NCT Wish released a late-summer highlight in the form of their buoyant Surf and promptly followed it with a second pre-release (the much more confounding Baby Blue). With the theme of color driving their new album, you’d expect the music to be as vibrant as possible. Title track Color is certainly stuffed with sound, rarely giving you a chance to breathe.

With SM Entertainment mainstays Kenzie and Andrew Choi in tow, Color melds classic SM style with NCT’s eclectic touch. It’s a bounding assembly of loud centerpieces, smashed together and delivered with the towering vocal blend we’ve come to expect from this agency. In a K-pop world that’s too often subdued and laidback, I have to admire Color‘s sheer verve. This is definitely not easy-listening music! There’s not a moment when we’re not hit with a thick stab of synth or loud chant-sung hook.

All this energy is enough to knock you off balance at first, but I tend to strip it all away and focus on the melodies. Melody will always be the driving factor for me and the element that gives a song timeless appeal. Color has its moments, but once again I’m left longing for stronger hooks. The verses and pre-chorus are largely forgettable, composed of strung-together fragments of sing-talk. The chorus is stronger, but still feels more like a b-side than enduring title track. Color‘s most memorable moment comes in the form of its post-chorus chant, but I suspect this is simply because it’s designed as a stadium sing-along, easy enough to learn and repeat on first listen. Overall, Color‘s boisterous arrangement is the real star and covers up some of the flaws within the song itself.

Grade: B-