I’ve got a serious bone to pick with xikers’ management. Time and time again, they’ve got the group releasing a so-so title track when there are several banger b-sides begging to be promoted instead. Sometimes, they’ll give one of these b-sides follow-up promotion, but often they’re left solely in the hands of fans who buy or stream the entire album. I’m afraid the pattern has repeated yet again with Superpower (Peak).
While the album’s highlight medley teases more engaging dance sounds, Superpower (Peak) tempers a promising pre-chorus and decent hip-hop verses with a needlessly blustering chant at its core. I mostly like the song’s production, which borrows from the very early days of electro-flavored hip-hop. As usual, the hi-hats are too prominent for my taste, but the overall groove is fun and playful. This backdrop gives the guys plenty of space to showcase personality and at well over three minutes the arrangement makes room for a dynamic outro that lets the song breathe.
Yet, Superpower constantly yanks us back to its unoriginal, chanted chorus. I have a pretty strict limit for how much boy group chanting I can stomach in a song. This trope usually sounds grating and monotone to my ears and the hook here is no different. Just imagine how incredible Superpower could be if given a chorus as slick and melodically sticky as the group’s excellent Up All Night from this summer. I swear, it can be done! Producers just need to want to do it.
| Hooks | 7 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 7 |
| RATING | 7.5 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
I love the production, it’s very engaging and fun, and gives the guys room to play with the groove (and yay for Hyunwoo lines, boy does that man get sidelined a lot as the damn main vocalist), but then again, it’s begging for better hooks.
8 (7, 9, 8, 8) for me. Just checked the album and See You Play is an immediate standout, would love a live performance of it.
LikeLike
I listen to kpop in two forums: my earbuds at work and the car. This sounds brittle and scratchy on my earbuds, almost unlistenable.
As for the song, it meets expectations.
LikeLike
I was expecting the worst after reading this because I’m so sensitive to that kind of stuff but I didn’t find it that bad on my ears. The percussion on “Right in” is pretty harsh though. Agree that Superpower just “meets expectations.” They are currently my favorite K-pop group in terms of non-musical YouTube content, but most of their music is not for me.
Kind of off topic, but how does Evnne’s Hot Mess sound to you in your earbubs and/or car? I like the song just fine but I was shocked because it passed the “sounds good in the car” test (except the horrible referee whistle at the beginning), which is pretty rare for K-pop.
LikeLike
“Hot Mess” on the earbuds sounds ok. By earbuds, the current set is actually wired earbuds at the $20 quality level, because my computer bluetooth stopped pairing with my bluetooth earbuds, or vice versa, so I went back to wired. Also my kids don’t steal the wired earbuds.
xikers “Right In” is equally bad as “Superpower” – there are sharp sounds right in the middle that resemble dental drill.
I don’t quite have the time to try it in the car, but Its very forward in the middle and lower ranges, and the vocal is very bright, so I expect that it would punch through traffic noise pretty well.
Another example of a song that just doesn’t come across well in the car is EXO “History”, which is a really good song. But all that subtle percussion just gets lost in road noise. I can’t just turn up the volume for the subtle percussion like I would for classical music because every so many bars comes the loud thumpathumpathumpathumpa bass drum. EXO “Call Me Right” works well in the car though because it is well balanced between the vocal volume and the thump thump thump volume.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Haha, thanks for the mini-review. I’ll have to try out those two EXO songs to see if I feel the same.
It’s nice to see Nick point out things like tinny production sometimes, like this one and RIIZE’s Midnight Mirage. For me it’s a musical preference but also can irritate or hurt my ears. I’m in my 30s and switched to cheap over-the-ear wired headphones in my mid-20s because things tend to sound less sharp compared to in-ear ones.
It would be fun to categorize more K-pop songs as Dentist Drill / Annoying / Normal / Good / Great for the car, but I usually just play the same music all the time that I already know sounds good for driving.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Okay, I had only watched this once on my TV and it sounded okay, but listening on headphones, I can hear the issues. It’s funny to me because the verses are better musically but production-wise sound worse (tinny, sharp) while the chorus isn’t very good but is literally easier on my ears.
Also yes to the Up All Night shout out! It’s my favorite K-pop song of the year. The Yechan rap verse was a surprise highlight. The instrumental only track is so fun too, like the one for “Are Your Serious?” from their first Japanese single. Highly recommend those if you ever check out instrumentals.
LikeLike
I wasn’t expecting to like this as much as I did but it’s a solid banger. Is this not a super junior song? I got a kick out of the 2nd gen soundscapes coming thru. I can see why people wouldn’t like this but I prefer this any day over Breathe
LikeLike