Red Velvet’s Irene and Seulgi made their unit debut all the way back in 2020, spawning two singles backed by high gloss fashion and plenty of charisma. Five years later, they’ve returned with a new mini album and the club-ready title track Tilt. Along with Seventeen’s Thunder, today seems to be the day for dance music anchored by spoken-word choruses.
To be fair, Tilt has more going on in its verses and pre-chorus. The song does a nice job building energy and atmosphere, drawing upon the strength of the ladies’ vocals to craft plenty of texture. The ascending melodies during the verses add great tension as the instrumental eggs them on. Stabs of synth and piano ornamentation pepper the production with extra intrigue just when it needs it, raising expectations for what’s to come. Unfortunately, this is where Tilt bunts when it could have aimed for a homerun. Ambition is currently very low in K-pop so I’m probably a fool for expecting more, but the song’s spoken “tilt tilt tilt” still feels like a big missed opportunity.
On the plus side, the vocal production is quite nice during this segment and I appreciate how the instrumental continues to churn even as the melody flatlines. Things could certainly be worse, but looking back at SM Entertainment’s storied past they could also be so much stronger. This evens out to a song that’s equally satisfying and frustrating, buoyed by Irene and Seulgi’s obvious star power. It’s an easy track to admire but never generous enough to love. It keeps its listeners at an arm’s length, and I guess there’s some charm to that prickly approach.
| Hooks | 7 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 9 |
| Bias | 8 |
| RATING | 8 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
I love the minimalist atmosphere, though I wish the synths during Irene’s first verse was utilized more. I could easily envision it fit well as part of a more melodic 2nd chorus.
But I like this one. While the “tilt tilt tilt tilt tilt” chorus is underwhelming, the vocal production and the ad-libs really help prevent it from getting too monotonous. If you’re gonna do a repetitive catchphrase chorus, at least throw in some vocal layerings and ad-libs so it never gets stale. Overall, it’s a strong dance track, and with more push and melodies, it could easily be a standout similar to Yeji’s Air.
8 (7, 8, 8, 9) for me.
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Same regarding wanting more of the synths in Irene’s first verse! They really caught my attention but I didn’t hear much of them as the song went on.
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I am nitpicking here but I just can’t stand the repetition of “tilt”. It’s just not a very nice sounding word to me so the chorus is kinda grating.
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history suggests “Bag” would’ve been a better choice ;p.
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Is this about the Riize song? Yeah that chorus was also extremely repetitive but the word “tilt” is just extra awkward for a refrain imo.
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You are correct, and I agree about Tilt. “Bag” was an anomaly in that I’m not even sure why it works as well as it does.
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I wish the vocals were farther forward. Could barely hear Irene in the first verse.
Unfortunately the instrumentals in the chorus sound like Welcome to My World‘s chorus’s melody lol. I like that song, but I don’t like recycled…
The end result is that sounds like an aespa song. Also, it sounds like a nice opener for a stronger track, which I don’t think we’re getting.
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WAIT LMAO it ends on “PADAM”
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Actually, this sounds like Magnetic
This time I want TILT TILT TILT TILT
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Hahah I’ve been checking the posts on the blog from oldest to more recent so it’s such a coincidence running into two sing-talk songs back-to-back (Thunder and now this one).
I feel like they knew the chorus sounded repetitive, so they added a few adlibs in the second part to make it more robust and rich. I also appreciate the produciton choices, the style makes it sound both girly-pop but dramatic and dark.
Also, Seulgi’s adlibs at the end? She’s SO GOOD. Excited to check out the EP.
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this is such a mid copycat of JISOO’s Earthquake, I’m surprised no one has mentioned it. Even the video is kind of similar. Nothing original here.
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And Jisoo’s Earthquake is a copycat of Kylie Minogue’s Padua Padum, so who’s to throw stones with glass houses.
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And Padam laps both of them several times over.
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somehow beats “the original” this miles better than earthquake lmao
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haha true although I think Earthquake is quite an earworm, JISOO has such an unique voice and ultimately the song is its own thing despite the very obvious Kylie callback! TILT on the other hand just seems like a riff on Earthquake from A to Z.
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Earthquake is a highly polished and unoriginal track so I think it’s bold to say that anything is “copying” what is possibly the most sterile and generic song out of recent kpop releases. Earthquake can be traced back to so many different songs, it is not the reference here. Especially with spoken/empty choruses becoming increasingly popular in recent years I think it’s just naive to assume that Jisoo is the one to originate it. I don’t want to spread hate to her or to BlackPink but I’m kind of tired of them getting dragged into every conversation, especially when it doesn’t make any real sense, like right now.
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This is the BiaisList so we’re all entitled to our opinions. However I’m not a hardcore fan, I don’t even like BlackPink and don’t care for JISOO. My honest opinion was just that Earthquake was a well produced track with great vocals. I don’t think TILT matches that quality of production despite having a very similar chorus and style. Also many Kpop songs borrow (and transform) western tracks, I don’t mind too much when the “copy” stands by itself. Kpop artists are the champions of recycling trends and other artists and creating unique great tracks. For example, KiiiKiii’s BTG is entirely inspired by PinkPantheress but still a decent track.
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I love Earthquake too as well as Jisoo’s entire EP. By far the best Blackpink solo material. I still listen to it often.
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This old git here’s something called TILT and thinks of the Bluecoats and their program “Tilt” with its famous pitch bend.
If only this song was the nth homage to the pitch bend.
iykyk
Instead we get the refrain “tilt tilt tilt tilt which does not tilt in any direction but stays boringly on the line.
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OK fine, here it is
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that was a wild ride, and I loved it!
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agree that the chorus is really underwhelming, which is unfortunate because i really love the atmosphere being built on the verses. kinda wish they went instead to this type of subdued club banger:
https://youtu.be/iHVxIjpycNc?si=K_Lpdz-BTrWTwi5g
idk why i said that.
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I hate the chorus sm 😭😭😭
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The song’s good, but it doesn’t hold a candle to Monster.
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I like it, but about a minute into the song, it feels like it’ll start building towards a dramatic climax and instead it just fizzles out, making it fall short of its potential
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Hi Nick~Do you have any thought on Strawberry Silhouette on Irene solo album~ just curious
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