Girl group HITGS (the “Hip, Innocent, Teenager, Girls, Story”) debuted just over a month ago with the frothy but forgettable Sourpatch, and have made a quick return with new digital single Gross. Think of it as a much more subdued companion to Katseye’s Gnarly, in which a girl group uses a single adjective to comment on the world in the hope of mass virality.
This being a song made for the TikTok generation, it clocks in at a whopping two minutes, twelve seconds. In this case, that’s probably a good thing because I’m not sure I could take much more of this song. Gross marries nursery rhyme melodies to a dull, lumbering beat that sounds like a bunch of cartoon sound effects slowed down. It’s become popular for modern girl groups to adopt what they call a “kitsch” sound, and this is almost always a red flag for me. These songs lean heavily toward novelty and often feel like one idea repeated over and over.
Lyrically, Gross is pretty cute and fits this very young group. Three of the five members just fifteen years old, after all. I assume this song appeals more to listeners their age and younger than it does to me, and if it had been released in isolation I could imagine Gross eliciting a chuckle. However, as part of a larger musical trend, it’s a song I’d never choose to listen to again.
| Hooks | 6 |
| Production | 6 |
| Longevity | 7 |
| Bias | 6 |
| RATING | 6.25 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Oof, child-like sing-talk (I mean, they are kids) on top of a lumbering, plodding hyperpop-passing beat drained of all its energy. Sigh…
6 (6, 6, 6, 6) for me.
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Hi Nick! Yesterday, KISS OF LIFE dropped the album spoiler for their upcoming project ‘224’. I still want to give them a chance because, as you said, i dont believe in the cancel culture.
The title track is ‘Lips, hips, kiss’. I was definitely expecting something more upbeat so I’m quite surprised. What do you think about its snippet?
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The clip of the title track sounds like one of the weaker songs on the album, unfortunately.
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Would I be right to guess that the other one is K bye?
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Definitely aiming at a younger demographic with different tastes. I can imagine tween girls vibing with this. I remember this
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mindset, when love seems both compelling and icky.
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Not sure why but it reminds me of Blackpink “Ice cream” but without the great hook
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…..what great hook
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I was hearing a horrible rendition of Red Velvet “Ice Cream Cake” verses, without the awesome key change into the chorus.
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Oh yeah! I forgot about that. That’s how you do nursery rhyme kind of melodies… what an iconic song. I remember when it came out 🔥
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Can we please stop debuting minors? This is getting out of hand! I’d take Gnarly over this any day.
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I think any song should get a mandatory minus one point for each minor.
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it’s the K-pop industry deal with it buddy
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Fuck off.
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As an older teen myself, its not bad, but definitely not good. I actually kinda like the beginning of the first chorus, but that’s about it. The rest of it is kinda mid. The chorus is okay, pretty repetitive but not that bad, compared to some other kpop songs nowadays.
I do think that people who are close to my age shouldn’t debut, and its pretty weird and gross (lol) to see that.
Also, I recently discovered this artist Lexie Liu, specifically her song “FFFFF”. I’m not that well versed in different genres, so I don’t know how accurate my description is, but to me it seems pretty europop, possibly similar to lady gaga’s recent abracabra (they kinda? have similar vibes)
My tastes are pretty different then Nick’s, but europop is something that we both agree on, so just wanted to share, see what some people here think.
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Darling daughter loves Lexie Liu. I recommend “Fortuna” and Magician”.
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I also really like “I wanna tell you” despite it being on the slower side and “dance dance”
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Not bad! I definitely hear a bit of hyperpop influence in there. Lexie Liu is a name I seem to see around a lot but I haven’t yet done a deep dive of her music.
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A weak rendition of a song that would play in the background of an episode of a Disney Channel series as the main protagonist denies her pathetic crush on the male lead (the teenager played by a 30 y/o man) as her friends try to coerce her into speaking with him. 6.
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I liked the background boops a lot and the song was cute and at least age appropriate for the group’s age.
It isn’t a blockbuster summer jam, but not as bad as everyone here is making it out to be.
8,8,6,8 = 7.5
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