Review

Song Review: LE SSERAFIM x ILLIT x Katseye – Iconic By Mistake

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The idea of a super group in K-pop is very exciting. Anyone remember SuperM? As far as I know, this trio of HYBE acts don’t plan to promote together past this one-off single, but the combination of LE SSERAFIM, ILLIT and Katseye has the potential to maximize a joint slay to the nth degree. However, none of these acts have released their best music recently and the title Iconic By Mistake already makes me throw up in my mouth a little.

I’m at the point where I’m going to flip a table if I must hear yet another K-pop group brag about how awesome they are — let alone three groups doing so. This subject matter has been especially prevalent in the industry’s girl groups lately, often paired with “clap backs at the haters” that are just as insufferable. True badasses don’t need to incessantly tell us how badass they are, and this constant “tell rather than show” is more obnoxious than illuminating. It’s like walking through an endless discount rack of unwanted, cheap clothes with tired neon slogans printed all over them. Making matters worse, these songs rarely have musical substance to back up the bravado. Such is the case with Iconic By Mistake.

It’s telling that, when watching the music video for this song, much of the audio is covered in explosive sound effects. It’s not easy to distinguish these sound effects from the song itself, which creates a maelstrom effect where no individual moment (including the performances) stands out. The vast majority of Iconic By Mistake is comprised of the three groups talking about how great and beautiful and fierce they are and how we’re all “haters” for… some reason? Honestly, it’s not the least bit empowering. It’s just kind of pathetic. I know (assume?) the girls didn’t compose this, so this is no judgement on their own character, but the act HYBE has forced them to play flattens them to such a degree that they might as well be reduced to one of of those stupid slogan t-shirts on that discount rack.

There’s an argument to be made that a song like this is meant to be “camp,” but as a conneissour of camp I don’t see the kind of “wink, wink” joke that would make Iconic By Mistake funny. And even if we’re supposed to have our tongues firmly in our cheeks, the music itself is not remotely fun. Artists have been clapping back at fame since the onset of fame itself, and in that pantheon of rich people complaining about their woes, this is surface-level and completely unneeded.

Hooks 5
 Production 5
 Longevity 5
 Bias 3
 RATING 4.5

Grade: F

115 thoughts on “Song Review: LE SSERAFIM x ILLIT x Katseye – Iconic By Mistake”

  1. We could combine a few bombs, Trinity, Castle Bravo, Little Boy, Fat Man, and see if they seem more radioactive than this collaboration. I think the song needed to repeat a few more times how iconic they are. Perhaps three more verses reinforcing this would solve the problem. It went right past me

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  2. And you mean to tell me that HYBE ruined NewJeans and wasted fromis’ potential for… this?

    4.5 (4, 5, 5, 4) for me. Just a piss poor attempt at hyperpop paired with your average boring “I’m so great” slop. Worse when it’s just so plodding and doesn’t even has a single “passable” moment.

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  3. No one is quicker than Nick 🤣🤣🤣

    As soon as i heard to teaser, I immediately knew that this song is going to be shhh, and I was right.

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    • YOU, Nick? Let’s talk about you. YOU ARE THE KAREN of commenting on ARTIST real HARDWORK.

      You’re not a professional musician. Not even close. You couldn’t identify those girls’ trauma message on the line, if it hit you in the face, so you called it ‘metaphor’ like the coward you are.

      You’re exactly what I mean by a hater: grading music while hiding every ounce of your own so-called ‘abilities.’ Where’s your guitar? Your voice? Your track record? Nowhere. Because you have NONE. ZERO.

      I had zero respect for you from day one. You stayed in the shadows like a middle-aged gatekeeper who refuses to adapt. Gen Z left you behind, and you’re still bitter about it.

      You don’t critique art. You project your own irrelevance and unprofessionalism. NICK, the KAREN.

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      • You couldn’t even distinguish a hater from a Kpop listener, if your logic was applied then everyone would have to like every band to exist. Of course we respect the bands crafts and what they have done for the industry but sometimes it’s not for everyone. If you were telling the truth then you would know he rated some of those groups songs pretty well.

