Whenever I see that girl group X:IN has a new comeback, I know I’m in for something… interesting. In this case “interesting” does not equate to “good,” as they’re one of the lower-ranked groups on this blog. Somehow, their music almost always manages to self-sabotage, showing promise before doing something bizarre to mess it all up.
That recipe continues on new single Girls On Fire, which is also their Japanese “pre-debut.” During the first verse, I’m heartened by the big dance beat and aloof delivery. However, the track quickly becomes a hodge-podge of the most oddly-phrased sing-talk you can imagine. Oh, X:IN… you never disappoint. The pitch of the chorus is a strange choice — overly chirpy and bratty yet unadorned in a way that makes it sound like a rough demo. It’s as if the song falls apart mid-way through and the producers just strung together a bunch of random clips from the recording outtakes. It’s difficult to turn away from this car crash, but if you’re looking for an actual song you’re better off searching elsewhere.
| Hooks | 6 |
| Production | 7 |
| Longevity | 7 |
| Bias | 7 |
| RATING | 6.75 |
Grade: D+
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Sigh, X:IN, you never fail to impress me in all sorts of ways. Kinda like the beat though.
7 (6, 8, 7, 7) for me
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Oh Nick beat me to it. As I was listening, I was wondering if this is an entity known as a “song”. What is a “song” anyway. What is “music”. If “music” is tone in time, and “song” adds the human voice, then this entry today is technically an entity known as song, but it has no other elements that make if sound song-like … then today’s entry ended and so shall I with
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I tried to like this “song.” I thought “surely it’s not as bad as all that.” But it was, and worse. I like K-pop and am, to use my wife’s words, “easily amused,” but I could not bring myself to click the thumbs up on this video. I thought there were isolated bits and beats here and there that could be pulled out and used in other tracks, but in this case the whole was definitely less than the sum of its parts.
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I genuinely believe X:IN have the worst voices I have heard in “kpop”
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Would be hard to argue with…
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I think holics and episode have x:in beat in that department
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In Episode’s defense, they just have some godawful, recorded-in-a-tin-can kind of mixing, so they can be somewhat forgiven for that. Here though…
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that russian girl especially (cant be arsed to write her name), her voice ruins every song they sing i just cant get past it
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I only like one member’s voice (Nizz, the one with the MV or the blonde bob in the photo used in this review if you don’t wanna revisit the MV) but the rest sound like chipmunks in the worst way possible, esp when it’s so affected 🥴
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The Eww line tanked the song for me though. That was a terrible choice by the topliners. It made me cringe like that deep affected voice Martin had in the first verse of Acai like wtf lol.
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Come on, stunner…
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Okay but why are they making a japanese debut?
Do they think about japanese audience will be more forgiving of the level of quality x:in brings?
we’ve seen small companies try their best with groups and release decent, sometimes great tracks. X:in is the first nugu group I’ve seen with multiple comebacks that I never seek out. Not a single song
I only remember them for the Russian member’s participation in the dance sport event at isac and the bobs and hover board
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Car crash of a song indeed.
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