If NewJeans first popularized the subdued style of girl group pop/R&B that currently has a stranglehold on K-pop, ILLIT took that baton and added a chirpy, ‘beep beep boop’ type of chorus that has now become just as ubiquitous. Taken together, these trends have delivered a lethal blow to my own personal taste. To put it mildly, I’m not a fan of either and this causes me to begrudge hits like Magnetic just as much as I love them.
To its credit, Do The Dance (빌려온 고양이) takes a small step toward something different. Right from the start, its energetic French House beat offers a refreshed backdrop. If K-pop has been stuck in the laidback UK garage sound of 2000-2001, this song pushes us forward into… 2002? That’s not much movement, but if we must commit to retracing the steps of pop history I’ll take anything I can get at this point. And though Do The Dance shoehorns the requisite “beep beep boops” into its structure, the bulk of the song has a bit more heft.
One of my goals for K-pop songwriting is that both the instrumentals and performances hit harder. Do The Dance gets the former right, offering a robust beat accented by a fun strings sample that feels as if it was lifted from the same mood board as Britney Spears’ Toxic. However, the melodies and vocal performance remain frustratingly aloof. Apart from a Party In The USA style vocal flourish during the chorus, the hooks are largely muted and the song fizzles to an end without attempting any sort of climax or development. It’s a case of one step forward, two steps back, but if I’m grading on a curve Do The Dance‘s engaging production places it a notch above most songs in this sonic realm.
| Hooks | 8 |
| Production | 9 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 8 |
| RATING | 8.25 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
I love this one. The bouncy house beat with the strings kind of compliments the cute chirpy chorus ILLIT’s known for now. But yeah, I wish there were stronger melodies (and maybe ADD A GODDAMN BRIDGE AND THIRD CHORUS), but overall, it’s a nice effort from Cherish and Tick Tack.
8.5 (8, 9, 8, 9) for me.
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This is definitely one of those “slow grower” songs that will eventually take over my brain and “obsessions” playlist. I’m not sure how fast or long that will take but it’s so refreshing to hear a genre like French house be incorporated into kpop!
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Oh hello. I spotted you here lol!
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production is gorgeous, reminded me of ABBA. the writing is mid tho.
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Glad I wasn’t the only one that got transported to Party in the USA! The song is fine. I like the instrumentals but I don’t find it that engaging. Nice vibe but I’ll likely not listen to it much in the future.
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I am hearing Oh My Girl’s “Dun Dun Dance” with extra Abba.
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they used French touch era as a template but the final song has a quirky « After Like » vibe. Must be the combination of disco and cuteness?
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I also thought about After Like
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It sounds like it uses an interpolation of After Like which uses an interpolation of I Will Survive
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After Like – that has been a hit – is not as “demagogic” as Do the Dance. ILLIT producers really don’t dare anything.
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The best word I can use to describe this is delightful. I personally love ILLIT’s “beep-boop” hooks. They always scratch my brain in some way and I feel like they’re a nice unique signature that helps them stick out. Is this my favorite track from them ever? No (that honor still goes to Tick-Tack). But it’s a cute song and based on the choreography we see in the music video, it’s going to be a treat to see performed on music shows. I do get the complaint about it being slight and not very hard-hitting (and I agree, I’d definitely reach for a different song over this), but I definitely won’t be skipping this if it comes up on my playlist.
Also, all of the members look great with those short bobs they had at the start of the video! I hope they’ll wear those wigs onstage at some point.
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100% their best song so far, especially considering how lackluster their last comeback was.
i give it an 8.5 (8,9,8,9)
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i just wish it was longer though (adding a bridge would’ve helped a lot)
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The instrumental during the chorus drives me absolutely crazy. It’s like the record keeps skipping on the synth (dunnadunnaDUH-dunnadunnaDUH-dunnadunnaDUH-dunnadunnaDUH but not on the vocal. It’s too much repetitive noise, espacially when a lot of the vocal is light until suddenly they rip the Yea-ee-yah-ee-yah-ee-yah straight from Miley Cyrus out of nowhere. Duh-dunnadunnaDUH-dunnadunnaDUH-dunnadunnaDUH-dunnadunnaDUH. Adding to my growing stress, the insistent percussion just pounds away, slowly driving me manic.