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      • Have you never heard of music criticism? A critic’s job is to be brutally honest about whatever art form they are analyzing. You don’t have to agree with their assessment but this reaction is rather childish. What, everyone has to love this song or the many songs like it that are permeating the Kpop industry at the moment? It’s not for everyone and that’s okay. I personally didn’t like it either and find that fewer 5th gen songs appeal to me than ones from previous generations. It doesn’t mean that I think 5th gen groups are talentless, I just don’t love the often superficial lyrics, super short song length, repetitive sound, and TikTok trend leaning vibe of so much of what the Kpop industry is churning out in this generation.You’re not a hater for saying that you think a song lacks substance or dynamic range. We are all entitled to our opinions.

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      • theres a difference in opinion of what is music, what makes music good

        the same apples to English literature, if I were to just take the lyrics out and read them for what they’re worth, sure it will have it’s meaning

        however, factors like execution, production quality, hooks, etc. are factored into music. Everyone has their own tastes and their own opinions of what “music” is. You don’t need to go all out feral?

        Tbh the song kind of includes people like you ngl

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    • I guarantee Nicks grade for HYBE is going to be my grade at school. That’s not a compliment.

      HYBE has fucked up big time this year, BTS had their worst album to date, all their GG’s releasing well, not so good music, their poor handling of the Heeseung departure, they keep dungeoning TXT, and of course the Cortis comeback wasn’t good outside Red Red.

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      • I enjoyed TXT’s album, TWS remains their most consistent group, the LE SSERAFIM album is quite good too, and I actually liked the ENHYPEN album except the title track (and the shoehorned interludes), but this is definitely their worst year music-wise (and I predict it’s about to get worse). it’s sad because they used to care about the quality, but the gradual release over the years of TikTok slop after another, then after the huge success with Gnarly, they just stuck with that.

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      • I have to say that the songs that I did enjoy in Arirang (mostly Normal, Like Animals and Merry Go Round) have kept growing on me, and I do still believe that the muddled vibe of the album is very honest to how they were feeling at the time.

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  8. Ehh, I kinda like that they are clapping back at haters, I’m really sick of all the girl group hate I see all the time so this is kinda nice to me. These girls don’t deserve the hate they get so this song is their f u to haters😌

    8/10

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  9. i used my own time and free will to watch and listen to this so I guess it’s on me. It’s not the worst song I’ve ever heard but setting themselves up to even remotely claim to be iconic, on purpose or mistake.

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  12. The music video’s graphics and colors hurt my eyes, the music hurts my ears, the company behind it hurts my soul, is there anything that’s not doing damage here?

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  17. It’s throughly mid at hest (I’ve been more of a fan of the hyperpop stuff hybe has shoveled than most so a bare bones Drama lite is not my cup of tea and feels like a throwback to the side of 4th gen I really don’t care for) but honestly i do think the lyrics save it a bit. It’s creative and specific enough to not be just another generic f the haters song. A lot of those songs don’t work because it comes across as filler bars but in this song a lot of the lines really do grasp the mind of the strange weirdos on social media who end up going so far that it ends up benefiting the target by accident. It’s not subtle at all but then again people were too stupid (or pretending to be too stupid so they could get Elon bucks or didn’t want to get because the lyrics fit them whichever one works) to get the basic metaphor behind Spaghetti so you get this. And you know if any set of girls can speak to how bad social media can get it is ILLIT, LE SSERAFIM and Katseye.

    Also I came into this with very low expectations given that company collabs have always been crap as a baseline and the last one I remember was the truly incomprehensibly bad JYP collab so I guess anything better than that

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  19. I’m glad the groups were able to respond to some of the hate they’ve been getting (if they were involved in the lyrics in anyways, more power to them) but it’s hard to look past the Hybe capitalizing on that same hate, I could just hear the board meeting. MV wasn’t even fun to watch, feels uninspired. Instead of bring the groups’ style together, it just feels like they were flatten for this but I guess that was already happen to some extent.

