HYBE has churned out new idol groups with increasing regularly over the past few years, but the newly-debuted TUIDE are the first act from subsidiary ABD, designed to solely manage girl groups. This is a welcome development, as the corporation has had a difficult time giving their girl groups anything but gimmicky slop lately. Maybe some focus and attention could help the situation.
Alas, our overlords at HYBE seem to be stubbornly addicted to the same formula. If they’re not peddling sing-talk novelty, they’re offering ultra-subdued trendy pop in the post-NewJeans mold. I don’t know when it was decided that K-pop suddenly had to be boring to be “authentic,” but a song like Sun Kiss exists in a world allergic to bombast and/or musical scope. It’s content to find a subdued groove and paint over it with wispy watercolors.
No moment in Sun Kiss attempts to stand out. Instead, the purpose is to blend together until you’ve got the softest sounding background pop imaginable. This is the kind of music you’d hear poolside at a fancy hotel, meant to set the vibe but never compete with anything else happening around you. This kind of music has its function, but when the majority of pop music has transformed into this functional fare, we’ve lost the plot. What happened to transgression and pushing the envelope? As is often the case with songs of this nature, Sun Kiss‘s light bossa nova groove is perfectly enjoyable but utterly disposable. I get no sense of the group at all: their voices, their ambition, their purpose for existing in an already stuffed K-pop market.
| Hooks | 7 |
| Production | 7 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 7 |
| RATING | 7.25 |
Grade: C
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
There’s significant room for improvement, while it doesn’t really go anywhere, it’s not something super offensive that makes me despise it. This is honestly better than 95% of any release from HYBE this year in my opinion.
7.75(7,8,8,8) personally
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This is so boring, seriously…
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so unremarkable. yawning honestly.
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similar feeling for me, it’s a well polished product, it is technically nice… but so very boring.
It’s background music when you’re doing something else, this doesn’t pull or even require the listener attention.
this is actually the type of songs that I use to associate with/works well as just an intro/mid-break into an album to clean your head before the “real music”
I expect their identity (well, the lack of it for now) to change/evolve quick. it’s rare to see rookies with a strong look/sound right away anyway
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https://c.tenor.com/Doud8ltoVjwAAAAC/tenor.gif
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Lolz, I was hearing poolside playlist at some tropical resort too. Usually foreign, so for all I know it could be the hottest pop star in the local market but for me on the pool lounge it is nice accompaniment to the frozen fruity drink in hand while pretending to read some novel. If that was what Hybe was aiming for, they hit it.
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Album-wise, I was sure that GRLS (with the lyric “meet my girls”), was made to be track 1. Instead it’s the final track, and the first track is ABD, literally an introduction to their record label??
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They’re tryna pull an ADOR. Marketing both the group and the company, much like A24 and their movies are seen as high quality or premium because of the branding. Although ADOR did it more subtly and more tastefully such as having multiple iterations of the ADOR logo for each newjeans project, etc. ABD is just pure cornball and desperate with this strat. HYBE really doesn’t understand what made NewJeans successful at all.
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somehow more boring than RV’s surfin boy… and for a debut? yikes
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This has that classic “H&M store music” vibe, though I really do like the unique ethnic feel of the beat—it almost feels like the girls took a trip to Africa! However, the vocal delivery sounds a bit too similar to their contemporaries, making it hard to tell whether it’s ILLIT, KISS OF LIFE, or another group singing.
That being said, the beat genuinely calls to mind f(x)’s 4 Walls album or YooA’s Bon Voyage, just in a slightly more subdued yet pleasant way. It was a bit hard to pinpoint where the chorus actually was, but regardless, the production itself is quite nice. It is a definite step up from “GRLS,” though they still have a long way to go. It will be interesting to see whether they continue down a path similar to NewJeans or eventually dare to carve out a completely unique sound of their own.
