There are a number of acts who have debuted in the past few decades and have dozens of song ratings on this blog. I thought it would be fun to lay these ratings out in chronological order, line-graph style, and take a macro view of their careers so far. Then, similar to my “Underrated K-pop” features, I can average their ratings into one mega-score and place them in a pantheon alongside other acts.
As always, this feature has some rules of its own. I’m including any “Song Review” ratings as part of this graph, including Japanese releases and collaborations with one other artist. I’m not including Buried Treasures or solo/sub-unit releases. For the ratings themselves, I’m using the most current number on this blog, so if a song was part of a “Risers and Fallers” or “Legendary Songs Inauguration” post, that’s the rating you’ll see displayed here. That means there will still be a few ratings here and there I find slightly inaccurate, but it’ll mostly reflect my up-to-date feelings.
Finally, these scores are completely subjective. Feel free to agree, disagree and argue (that’s part of the fun!), but know that this chart reflects the opinion of only one person (me).
Check out TWS’s placement on the ULTIMATE ARTIST RANKING page!
TWS: A Career In Song Ratings
The Breakdown
Highest Rated Songs
Plot Twist, hey! hey!, Overdrive
Lowest Rated Songs
BFF, Double Take, Head Shoulder Knees Toes, Here For You
Imperial Phases
Oh Mymy:7s -> Soda Soda (2024-2026)
Slump Phases
None
Rating Average: 9.19
Overall Trendline:
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Oof, I knew you were gonna do them when you mentioned in the Rescene analysis that your next entry would be polarizing somehow. So I prepared my (very long) response in advance lol. But anyways.
I think for cases like TWS and The Wind who could comfortably sit in the Legends category within the first 2-3 years of their career should have their analysis put off till around their 5th year (so 2028 for TWS). Because they’re still young and who knows if they could witness a bad slump later on (The Wind already released a song that’s subpar compared to their other songs). Take EXO and Seventeen for example. If they were to be analysed by just their 2012-2016 and 2015-2019 run respectively, they would easily end up in Legends. But alas, after those years, they both released mid-to-decent songs, but not up to par with their earlier material and ended up in their respective categories. Or I could use a recent example: Riize. Their debut till Bag Bad Back could easily land them in Legends too, but they again released a couple of songs that lowered their average.
So yeah, I do think that for groups like them, they should be shelved for a while cause we’ll never know what could happen, at least till 2028-29.
With that being said, I’m not that enamoured by their discography like you are. But hey! hey! is definitely a 10 for me, Last Festival a 9.75, considering giving it a 10 and Plot Twist and You, You a 9. I’d give the rest in the 8s, while Head Shoulders Knees and Toes is an 7.25. They’d prolly end up in the bottom of the Favourites for me, or high up on the Heavy-Hitters.
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Here are my rules for this feature, which might help clarify things:
1. Right now, an act must have been active for a minimum of two years to earn their initial placement in the ranking. Anyone debuting in the first half of 2024 and earlier is eligible.
2. This is an initial placement. And since I update graphs each time new material is released, rankings will change — perhaps drastically. And like you said, groups tend to be in their “imperial phases” the first couple of years in their career when they’re still trying to build a fan base, so I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see a group like TWS drop as the years go on. IMO, it’s much more impressive (and rare) for a group to manage a spot in the 9+ tier after dozens of releases and years behind them.
The reason I opted to do a mix of older and newer groups is that I think it’s fun to watch them move up and down the ranking as their fortunes change!
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Yeah, I’m aware of the eligibility and I agree that it’s fun to see how newer groups compete with older groups, I am just saying that for rookie groups who are bound to be on the extreme ends of the diamond with just 2 years of material alone, I think it’d be wiser to wait for a while cause we’ll never know if they could fall from their imperial phase or rise from their missteps, especially since you once mentioned that you were on the fence with doing The Wind since besides the fact that they have limited material compared to TWS, it also felt early to put them in the same category as SHINee or Infinite or even Golcha and Lovelyz. If they were say, somewhere in the middle, then I don’t think it’d be an issue cause by then we’d know they would mostly release passable songs with maybe a couple missteps or/and a couple bangers, so they’re somewhat reliable and they won’t have a chance of falling dramatically. And also cause I think it’s lowkey strange to put a barely 2.5 year old act like TWS in the same category as veterans who pose a stronger, more solid legacy of singles run (and even then, those groups had a misstep or two). Kind of like giving a straight-A student from elementary school a Nobel Prize like scholars who have acheived greater things academically without assessing if the elementary schooler would be good in the long run or have a decline (although judging by the comments section pointing out this issue, I don’t think they’d have a issue with it)
Maybe I just think of Legends as a very prestigious category that needs to be carefully considered lol.