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  21. .. it’s a fine song for the message it’s trying to accomplish and im totally sure the people they’re talking about is gonna take it well but is it a god awful song to listen to as well lmfao

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  22. Ah yes, solving the problem of your girl group idols getting cyberbullied relentlessly by parasocial creeps by creating a song with 0 substance and shoddy production which will only fuel the fires stoked against them (wrongfully by the way because its producers and management continually screwing them over these days).

    Add that HYBE recently chose to debut a 16 year old who was not ready to debut let alone with a concept being portrayed by, minus her, ALL ADULTS, yeah HYBE absolutely cares about the women they work with.

    3.5 (3,5,5,1). Just legally crush your enemies like any other big company.

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  23. I get the prevailing sentiment about this track. They have 10+ from a powerful musical entity doing essentially a katseye track. It’s not hard to see why people don’t like it

    I think the target audience (below 18) will enjoy it. It’s catchy and easy to sing a long with

    Lyrically I don’t see the issue with this being the nth song about haters, that can be said about most song topics and like most songs with similar themes it has its own way of framing it

    the only thing I truly love about this song is hearing the different groups hear the chorus, would’ve love to see how a more ambitious song showed off their individual, group, and supergroup charms. Even GOT the beat did a better job of this. I know it’s probably a one off but that makes it more agregious that they didn’t take a bigger swing. If I had to give it a number it’d be a 7

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  24. YOU, Nick? Let’s talk about you. Yes YOU NICK, the KAREN.

    You’re not a professional musician. Not even close. You couldn’t identify those girls’ trauma in the lyrics, if it hit you in the face, so you called it ‘metaphor’ like the coward you are.

    You’re exactly what I mean by a hater: grading music while hiding every ounce of your own so-called ‘abilities.’ Where’s your guitar? Your voice? Your track record? Nowhere. Because you have NONE. ZERO.

    I had zero respect for you from day one. You stayed in the shadows like a middle-aged gatekeeper who refuses to adapt. Gen Z left you behind, and you’re still bitter about it.

    Upload a VIDEO that you could COMPOSE a real good one, SING belting out while dancing. YOU HAVE ZERO CAPABILITIES. No respect with the ARTISTS.

    You don’t critique art. You project your own irrelevance.

    GRADING YOUR KNOWLEDGE and your ARTICLE: ZERO

    WORST ARTICLE EVER.

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  25. love the mv, reminds me of a 2000’s horror movie. I don’t know how intentional that is, but I like it. Green/blue screen could’ve been better , thought we would’ve mastered that technology by now

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  26. Nick, the girls may not have composed this, but I’m sure they had some say in releasing this song. My bias score for each of these groups just permanently dropped a point or two with this release.

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  27. The biggest problem with Nick’s review is not whether he liked the song or not, it’s that he completely missed the message.

    This song isn’t just noise, heavy beats, AI visuals, or shock value. It’s an expression of anger, exhaustion, pain, and the emotional toll of constant public scrutiny. The message speaks directly to today’s social media culture, where people attack artists daily while forgetting there are actual human beings on the receiving end.

    What disappointed me is that the review focused on criticizing the surface while ignoring the deeper symbolism. The tooth extraction isn’t random imagery, it represents removing something that is part of you because the pain has become unbearable. The grills symbolize putting on a strong face, showing the world you’re fine even when you’re hurting underneath.

    The aggressive production, distorted sounds, and intense visuals aren’t there by accident. They reflect frustration, trauma, and the emotional pressure that many young artists face every day. That’s the point. NICK YOU FAILED. You really do sound like a KAREN.

    Whether it’s KATSEYE, LE SSERAFIM, ILLIT, or any young artist, the song captures what it feels like to be judged, mocked, and dissected online by people who never stop to consider the human being behind the stage persona.

    You don’t have to love the song. You don’t even have to put it on your playlist. But a fair review should engage with the message the artists are trying to communicate. Reducing it to aesthetics while ignoring the emotional core feels like missing the entire purpose of the work.

