Review: Somi - Dumb Dumb
So far, the Black Label has done little but waste away their artists. Anda released the golden What You Waiting For with R.Tee before never being heard of again. Zion.T was absolutely wasted by the agency, with them not giving him the indie explosion he was at the brink of. Loren has been advertised more as 'rich kid goes edgy' than an actual musician and that sucks.
Enter Somi. She topped the first season of the mega-hit reality show Produce 101 and was central to its subsequent group I.O.I. While the other major member Chungha is now projected as a successor to mega-star BoA, Somi has lagged with 4 songs, including b-sides, since her 2019 debut. Many have complained about Blackpink and Sunmi's abysmal schedule, but at least they have a decent number of songs for a playlist. Somi has had three singles and three years, all produced by Teddy. The issue is that Teddy has been going through a well-publicized ditch in terms of musical quality.
Somi's debut Birthday was arguably his all-time low point. The song was cloying and annoyingly catchy to the point it was hard to not hate it. What You Waiting For was a mild improvement, but with no support tracks and minimal productions, it was easy to forget.
Now, Dumb Dumb has arrived with all the wrong publicity. Somi, to promote her song, revealed her weight and height. Despite receiving praise from certain netizens, it is clear she is overwhelmingly and unhealthily underweight. It is no secret that most K-Pop idols are underweight due to harsh beauty standards but rarely has an agency promoted it so loudly like it has been done for Somi's comeback. The fact that the song is titled Dumb Dumb did not help at all.
Dumb Dumb's verses play to expectations. Overly cute melody without any true instrumentation. The production here is so lightweight that the tune literally collapses on its minor weight. The only exception is the second verse, which opts for a much-overused trap structure, sinking the song further.
Dumb Dumb's lyrics are also problematic. They talk about a girl changing her behavior and style to impress a guy she likes. This is never a positive image to follow, much more for an idol with a largely teen following.
Despite all that, however, Dumb Dumb has one trump card which is so incredible it nearly redeems the whole track: The drop chorus. The heavy drop, the edgy spoken melody, and the strong whistled tune all make a memorable centerpiece for the whole track. There is hardly a thing the chorus gets wrong, which is sad as it is surrounded by a terrible accompanying tune.
The climax also pulls this heavier sound with the cutesy melody of the verses, which actually don't suck. In the end, Dumb Dumb is terribly flawed, but it is the first Somi track where I see light at the end of the tunnel.
I feel like I'm the only person who hated the chorus haha. The rating is about it, maybe even a bit lower for me but Somi isn't making it easy to grow accustomed to this bland style she's got going on which is sad.
ReplyDeleteYeah, still waiting for her to take the good elements from her song and make a true standout.
DeleteThank you so much for the review, I put up a comment on the other post however I found it more like a good b-side then a title track. The song is also too short but I think the beat drop is perhaps Teddy's best. I didn't really pay attention to the lyrics as they were too distracting. Overall, I think all the Black Label muscians have huge potential but honestly need to release more music to prove their talents
ReplyDeleteNo problem!
Delete"Overall, I think all the Black Label musicians have huge potential but honestly need to release more music to prove their talents", the truest sentence I have read in days. And yeah, the song is short, but it did not bug me, as the song was not even using the full capacity of its short time. I think Teddy had some better beat drops in his golden age (read: Bigbang's Fantastic Baby), but this is easily his best in ages.