In the midst of a series of high-profile American promotions, TXT’s Yeonjun has released a follow-up music video for the track Fxxking Star from his newest album. It always cracks me up when artists use an “x” to self-censor a cuss word because it pretty much confirms they’re using the language as aesthetic branding with no real teeth to it.
A lack of composition credit makes me wonder how much Yeonjun stands behind the concept of Fxxking Star. He definitely gives the performance his all, but he does that with any material HYBE gives him. He’s a great idol performer seeking to become something more. That’s an admirable step, but to make it successfully you need stellar material tailor-made for the artist. Fxxking Star contains many signifiers but little real excitement. I like his voice backed by distorted guitar. This same arrangement has worked wonders on many TXT tracks and matches the grittiness of his vocals.
As a song, I get the sense that the driving feature from a producer/composer’s standpoint is the desire to shout “I’m a fxxking star!” loudly and defiantly. Everything else is just window dressing to get to that soundbite. It’s not bad or unenjoyable window dressing, but it doesn’t feel the least bit vital and that’s disappointing for a song meant to convey such a confrontational energy. Do I believe Yeonjun has ever (or will ever) break a guitar? Probably not. But given the right song, I could happily play along with the fantasy.
| Hooks | 6 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 7 |
| Bias | 7 |
| RATING | 7 |
Grade: C-
Damn, that’s a bit too early for your typical schedule, but oh well, it’s meh. I could be more entertained doing Sudoku puzzles for an hour than listening to this (and I love Sudoku lol)
6.75 (7, 7, 7, 6) for me.
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Early flight to catch today, so yes it’s freakishly early 😭
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Oh god. TXT hasn’t gotten a b-side MV since 2021 and the one time they spend resources on one for Yeonjun, it has to be on this song. Everything about this song is fine, until you actually hear the lyrics, which are ALL in english. They have to be one of the worst lyrics I have heard for anything TXT related. Such a shame cause the soundscape of this is great. Literally any other b-side. These lyrics are what you would hear in a Descendants soundtrack. And no, he did not write any of these lyrics so I know who to blame.
Rant over
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they had individual mvs for their solo tracks just last year though…
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Oh yeah, forgot about those, they were more visualizers though. And they werent promoted.
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Not a Descendants soundtrack 😭😭😭
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Prince’s Baby I’m a Star this is not. Yeonjun definitely has star power but it constantly feels like the material he’s working with is holding him back.
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Thinking on it, Yeonjun is one of the few idols I think would come closest to pulling off a good cover of that Prince song. He’s got the performance chops for it and I believe he’d go as hard on it as Prince does!
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You’re so early today!
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I had an early flight to catch today so that’s why 🙂
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For KCON LA I’m assuming?? Looking forward to your review
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I never believe when kpop idols swear. They try so hard to be bad, and they are not. If they were actually bad boys, they wouldn’t be idols anymore amirite.
Anyway, flippin star make me think of Super Junior Rockstar live. If you think your oppas have live mics, they don’t, Suju does. If you think your oppas are giving fan service, nothing beats this fan service.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUoGJJQYTKA
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I believe this is one of those performance-focused muaic video where we should appreciate the artist showmanships without criticizing much about the music. Sure I can see that Yeonjun seems to give his 110% here and its the only good element contained in the music video. i just can’t help to dislike it when the song material was bad. The rock production is solid, but they incorporated too much rap & talk-chanting parts so there were barely any melody to anchor the song except for the rock beat. Sure it is a bit better than NCT affront to rock attempt Pinata song, but it is like comparing which dung is less smelly than others. Hope Yeonjun can get better material to show his worth someday.
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