    For me, this isn’t a song about rebellion. It’s a song about pain. About anger. About ONLINE Trauma. About Cyberbullying. About surviving criticism. This song is an ART of EXPRESSION. And that’s why I’d rate it a 10/10.

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  29. just listen to when they come for me by linkin park instead. its another song to clap back at haters but it doesn’t bother to “flex” and talk about stuff like iconic by mistake. It just simply a message to them telling them that the group has already moved on from the sounds of hybrid theory and meteora and they should too before it’s too late and the group moves on into another sound.

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  30. Shrugs I liked it, and I’m not a fan of any of these groups. The Bollywood influence on the prechorus of “It’s Me” saved it from dislike, but I haven’t liked anything from LSF in years or Katseye except Gnarly, and that’s my reluctant appreciation for hyperpop and “so bad it’s good.”

    This song is clearly not serious nor is it trying to be. I genuinely found it fun, self-aware, and hilarious with a lot of references I unfortunately understand and that mere fact is now making me wonder if my chronic online state has progressed to terminal.

    Would I add it to my playlists? No. Did I laugh at and enjoy the video? Absolutely. Also will I watch the stages? At least one of them, yeah, probably.

    Criticisms are fair, but I do think we shouldn’t pretend that we don’t know why these groups in particular are calling out haters.

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      • You misread what I said. I said that I think it’s fair to have critiques for the song. Which I do.

        I was, however, also referencing the “why target haters” idea about which some express bewilderment, for the same reason as you do: these groups are doing well. But we *do* know why, and it has nothing to do with popularity and everything to do with massive hate trains (popularity and hate trains are two sides of the same coin; they unfortunately can and do coexist, and the hate part can take a massive mental toll because I guarantee you people ruminate on the worst things said, not the best; it’s human nature). So no, I don’t see this as them punching down, which seems to be what you’re implying (forgive me if I’m wrong about that).

        Like I said, I’m not even a fan of these groups. Katseye’s talent is being wasted, LSF are not good vocalists and I don’t see what their identity is, Illit’s music generally bores me. I just also think that a lot of the criticism they get isn’t criticism and is hate (not on a music review site, but a lot of the talk about them gets extremely personal and extremely cruel extremely fast). LSF and Illit especially got caught in the crosshairs of a corporate war and suffered hate for it, though they did nothing wrong. So if they want a cheeky “eff you haters” song, I think they’ve earned it.

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        • I didn’t misread. You just didn’t understand the point I was making.

          You said criticism is fair, which is true. It’s always fair, and every group deals with it. But you just listed that Katseye’s talent is being wasted, LSF can’t sing, and Illit’s music is boring. Those are major musical flaws. For the agency to lump those completely valid critiques in with “hate” and drop a massive, defensive anthem to this degree is pretty ridiculous.

          Especially when these are three of the biggest groups in the industry right now. Pushing out a song to monetize internet drama while a member of ILLIT was literally away on a health hiatus is just tacky and unnecessary.

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          • Gotta disagree with you there, sorry. I’ll direct you to Dimchi’s comment below as they’re much more succinct than I am. This song isn’t about critique, and the song gives you no reason to assume those are being conflated either.

            While hate trains tend to have actual fair criticism that gets swept up in the noise (for example, some of LSF’s started with bad performances), a lot of them went off the rails really fast and had nothing to do with legit critiques. I’m not really interested in the MHJ drama, but even I saw the messages asking to stir up dirt on them. They didn’t deserve that; no one does.

            So I’m fine with this song and found it fun, timely, and cheeky. It’s not aimed at chart dominance or asking to be taken seriously imo; it’s just funny, and I enjoy being able to laugh in the midst of the hellscape that is the modern world. You don’t have to agree and this may not make you laugh, and that’s fine.

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            • Mmm Dimchi’s comments were any more ‘succinct’ and I responded to them accordingly.

              “It’s just fun” doesn’t really address what I was saying though. My problem was never with people enjoying the song. It’s that this is a label decision. Full promotional rollout, M Countdown slot, coordinated release. That’s not the groups organically clapping back at haters, that’s HYBE turning the drama into a product.

