Throughout her solo career, GFriend’s Yerin has tried on a few musical guises. Her bright vocals and undeniable presence have served her well throughout these various sounds and continue to do so on new pop/rock single Awake.
Awake exists in a lineage of similarly-constructed songs over the past year or so. It seems that everyone — especially soloists — needs to have their own angsy rock track in 2025. Like any musical trend, this results in an overstuffed market where only the very best material rises to the top. Awake is perfectly serviceable but not unique or ear-catching enough to rise above its competitors. If I were making a playlist of these songs, it would exist somewhere in the lower half. There’s nothing inherently “bad” about anything here but there’s also nothing that makes me want to hit the replay button. In fact, I forgot everything about Awake moments after it stopped playing.
| Hooks | 7 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 7 |
| Bias | 7 |
| RATING | 7.25 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
It’s a perfectly fine solo song. The vocal production is very restrained, very controlled, and over polished.
Yerin is a good singer, and she does a good job, but this just isn’t her song.
Perhaps hearing Woodz sing his song just a few minutes ago biases me here, but rock vocals need to let go. They need to know how to paint within the lines and then deliberately paint outside the lines. While I was listening to Yerin, I kept thinking how one of the Dreamcatchers would sing the shit out of the song like the rent is due. Or Younha, what would she do with this material.
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Hi Nick! Stupid question here:
Have any Legendary Songs fell in rating before?
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Not a dumb question at all. The whole idea of a “Legendary Song” is that once it’s there, it’s there for life. With that said, if I’m being honest there are probably a few 10/10’s released this decade that have gradually fallen out of that tier for me. It takes time (like… years) to be sure.
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Ahhh… Thanks for replying, Nick!
I see where you are coming from, LOL. Legendary songs are meant to be legendary so I get why you say that. If I’m not mistaken, it is possible to begrudgingly inaugurate songs into the Legendary tier and then regret it…. I hope not. HAHA 🫣
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