Here’s the thing about Cortis: I really want to like their music. I think REDRED is genuinely fantastic and what I’ve seen of the members filling in for host duties on weekly music shows has been very charming. I like the idea of young creators coming in to offer something a bit different than the norm. However, I just don’t think the music has been good so far. It tends to be either mind-numbingly obnoxious or a big, boring nothingburger. I think I prefer the former to the latter (even though my ratings don’t always reflect that), but neither is a great space to be.

Blue Lips fits squarely into the “big, boring nothingburger” territory — though I’d strike the “big” from that description. It’s a short song, it’s an atmospheric song, and it’s ultimately a song that goes nowhere. If you enjoy the sounds of artists mumble-singing over muted keys meant to evoke the idea of a “serious artistic statement”, you’ll probably take a liking to this. But without any real songcraft or variety, this barely feels like a song at all. It’s an extended interlude at best, consisting of about one idea. The melodies — such as they are — are flat and repetitive and the track dissipates before it even gets going. If Big Hit didn’t insist on promoting these songs with music videos I probably wouldn’t have written about this at all. After all, there’s barely enough content in Blue Lips to cover!

Grade: F