              And the timing is just uncomfortable. Moka was on a health hiatus for about 5 weeks and she’s not even in the video. Manon’s situation with Katseye is still unresolved. So you have this big “we don’t care” anthem dropping while members are dealing with real health issues and if you watch the video the three groups aren’t even together. What was the urgency here exactly?

              Also the song itself doesn’t make the distinction you’re making. “Thank you for the comments / it’s because of all your hate / I am iconic by mistake” — that’s not separating criticism from hate. That’s you doing interpretive work the song isn’t doing.

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              • ‘succinct’ literally means shorter/more to the point, so… are you just being contrarian to be contrarian? I’m not interested in that kind of fruitless debate. 

                But again, not wanting to dissect the minutiae of this: the lawsuits filed by Source and Belift are specifically about the effects on LSF and Illit’s respective careers and mental health. To my knowledge the defense isn’t arguing that didn’t happen, but who caused it, so I think the facts do indicate that it wasn’t primarily directed at Hybe. 

                Agree to disagree on the rest. For example, I could also say you’re also making a conflation the song isn’t making, and that’s your prerogative, but it’s not my interpretation. 

                It comes down to: I enjoyed it. I also enjoyed reading Nick’s opinion even if it’s not mine. You didn’t enjoy it. I don’t care that you didn’t, and I don’t know why you care that I did. 

                Timing-wise, we know what their intent was with the clapback. Whether it works or not is up to each listener to decide.

                Have a nice day.

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                • The lawsuits are legally about defamation and obstruction of business, not a standalone ‘mental health’ claim. Any talk about the girls’ mental health is just part of the damages narrative; the defense isn’t trying to prove they were never hurt, only that even if there was harm, you can’t legally pin it on Min’s statements.

                  And I’m not making a conflation — the song is. “It’s because of all your hate” is their word choice, their lyrics, not mine.

                  You are the one adding “criticism”

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                  • I just… Why are you so bothered that I found it fun? I never said anyone had to find it fun or that people who didn’t were just haters. I don’t think that. Why are you breaking your fingers raging at anyone who enjoyed it? Why can’t you just let it go?

                    Honestly… are you okay?

                    (I’m sorry but the opportunity is too good to pass up.)

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                    • I’m fine lol. You’re the one who kept escalating — you went from defending the song to citing lawsuits. I never said anyone couldn’t enjoy it. I made one point and just kept responding to whatever you brought up next. No raging. 

                      The question is are YOU okay? Your argument went all over the place.

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      • Criticism about music is fair, but the majority of HYBE girl groups’ hate did not come from their music. It came from corporate war (newjeans fallout drama) and fandom wars.

        Most haters on SNS did not even criticize their music or vocals, they either involve body shaming or Zionist jokes. If they want to diss their haters, it is the hightime to do it

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        • “but the majority of HYBE girl groups’ hate did not come from their music.”

          I don’t understand how people can make such statements without the data to back that up.

          My anecdotal evidence is that the hate is directed more towards HYBE than it is the actual groups themselves.

          Again, these are 3 of the most popular groups active right now. You guys need to touch grass and realize that the vast majority of kpop fans aren’t online participating in these fan wars.

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          • Of course most normal casual KPOP fans like us knew how that HYBE is the source of evil and did not hate the girls per se. The majority of us are not jobless and unhinged like those online trolls participating on useless fandom wars.

            However, its also true that most online hate discourse taking place these days about HYBE girl groups did not mainly talk about their music or HYBE mismanagement so I say it is nice to address those haters neatly in a song

            Just like you said they are still the most popular girl groups right now so the hate directed towards them is much more than the usual nugu girl groups. Just look at Blackpink case. The brighter the light the darker the shadow.

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            • Again, you have zero data backing your claim that all online discourse around HYBE groups is negative. So please stop acting like you can make factual claims like that UNLESS you have DATA to back it up.

              That’s just the social media algo feeding you negativity b/c that’s what algos do to keep you engaged.

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              • Yes, there is no factual data available for us as references point. However, the fact that the.label even need to disabled all their SNS comments for almost a year back in 2024 was very telling about the volume of hate that they received. I heard the comments are full of rape/death threat too, far away from only vocal criticism.

