With much of the music that’s been released this week, it feels like K-pop is doing a tribute to its own second generation. Now, we have the return of a group who actually debuted in the second gen. That’s right, Teen Top is back again with a new mini album and the promise another big EDM banger in the vein of their many early-2010s classics.
The teasers for Don’t Stop lived up to their purpose, seemingly teasing a big drop that was never revealed. This convinced me that the song’s success would hinge on how great this drop is (or isn’t). However, Don’t Stop takes a slightly different approach, opting for an actual chorus underpinned by EDM bombast. This approach is much more exciting and much closer to what the group released back in their heyday. The song is refreshingly old-school in a way we just don’t hear much anymore in K-pop.
With this said, I’m on the fence about Don’t Stop‘s overall effect. Nearly the entire track is delivered with this heavily chorused vocal effect, meant to sound like a crowd of thousands chanting along. In reality, it sounds overly processed (almost AI, actually) and weirdly distant, removing all character from Teen Top’s performance. These guys have unique vocals and it would have been nice to hear them. This single production choice looms so large that it becomes impossible to ignore. I’m not sure if my ear will eventually get used to it or if it will remain a craw in my side, but either way it certainly gives me pause — which is an odd sensation for a song called Don’t Stop.
| Hooks | 8 |
| Production | 7 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 9 |
| RATING | 8 |
Grade: B-
hi nick! what do you think about the preview of the title track? sadly the album sounds boring but the title track sounds promising to me! https://youtu.be/TPYAJ13wrwo?is=vGA0mNFJsqGExH7W
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It sounds okay. I find that their songs don’t really benefit from short clips and can turn out quite different when you hear the full thing.
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Yeah, especially the acapella versions of their highlight medleys. The vocal arrangements are always gorgeous, but they don’t really give you an idea of what the actual song is going to sound like.
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I like this more than some of their more recent releases. It paints their sound nicely, allowing them to fit into this current era of kpop. The beat have some unnecessary trap moments but when it committed, it committed HARD! the layering of their voices paired with EDM beat worked well and their signature dance break was great too! They just let loose and didn’t stop till we got enough.
8.75(8,9,9,9)
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Holy white noise batman. Could the producers pad the sound anymore with white noise? Plus farty bass _and_ an EDM style beat (at times).
“Don’t slow down keep it going” – right when the beat drops out.
I really like the major key flavor of the chorus. Everything else feels like throwing everything and the kitchen sink in the mix to try to HYPE THE SONG UP EVER MORE, and it is almost exhausting.
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I’ve recently noticed an increase in songs that sound like ai or that use ai elements and I really hope I’m wrong!😍
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A good week for anyone who likes old school kpop. I like this rather more than you do it seems. I don’t mind they throw everything at it and it’s overpowering, it makes it exciting to me and completely different to everything else we get in this kpop era, though saying that it’s quite a trend in itself to do a nostalgic 2nd gen sound so I hope that trend continues.
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