The emergence of Lee Soo-man’s A2O groups has been the most exciting thing to happen to K-pop in awhile. Both A2O Lite and A2O Soul released killer tracks this week, each of which only grew on me as the days went on. Global group A2O May have been releasing singles for a couple of years outside of Korea, but it feels as if they’ve been holding back their best material until the entire project was ready to launch. Bad Habits Tonite is easily their strongest single yet.
The biggest factor for this is all so exciting is the re-emergence of visionary producer Yoo Young-Jin. He was credited on those old A2O May tracks, but it feels as if he’s been building up an arsenal of hits over the past few years and is now ready to deliver banger after banger. Bad Habits Tonite is a sleek synthpop banger, bringing his inimitable vocal arrangements/mixing to a series of exciting melodies. If Neon was his response to K-pop’s girl group sounds, Bad Habits Tonite is an olive branch to the world. It’s less specific and slightly more generic, but delivered with panache and polish.
Just like A2O Soul’s Superstar, Bad Habits Tonite is a full-fledged song with a bridge and a sense of progression. It’s driven by honest-to-god singing and makes its choices based on what’s best for the music, not what boxes it needs to check for TikTok challenges. As I’ve already stated multiple times this week, this is all incredibly refreshing and feels like a changing (or returning?) of the guard for an industry that could use a reminder of what made it so fantastic in the first place.
| Hooks | 8 |
| Production | 9 |
| Longevity | 9 |
| Bias | 9 |
| RATING | 8.75 |
Grade: B+
Excellent! If I listen to gg music, this is what I gravitate to. Vocals sound very beautiful. 8.5
LikeLike
these A20 groups saving kpop girl groups music quality…LSM is still kinda weird tho
LikeLike
these groups are trending right now, hopefully this means better music (but no 13 year old idols and ai versions of them please)
LikeLiked by 4 people
This group has some really unique vocal tones! Cool to hear in this era of minimal vocal focus in groups
LikeLike
Of all the A2O releases, my bias would be Superstar (Soul) > Neon (Lite) > Bad Habits Tonite (May), and I really, really wish that they could affect the whole K-Pop industry by bringing back a proper song structure.
LikeLike
This girls have great, unique vocals that we don’t often hear in recent kpop. They sing very well in the lower register. They showed this off in some other songs too but I found that “bigger badder better” song to be absolutely dismal so it’s good to see them with some better material. “Neon” is still the best song of this bunch though.
LikeLike
I’m surprised this (and other A20) are getting this much love. I don’t find it bad but this is pretty generic, especially this one.
I’m not a fan of the “LSM multiverse groups” too it’s very confusing and feel very artificial (or maybe I’m finally too old for this).
are they cpop btw or simply pop?
LikeLike
I don’t think you’re too old for this (regarding the multiverse thing)– I just think it’s a weird hill that LSM is choosing to die on lmao. That being said, since the whole industry is built on a certain level of artifice anyways, I also think it’s kind of fun that they’re just fully leaning into it.
LikeLike
It’s a pretty good song. I feel like Ejae’s low notes are influencing the vocal styling here. (Remember Ejae was an SM trainee for years.)
LikeLike
Just know they have release a Chinese version of this song too. As a Chinese I feel their lyricism and rhyming is way more stronger than the original release. A strong 9 for it!
https://www.youtube.com/embed/31p2FLnezZw?si=M9vDJhF8y37T0UQ7
LikeLike
Their vocal deliveries were indeed nice. The production was actually quite basic overall and it was used sparingly in order not to overwhelm the singera vocals. This is one of the better quality mid-tempo song that relied on the singers inherent vocal tone and the production was just “adding flowers to a brocade” so to speak.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I can’t begin to understand the minds who are saying these A2O songs are “generic”…..as apposed to what, all the 2 minute tik tok jingles saturing the industry? These songs are refreshing not “generic”. I don’t mean you Nick btw because you said this one was a lttle more generic than the other A2O songs this week, which is true (bit still brilliant!), I’m talking about others. For me it’s a dream come true to start getting these sort of styles, generes and feeling back into kpop and A2O for me is the most exciting thing in kpop right now and I just can’t wait to see it develop and hopefully move the dial back towards that classic 2nd gen sound for the rest of the industry too.
LikeLike
I respect you like the song but I think the term generic applies because that song sounds like so many other past electro pop songs. It doesn’t have a unique personality, if you hear it randomly it’s impossible to attach this sound to one band. Doesn’t mean it’s bad but just lacking personality maybe because it’s too nostalgic?
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love Superstar and absolutely adore Neon but this is a bit generic. A decent album filler that you could hear on any dance pop album. It’s nicely produced but feels a bit dated to me. I think the A20 MAY concept doesn’t work for me, like a bland mash up of better girl groups.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s good but… nothing unique? Maybe the sea of music from 5th gen groups right now is just such slop that even good music seems amazing. This is a straight 8 and very good, but nothing more.
LikeLike
It’s decent. A bit boring.
LikeLike
i wish you didn’t keep focusing on the “return of exciting kpop times” when said return hinges on the exploitation of 13 year olds, alongside AI warping. of course i get the sense your focus is more on the quality of music being produced, but i wonder when it crosses the line and strays into weird territory
LikeLiked by 1 person