                You also misunderstand that I did not say that “all of their online discourse contained hate” of course there are support too. I only highlighted the fact that the “hate discourse” never revolved around only music or vocals, such as body shaming, zionist supporters, thief, etc.

                Just like you said maybe its algorithm fault, but the hate is nevertheless true

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          • I don’t think it matters what’s the “majority,” just what’s more vocal. Of course most people don’t just superficially hate groups for reasons that don’t matter and aren’t related to the music, but the minority who do are quite vocal and quite impactful, so it still matters a lot. That’s why I’m also inclined to agree that this song was warranted (yeah I know that this song presumably wasn’t written by the actual groups people are hating on anyway which is a fair point, but personally I don’t really care lol)

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            • The reason you think they’re more vocal is because you surround yourself by the minority and are probably pushed the negativity by the algo. The most vocal are overwhelmingly those that support them. Again…get off the internet or stop engaging with the negativity which impacts your algo.

              And I’m not saying A song isn’t warranted. Other groups do it, but they do it in a far better way. Take Aespa’s Lemonade. Similar topics but handled way better and is less tacky. And I guarantee you, they and SM have haters.

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              • What is considered better is up to each other taste in music, there is no need to force your personal opinion on others.

                I did not like aespa Lemonade as I feel it is just a recycled Whiplash nothing burger about it. I like IBM lyrics better as it addressed their hater directly with a touch their personal history. This is what a diss track should be.

                Again it is just an exchange of opinion

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                • You missed the point entirely. I wasn’t saying Lemonade is better music. I used it as an example of what an artist driven project looks like. If each of these groups addressed their haters on their own terms in their own music I wouldn’t have an issue with it. Bundling three groups together for one coordinated release is what makes it feel like a label product and not an artist statement.

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                  • I failed to see such difference, I think its okay whether they issued it collectively or separately. Coordinated moves did not diminish the message after all, it only makes it stronger in my point of view. Let’s just agree to disagree with this.

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                • And this isn’t a diss track. Diss tracks are organic. They’re not scheduled on music shows, they don’t have coordinated rollouts and they’re not a collaboration between three separate groups under the same label umbrella. This is a marketing campaign dressed up as one.

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                  • A diss track is just another type of of song with unique type of direction to me. There is no difference with the way of their release rollouts or how many artists involved. Sorry that I failed to see your point, but its okay everyone is entitled to their own believe.

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  31. I don’t think this song need to be reviewed or graded with the usual criteria from music production or replay value. This is neither a song for art nor chart that HYBE typically releases in pursue of profits.

    It is just a collaboration project in the form of a diss track where all HYBE active girl groups taking turn to shade their haters one by one.

    Yes the song production lacks creativity and I am definitely not a fan of the vocal effects much. But I kinda like the lyrics full of shade towards their haters, feels a bit cathartic. The music video is also full of easter eggs that fans will recognize upon watching.

    Music taste aside, if anyone feel offended by the lyrics or the song message, maybe you are one of those haters that they called out in the song.

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  32. Hybe has found it’s winning formula: make awesome performers carry awful songs to generate buzz.

    (just look at the comment section)

    This will go viral because the sheer star power, but god damn I don’t remember anything about the song, just who was on it.

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  36. I wouldn’t mind this as much if it were just a KATSEYE song like it’s clearly written to be, but as a company collab it just reads as a message from… yannow… the company. And I fucking hate this company, and I hate how up their own asses they are. I feel dirty for even having hit play on the video.

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  37. A project like this would have worked better last year when LSFM and Illit were getting harassed by NJs fans, and Katseye were getting shit for Gnarly. People would have actually defended this song because it would have had a relevant message.

    But now the ‘hate’ has morphed into criticism of how Hybe has been giving these girls polarising singles to promote, and how enshittified the music has become. Of course the idols aren’t bullet-proof, just a few months ago I saw Daniela being called a ‘mean girl’ online because of the comments her dad was posting; Yet the mob has moved on, the release is too late.

