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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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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