As Seventeen enters their inevitable military enlistment era, focus has shifted from group work to solos and sub-units. Next on the docket are S.Coups and Mingyu, joining forces alongside American singer/rapper Lay Bankz for a party track that heavily samples Roy Orbison’s iconic 1964 hit Pretty Woman. Wow… that’s a lot going on in one song!
Pop music cycles through periods where samples and interpolations drive the narrative. I don’t tend to mind this as much as some listeners do, as long as the sample is incorporated well and not just a cut-and-paste job. However, I’ve never been a big fan of the original Pretty Woman so that immediately colors my thoughts on 5, 4, 3 (Pretty Woman). This version is essentially a riff on the original, utilizing most of its core elements without adding anything notable enough to transcend the familiarity.
Much of the song is given over to Lay Bankz’s rap, which is enjoyable but needlessly pulls S.Coups and Mingyu out of the equation. Their performance is much more reserved, making it so that they almost get lost in their own song. The rest of 5, 4, 3 bops along with enough energy to sustain interest, but without any notable peaks it begins to feel like one idea repeated over and over. And at its worst, this approach veers dangerously close to “commercial jingle” territory.
| Hooks | 7 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 8 |
| RATING | 7.75 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
thank you for putting into words what I couldn’t articulate, it is very commercial jingle. and I was never a fan of the original song.
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There was also some version on heavy rotation on MTV back when MTV actually was Music Television.
This one, both the main song and the extremely lengthy instrumental over the credits is fine. I don’t mind the original, it is part of the fabric of historical song.
The cover here leans on it heavily without adding to it much, which is why to many of us here it sounds like a cover used for an ad. A quick google says it has been used to advertise Cadillacs, Walgreens, Lee Jeans, perhaps others, and it has been sampled by a few bands every decade since the original release. So it is hardly an original or surprising use here.
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When I realised during the teasers their title track would be a very direct sample of Pretty Woman, I instantly checked out. Maybe it’s unfair, but their reinvention of the song doesn’t match the calibre of artist that they are. They’re SEVENTEEN, the biggest male group of the moment with everything at their disposal to make a killer, original track. It really feels like a missed opportunity to reintroduce themselves to the world within this duo.
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