For example, the name of the group is Tuide but also Tweed is a rough, thick woolen fabric with a flexible, open texture. It is usually woven in Scotland and Ireland using mixed-color yarn to create a speckled, earthy look. So imagine with me, a kpop group that has a northwestern europe sound and aesthetic. I don’t know what type of music they make out there but it would be so nice to see a group tackle something culturally rich with some kpop drama and a hint of finnish pop to make the finished product nice and sleek. But sadly, this is only just an idea floating around in my head.
8.25 (8, 9, 8, 8)
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You should be their artistic director, that woolen/tweed metaphor sounded amazing.
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Did you know that the MV was filmed in Iceland?
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This is quite a ‘tame’ unambitious debut song choice for a group from giant company like HYBE compared to lesserafim/illit/katseye with a very popular debut song. Maybe they decided to change their marketing strategy as TUIDE did not have much pre-debut popularity from survival show like previous HYBE girl groups aside from Jihyo’s sister. I hope they did save a more interesting materials for later comeback as the whole debut album seems so uninspired for me.
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Okayish song but hoping for more in the future.
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It’s interesting that Jihyo’s baby sister is in this group, and that they have members from Milwaukee, Baltimore, and England (!!!). I don’t think I have ever heard of another British kpop idol.
But yeah this is the most boring debut song I have ever heard from hybe. Oh well.
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Shannon Williams is another (mixed) British idol from late 2nd/early 3rd gen. She was meant to debut in the group F-ve Dolls but became a soloist instead. Literally one of kpops most talented singers but unfortunately her company was too broke to properly promote her.
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I’ve completely lost hope of getting a melodic/bombastic song or an interesting group debut from HYBE anymore.
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One day Kpop fans will finally reckon with the reason that companies go for super laidback casual borderline boring music vibe is because they don’t have singers who can pack a punch anymore. You can say it’s due to the limitations of the music choices, I say it’s because companies are not seeking strong vocal talent anymore, so they make do with what these trainees/idols can do. It’s been a problem over the years. Just watch any PD101 video vs. GP/BP or ILLIT/IZNA’s survival show video (BP1 being an anomaly tbh but even their vocal talent is not as comparable).
All these girls here sound exactly the same. There’s no distinct tone. There’s no contrast or dynamics in the music either. We’re just coasting by on a sailboat sipping on pina coladas, except I’m not drunk – I’m just stuck in purgatory beige hell. H2H’s debut felt like this too – same-same voices and a controversial minimalist approach. But the dynamic changes, melodies, and production helped it a lot. The one has nothing much going for it, but the jazzy vibe is sorta nice.
I miss when Kpop used to actually be bold. Hence why KiiiKiii’s very bombastic in-your-face Pop Off Pop Off has been so pleasant to me, because it’s brash, energetic and so reminiscent of what made Kpop so fun and disting and “cringe”. Arguably KiiiKiii’s vocals are nothing to write home about (I’m using 2nd-3rd gen as references), but the music selection and vision has been very deliberate, and their vocal tones are different from each other. You can send individuality just in their voices. I miss when Kpop was more like that.
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Pleasant song with lovely vocal tones but missing some highlights, it relies too much on the sample and repetitive sun kissed lyrics as topline to be catchy. The song starts off great but ends up getting stale towards the latter half. It’s a nothingburger of a song but at least more listenable than other recent Hybe releases so 7.25 feels about right. Vocally Jia and Maki stand out the most to me, but even within Hybe are far outclassed by Lara and Sophia who are vocal powerhouses.
MV is pretty but doesn’t match the song and looks like it was meant to be an Iceland tourism ad.
I think what bothers me the most is that this group doesn’t really seem to have a clear artistic vision or creative direction. It’s just taking bits and pieces of every other 5th gen group. The girls are likeable but don’t bring anything new or interesting to the table. They almost look like a nugu group but with the financial backings of a major agency.
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Last sentence is a good point, like this MV was functionally not distinct from Odd Youth’s new release, which is crazy considering the budget here
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