Review: Rain x J.Y. Park - Switch to Me

JYP (J.Y. Park) has a legacy few Korean stars can boast of. Not only does he have a successful career, and is the head of one of Korea's biggest agencies, but he has trained innumerable legendary K-Pop stars. Earlier this year he collaborated with mentee Sunmi, and this time he is working with Rain.

Switch to Me is driven by a nostalgic and simple new jack swing groove, almost to the point that it feels like a weaker clone of Bobby Brown's Every Little Step. It never really switches up, nor does it need to. In fact, that is a good way to describe Switch to Me, it is unambitious, does not try too much, but nails the sound it wants. Minus the recording quality, this song could have been released in the 90s, and I would not notice. The vocals are also fully real, and that is a big plus (no vocal processing).

The verses are driven by the funky percussion, with the lines switching between JYP and Rain. I wish it would follow a call-and-response structure, maybe in a more fun way. That would really boost the song out of the nostalgia set and into a real playlist track.

The second verse has the spoken-rap that you would expect from JYP. Normally this would not work, but it works perfectly here as the song does not take itself seriously.

The chorus earworm is the heart of the song. It has a fun little melody, and the backing vocals somewhat respond to JYP and Rain's lines (though I still think they should have replied to each other). The post-chorus is catchy and fun, just what the song wanted.

As a song, I am not sure really how long Switch to Me will last. But I must say, I really enjoyed the Music Video. Not related to the song, but still deserves a shout out.

Back to the song, I think it will make it into a throwback playlist or two, and will stay in the 'fun songs' playlist for quite a long time.

Rating: 8/10

Image Source: Soompi