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you’re so good at predicting??? I was waiting for the post to drop due to that thread, not having an idea of who could it be (or me just tired) but somehow you got powers lols
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I find it funny (neutrally) that TWS have more ‘lowest rated songs’ than ‘highest rating songs’, but those scores being 8.5 & 10 respectively.
My personal relationship with this group’s music is a) Plot Twist is a classic b) and so is Countdown c) the only album I’ve listened to (of course, urged by this site) was Sparkling Blue & I enjoyed it. something something may need to listen more 😆
I’d ask how long it will be until AHOF, but I just read yesterday’s comment thread, hahaha. So that will turn into how long will it be until NCT Wish? They’re my personal 5th gen bias. (Perhaps Soda Soda may be my next TWS entry point as folks said it sounds like Surf, and that’s top 5 2025 Wish songs for me)
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Yeah, Soda is very Surf-coded.
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Oh, and NCT Wish should be coming up in the next few weeks, I imagine 🙂
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Now that we’re talking about upcoming ratings, is U-KISS coming soon? I’ve been getting into their discography and would love to see your singles ratings!
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U-KISS is coming for sure! Not sure exactly when, since I try to space out those artists with huge discographies (mostly because it’s a lot of work to rate them all haha)
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I can’t say I’ve been too amazed by their material as you are. Plot Twist and Hey!Hey! are 10s, If I’m S can you be my N is a distant 3rd with a 9.25. But everything else doesn’t exceed a 9. I’m not enamoured by most of their post-debut year material
As much as I think they’re consistent, one issue is they lack a good bridge in most of their songs. Countdown is a good example of this. I really love the chorus but the way it ends is NOT the right execution. I also despise that second verse in Overdrive, which really sells what would otherwise be a great song.
I would much prefer majority ONF’s or Golden Child’s tracks to most of TWS. I think DDara or We Must Love in particular are honestly better than some of TWS’ recent releases
(Hopefully I didn’t offend you, I’m just sharing my opinion)
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Oh I’ve been waiting for this!! Fully on the TWS train as you are so it’s a legends level discography for me too 🙂↕️ I hadn’t really thought too hard before what my ratings would be but I think my placements would be very slightly different. Still never quite got on board with HSKT as you have so at most it’d be an 8, and my 10s would include Last Festival while Countdown and You, You’s structures unfortunately hold them back for me from being better than a 9. And I know it’s not a single by your standards (no MV) but honestly Dream With Us is approaching a 10 for me! I know that you prefer TWS’s more exuberant, explosive side, but I’m also absolutely obsessed with their slightly more mellow dance sound, so LTBL and All The Possibilities (and overthinking haha) all get at least a 9.5 from me 🙂
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it’s fascinating how their lowest-rated songs are an 8.5. i agree with the ratings, though i’d bump up bff and hajimemashite by a 0.25.
i can trust their a&r team to find good songs that fit them, but i’m dying to know which direction they’ll take their music in. bc “you, you” flopped and received negative feedback from kr fans, then “soda soda” received sm positive feedback 😭 i’m thinking they won’t let go of the house sound just yet, they’ll make it a bit brighter and over 3 minutes now or at least have a bridge and third verse. call it a dream, but let’s hope for the best 😓 maybe they’ll even pull a wild card and use “hey! hey!” again as their template, but for winter, think &team’s “yukiakari”
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This is the comment thread in which I have to go back and re-listen to the ones Nick ranks so high, because I can’t remember them … … oh right, making a career mimicking the best of the 3rd gen, Seventeen, GFriend and such at other times.
I am just not as taken with this group. The bias part of the score is doing a lot of heavy lifting imho. I have “If I am N are you my S” on my list, and that is about it. (Or is it S – N?)
