Multinational girl group Blackswan don’t return with new music often, averaging about one comeback per year. This is a difficult approach for an idol group. So much of an act’s success hinges on constant content for fans, but too often Blackswan’s career feels like a series of fits and starts. Because of this, each song really must swing for the rafters.
New single I Like It Hot follows Blackswan’s general style, mixing K-pop sounds with international elements. The instrumental has strong middle eastern influence, which feels somewhat unique for K-pop. However, the song doesn’t do much with this sound, preferring to throw predictable fragments of melody over the top. Minus the production, I Like It Hot could have been peddled by pretty much any girl group opting for a more hip-hop inspired sound. When evaluating melody, I often imagine how a song would sound stripped back in an acoustic version. In this version, I fear I Like It Hot would simply become a few girls talking melodically, leaving little impression after the track finished.
This isn’t to say that every song needs to be a melodic knockout and I Like It Hot is clearly aiming to be more of a party jam than a bear-your-soul piece of songcraft. On that front, the track is functional but hardly inspiring. It’s got great energy for three minutes, but I doubt I will remember it in a month’s time.
| Hooks | 7 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 7 |
| Bias | 8 |
| RATING | 7.5 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Blackswan keep collaborating with lyre music and Lyre rarely delivers more than passable kpop tracks. They seem to have such a limited view of what kpop can be, only knowing recent trends and very popular groups. I think they’re concept of what kpop can be needs to be broaden, because these blackswan tracks in particular sound like the less impressive side of 2017-2019 kpop. Sure the songs are enjoyable enough in the moment and blackswan have a lot to offer, but this just doesn’t cut it.
I’ve never been to a kpop concert and i attribute this to there no really being an act I really want to see. I need that combination of great music and feeling connected to the members. Most groups I have the problem of liking the music but I’m not invested in the members (often I don’t know their names). Blackswan is the inverse problem, I like the members enough where I want to support them but they only have one great song (cat&mouse). With their lack of budget apparent at almost every turn (how is DR music still a thing) they most likely won’t have an epic once a year comeback nor more frequent average comebacks. It’s really a shame
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Make that two great songs, I honestly think ‘La boum’ is slept on.
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I can see the appeal, but it feels generic
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The song has decent energy and I like fatou’s parts. I feel like the chorus has been done baby times before
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many*
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Tri.be song
First half of the prechorus is nice.
Gonna intentionally start a fan war by commenting that Blackswan paved the way under all of Katseye’s stuff lol
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As Mymagoogle would say, “Star Wars good, fan wars bad.”
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wait, why?
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It’s not bad, it’s just very forgettable. I enjoyed Karma and Roll Up, but I’m pretty eh on this one
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The song’s fine, but it won’t crack my top 5 Blackswan songs.
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tonight, cat and mouse, over and over, close to me, karma?
just thought I’d take a guess lol
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All of them are correct except for Over and Over. I have La Boum in that place instead.
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you know, I thought about that one because someone else replied to me to shout it out, but my feeling got in the way lol
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I don’t know, maybe I should put Over and Over at number 5 and La Boum at number 6.
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I think you should go with your original list, don’t let me influence you lo. Listen to your heartl
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Thanks!
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Agree on your thoughts on their lack of comebacks. One a year is rough (it’s probably for budget reasons). That said, they do produce “content” for fans by being on livestreams regularly, usually TikTok live if memory serves. I’ve seen some clips that migrate to YouTube. The members all speak fluent English and are pretty funny.
Also, I love the song! It doesn’t take much for me to like a girl group song, just energy, fun, and vibes. This one does it for me. It also looks like they had a fairly decent budget for this mv, which surprises me (in a good way). The members all look great and there are some awesome shots. I think this is my favorite release from them since Karma (I liked Roll Up too but I think it’s in 3rd place now). Interesting that it seems to be in all English, but maybe they’ve recognized that pretty much all of their fan base is international. I’m not complaining.
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