Girl group VVS terrorized us with their stale Tea a few weeks ago and now they’re back with another gimmicky track. Purrfect strains to be camp (sorry, nobody can unfurl a campier purr better than Eartha Kitt) but as usual this style of humor is at odds with K-pop’s highly-polished, systematic style. Trying to be funny/clever rarely works within the industry’s constraints, and Purrfect is a dubious example.
Honestly, this could have been amusing in other hands. The word “purrfect” is kind of funny in theory, but the song itself is too joyless to work. Rather than go full ham, we’re greeted by ugly pots-and-pans production and baseless boasts. The lyrics are all telling instead of showing and never remotely clever. The rapid-fire rap that makes up the verses is impressive, but not particularly enjoyable within the context of this song.
It seems that there is an emerging K-pop trend that’s attempting to borrow from elements of hyperpop, and just as I did when reviewing Katseye’s Gnarly I absolutely beg, implore, beseech the industry to look elsewhere for inspiration. I just don’t think this genre — at least how it’s being delivered on these tracks — works well for K-pop. Producers are only taking the most obnoxious elements while ignoring the beating heart underneath the soundscape. But knowing how the industry latches onto a sound with an iron grip, I fear we’re in for a long string of these novelty tracks fueled by unconvincing bravado.
| Hooks | 5 |
| Production | 7 |
| Longevity | 6 |
| Bias | 6 |
| RATING | 6 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
All these girl groups and boy groups claiming to be the baddest should have a bad-off to determine who actually is the baddest, and no one else but the winner should be allowed to make that claim moving forward. Maybe then it will end.
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Can they do it in an abandoned warehouse somewhere so I don’t have to see/hear it? 😭
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The empty parking lot
or how about the cargo containers world
or that half-built circular building
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bts will then come in and win the top spot easily 😎
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The 1st verse is purrfect. The rest is no.
5.5 (5, 6, 6, 5) for me.
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hey nick! tripleS today performed their new tt are you alive at kcon japan. what do you think? https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNd6wntFD/
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Will save my thoughts for the official release, but the song leaves almost no impression, which is… not a good thing.
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In their documentary (the episode of Anderson Cooper’s show that profiled VVS’ label) we were promised an RnB group. I had imagined a Destiny’s Child, but for Korea (maybe that’s Kiss of Life?). But VVS has been much more hip-hop so far. |
I kept waiting for Purrfect to launch into a big RnB stacked-harmony centerpiece, but all we got were some background harmonies underneath the spoken “Bitch, I’m purrfect.” The rap flow is there. Now I’m waiting on the vocals.
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I don’t think this song is 6 bad, despite not being my cup of tea. Their delivery of purrrfect is cute with the rolled r, but maybe not soooo many times in the song, and certainly not as a chanted centerpiece. Instead of feeling novel it wears its welcome too quickly. The ad-libs at least help elevate it.
I genuinely (lyrics aside) love the raps. There are also a few production elements I really enjoyed, though others i did not, such as the repetitiveness.
Weird song to rate for me… 8,8, 7, 7 = 7.5
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I was wondering about the rolled rrrrrrr. It seems to be a copy paste right on top, with the seams showing.
From what I have heard, Korean’s are actually pretty at rolling their r’s because the R and L sound is the same with the tongues held right in the middle. So who knows, maybe they will be able to do it live live. Or maybe it will just be the perfect copy+paste on the backing track.
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good point, I’ll especially be watching for the outro rolled r that gets held forever.
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You know how sometimes a celebrity will appear on the red carpet and will be wearing fragments of fabric barely covering and we all wonder “Is that really a dress?”. So too with this song. Fragments of melodic elements, but is it really a song?