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you can’t trust him, bro, he didn’t give Weki Meki’s Crush a 9.25… can you really trust someone like that? (I’m kidding, of course lol… don’t take this too seriously, it’s all subjective)
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It’s S/N yes! Probably my favorite single of theirs 🙂
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Love these guys as they are right now, but dreading the eventual move away from their signature upbeat sound as they ‘mature’, as so many boy groups do.
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LOL one of my least favorite things to hear bg members say is that they need to start making more mature music 😂 maturing doesn’t have to look like making moody, dark music!
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Oh man I really don’t want TWS to go AWOL from their signature sound yet, but I bet it will be funny to see Nick going into meltdown when his bias fall to the dark side of boygroups soundscape LOL. However, Nick previous bias like Infinite & Golden Child managed to stay grounded until disbandment so only time will tell
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Haha I’m glad you’re ready to laugh at my villain origin story!
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Seriously, though, I don’t really see them falling into the same “going dark” tropes that most of their ilk do. Obviously, they’re not going to be release Plot Twist pt.15 in three years, nor would I want them to, but there’s just something about their specific tones and this indelible sense of joy/showmanship onstage that never feels pretentious or posturing even when they’re doing “darker” material.
Plus, it seems that both they and their management are very aware that they need to be careful with any transition toward more “mature” fare. They’ve talked about it publicly before, which makes me think drastic musical shifts are unlikely. A more gradual maturation feels like what will happen instead. I just hope the music remains top notch. That’s what I’m more worried about rather than a shift in sound – especially since HYBE has been so hit or miss recently.
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What a good news, not exactly a guarantee as we will never know what’s going on with HYBE behind closed doors, but it is encouraging nevertheless. I admit that I had prejudices against boygroups in the past mainly because NCT & SKZ (the poster boys of noise music) had been the face of KPOP boygroups after Big Bang & BTS peak era so I mainly listened to JPOP and girl groups before. This site opened my eyes that not all hope had been lost LOL. Keep up the good work 👍
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One of my nightmare too… I wish they could figure out a way to fuse their bright concept into the maturing stage too.
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Whoever did the scouting did a fantastic job of finding 6 guys with the perfect complementary vocals for a bright kpop boy group. They sound refreshing and youthful but never prepubescent.
Also despite shouting head shoulders knees and toes and look at the pa-pa-palm tree at me, Youngjae has such a underrated smooth quality to his voice that make these more hip hop oriented songs more pleasant than expected.
I can’t choose a favorite track but I do think Overdrive is quintessentially TWS.
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A tangent but this Palm Tree song has been terrorizing my entire week. I can’t get it out of my head and I’m constantly going into a small existential crisis over the meaning of palm trees….
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PALM TREE SUPREMACY like the song is just too fun and its meaning could lowk be similar to that of “2 baddies” where its like friends saying dumb stuff to each other but one of the songs itself is way more fun
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If u like all those Persona 4 Osts u definitely will like this song like i did! The music sounds so much like Persona Osts! and I LOVED IT.
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5th gen boy group average being almost as high as infinite is fucking insane
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I just checked the ranking and TWS is number 2 at this point? Out of all Kpop group? Behind only to the ever consistent Infinite? Now i’m anxious.
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they’re the children of Golden Child, who in turn is the child of Seventeen, who in turn is… Astro’s brother lol
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I had a hunch that you were going to do TWS next because yesterday you said the next one was “eye-raising” so I was thinking it was going to be a really good score or a bad one. Turns out it is a really good one. I mean even as someone who doesn’t stan TWS, I think their songs are cute and refreshing. I just hope that they keep their Legend status and make a mark like Infinite but only time will tell since most of bright boy groups transition to a more “mature” sound after 2-3 years or disband. They have a 2nd gen-esque sound to them that is so nice compared to their peers and ZB1/AHOF/RIIZE/BND are also great too. Let’s see where TWS ends up and hopefully it’s good. But seriously, it would be a good chuckle if a group got a score below 6.
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Great stuff Nick.
But looking at how they ranked so high at this early stage gives me anxiety about how they’ll end in like another 5-10 years. I hope they’ll be as consistent , unique, and great for as long as they can. I’m not naive to say that they wont change their music. I know they will at some point. But i hoped the transition will be as smooth as butter.
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TWS have a great discography and N.O.S.A is a strong song, making me realise the charm that these guys have. They sound quite excited when singing their songs and that is refreshing.
Question: Will these career in song ratings get updated after year-end lists if the songs rank highly on them?
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