Tune Overview: ENHYPEN – Knife

Musical developments come and go in Ok-pop and often mirror sounds popularized elsewhere on the globe. Most of those developments begin out properly sufficient earlier than the business finally drives them into the bottom, however a sure development of the second has my hackles up already. An growing quantity of boy teams are latching onto a particular “rage” hip-hop sound popularized by Western artists like Travis Scott and Playboi Carti. I do know I’m older than the everyday Ok-pop fan and certain have a special musical background, but when this model takes maintain of the business will probably be troublesome to provide it the form of probability I’d wish to. I merely discover the sound repetitive, monotone and very affected.

This brings us to ENHYPEN, who’ve tried on this model for brand new single Knife. To be truthful, the group has flirted with these sounds earlier than — as early as 2022’s Future Good (Cross The Mic) (a track I truly get pleasure from). Nonetheless, their music has change into shorter and extra threadbare with time, downgraded to the two-minute mark and missing the structural variety that used to make Ok-pop attention-grabbing. They’ve by no means been a vocally oriented group, so this transfer towards closely processed shout-talk-chant fare is sensible in a approach. And, I’m positive there’s some recipe to funnel it into thrilling product. Nonetheless, merely grumbling “Knife knife knife knife” throughout the refrain will not be that recipe.

The factor is, Knife may truly be first rate if developed additional. Its manufacturing has a mechanized rhythm that lurches with intention, casting a stronger groove than I’d anticipated. Buoy this with a pleasant melodic centerpiece, ease up on the incessant vocal results and the outcome wouldn’t be too dissimilar from what senior teams like EXO made their identify on. Sadly, Knife sacrifices drama for swagger, getting by on repetition quite than telling a full story with payoff. It feels designed to clip into twenty-second soundbites for the TikTok era and possibly works finest in that context.

Grade: D+