Rookie group Shut Your Eyes fully reinvented their sound with final month’s pre-release SOB. Whereas I initially balked on the cringe lyrics and heavy vocal results, that tune finally received me over via the sheer pressure of its dance beat. Nevertheless, I nonetheless benefit from the guys greatest on clean, vocal-focused tracks like their killer debut All My Poetry. Fortunately, new title observe X brings them nearer to this sound.
X splits the distinction between Poetry‘s mid-00s r&b taste throughout its refrain and extra rhythmic, hip-hop phrasing throughout its verses. Shut Your Eyes’s candy spot is unquestionably the previous, as this method feels distinctive to them and compliments their vocals so effectively. Maknae Kyungbae has rapidly grow to be one in all my favourite voices in Okay-pop, including a lot character to his strains. The tune lights up each time he takes cost, however the different members aren’t any slouches both. X brims with confidence and polish.
It’s arduous to know precisely the place X will settle in the long term as a result of every one of many group’s songs has taken time to unveil its full potential. X will probably comply with the identical trajectory, however for now I’m not listening to that indelible high quality that in the end made Poetry such a basic. As a substitute, X throws down a satisfying groove and vamps over it in between sturdy choruses.
| Hooks | 9 |
| Manufacturing | 8 |
| Longevity | 9 |
| Bias | 8 |
| RATING | 8.5 |
Grade: B
