In K-pop’s summer of long-awaited second-gen returns, one group stands above them all for me. Infinite are my ultimate idol group — the act I’ve written most about on this blog and the one I hardly let myself believe would actually make a full-group comeback after such a long hiatus. But after founding their own Infinite Company, the guys have returned with their first album in over five years (not counting special digital single Clock, of course).
I’ve spent the last week or so tempering my expectations and realizing I should be happy to have the group back in any form, with any song. But with a discography as solid as theirs, that’s a fruitless effort. My mind can’t help but revert to their many highlights. And this is why New Emotions is such a thorny, mixed bag for me.
I am very happy to have the guys back, and even more so under their own company where they can continue to promote in the future. And, New Emotions is solid enough. There’s nothing bad about the track. It lays down its groove and keeps your head nodding. But it’s also incredibly slight (both in impact and running time) and quite generic. There’s not much of Infinite — in any of their musical guises — to be found here. Instead, I hear the latest in a long line of sleek, sexy bass-driven tracks centered around an anti-drop structure. New Emotions lacks the panache I equate with Infinite. Their vocals are constrained by the structure, robbing listeners of the thrilling power notes that have become a staple of their work. And at just over two-and-a-half minutes, the song has no climax.
I’m not a huge fan of the looped vocal hook that underlines most of the verses, and I wish the chorus had some melodic heft instead of its flat, sing-talk approach. The song’s best moments occur when the instrumental fleshes out during the pre and post choruses. We hear hints of Infinite’s incredible vocal blend — otherwise absent from New Emotions.
I blame this on the K-pop industry’s current pick-and-mix approach to song production. This track is the work of some familiar behind-the-scenes names, one of which has composed hundreds of tracks with dozens of different artists. We’re not getting the unique vision of a Sweetune or an Rphabet, nor are we getting a song aimed directly at Infinite’s strengths. New Emotions a decent track, bought wholesale. It just happens to be recorded by Infinite, but anyone could have performed this. My hope is that, as they continue to feel out this new era of music, the group are able to dig into their own musical perspective and find material that compliments that.
| Hooks | 8 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 10 |
| RATING | 8.5 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
I’m seated for the in-depth album review!
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I love it, small ell love it. Its contemporary, and Infinite, but is it Infinite enough?
The whole album is also small ell love. Very listenable. Like a nice cool glass of white wine on the porch at dusk after a hot summer day.
Pfft, who am I kidding, I am not overthinking it, its a yes for me, and rating is perhaps about right, maybe a tic or two low.
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Not what I hoped for, far from it. There’s no real bridge or climax and it has an anti-drop
But even so, my disappointment is buoyed by the fact that we still got a decent a song. A real good song even. Any other group and this would receive a standing ovation.
I’ve decided to put the Infinite logo aside and just enjoy the song.
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It’s sleek, elegant and one of the many better-than-average elder-statesmen comebacks this year (Shinhwa subunit, Ren and Minhyuck, etc). I enjoyed it a lot. And the video is easy on the eyes for sure. I think Infinite put their own stamp on it, but it’s subtle. I think they are hedging their bets because it’s their own money and they haven’t come back in forever. I like it but I also appreciate Teen Top and U-Kiss being actual silly fun, and SHINee being their usual rando selves.
Anyway, it’s going on the roller rink playlist in progress. (which I’m not sharing yet because the transitions are not there yet.)
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Ditto. I really thought anyone could’ve released this and I only like it more because infinite are singing it. Their DNA just isn’t present at all. I’m assuming they would have more say given it’s their company. With that in mind, I’m now wondering if infinite liked the sound they created as much as we did. It’s not like sweetune isn’t around anymore. Even if they’re getting these songs from songwriting camps, couldn’t they tell give them the prompt or ask them what to make it sound like? Granted, the members might’ve just wanted to move into a new sound for the new stage in their career.
I don’t mind the song btw. But why would I listen to this when I got everything they released prior?
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What a pity without Sweetune. But who actually decided to go on with Ryan Jhun? I dont think he really knows how to craft boy group songs, imho.
