Given K-pop’s less-than-stellar track record over the past few months, I’ve been putting all my eggs in a basket called TWS. That’s way too much pressure to put on one release, but the group has earned the anticipation. Since their debut in 2024, their run has been absolutely impeccable, maintaining a bright, melodic color while slowly branching out to new sounds. You, You (널 따라가) takes them further into the dancefloor than ever before, tying their sweet pop melodies to an ebullient house groove.
Before I go on to praise many elements of this track, I must reiterate how detrimental short, incomplete song structure has been to K-pop. Over the past few years, I’ve taken to editing my own extended mixes of songs I love, including TWS’s own Countdown! last spring. It’s so frustrating to hear a fantastic piece of music that isn’t allowed to realize its full potential. I badly want to rate You, You even higher, but without a bridge and final chorus there’s a limit to how “perfect” it can sound.
And minus that structural issue, You, You is pretty perfect. Its dance beat has plenty of presence, chugging forward with addictive electro textures and sprinkles of dynamic synth. The tempo is set high throughout and the track is a slick assembly line of hooks. The chorus alone boasts three distinct centerpieces, culminating in an addictive (and soon to go viral?) “Dda-rum dda-rum” singalong climax. The members bring it all to life with their distinct tones and natural exuberance. It’s so irritating, then, that the song simply ends without any additional fanfare. No bridge, no vocal flourish, no additional melodic coda. They could have tied this up in less than fifteen seconds. You can’t convince me that another fifteen seconds would negate a song’s streaming potential, but it would go so far toward completing an otherwise amazing pop song.
Oh, well. I’ll get used to it eventually and probably bump up the rating later. Either that or my burgeoning production skills will get another workout as I find some way to extend the track…
| Hooks | 9 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 9 |
| Bias | 10 |
| RATING | 9 |
Grade: A-
It’s cute but I don’t see myself checking the song out much often. But who knows, it might grow on me.
8.5 (8, 8, 9, 9) for me
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rightt the song is perfect but then it just cuts off at the end 😭 even countdown had an outro and it’s shorter. i’ll give it 9.25 now after listening to it on repeat, it’s really addictive
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They’ve done it again! Real happy with this song, great energy that doesn’t let up throughout. It definitely felt like the track ends right out from under itself while it still had full momentum, though.
Can’t wait for your in-depth review of the mini-album (or at least a buried treasure post) – ‘Why You So Bad?’ is the easy highlight for me, would love to see discussion for it in a dedicated post.
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Yes, I’ll do a full album review this week as usual 🙂
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Is this truly your first 9 rated Kpop song for this year?
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Sadly, yes!
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Well for me it’s a happy note. TWS never disappoint.
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Took long enough…
Tragically we also have like less than 10 8.5s and less than 5 8.75s.
Also Nick, what does your top 10 songs look like so far(probably not good)
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I don’t know that I have a top ten yet, but most would be from this month.
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let me try to guess:
You, You
Mmchk
Eye-Poppin
Catch Catch
Twenty
Voyager
Glow
Blackhole
Dead Man Walking
404 New Era
Something along those lines
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I’m confused why they didn’t call it “You Remind Me”!
This is my least favorite of the shortening methods – verse, chorus, verse chorus. If anything, this crazy mandate for truncated songs has birthed some unique structures (Key’s Hunter with its super short second verse, or even UNCHILD with a bridge into an big instrumental outro). But with TWS here I feel teased. Still, a great song while it lasts.
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basically “You, You remind me” lol
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Ill be honest, tws recent output all kinda blends in together so I was really banking on this comeback for me to become a Stan again because the group is so damn adorable! (I only really like last festival, s&n and overthinking) so thank the music lord that they are broadening their musical horizon because I was popping pussy at 5:00 in the morning on 4 hours of sleep right before school😍
9.25/10❤️
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My rating would be 8.75, it would be a 9 for me if there was a bridge and final chorus so it would feel like a complete song, but it’s still a bop for me.