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I can’t deal with this anymore I am so done with literally all the kpop trends that circulate rn. The hyperpop, the afrobeats, the dance challenges, the oversized pants, the 2 min song duration… it haunts me. I literally had a nightmare the other night about bts’ comeback being a 2 min afrobeats vibey song and they were doing an afrobeats dance challenge on tiktok with Jin at the center of the choreography. It was so vivid in my head I woke up with cold sweat. Tonight I will probably dream of Jin chanting “I’m purrrrfect you know” in his imminent comeback please make it stop I will do anything
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I feel you. When did this happen to us? 😭
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Also (long rant ahead) sth I think about often lately is why I dislike dance challenges so much. I thought of this after watching J-Hope’s and Kai’s. They are cute sure and it is always nice when idols interact and support each other BUT if you dig deeper actually it is pretty symbolic of the current trends. Why on earth would you want another artist to dance *your* choreography that is supposed to be *your* signature and *your* statement ? Is your choreography so easy to replicate and so palatable that anyone can do it? Do we want the idols to be interchangeable? Can we even imagine a dance challenge of a song like Dope for example? What is even the point in the iconic Dope choreo if just any idol can replicate it? It literally ruins the entire song. Also, apart from the aspect of authenticity, I have the impression that choreography is becoming much simpler nowadays to suit the tik tok trends including the dance challenges. For example, it just would not be technically possible to do a dance challenge with the choreo of blood sweat and tears. You would have to tone it down significantly. It is funny because we often say that kpop nowadays is more performance than music but from what I’m seeing, both the music AND the performance are suffering. Anyway
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I’m with you. I’ve only been listening to 2000s to early 2010s pop music for 3 weeks now. I have high hopes for the upcoming BOYNEXTDOOR and RIIZE comebacks. I’m especially hyped for BND, those teasers have been so good.
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This image is hilarious so +2 for that. You also make fair points about BTS/BST and dance challenges, I’d never thought of them in that light before. I think it makes sense to want to spread a dance trend around, but like… it used to be a very special thing for a group to cover another group’s dance, and I do think dance challenges have cheapened it all.
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Yeah it is different when a group does an actual cover of the song and replicates the entire choreo in a music show etc. Because you know that this group has actually spent hours practicing and preparing an actual show for this and this honors the artist that is covered. But a 1 min dance challenge on tik tok does not have the same impact because there is no serious investment in it. It’s not a performance it’s a trend. Anyway this entire rant was caused by the Jin afrobeats dance challenge which is a very real thing in my head and I wouldn’t wish it to my worst enemy
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gnarly was so bad it’s good
this is just so bad it’s sad
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honk shi mimimimimimi
(also for gnarly, its a grower for sure. the safe version is much better than whatever the lyrics were)
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The first verse has a really similar flow to Shuhua/Miyeon’s second verse in Wife.
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Chuu just dropped a kitty-themed track that is, in my opinion, actually campy….. this is cooked
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omg just listened to this and it’s super fun. the lyrics, the groove, the background voices, everything about it is fun.
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She says im purrrrrrrrrrrrfect😜
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orange caramel, crayon pop, even a hello Venus could’ve made a successful release around the idea of “purrrfect”. The chorus sounds like it’s going to funny, but the bear, the dance, the styling, all point in the opposite direction. I could see the appeal of the tea song, it was amusing in a way that modern rap can be sometimes. This track…. I just don’t see the appeal
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in theory hyperpop is a great genre to be incorporated into kpop. There were a lot of those elements there before the term “hyperpop” came to be. I think the music would be bad still without hyperpop, just in a different way. I bet your glad it’s not beige though lol
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this song made me realize that meovv and katseye have yet to say purrrr in a song… maybe it’s a good thing they haven’t or else we’d get stuff like this. someone on ig called this “cardi b kpop music” and that is the perfect way to describe this genre of badass posturing when it feels like you can’t even back up that claim. not like meovv, whose famous TBL label name, chic branding, and overall “background” of the members backs up the bragadocious IT girls attitude. this type of attitude doesn’t mesh with a new nugu group. also i wonder where the budget is coming from??
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