XLOV have built their name on a high-concept, visually striking rollout that has garnered a dedicated fanbase. And with their most recent album, that concept started to pair with music that felt more fleshed out and befitting of the group’s natural theatricality. New single Hush continues the forward electro motion but forgets that a great dance track needs a great chorus.
Most of Hush is delivered in… well… a hush. It’s a mixture of singing and talking and even during the song’s more vocal-heavy moments, the melodies feel more like window dressing than well-structured, sequential storytelling. This climaxes in a centerpiece that delivers the drama but struggles to captivate through its own merits. Instead, Hush relies heavily on its production to signify importance. The plucked percussion of the instrumental is relentless, echoing the persistent throb of the electro beat. This heightens as we reach the chorus, throwing us into a whirlwind of sound.
Imagine how cool this would all be if Hush gave XLOV just as much to do. Throughout the song, it feels like the members are vamping along to the beat rather than acting as the driving force. This is an important distinction because I imagine Hush would fall apart if you removed its backing track and replaced it with, say, an acoustic guitar. The best songs can be rearranged in countless ways and still retain their star quality, but Hush feels more like a striking performance piece. Maybe that’s all XLOV need to do, though. After all, they are great performers.
| Hooks | 7 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 7 |
| RATING | 7.5 |
Grade: C
The production was DESPERATE for better hooks. Sigh, I wanna love this group but the music has been all style and no substance, hard-carried by their visuals and an incredible concept.
8 (7, 9, 8, 8) for me.
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Same for me 😦 but I would go a bit lower for this one, I think it is a step backwards. Hyun’s vocals are hidden here as if he can’t do more and better 😦
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Very oriental production, the beats is promising and is rushing, but ya, the melody is just too airy and it sounds ’bout almost unheard as the beats are taking the lead.
8.25. I can see XLOV is trying to get better and better for their releases – in terms of budget, concept, and the way they expressing themselves. I do looking forward if they could go further, deeper and get some strong producer with their music too.
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The producers needed to go listen to Taemin’s Move more to hear how quiet sultry is done better. Also, a simple move of the percussive oriental sounds back in the mix after their initial appearance would fix a lot.
The visuals, the lithe body moves are really cool to watch.
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This definitely feels a lot more style over substance. And it’s a beautiful style, but I wish there was more to like here as a song. I’m sure it’ll do well and be fun to see live, but in terms of listening to this on a playlist, I probably won’t be returning to it.
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I am listening to an instrumental
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the more abrasive production choices remind me of my favorite onlyoneof skinz, but i agree this lacks the killer chorus and hooks in comparison. i do think cool things are happening but it needed more time in the oven
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There’s a mission in Hitman 3 where Agent 47 has to take out someone called “Hush” in Chongqing, China to access a data centre to delete his records from the ICA, and the song title reminds me of that mission. This song would serve as a nice soundtrack for that mission, but doesn’t have nearly as much purpose outside of this. This song has a solid instrumental but is lacking melodies and hooks to engage an audience further.
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It’s still up there in their singles (my l to m favorites: RIZZ, I’mma Be, 1&Only, Hush, Serve). Backslide feels too aggressive of a term because the last chain of comparison was their weakest outright and their strongest so far. But it does fall into the older habits (no bridge, weak chorus, although they still haven’t truly done something with PUNCH in there yet). It at least tries to go for a fresh sound within the immediate landscape, which I always give credit for.
8 (7,9,8,8). They’re still somewhat on a roll even if the writing/production is falling on what it knows best.
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Xlov’s entire discography feels like a rookie producer listened to a playlist consisting solely of Taemin and OnlyOneOf while half-asleep. The result is as middling as you would expect considering it’s using a good blueprint (not as in similar to the songs of those artists but within the same genre & style) but a bad execution.
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The producers worked the fuck out of this song. It just sounds amazing. But I agree with pretty much everybody here… The song has a lot of potential but the hooks aren’t really there.
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