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I haven’t gone to love love Countdown/Overdrive as much as you do, and I can’t really say anything different here, it’s another great song by them but I can’t say it’s Plot Twist/heyhey level amazing. It’s an 8.75(9,8,9,9) for now, but it might rise to a 9+ like Eye-Poppin’(Probably my SOTY as of now).
Also I hope Cravity’s cb on Wednesday delivers like its last two title tracks, but given how the year has been going, I shouldn’t be too optimistic. I will say April clears the first 3 months so far so hopefully the momentum continues to build.
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Like a breath of cool fresh air on a hot summer day.
That said, more than a few sections of this song remind me of ONF’s “Complete” with a better dance beat underlayed and removing the horn sample. Swap out the word remind for complete in the line “You ____ me”.
I am not unhappy, just saying that if I played one after another while driving down the road, I would forget when one ended and the other began.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82n12o_AOeU
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I like it, an 8.75 from me. Somehow it reminds me of Driver by SF9
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great production overall but the lack of conclusion kills it for me. and this is my least favorite chorus among their title tracks so far, it’s not hitting for me yet. the post-chorus is the real star of the song
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This is a 10/10 song if it had a hey, hey! outro or finale, and fck PLEDIS seriously andd HYBE for this matter. Anyway I agree with the score, this is a solid release from one of the most consistent acts with a consistent musical direction in South Korea. Definitely one of this year’s best and I honestly feel so annoyed by the short length of it, nonetheless this is how you make a dance pop song.
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Seeing all Hybe release these past two months flopped (musically) so far, I got to thank TWS. They’re really the exception.
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The perfect evolution to their sound after I was devastated overthinking wasn’t promoted from their last comeback and a great song minus the no bridge 😭 but yeah I’ll get over it
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Happy for you bro!
I like it alright. Not really sold on these “la dee da” and “doo do do” hooks, never have been, but besides that it’s well composed, and this kind of funk works for me. Didn’t notice the length issue at all. 8/10
The mini is super solid as well 👍🏻
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Okay, I already added an outro to my personal mix. I wish I could add a bridge as well, but what can you do?
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While you’re at it, you might as well add another fifteen seconds or so onto Golcha’s Feel Me bc the abrupt ending of that one has always bothered me 😭
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“This TWS comeback is EVERYTHING. They really did it again 😭 The whole mini album is so good, I can’t even pick a bad song. But okay… Get It Now is my favorite!”
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I love the synths throughout that I can only describe as “Ninja Turtle synths” as I remember the sound so nostalgically from 80s cartoon themes and arcade games.
I think everything works: the instrumental immediately hits, vocals are great, hooks are solid. Regrettably, the lack of sections outside of verse/chorus really cement my biggest problem with it, which is just that it all chugs along sounding too same-y the whole time. Luckily, it’s an exciting vein that maintains energy.
Rating is about 9,8,8,8 = 8.25
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if ur gonna do the whole verse chorus verse chorus structure, at least put a cool as hell dance break before the final chorus to break it up a bit!
anyway although i enjoyed it, it kinda makes me wanna fire up ableton and create my own dance break using my good pal serum 2
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Do it and get back to me 🙂
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the first 9 rated song in 2026…not surprising it’s from TWS since that’s Nick’s favorite group of recent times
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Sadly, this isn’t close to their best work for me. It’s a welcome burst of energy this year, and as usual they perform the heck out of this song, but I’m not as gripped by the melody as I typically am. The lack of a bridge reallyyyy hampers this song. It’s very well-executed overall, but it’s missing that additional charm that some of their earlier songs had for me 😦
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I wish I could share your enthusiasm, but this song is good, cute, very listenable but it lacks something. Actually, at first listen the first thing that came to my mind was that it sounded like a NewJeans song🤷🏻♀️. The length is certainly a problem. As it is I’d rate it no higher than an 8
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