To be fair the song is a solid 10/10 without the MV but altogether…whew. The hooks/production/overall vibe are incred, absolutely wild this isn’t top 20 at least girlies! Biggest shock elimination so far.
aespa was never benefitted scores wise in this subforum just because a song is theirs, I shall not take this revisionist history!
There's no way in hell Armageddon is worse than 90% of what's left, but let me save the anger for when aespa loses the title to an okay, mostly uncontroversial song... Again!
I didn't mean it like that, what I'm saying is they've had a really good year and their selection of songs here is seen as very strong, so the weakest of the bunch could have easily gotten a bit of a score boost just based on that.
Laboured is definitely a good way to describe it. One of the rare times where I think aespa could have taken an element of the song out and it would improve it.
Two songs down, three songs to go for ARTMS. Just missing the top 50 by 0.5 points is Flower Rhythm. Tragique!
Flower Rhythm is the second pre-release single from ARTMS' debut album, <Dall>. It was composed by Artronic Waves and yeon (AW:crew), with lyrics written by Alice Vicious (AW:crew), 9june9, Artronic Waves and yeon (AW:crew). Flower Rhythm is apparently a mix of two songs of HeeJin: The intro track, Kehwa (Flowering) and title track, Algorithm. Wait, that's so cool! An intro song getting developed into a full song? Slay! Anyway, Flower Rhythm didn't enter the Circle Digital Chart but it did peak at number 158 on the component Download Chart.
Flower Rhythm is actually my favourite song from the whole <Dall> album and I don't know what this says about my taste FFFFFFF! Judge me all you want but this is my truth and I'm gonna live it! No but after the first pre-release single, Birth, didn't exactly wow me outside of the amazing music video - and also made me panic that I won't enjoy ARTMS' music, kii! - Flower Rhythm was the assurance that I needed to #trust and #believe Jaden Jeong's plans for ARTMS. He might be crazy (understatement of the year) but he knows how to deliver... most of the time. But yeah, Flower Rhythm was love on first listen basically and it erased whatever fears I had about ARTMS' music.
I think it's high time we officially recognize the genius of Artronic Waves productions. They just get it, they get me! The drama, the mystery, the grandness, the attention to details - Flower Rhythm has got it all. And despite the production being so busy, I like that the vocals are still clear and not buried. The ARTMS girlies are singers who sing and it would be downright criminal for those vocals to not be heard properly. And speaking of vocals, whew, Miss HaSeul!!!!! The way she sings that middle 8!!!! So smooth, so tight!!!! One of the best things that came out of ARTMS' debut is the rediscovery of HaSeul as a main vocalist. We've always known she can sing but for some reason, she was not given the spotlight to show what she's truly capable of in LOONA. I'm glad those days are gone!
I guess this is the part where I #promo ARTMS' latest single, Burn, released just a few days ago. It's... nowhere near as good as Flower Rhythm (to put it mildly) but again, I am choosing to #trust and #believe Jaden Jeong and the ARTMS girlies that their next album will include better songs. They won't fail us; I just know it!
THE JURY'S THOUGHTS:
@FunkyButChic (2): "Too experimental for its own good."[Slicey: But we love experimental here, unnie! Don't we?]
@Vixen (6.75): "Now ya'll know I'm an Orbit and I would normally swallow anything the moon girls provide me, and to be fair, within the first few seconds of the song, I really was in fact eating all they were serving me, but that chorus mama… What's up with that terribly pitched up and autotuned harmony? Mama this is soooo grating to the ears... (Also, I love my girl Heejin, but the good sis can't belt that high ddd, let's stop holding Kim Lip and Jinsoul back from belting on ARTMS songs, can we spread this agenda please)"[Slicey: Stanning HyunJin's vocals while slandering HeeJin's... hmmmm #noticing! I do agree Kim Lip and JinSoul should've sang that line though, kii!]
@boom bazooka joe (7.5): "A perfectly servicable song that I don't return to."
@savilizabeths (8.75): "I mean, they're iconic, aren't they? I just feel like I should be a little more obsessed with this than I am. But god, when I actually do press play I am absolutely transported."
@codecat (10): "When those prechorus synths kick in omgggg my coochie swells UP.......Jaden Jeong you always win"[Slicey: Calm down, unnie.....]
@aux (10): "I love that this is essentially making a full song out of an intro. There's so many intros in K-Pop that I wish had been fleshed out, I think this is the first time that it actually does."[Slicey: Right??? Hopefully we hear more intros get developed into full songs!]
Super Lady - (G)I-DLE
I Got You - Twice
I'm Ready - Chungha
Impossible - RIIZE
Supernova - aespa
Cosmic - Red Velvet
Algorithm - Chungha
Love Attack - RESCENE
APT. - Rosé & Bruno Mars
New Woman (feat. Rosalía) - Lisa