When it comes to HYBE groups, aoen have had a curiously subdued rollout. You never hear much about them and they’ve pretty much stuck to their homebase of Japan rather than attempt to intermix with the K-pop industry. So far, they’ve released a few decent songs but haven’t established anything close to their own sound. New single Instant Crush also feels quite generic, but it’s a decent repainting of Japan’s current rock-forward trends.
Of all aoen’s singles so far, Instant Crush would most convincingly pass for a track from some cool indie band. Its shuffling percussion feels very on-trend — overly intricate and fussy. I much prefer the more straightforward parts of its instrumental and wonder what the song could sound like if its plucked guitar was an electric riff and its skittering percussion transformed into pounding drums. A needless second verse breakdown stalls momentum (I seriously can’t believe songs are still doing this in 2026) and the chorus opts for sing-song catchiness instead of anthemic heft. This all adds up to a track that’s enjoyable but repetitive. What it really needed to be, though, is a convincing exercise in branding. I’m still not sure what an aoen song is meant to sound like.
| Hooks | 8 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 8 |
| RATING | 8 |
Grade: B-
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Well Hey, at least they get a bonus point from me for the key change. … the verses and chorus being in different keys. Add one to that list, along with Red Velvet “Ice Cream Cake” and KARA “Lupin”
The chorus is great, the break is fine, most verses are mid, the 2nd verse is horrible. The songwriters should have paired the chorus with almost anything else to make a better song.
With the bonus point, yeah, a flat 8 is still about right.
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This group has been on repeat for me lately (which is like all of 6 songs, not counting the remixes and the one from Oen-High). I’m glad that they chose to do something different from the sunny-but-generic sound of Blue Sun and Seishun Incredibles but the chorus kind of falls flat for me. I’ve come to really like Blue Flame and MXMM so I’m hoping there will be a similar b-side. There is something about this group (especially in the choreo for their brighter songs) that makes me think of an alternative TWS.
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I like it! Love the chorus (even though it is repeated a lot, and maybe this will affect longevity) and what I think is a bridge? Obviously the second verse is a bit sketchy, but that’s Kpop most of the time. It doesn’t bother me that much. I’ll say 8.25 for now
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