One benefit of a huge group configuration is that you can break into an almost unlimited number of solos and sub-units to promote while other members are on hiatus. Such is the case with Seventeen. They haven’t released a full-group track in a year but have debuted several pairs of members with varying sounds and concepts. Next up is Vernon and The 8, working under the name V8 (not the vegetable juice brand). So, what happens when a member of the hip-hop team meets a member of the performance team?
Debut single singasong embraces K-pop’s ongoing dance trend, existing on the longtail of Charli XCX’s Brat that has hit the industry like a delayed hurricane. As usual, I’m grateful to hear club-influenced energy inject some bounce back into K-pop, but songs like this feel more like sketches than fully-fleshed out works. Vernon and The 8 are reduced to yet another part of the production as their heavily processed vocals are often buried in the mix. Melodically, singasong exhausts one idea over and over, causing it to feel slight without any real peaks or valleys.
While I enjoy the video game aesthetic of the instrumental, it also feels needlesssly small and compressed. It’s as if the song was designed for tinny phone speakers as the backdrop to a meme or app. I’ve always preferred my pop music to be as widescreen as possible, so a jingle like singasong just wasn’t designed for me. I can hear its appeal and I appreciate its approach and there’s no denying how catchy its incessant hook is, but at the end of the day the song doesn’t make me feel anything.
| Hooks | 8 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 7 |
| RATING | 7.75 |
Grade: C+
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
this song is way too long for the content it includes lmao. I mean genuinely, if this was 2:30, it would almost have 0 difference. Sounds like a tiktok creator tried recreating a kesha song from back in the day with “his own twist” and claim it as indie hyperpop. The hook of the chorus is pretty catchy but thats it.
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Anyways, since you metioned Charli XCX, here’s a far better song! https://youtu.be/zPQCIRdGAJ0?si=KlWY88JlIWi5-ejv
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Didn’t like it as well. LOL.
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“Constant Repeat” by Charlie sounds boring, empty to me. It actually reminds me of songs made on BandGarage. Can’t consider it a good song.😂
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so idk if ur familiar w him but this song was actually co composed by mechatok whos done production for tons of well known alternative pop artists outside of kpop (fka twigs ecco2k etc etc) hence why it sounds way more authentic than the vast majority of kpop songs that try for this sound
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some examples of his other work:
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actually wait this is what it sounds the most like. like the v8 song could have easily been on mechatoks album
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This song was on the playlist V8 released last month as a teaser (sort of)! So it makes sense singasong sounds super similar.
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Thank you for these examples, I had not heard of Mechatok before. It feels like these guys wanted to work with him, and so they found a time and place to work with him. Not kpop per se, just an expression of their outside-kpop influences that often don’t bubble up in a big group.
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I’m glad it’s 3 minutes long but there’s like one hook so I actually would’ve been fine if it was just 2 minutes lol
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Speaking of video game music, are there any game soundtracks(either on a single track basis or larger OST work) that have ever stood out to you, Nick? Game music composition is inherently its own beast compared to more proper songs or even film and television soundtracks, but I feel like its general need to have catchy tunes without becoming repetitive when looped over and over again lends itself well to delivering iconic melodies and leitmotifs, even past the chiptune- and/or synth-heavy aesthetic the medium initially became known for.
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I haven’t been an active gamer since I was a kid/teenager, so my knowledge of modern video game music is pretty nonexistent.
However (and this is very niche!), I often credit the soundtrack of the SNES game Mega Man X as a formative influence on my music taste. They had this feature where you could go in an just listen to the songs before playing the game and I remember being obsessed by the music.
This one in particular used to be on a replay loop for me. Come to think of it, I almost hear elements of The Chaser in this! haha
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Lol that rules! I love how there’s instrumentation in this that sounds like a strong vocal melody. Definitely a strong point to the chiptune era of game music, a track like this could stay with a kid long after they’ve beaten the game cus they made up their own lyrics to sing along with it. A popular fanmade instance of this actually occurred for the Dr. Wily’s Castle music from Mega Man 2!
Stuff like that is still occurring in indie game music as well. The latest instalment in the episodic game series Deltarune has an extremely anime track with a melody that clearly lends itself to being sung, so much so that the sequence it plays over in the game actually has made up lyrics appear on screen during it, and there’s already plenty of covers of people singing it online.
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Honestly… I don’t hate it, it’s VERY repetitive, yes, but the hook is so catchy, I’ve been singing it even with just the teasers. I do also think it could’ve been much stronger, I kept waiting for a moment that really blew me away and it never arrived, unfortunately.
I’m listening to the album rn and I feel like this is probably the strongest work that came out of HYBE this year… granted, there was not much competition, but still lol
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For me I like repetitive songs only if its deep house or electropop or whatever else this might be. As these genres have looping instrumentals and a high tempo. The melodies are earworms, production sounds good with headphones, Vernon/The8 sound sleek as usual, I’m satisfied.
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Agree. K-pop fans generally listen to whatever clicks in their ears and minds. But the moment they see songs they personally dislike become popular, they start throwing tantrums. Emotional and pointless. LOL. They say preferences are subjective, but curiously, they only believe their own are valid. Funny.
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my favorite kpop song of all of last year was chest by justb so honestly im eating this up even if i agree that its a bit repetitive lol
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I quite like Mechatok (the producer they collaborated with for this) but I don’t think singasong is the strongest song on the album; I’d probably rank it around 4th out of the 8 songs.
Speaking as someone who really enjoys Vernon’s taste in music (and biases Minghao) this subunit is a dream come true LOL. Vernon and Minghao’s vocal tones really work well for these genres so I’m really happy with the album and concept overall 😌 rat race and Friend are my top picks but the entire album is incredibly cohesive and very much up my alley. I hope they can release more music with similar direction in the future…
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