QWER have quickly vaulted to the status of Korean chart royalty. Their style of bright pop/rock made a major breakthrough last year with T.B.H and they’ve managed to keep that momentum going with follow-ups. If you squint just a bit, you can make out sounds from Bias List favorites GFriend and Lovelyz within their catalog, refashioned with a rock band in mind. I hear both in new single Dear (눈물참기), which only makes me wish QWER would experiment further with their configuration.
Dear chugs along nicely, delivering powerful melodies performed with gusto. They have a knack for finding hooks that resonate in an emotional way while retaining a catchy, made-for-the-charts sound. A song like this feels destined for drama soundtracks, though it’s beefed up with enough verve to stand on its own. Me being me, I can’t help but wonder how mighty Dear would sound with a thumping dance beat behind it, but that’s a matter of preference. The instrumental is fine, but mostly stays out of the way to shine full focus on the vocals and melody.
Like previous songs, I imagine Dear will become more addictive with time. Its chorus doesn’t feel as instantly iconic as past hits, but its anthemic energy goes down easily. The vocal has a nice blend of power and sweetness, hearkening back to earlier, belt-it-out generations of K-pop. The song is probably too generic to stick around in my playlist for long, but there’s no denying it’s a well-executed version of this sound.
| Hooks | 8 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 8 |
| RATING | 8 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
I know I am just sixteen but this song really reminds me of GFriend and I literally don’t know why. The MV and the track is just GFriend-esque. Gosh, I REALLY need them to reunite again one day because Labyrinth can’t be the last ‘good’ song that is added in my playlist.
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Thanks for the reminder to listen to that again. Navillera may objectively be the GOAT but Labyrinth is probably my favorite GFriend track.
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literally same?? i remember the first time when i listened to labyrinth and was instantly hooked. the only problem is that it still havent reached a 10 yet and its still a 9.75💔 but i honestly get why. it could be a bit bolder at some parts and there were a few missed opportunities but regardless, it was peak.
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WAIT WHAT I DIDNT EVEN READ THE ARTICLE BEFOREHAND WHEN I WROTE MY COMMENT AND I SAW U MENTIONING GFRIEND AND I WAS LITERALLY SO SHOCKED????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
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Hahaha 🙂
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thanks for the reply! i am going to spend more time on this blog since it is my holidays and i have more time for myself. i really enjoy reading articles here and discovering new music, i know i am just a teenager but i really enjoy 2nd gen music and random shuffle reviews. your english is phenomenal and it helped to boost my essay scores as I was able to learn from your writing techniques. i have 90% of gfriend songs in my playlist and my most played is navillera! okay im gonna cut the yap and wrap things up here – i read about you and you are an ex-author in your mid-40s. i really adore this blog sm and you will never comprehend how much i enjoy spending time here.
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It is a good way to learn how to write properly in English, because Nick uses full sentences in full paragraphs that flow with proper grammar. He is quite disciplined, every time, every day. He is rarely short or glib or rude or snarky like some other kpop sites routinely are.
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that’s a valid point. i guess he is very critical when it comes to writing so i agree with you. i’ve never seen a half-baked article in this blog yet
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Hey, It’s eaaarrrrlllly 40’s! Every year counts 😅 😂
Thank you for the kind words!
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So that’s why I like this song compared to their previous releases. because it sounds something my ult gfriend would release if they were a band
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what they said, yes, that. Gfriend, make it band, and 10% faster than is prudent. I am all for it.
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Can we also talk about the vocal. That high lyric soprano.. All light and flutey that moves spritely through a rather fast track. Hits it all without the processing button. It is so nice to hear an honest vocal where the vocalist is allowed to go soft and light then hard and intense, and back again. There is a lot of humanity in this vocal.
It actually sounds sung through, like they can stand in front of a microphone and sing the song back at this same level performance. (The groups on the other hand, pass the lines around so much, the intensity changes with each swap.) It also sounds like they like and enjoy their own song, which the audience like me really does pick up on. When is it an act and when is it for real.
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I really love the pop punk guitar here. Everything is produced quite well and the melody will grow in time I think.
8,9,9,8 = 8.5
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The 2016 me would eat this up!
I think it’s a nice song, and it gets me out of the bubble of what I usually listen to. But since it isn’t 2016, I really don’t see myself coming back to this. I do value the nostalgic element it has, though. Getting older and having these flashes of the groups I listened to frequently as a teen (GFRIEND like you say) thanks to this song, that’s a cute feeling.
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both listened to gfriend while we were teenagers HAHA
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Magenta’s booba streams dies for that.
Honestly, don’t understand the appeal of that group and why they got so popular. To me it sounds like every other cookie-cutter j-pop/rock song.
Also, I may kinda understand why people compare them to Gfriend in terms of overall vibe, but the music is not there. It’s just not.
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