    I don’t expect K-pop to be authentic (no one should), but as Matchaman said above this really does feel like Hybe is using the girls for their own agenda. Which, other companies do, but responding to hate like this when you’re the company and not the idol getting hate herself, is tasteless at best, inhumane at worst. There are better ways at protecting your idols instead of putting them in line of fire again. It’s just really disgusting.

    But a comment like mine doesn’t really matter when the song will still make money and Hybe will get richer. The enshittification of music coming from acts like Katseye remains commercially justified.

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    • Relax bro, this is those toxic unhinged kpop fans we are talking about. I am sure they still won’t learn their lesson and still targetted the girls again soon. Strictly speaking there is actually no ‘better timing’ involved when they hate them 25/8 right

      If life gives you lemons, make lemonade. If kpop fans gives you hate, make it a song to profit from them.

      Its the usual kpop agenda where nothing feels authentic anymore and everything could be a product

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      • I’m not trying to be passive-aggressive when I ask this question: Do you really want to defend Hybe? Israeli invested, Scooter Braun headed, greedy company Hybe?

        I’m not trying to be on a moral grandstand, especially knowing other companies and their patterns of behaviour, but is this the hill you wanna die on?

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        • Nay, don’t mistake my comment as supporting HYBE. There was nothing in my comment where I glaze HYBE label. Even as kpop casual listeners I do not understand the mind of those companies stan. HYBE or his executives can burn to the ground for all I care and life will still go on.

          Its the same with Israel issue. I understand less and I do not care much about those zionist issue. Why should we care so much about those issue unrelated to our everyday life.

          I am a simple man, either the music catered to my taste or not. I could not careless about company issues.

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        • If you mean to say supporting the decision to release this music is the same as defending greedy HYBE zionist? company. What is the difference with those who stream HYBE groups music? Are they zionist supporter too? One of Nick’s bias is TWS, so you want to say Nick is zionist supporter too? This is a music review site so please don’t bring political or religion agenda here.

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          • You seem to be misconstruing my comment. Your ‘when life gives you lemons’ reply implies that Hybe should make money off the girls for the hate that they have received while putting them at risk for more hate and thus mental harm. I took this comment as a sign that you would rather support the policies of a company that is directly known to not have their best artists in mind, than have the company legally protect the girls instead.

            I did not imply that fans of Hybe groups are zionists, I’d be a hypocrite myself if that were the case. But it does seem defending this song with a ‘you’re the hater if you’re offend’ mentality that you previously commented feels a bit, dismissive? Conflating criticism of music with irrational hate is not the right way to go about things. People should be able to criticise what are meant to be products of art without being called a ‘hater.’ ‘It’s not that deep’ rhetoric is harmful in the long term because other companies may follow in Hybe’s path, since it’s commercially working, and instead of calling out the degraded musical output, the lack of care for their idols, people will just defend laziness because it’s ‘fun,’ but because it’s especially good.

            You can like this song, no one is stopping you. And you can correct me if you’re not trying to say ‘it’s not that deep’ here, but you have to understand why people do not like the collab. The company is using the girls for such a prideful reason. They’d be better off simply focusing on their own work, and Hybe would be better off, you know, being a strategic company. I don’t think you’ll agree with me here, and I’m fine to leave these things here.

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            • I get that you are just saying it in good faith and care for the artist. I respected that, but most of your arguments seems to hinge on label prejudices and tainted by company hate. I get you I also did not like many of HYBE policies either, including artists’ welfare and whatnot, but I drew my line at music appreciation.

              I do not agree with the view that releasing this diss track means putting them at risk for mental harm or showing lack of care. The company ‘s lack of legal protection or welfare had nothing to do with their musical direction. Their haters attitude won’t change regardless of the kind of music that they releases so making the money out of it is just.

