NCT Wish’s buoyant Surf has proven to be a real grower, as summer-themed songs often are for me. The group is spoiling fans with multiple pre-releases for their upcoming mini album, with new track Baby Blue the second in line before the title track is unveiled next week.
By its very nature, Baby Blue has less purchase with me than Surf did. It has its upbeat moments, but the overall arrangement is much more fitful. The bombastic chorus pulls everything together in an off-kilter way, but it’s the obvious peak within a song that often sputters. In this day and age, it’s rare for me to find a melody genuinely unique, but the tune that powers Baby Blue‘s chorus had my brain truly working to understand what was happening. This can be a gratifying experience, but also a frustrating one. Some melodies challenge the pop form in interesting ways. Others are nebulous in a way that makes you understand why most pop songs wouldn’t use them in the first place. I fear Baby Blue‘s chorus might exist in the latter category.
Baby Blue will likely improve with age, but right now I’m finding its sound more off-putting than beguiling. The plonky verses lean into some of the worst, most chintzy instincts of previous Wish songs. The brisk pre-chorus promises more whimsy before we blast into that weird-as-heck chorus. Ultimately, I admire the song construction but the hook just isn’t all that catchy. This feels very much like an experimental album track, making me wonder why it was chosen for pre-release promotion.
| Hooks | 7 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 7 |
| RATING | 7.5 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
OMG I was thinking the same. Verse opens with a normal tune, then normal “pre-chorus”. Then it goes into something wonky which sounds like trying to hard to craft a melody which never quite settles into itself. Trying too hard. Never gets there. The production is throwing everything at it and makes it half work, but it just doesn’t fully. And then the video ends with this soft piano coda like an auto-play chill beats study cat.
I wouldn’t even know how to grade the song.
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Wow I’m really liking this – think it’s pretty solid. I hadn’t listened to surf yet but wow!! What a song 😱 It sounds as if they got the composers of the Mario Kart soundtrack to produce the song. I’m now pretty hyped for the title track
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Mario Kart is a great comparison here
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Not video game related, but I’ve also thought Surf would have made a great TWS song. I can even hear which part each member would have, but maybe that’s just my bias showing!
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i don’t know if I would listen to this song a lot, but I’m happy it exists
Like you said the melodies are just so weird…..and that works in it favor a lot. If surf was for the “wish”, I guess this is for the “nct”. Really I’m just happy mainstream groups are still releasing weird songs and would be very grateful if this trend caught on
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I actually like it. Not more than Surf, but it is like if a Red Velvet verse, a SHINee chorus, and an Infinite- inspired instrumental had a slightly underdeveloped mashup.
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Not a song being “weird” seen as a bad thing on this blog 😭😭 NCT wish holding up the weirdness when most other SM releases have have been far less adventurous. I love Videohood too… it could probably have gone through a couple more iterations for polish but works for me on the whole.
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