I haven’t written about a solo track from Infinite’s Dongwoo since 2019, which might as well be a lifetime ago. Since then, the guys have regrouped under their own agency, toured extensively and released new music that (sadly) hasn’t done much for me. Now, it’s time for Dongwoo to showcase his own talents with a new mini album and title track Sway (Zzz).
I’m taking suggestions for a catchy name for one of this year’s biggest K-pop trends, which I’ve been calling “talking over a club beat.” That feels like a wordy way to express a songwriting approach, but boy has it been prolific over the past few months. To me, there’s a big distinction between talking and rapping, but Dongwoo has the benefit of being both a rapper and vocalist so even when he’s repeating the word “sway” over and over as this song’s chorus, he brings a natural swag to it. And pleasingly, this hook is surrounded by moments of dynamic melody that give the track a more diverse sound.
This is vital because the rapped portions of Sway follow a familiar, repetitive phrasing that holds the song back from reaching greater heights. Without the peaks of falsetto adding interest, Sway could easily suffer from predictability. As it stands, the track pulls out just enough tricks to work. I hope the official audio is more crisp, though, because the sound of the music video feels overly compressed.
| Hooks | 7 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 8 |
| RATING | 7.75 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
“Talking over a club beat” genre name suggestions:
Club Convo
Clubologuing
Budget Sonata
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Maybe:
”Un-sung Dance/Club”
”Chitty Chatty Bang Bang”
”Talk-stuffed dance/club”
or
”Coolness-hungry dancepop” (since they try to come across as aloof or “cool”)
”Coolness-chasing club”
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i think this song fits more into the “hip house” genre, but it doesnt go far enough in the rapping portion and there are more exciting songs in the genre anyway (like close your eyes’s SOB and xg’s gala)
ik azealia banks is a shitty person but she would infuse this kind of beat with her signature lyricism and fast-paced flow as seen in her 1991 ep
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the song definitely could have been given to anyone but i do like it and i think he sells it with his performance. anything dongwoo puts out will go on my playlist by default lol
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boy oh boy there is a lot going on in this song. Yanno how sometimes someone posts on social media and you don’t quite know if you should laugh cry angry face or what, so you just click the thumbs up and scroll on.
That.
Thumbs up.
… scrolls on ….
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the audio in the mv sounds weird because it’s in mono rather than stereo for some reason. not a common mistake but annoying when it happens and usually just a mv issue
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