              You misunderstand my comment about haterS feeling offended. What I mean is if you feel offended by the lyrics or the message, then you are most likely one of the haters as you are feeling its about you. We are not talking about someone who criticizes or trash talking a music normally. If you don’t like a song, either you skip the music or made your point about what you feel is lacking, not by making 100 post attacking the artists (this is what obsessed haters do)

              Its normal if you don’t like the song from musical or arts production point of view, I also agree with Nick review as it lacks musical substance. However, as I said in my comments that I feel its just a fun collabs projects for all HYBE girl groups so I did not feel the need to demand the usual strict review of song quality either.

              I understand if people did not like the collabs from lack of music quality, I won’t call someone a hater just for a difference in music taste. However, saying you like or dislikes a song project based on the company ‘mismanagement’ is just not my way of doing things. Music should just be appreciated separate from such prejudices.

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              • ‘Music should just be appreciated separate from such prejudices.’ It can’t though. We’re talking about K-pop here. The popularity of the group equates to the popularity of the music, this contexts matters. For me, bigger the group = bigger the expectations. To say that the concept doesn’t matter is wrong. I bring up Hybe in my original comment BECAUSE the concept is literally three Hybe groups coming together, who have gotten not only personal hate, but criticism about the music that Hybe chooses them to sing, about the clothes Hybe chooses them to wear.
                If you wanted to focus on the music entirely, you can, but then why reply to my comment that focuses on the context of the release, and the nature of Hybe? Though this is a music blog, I am able to comment about the state of these groups and the industry and culture it is releasing into. We’re both doing different things here.
                I’m gonna stop replying cause I feel like I wasted too much time here defending myself.

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      • To suggest that something is acceptable because it brought success seems to confuse effectiveness with subjectivity. If results are the only criterion, then any action can be defended as long as it works. In that case, do the ends justify the means? And if so, what would be the limit?

        I don’t consider myself a fan or a hater of any of these groups, nor of Hybe; at most, I’m just an enthusiast commenting on the credibility of these songs, just like everyone else here, whether they’re true fans or not.

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  38. This track is a masterclass in how to completely flop a song. I won’t be listening to this again unless I’m hate-watching it. The lyrics address hate comments, but ironically, the artist’s comment section is full of D1 glazers hyping up mediocre music (though, to be fair, they do have some good songs). This track perfectly executes how to make someone close the tab mid-song out of sheer boredom. For a song that’s supposed to be a hype anthem that makes you feel on top of the world, it does the exact opposite. Plus, there’s no actual singing or rapping here—just talking over a beat.

    Replayabillity 2/10

    Sound 1/10

    Vibe 0/10

    Delivery 2.5/10

    Structure 4/10

    Overall 2/10

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  39. I think I am the only one over here who liked the song. Also, one of the few cases where a diss track against the haters will get a pass from me because these three groups received actual hate for a long time for anything and everything if i may say.

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  40. I’m always surprised people still use the “they’re showing the haters!”.
    I imagine most people saying that are on the younger side.
    Those lyrics, like the visuals, the music, what the girls wear, and so on….were all crafted for months (at least) in production/marketing meeting by a lot of people.
    There probably is a powerpoint out there at hybe showing ” x% of audience on social media seems to particularly respond to artist individuality and protecting them, using that theme, we expect strong positive engagement” or something like that.
    i noticed Kpop fans have often this weird idea that idols aren’t mostly products with very little control on what they sing, say, do. this is why the badass, brag concept don’t resonate with me either.)

    If you want singer-songwriters, with a personnal message/emotion they want to deliver through their songs, pop music is, minus a few exceptions, not really the genre you want to listen to, especially nowadays, where most songs have 10 composers and 5 lyricists (which, imo, it’s perfectly fine, mindless fun music has its place too!)

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  43. Wow, and I thought solely Katseye tracks were the Skibidi Toilet of 5th gen kpop. I feel like they took Illit’s easily-tiring catchy TikTok music x Le Sserafim’s try-hard fun TikTok music x Katseye’s what-the-hell-am-I-listening-to TikTok music. And now I feel worn out and disgusted simply from knowing and understanding what my previous sentence means.

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    • Girl, how old are you? It’s a valid critique of how bad this song is. A message goes out the window if you can’t convey it in a listenable way, doesn’t matter what they’re talking about.

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