “Chewing Gum”.
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Honestly, what truly made NCT Dream’s 2016-17 singles work well was that they never tried too hard to sound bright or cute. They just relied on their natural cute, youthful appeal (makes sense since they all were very young at that time…) while letting good melodies take the reign. Even Wish did it well with Songbird and to a small extent, Wish and Dunk Shot. But here, it’s giving a bunch of bratty kids trying to sound “cutesy” shouting random, equally “cutesy” catchphrases, but ending up sounding annoying.
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I have dilemma about this. I actually really like it on first listening with the production, but yes it’s somehow irritating. I want to enjoy it but it would not last in 2 days lol
7,9,7,8
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Flush this turd already.
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seeing a bit of divisiveness in the comments and honestly im on the side that likes this song, i feel like it’s annoying in a fun way for me and i might end up listening to this a lot more. it certainly is my favorite of the kpop releases today
however i do love creative insults like taking the pp out of the title XD]
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my god the hook is goddamn awful… Even more irritating than steady imho. What the hell SM thinking making this a tittle track 😭
It’s the first time i couldn’t finish an nct songs no matter how annoying they sound.
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I don’t think this song is completely devoid of good moments! I liked some elements in the production. I believe it’s making use of the Miami Bass genre? I also think the trappy beats add it a special touch given that many groups (ENHYPEN, XG, NewJeans to name a few) used this genre in the last couple of years.
My problem is the chorus, I think something melodic would’ve worked much better, instead of them just chanting words. Can’t say I’m fully surprised by that choice, though, since chanting is an NCT brand type of thing.
7/10 for me, I don’t see myself returning to it like I did with their previous tracks but I also don’t think it’s horrible, it has its good moments.
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how I feel about the chorus: 💀
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Wow, that was probably the fastest I went from “Huh, it’s not THAT bad” to full body flinching. Shame, because it had a video game-y feel at the beginning, which I usually love.
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Wish M.I.M.P was the tt. That is genuine boy group excellence.
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Kenzie always delivers the goods. I can’t believe they reverse-gatekept this track (it was released during their Seoul concert 2 weeks ago). I’m expecting a shout-out to MIMP in the weekly k-pop ranking, if not a BT.
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I could rant forever how bad SM has gone downhill since Lee Soo-man left, especially in the boy group discography category. We supposed to believe this is apart of NCT? Switching RIIZE to be apart of NCT would make more sense since they had previous members, but that’s a different topic.
Overall dissapointed but wasn’t expecting much anyways.
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Honestly it wasnt bad . While listening to it again , I felt like the bridge added no value to the song , it was more of dragging out the song so that it can reach the 3 min mark . For this album , there were tracks I liked but did not fully enjoy due to the mixing of their voices , the vocal tones , especially the vocal lines in poppop bridge was jarring , it there wasnt a smooth transition from one person to another . One could say their voices are yet to mature , which is true and i am looking forward to how they will grow vocally but the A&R and vocal director during the recording should have addressed that issue .
Still figuring out how i truly feel about this album but I can say for sure Steady is one of their best projects including the title .
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Also some of the songs left me wishing more could have been done such as the excellent line “Melt Inside My Pocket” , which is the track name . That melody would have done so much for track , its a shame it turned out that way . I enjoyed the last song , Still 3pm , that was the only time i truly felt connected to this project , lovely melody and such a lovely mood it creates .
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I’m hoping there’s a Buried Treasure from this mini album.
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There were good elements throughout but that chorus feels a bit too gimmicky… There isn’t enough substance in the centerpiece. It’s what ultimately broke the track.
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I don’t think the song’s “pop” hook is as annoying as most people are making it out to be, but overall the melody could really be better
8 (8, 8, 8, 8)
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