Review

Song Review: Katseye – Gabriela

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Here’s a little secret about the ratings on this blog, and it may seem counterintuitive. I rarely venture below a “6” on my overall scale, but any song that hits below this mark has a special place in my heart. In fact, I tend to “like” them more than many of the songs rated in the 7’s. I may not ever want to listen to them again, but at least they made me feel something. Such is the case with Katseye’s now-viral hit Gnarly. I still think that song reaches for a quirkiness it doesn’t fully attain and feels overly manufactured to create virality, but it’s certainly not boring. I have to appreciate the sheer nerve even if I don’t love the actual song.

So, in a funny twist Katseye’s new single Gabriela will earn a higher rating even though I find it dull in comparison to its predecessor. For this song, the group scored a Charli XCX co-write, which makes sense since Gnarly bent over backwards to replicate a certain Brat energy. However, the quirkiest thing about Gabriela is its soap operatic video. On its own, I don’t see the song turning many heads. The girls have added a Latin twist to their sound, married to a moody mid-tempo groove that never develops into anything more. It’s all a bit ‘Camila Cabello circa 2018,’ which I can’t say is a pop style I miss.

Mainstream pop music has slowed to such an inert tempo over the past decade and Gabriela fits right in with that trend. I’m sure I sound like a broken record, but the song could do with a major kick in the butt. Imagine if its energy matched the madcap mugging in the music video. The thought of a new global girl group like Katseye is so exciting. I wish their music would capture that excitement in a way that feels unique to them. Gabriela simply trudges along, performed nicely but cycling around the same repetitive hooks without the payoff I crave. In the grand scheme of things, Gnarly can still wear its “4.25” rating like a badge of honor because a “7.5” is far more common and way more forgettable.

Hooks 8
 Production 7
 Longevity 8
 Bias 7
 RATING 7.5

Grade: C

16 thoughts on “Song Review: Katseye – Gabriela”

  1. I’m ngl, I occasionally go through the below-6 rated songs of this blog and listen to them like a weird sort of guilty pleasure. Maybe it’s cause I’m a masochist and I have way too much self-hatred for myself, or maybe it’s just the sheer audacity of those songs that makes it so… unapologetically bad that I can’t turn my head away from them (though for purposely bad songs like KiiiKiii’s Debut Song… that’s another story, even if I may occasionally give it a listen). But yeah, it’s most likely the latter, and Gnarly being such a trainwreck makes me love it even if it’s in high-4s for me (also, didn’t Gnarly rise to 5 for you? Or did it again fell to 4.25?)

    But for Gabriela, it just blends in way too well with 2018’s latin trend, and if it was released at that time, it would get lost in the slew of the latin pop songs hogging up the industry. Even then, this song is too plain, and doesn’t develop into anything more. I’d prolly enjoy Gnarly more for being a hot mess if I am being honest.

    Rating’s the same.

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  3. it was an Anitta & Rita Ora demo, idk which artist got it first though. I feel like they gave the song away because it sounded outdated lol. I do like it, the music video is pure camp (and not in the way stans call everything terrible these days as camp)

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  5. I cannot un-hear the Camila Cabello comparison. I grew up listening to Latin music, and I’ve always found these ‘mainstream’ songs in the genre lack some serious character and bite. I would rate it a 7, because I’m so tired of listening to the same watered down music.

    On a different note, Nick, I wanted to share a song from the artist Lexie Liu. It has some of that 80s synth work that you seem fond of.

    And talking about quirky, what about a song that uses pi as a hook?

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  6. After selling the absolute shit out of Gnarly, the girls then at least put up a fun MV for this forgettable piece. If anything, I’m confident these ladies will put up quality performances on anything they are given. Seriously though, I won’t listen to Gnarly much, but I’ll watch their performance of it sometimes.

    Anyways, this song is 7,7,7,7=7

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  7. I live in a cave so I listened to Gnarly once or twice and moved on. Looking back there are 115 (!) comments on that song on this blog. To quote another one, “Sheesh”

    As for this one here, yep it sounds like a late 2010’s Latin pop leftover. iirc “Havana” stayed forever on the kpop Gaon charts, a couple of years, so I am not surprised that a company might think an late 2010’s leftover with some pedigree would be good.

    As for guilty pleasures, it isn’t so much the clear losers that I return to. It is usually some mid 7’s rating that I just should not like but somehow has wormed its way into my consciousness. This season, that song is “Duh!” by P1Harmony. I know, Duh, its such a dumb refrain, duh. Stupid song, she mutters under her breath. I will never admit how many times I have played in on my ipod, but is not small.

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  8. First off: The most fun I’ve had watching a music video in a long time.

    Second, I think it’s going to hit the same spot Gnarly did for me. I didn’t like Gnarly at first, but I found myself enjoying after seeing how captivating the girls were while performing, and how fun the choreography was. And then a couple of fun remixes sealed the deal and I’m kind of obsessed with it now. I think Gabriela is going to hit the same place for me, especially with Dani’s Spanish bridge and how gorgeous the choreography looks. These girls are such amazing performers that I think they can sell any song.

    (Side note: Whoever Katseye’s stylists are, they aren’t being paid enough. They knock it out of the park every time and this video was no exception. Sofia’s dress in the second verse made my jaw drop!)

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