The rest of it is okay… maybe even good… but I can’t get past that part. When the synth opens up for the post chorus and stops skipping I KNOW I should like it (I do when that same part first comes in at the beginning of the song) but I’m so ready to be done with the synth it’s a breath of fresh air when it drops for the verse.
Really disappointing because I genuinely like most of Illit’s discography, and I like a lot of what this song is trying to do but I just can’t.
7,6,6,6 = 6.75
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It’s so weird how you can listen to something with certain audio settings and then elsewhere under different conditions and it changes your perception so much. My bluetooth house speaker does this so much more justice than my headphones, because the chorus synth was no longer so isolated. That and the passage of time has improved my feelings of this song.
Updated: 8,8,8,8 = 8
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I can feel the urge of them to use those “dududada dilidala yeah yeah yeah” to copy the success the Magnetic. The unnecessary “meow” in the lyrics is also very cringe I almost dig a castle with my toe.
The instrument production is so good in this song, but it just can’t withstand the cringeness of this song – which I think is also one of their marketing strategies too, and I foresee their followed single/title is ALWAYS comes with dududadabububabaduladilada in either the chorus or post-chorus just for a challengeable dance on social media. Such a missed opportunity (for me) but I think this song would go viral on social media, as always.
Moreover, their MV make me feel… scare. Their MV just often use the most bright light sets, but the overall scene just feel so dark for me. Ever since their debut MV till now, I’m still not able to enjoy their MV because it just feel so scary. If anything that can describe my feeling the most, the “uncanny valley” theory could mostly apply on it.
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This song is just Tick Tack pt.2…
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I honestly like it and I think the rest of the EP they released is also super cute! I guess I’m just a sucker for the music they release : D
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Definitely a step in the right direction. I’ll take it! I just want to live kpop again
i was very well familiar with UK garage years before it reached kpop, so I was good on that front. But I remember looking up French house years ago and I couldn’t find any definition/ concrete examples. I always figured its anything that sounds like aelita’s beat on code lyoko. Can anyone help me out?
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The most interesting thing about the track is the production. The verses don’t have much bite tho. I do want to recommend their bside Jellyous(feels like this EP’s Tick-Tack).
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Well, I like the opening strings (and they’re in the chorus as well)
Don’t love the verse, or the melody of the chorus.
It does sound a lot like Magnetic.
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In another world (with entirely different melodies) this could be a great Lovelyz song.
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I feel like this was an upgrade from their last comeback but still falls extremely short in comparison to their first album. The b-sides from their debut could’ve honestly gone hand in hand with the title track, while this album seems super empty and almost lazy? Magnetic’s lyrics sort of matched the ditzy instrumental so it sounded coherent, but do the dances production is pretty nice making the gap between it and the lyrics/chorus so drastic. The songs quality degrades immediately. You can tell when you listen to Ive’s After Like- the instrumentals a bit similar due to the sampling but the difference between the two is huge. When I first heard do the dance the only thing I could make out was the constant onomatopoeias that made me dislike it. The thing is illit has created a solid fanbase now that likes these types of cutesy songs, so I understand why they basically produce the same thing each time. I think 5th gen overall is super lacking in actual good music so far. For me, I would rate this in the 6-7 range.
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Love the production, tho the structure is bothering me a lot, I wish they would sacrifice the 2nd post chorus instrumental for a bridge and third/final chorus, but it’s HYBE, what can I do
Score is about the same
Anyway, the EP is actually kind of spectacular, it’s surprising how consistent they have been, recency bias might play a part but this might be my favorite release from them so far, the B-sides are so good and it has many fun ideas, even if some of them still feels to short
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The instrumental is insanely good but I hate the melodies – it’s so childish compared to the lushness of this song. I expected something grand, but we got sing-talking and this lazy beep bop vibe. This feels like what IVE should’ve released recently. Illit is shifting towards girly video game music now – glad they found a niche but I find it hard to fully enjoy their music when the vocals aren’t really there to do some hard work too.
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I paid this dust when it came out but it’s actually a good song and I still listen to it after 4 months. It’s way better than magnetic imo. It has an unexpected sound, it’s fun, quirky, the concept is so good, they look really cute, the dance is great. What more can one ask from a young girl group honesty.
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