Starship Entertainment’s new boy group AEN debuts as a hybrid K-pop/J-pop group, releasing versions of each song on their album in both languages. As someone who prefers having a “definitive version” of a song, I’m not usually a fan of tracks recorded in multiple languages, but I understand the commercial strategy behind it. At any rate, the version of title track X To Z (Next To Me) being promoted today is the Japanese one.

AEN pre-released a few songs prior to this one. Both were solid, if quite generic, boy group fare. It’s not easy to debut with a unique concept in today’s overstuffed market, but it’s still an essential part of a group’s brand. X To Z (Next To Me) is a solid song, but tells me nothing about AEN or their music. This could have been performed by any of their peers in the exact same way. Even the nondescript music video feels like a hundred other boy group videos we’ve seen over the years.

Since X To Z is so generic, the actual song has to be amazing to stand out. That’s a high bar, and though the performance is solid and the structure well fleshed-out, the track is a little hookless and flat for me. It just feels written by committee rather than composed with a specific vision in mind. Like too many K-pop songs this year, it’s not much more than product. AEN seem talented, so I’ll wait to see if they come up with something more memorable in the future.

Grade: C