It’s about time for K-pop to start unveiling its special winter songs. We haven’t had too many yet this year. tripleS released a track video last week and Rainbow18 stealthily dropped an unpromoted, Sweetune-produced (!) carol that even passed me by. Now, fromis_9 have taken the baton with White Memories (하얀 그리움), their soundtrack to the holiday season.
When it comes to this kind of song, my preference generally leans toward the bright and buoyant. A nice, stark piano ballad can be welcome too, but an upbeat “deck the halls” moment with just a little camp usually gets the job done. White Memories fits this brief, adding plenty of candy floss production to its sweet, poppy melodies. K-pop’s girl groups don’t often sound like this anymore, and it’s a shame that it takes a Christmas release to pull out the melody and pile on the instrumental treats.
White Memories thrives on its sense of warm nostalgia. It doesn’t do anything different than you’d expect, but that’s the charm of tradition. In fact, I’d be remiss in not mentioning that this song is actually a remake of a 2001 track by singer/actor Kim Min Jong. You can hear that in the melodies, which have a broad, singalong quality that used to be very popular in that era of K-pop.
| Hooks | 8 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 8 |
| RATING | 8 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Wait this is so good. Love the simple choreo and joyous video. And the cameo of the original singer at the end is such a nice touch.
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This is actually kinda nice. Refreshing.
I am happy that there are seasons of kpop, as in this is the month for the songs that sound like this. Spring soft songs, Summer perky songs, Autumn – Chuseok – Halloween songs, Winter – Christmas songs. That cycle make its easy for the fans to come back again and again and not just for big album releases. Little treats along the way.
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I didn’t realize it until just now after investigating, but Rainbow18 is a sub-unit of Rainbow. Considering Sweetune’s been making songs for them since 2010, doesn’t that make them the longest-running group they’ve worked with? So maybe there’s hope they’ll work with Infinite again? We can all dream…
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I am not a holidays person, but I will say the current string of holiday songs has been enjoyable! This one though, is really good. Classic pop style, I can enjoy this without being slogged with that corporate Christmas feeling, and you can always rely on fromis_9 to deliver vocally.
I also really love the cameo of the original singer, that was very sweet.
8.5 (8,8,9,9). Faithful to the original and just, good at putting a smile on your face, thank goodness this review exists to counter Formula.
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i was Lowkey expecting this to be another forgettable generic seasonal song, but this was nice. maybe it might be the bias from their amazing I’ll like you better.
8.25 (8,8,8,9)
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Entirely servicable.
Easy 8.
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I truly believe that Blue Valentine is a Christmas song deep down.
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Who is this diva⁉️👑👸
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