I wonder if an intern at JYP Entertainment has been reading my reviews and predicting their content before releasing new music. Naming a new banger-clanger ITZY track “Blah Blah Blah” is just giving me too much to work with!
Look, this is an ITZY song through and through. It’s fair to say I’ve made my opinion clear on this specific style of music. I’m not sure it’ll ever be my thing, and I’m (im)patiently waiting for certain idol acts to evolve from this tried-and-true formula.
ITZY released their Japanese single Voltage earlier this year. That track was met with a ho-hum reaction from most commenters on this blog, and I expect Blah Blah Blah will face a similar fate. Honestly, my heart sank the moment I heard its noisy introduction. These distorted, klaxon-like synths are so omnipresent in K-pop that they’ve lost all charm. Thankfully, the rest of the song isn’t nearly as abrasive. Its breakdowns reintroduce some of these jarring samples, but otherwise the instrumental hinges on hard-hitting percussion that’s pretty characterless and bland.
As expected, Blah Blah Blah is largely an exercise in attitude-fueled chanting. There are melodic moments here and there, but even when the song attempts to fashion a hook, the performance remains at sing-talk levels. It makes me wonder what happened to the ITZY of Dalla Dalla, Icy and Wannabe. I mean, I was eventually coaxed to put my sneakers on over the summer, but the group can’t keep giving us these threadbare, sing-song tracks. They’re in their fourth year, now. I’d love to hear some progression.
| Hooks | 7 |
| Production | 7 |
| Longevity | 7 |
| Bias | 7 |
| RATING | 7 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
I’m so sick of Itzy songs with some amount of potential being totally sabotaged by the vocal delivery. Like this song, given the production/structure was probably never going to really be my thing, but I could be convinced to have a good time with it eventually were it not for the enormously grating performance. I’m so over the sing-talk/sing-shout/chant delivery of the vast majority of a song, peppered throughout with bizarre affects like the vocal-fry “blah blah” in this one.
Also this is totally not fair to them, but I’m way more frustrated when we get songs like this from Itzy than I am from some other groups because we know how much better they’re capable of!
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All these horrible Japanese comebacks are making me wonder if this is Korea’s revenge on Japan for the war
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That’s gold right there!
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I’m still perturbed that “Weapon,” one of Itzy’s best songs to date, was never released as an A-side or B-side, nor did it receive even a performance video. Haven’t liked much from them since. This comes from somebody that liked “Mafia in the Morning.” Here are 2 fan made videos:
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The instrumental reminds me of The Boyz’s Echo 🤔
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I’m confused. I think this song is actually really, really good!? I know, right?
It’s cohesive. It is littered with little original elements and flourishes. …and it never takes its foot off the gas. Even the way they played with the title. They could’ve just repeated Blah, Blah, Blah, but they threw a spin on it. Oh, and I really love the bridge.
Is it perfect? Nope. The vocals are over-processed and.. ..umm.. ..hmm.. ..that’s my only negative; and to be honest, it’s not necessarily a negative. Some songs are allowed to run with over-the-top vocal manipulation (just ask Imogen Heap).
I’m experiencing some really weird FOMO right now, because I think I’m suppose to dislike this, but I don’t. I love it. I haven’t been this giddy over an ITZY drop since “Wannabe”.
P.S. * Note to self: Check under house for pods. *
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After seeing the song’s name, I immediately lost my desire to listen to it. However, my brain said I should turn it on, and I did. What can I say? Boring and throwaway. JYP, why?! Why are you keeping ’em in this sea of sing-talk and chanting? Time to make some progress, c’mon!
My final rating for this would be 6.5 (7,7,6,6).
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When I think of ITZY, I think of the catchiest and most Gen Z catchphrases I’ve ever heard (I see that I’m Icy, I wannabe me), and that for me is what makes ITZY fun, somehow they can’t just translate that into their Japanese songs. I know everyone keeps saying “oh this is literally so ITZY”, but I just can’t hear it until I hear the kind of hook I’m supposed to get with ITZY. This song and voltage just power through without being memorable.
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What Xeno said. I don’t think its that bad. Its not the best song either, but at least it is recognizable as an entity called “song”. There is a through line that makes sense, clear verses and choruses that can be sung along to, a momentum that persists, at a beat set slightly faster than is usually prudent like jpop (0.95 is better).
If there are dings, its in the production. The song is not very dynamic and seems to be completely missing a bass line. For the vocal line, everything sounds like it is squashed between middle C and high C roughly (technically B flat to high E flat), and hits the same intervals B flat to E flat so often that it gets repetitious. That fakoh notdeep deep voice. And my pet peeve how every songwriter seems to go back the most basic rhythms is fully present – although they at least stayed away from the damn rap triplets here, instead they use all 16th 8th and quarter notes and repeat, and repeat again.
onetwothreefour FIVEsix SEVENeight NINE
onetwothreefour FIVEsix SEVENeight NINE
and repeat
I would give it flat 8.
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After reading your comments, I have to agree that this song really never leaves its lane. I don’t know if you remember slot cars from when you were a kid. Most common were the figure 8 tracks with two race cars that would switch lanes once during a pass, but would otherwise be locked into a specific lane. This song is like that.
But there’s room in my library for songs like this because they aren’t meant to be overly complex. They’re just.. ..mindless little adrenaline rushes that get the heart pumping without taxing the brain; if that makes sense. So, yeah, this song is a simplistic set of jumper cables and right now.. ..that’s all I need; given the numerous roadside wrecks I’ve been passing by recently.
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I suprisingly…. like it? A vast improvement upon Voltage, it still suffers from the same problem of being hookless.
7.25
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I agree that it’s an improvement on Voltage, but taken with Dice I feel like that JYP’s music is getting blander and generally worse overall. Praying that Stray Kids have somehow escaped from this company trend for their comeback next month.
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I am digging the Stray Kids 3racha “Hey day” released today on some soundtrack.
You’re welcome.
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I was expecting a megaphone-distorted verse or bridge with no instrumentals when I saw yeji raise the megaphone up, to make the song stand out in some way, but I was sorely disappointed. I mean… Song is pretty decent, but it doesn’t make me want to listen to it again
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I feel like this is supposed to be for Halloween with the samples used in the song and the theme of the video. The concept of an Itzy Halloween song is cool but I really needed them to sing the hook. The sing talk works with that particular instrumentation in the chorus. Unfortunately, my favorite parts of this track all have to due with the production, Itzy’s role feels like an afterthought. I will say that Ryujin did stand out over the others. Definitely mixed feelings, I wish they rewrote it or gave it to wooah (they do this song kinda and I think would’ve performed it better)
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I didn’t expect to like this so much! I like ITZY best when they are giving attitude and that’s pretty much all they do in this song. I wish this had been a Korean comeback instead of Sneakers as I really love the choreography and feel like this would benefit a lot from a live performance. It’s got flaws for sure, but it’s a hell of an improvement from Sneakers and their Japanese discography is shaping up to be pretty good in my eyes.
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