After an extended hiatus, LIGHTSUM have been re-branded as a J-pop act, complete with many of the musical and stylistic shifts you might expect. I suppose we should be happy their agency hasn’t simply given up on them, but I definitely wonder how the girls feel about this. It’s not the first time a struggling K-pop group has put down roots in Japan in the hope of finding success abroad, but these days they usually split their attention more equally between the two markets.
Doshite (どうして) is boiler-plate J-pop cut with just enough K-pop tropes to maintain a throughline with LIGHTSUM’s past work. The song is perky and sing-songy. It balances its kawaii moments with enough melody to please a wide audience, but leans a bit too heavily into chirpy sing-talk for me. I imagine a version of Doshite that feels more like a Lovelyz track — sweet and sugary but delivered with more melodic weight. You can hear hints of this in the soaring notes of the chorus, but they’re surrounded by too many throwaway asides to make much of a mark.
| Hooks | 8 |
| Production | 7 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 7 |
| RATING | 7.5 |
Grade: C
the fact a song as colorful as this one has such horribly muted color grading for the music video is an absolute travesty
sadly u can tell cube gave up on this group a long time ago
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Not a bad song for japanese promotion, it got the signature kawaii vibe unseparable from JPOP idol world but still got enough leftover vestiges of their KPOP identity. It is a quite serviceable song but not memorable enough for me. Bless them…..
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And here it comes the irrelevant trap breakdown on 2nd verse that slightly ruined the song.
I really wish Han Chowon to shine ever since I know her after Produce 48.
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The child in me sees “Do Shit” as the title, which is unfortunate.
I swear for this sub-genre of Jpop there must be a “chipmunk mode” button in the booth.
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I shouldn’t say this but I read the title as “Dog Shite” 😭 🔫
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