Review

Song Review: Yves – White Cat

Posted on by 21 Comments

There have been many pre-release tracks this week, a strategy that K-pop seems to be very fond of lately. Yves has an album scheduled for next month and gives us an early taste with White Cat today. Her previous work has delved into hyperpop influences, no doubt inspired by the huge success of Charli XCX’s Brat last year. White Cat continues this approach with an indie-electro sound.

Songs like this can be difficult for me to fully wrap my arms around. I can tell they’re trying to be cool and alternative, and that effort — from the warped vocals to the quirky instrumental — has a way of feeling less authentic than it wants to be. When it comes down to it, I’m always looking for similar qualities in a song: fantastic melodies/hooks, a sense of satisfying development and an energy that keeps me coming back for more. This can look and sound different across genres.

White Cat has certainly mastered its specific sound. It would fit in perfectly on any indie pop playlist and Yves’s cool, aloof performance works well over the production’s crunchy textures. But for me, the track feels more like something I should appreciate than something I can unabashedly love. I can tell that it’s objectively good, but I just can’t make a connection beyond that. Honestly, though, that sentiment could apply to most LOONA/post-LOONA projects for me.

Hooks 8
 Production 8
 Longevity 8
 Bias 7
 RATING 7.75

Grade: C+

21 thoughts on “Song Review: Yves – White Cat”

  1. I love this song! Solid 8.5

    the chorus is borderline Taylor Swift but the raw production really elevates the song. I find it super catchy.

    Very excited by the PinkPantheress track on her album!

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  2. i personally think all yves tracks after her predebut solo are the ‘objectively good but hard to connect’ type, until this one… it really has an super infectious charm and makes me feel super happy when i listen to it. and the use of hyperpop in this song is really refreshing among other hyper-k-pop. i’ll give it a 9 or higher. (english is not my main language so sorry if anything i write is confusing) (also it’s my first time to comment on this blog bc i love this song)

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  4. my god it seems like nick you only like a certain stylized song in kpop, doesn’t seem like your open to the influence of different genres in kpop whatsoever

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    • Saying this when I can name off the top of my head a bunch of 8+ reviews he’s given to genres ranging from bubblegum pop to electro funk to psytrance to rock to trance/trap is kind of crazy, by the way.

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        • Also, just in case you didn’t believe me, here is a song from every genre I just listed and that Nick has rated above 8:

          • bubblegum – Scientist by Twice
          • electro funk – Fake & True by Twice
          • psytrace – Side Effects by Stray Kids
          • rock – Amnesia by Woodz
          • trance/trap – Supernova by Aespa

          You don’t have to take my word for it. The proof is right here. 🙂

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          • okay so i was into kpop for over 10 years and a pattern appeared. kpop fans, lots of my friends, seemed stuck in this bubble of toxic fandom and weirdly obsessive cultures around the idols. i noticed once they started listening to kpop they only listened and were rude to any other form of music. then the racism and homophobia of the fandom and idol culture came to light and i left. i think kpop doesnt reach wider audiences because its so manufactured not authentically created

            so i left

            and this is not to say there are not a wide variety of genres in kpop, and there are definitely some good songs, but i left kpop and found a much more supportive and genuine community of music

            i still listen to old, really good kpop

            also sry i started to lash out, it just seems that many kpop fans are very unsupportive of many genres

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            • Every single fandom is a cesspit and I do not blame you for leaving. This is because it’s really just the nature of fans that entertainment industries in kpop specifically breed in order to have more obsessive people who will gladly pay hundreds on a flimsy piece of paper.

              You’re all good! I just wanted to point out that, while there are people who insist on only listening to kpop (and 2020s, basic songs at that), there are lots of us who appreciate the variety of genres in not only kpop, but music as a whole, and the owner of this blog is one of them. Have a great day!

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  6. This gets atleast a 9.25. Yves always serves for me. Excited for the album. There’s nobody like Yves; she and her music are cool and unique. I’m obsessed with every single one of her tracks, which is rare in kpop now. I’m so glad I found her (found and started stanning during Loop era)

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  7. This is my absolute favorite song this year I think. This song is just immediately catchy for me and the production is just incredible. Plus I am incredibly biased towards this sound, it feels so unreachable and reachable, so broken and perfect at the same time (idk if anyone knows what i mean). So proud of my LOONA girlies, I feel like every single one of them has grown so much as artists. ❤

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    • also i lowkey kinda expected this rating from this blog the moment nick said last year that they weren’t really the biggest charli xcx fan LOL

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  11. I really like the song. Yves has a sound! It’s clearly inspired by brat, but at least it wasn’t dropped after one release as so many trends are in kpop. That said, I get the lack of authenticity. If an actual indie did it, I think there would be more ballsy additions

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