Review

Song Review: ALLDAY PROJECT – Famous

Posted on by 21 Comments

Mixed gender groups are notoriously difficult for K-pop. Though many have thrived overseas (especially in Japan), the formula often results in quick disbandment in Korea — at least post-90’s. Here to buck that trend are ALLDAY PROJECT, a new five-member group from Teddy’s Black Label. Digital single Famous introduces them to the world with plenty of bravado and style.

Famous feels more like a statement of intent than an exciting song on its own. As expected, it’s heavy on hip-hop — or in this case, talking. When I think of hip-hop, I imagine a heavy emphasis on flow and wordplay. That appears here and there throughout Famous, but most of the track is simply fashionable talking over a club beat. And unfortunately, that beat doesn’t modulate enough to sustain interest. I keep waiting for the song to go somewhere, whether that involves its instrumental, melody or performance. Instead, it just rumbles along repeating the same catchphrases over and over.

I know it’s become a cliche to say this, but I’m amazing how far Teddy’s ear for a hook has fallen. This is the man who co-wrote many of YG Entertainment’s biggest classics. For the debut single from an ambitious co-ed project, you’d think he’d want to give his very best to secure attention and interest. Instead, Famous feels like a fashionable lookbook or even a branding film. The song plays second fiddle to every other element. I hear great potential in these members but without a real chorus or engaging centerpiece, this comes off as a ton of style with little substance. I hope they find better material in the future, but with the current state of The Black Label’s output I’m not holding my breath.

Hooks 6
 Production 8
 Longevity 8
 Bias 7
 RATING 7.25

Grade: C

21 thoughts on “Song Review: ALLDAY PROJECT – Famous”

  1. The song’s okay, but I’m hoping for better material in the future. By the way, one of the members, Youngseo, was supposed to be debut with ILLIT but she left months before they debuted.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  3. I love the club beat and Latin pop fusion, but I wish the hooks were just as engaging. The outro seems like it was copied from some other demo and pasted here, it’s so jarring. But overall, I enjoyed it a bit, I just wish the song itself was just as interesting as its production.

    7.75 (6, 9, 8, 8) for me.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  5. I have many thoughts about this debut:

    1. My GLIT (ILLIT fandom name) heart is so SO HAPPY that Youngseo finally debuted (and nonetheless on the same day ILLIT came back)!!!! She was a standout all-star on RUNext and I was dying for the day we’d see her back on stage! Here’s hoping her and ILLIT can reunite through a dance challenge or something just like they did with izna’s Jeemin

    2. Annie Moon has endless and effortless charisma in this debut and although her *very* privileged background has many side-eying her(I also side-eyed at one point too), I believe she is a very talented idol who worked very hard to get to where she is now.

    3. I grew up watching Bailey Sok when I was 13/14 so seeing her debut as an official idol is so awesome yet so shocking. I hope she can continue her outstanding choreography ventures while being an idol

    4. The song is pretty alright, I just wish it had more bite to its bark. However the music video is incredibly cool and dare I say one of the best of the 5th gen?

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Ditto a lot of what you said. So instead of regurgitating ill just won’t with where I differ. I really enjoy the track right off the bat, like instantly. Don’t know how repeat listens will go, but I don’t even know if I want to replay with Tarzan’s styling. Kpop needs to move on from that practice

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  6. I usually have long form youtube videos playing while I work. Some of them have the autoplay ads in the middle, which are unskippable (or I have buried the window so I can’t find the skip button). This one, the first minute or so sounds like an ad, and unskippable autoplay youtube ad. The rest like the follow on ad that will replace it in a month or two.

    I don’t know why I would purposefully seek out a song like this to listen to when I hear and feel this type of sound as a regular unavoidable annoyance.

    (I know the sound track of our lives has all become ads, such as last week I heard for the first time Take On Me adapted for some new weight loss drug. That song, the first 45rpm single and album I bought from my first boy band crush and the first concert I ever went to. I am not surprised but I am not happy about it.)

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  11. This is right up my alley but mainly because my musical tastes are not anchored in pop music and I quite enjoy songs that get their point across via repetition and variation as opposed to a payoff, i.e. a chorus. That’s right, this song doesn’t have one! In fact the song structure is: 4 verses / 3 verses / 2 verses / outro. It’s effectively a vocal-forward dance track that merely masquerades itself as a pop song.

    Everything here is in service of the beat. Nick is correct that the rap parts are not focused on flow and wordplay; instead they’re focused on providing rhythm. Notice how at the beginning of some of those parts (the ones that start with “I clearly ain’t a bad kid”) the drum track falls off altogether: the vocal is the beat. Woochan’s part is more extreme: the bassline goes away too, with the beat instead being sustained by an acoustic guitar (!) plus his delivery. And even the singing parts are delivered with pinpoint precision, it honestly takes a lot of restraint and attention to detail to deliver a result like this.

    Anyway technical aspects aside, it’s hard for me to fault a song which gets my head involuntarily bopping from the beginning and keeps it that way all the way through. Even thinking about it as I’m typing this got me bopping again.

    This is honestly one of the freshest and most out-there songs I’ve listened to coming out of the K-pop industry in quite a while. My hope is that TBL formed this group precisely so its producers can use it as a vehicle for all sorts of unconventional ideas that don’t fit the strict confines of what a K-pop song should be like, but let’s see.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.