The song is unfortunately really generic. It doesnt do wrong though, 8 will be good. Rest of the album is luckily intersting.
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It’s incredibly generic , there’s literally nothing in this track that reminds me of Infinite
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I like it, but I have to say it’s a little bit generic. I just hope they come back with something that screams Infinite.
The album is decent but definitely not their strongest material. Hard to make something very good with only four songs.
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We need a total and complete shutdown of formant shifting on vocal loops until we can figure out what the hell is going on.
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Deception was not the new emotion I was expecting from them… I was expecting a lot of instruments like violins, etc because they have the voices to stand out. The weird vocal behind and the chorus didn’t work.
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Sounds more NU’EST to me than INFINITE
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Wait you’re so right! That chorus melody definitely feels like Nu’est in particular, though perhaps the song wouldn’t have been as muted as it currently is.
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I was also hearing flavors of Got7 “If you do”
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Without its great melodic centerpiece, sadly…
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(well, dagnabbit, something I listened to this morning had flavors of Got7 “If you do” and relistening, it ain’t this one, but nothing in the youtube history of my main junk account had it, so scratch that, the whole comment)
But while I am here, Nick, the song isn’t that bad. It isn’t the high highs of peak Infinite, but it is rather nice on balance.
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Your point about the ‘looped vocal hook’ is interesting to me because I didn’t like Bad when I first heard it, precisely because of the ‘bet a bad girl’ looped kind of chant there – but that song is just so strong and has that dramatic heft that I eventually got hooked onto it. I’m feeling something similar after hearing this in terms of that ‘loop’ and the way this starts out almost lyrically reminiscent of the Bad chant (at least that’s how I first heard it lol) but this song is just so… muted that it doesn’t feel like it’s taking off.
This is not the powerful dramatic Infinite I know, and the way that chorus drops feels almost unsatisfying. I wish their big Comeback utilised their strengths more, but like you said I’m also just glad they’re back and I hope they can continue making music.
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Yeah its a pretty good song and I’ll probably like it more as I listen more but it doesn’t feel very Infinite and just kind of underwhelming as their first title track in 5 years. Like why follow the sub 3 minute trend!? Infinite almost always had great musical climaxes so it sucks that this song just ends. At least Time Difference is better.
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“New Emotions” is definitely too short; there’s no climax, and after the first listen, once you know there’s no climax, you start wondering if there’s no build either. They do all sound great (I was very much not a fan of how high “The Eye” went); I just wish the whole thing were more substantial.
I’m looking forward to the in-depth reviews. I’ve only listened to the album once through and my first impression is that it feels overly restrained. There’s a lack of urgency to it. (They finally start approaching drama in the second half of “Find Me.”) It’s tempting to read this as Infinite’s collective choice — them being older and more mature and less needy as a group, or less interested in replicating the Sweettune sound (as Gunter Stewart speculated). But since none of them have any album credits it’s hard to tell how much individual input each of them might have had in the song choices.
(Also, I don’t think Dongwoo raps at all. Am I mistaken?)
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Hopefully in the future Infinite choose a grandiose song with a bridge/climax… The song is too short, it truly invoke new emotions… And less Sungyeol to my liking. I’m consoled to the fact that he is highlighted in the second verse, but still to little for me. The song is groovy, and compared to the other potential a-side sicha/time difference, I understand why this is the title track. I’ll just listen to sicha on repeat, it feels more infinite right now. Haven’t check the other two songs tho.
Infinite please bring Infinite music back 🥹
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I don’t think they’re sick of the Sweetune sound given that Sungyeol said last month that his favorite song is The Chaser and they constantly sing and dance to the Sweetune songs (almost totally ignoring the Rphabet title tracks) at their solo events. My personal theory is that they were trying to play it safe and make sure they still had a place in the market for this release. It came up in the comeback interviews that they were surprised that they managed to sell out their concert and L/Myungsoo said he was the one who was insistent that they book KSPO Dome (which has a pretty high seating capacity), but they didn’t even open seats for the full arena at first. So they seem to have been unsure and worried about their popularity after their long hiatus.
I cut out a lot of reasoning details to keep this from being super long, but I think that they picked their title track around February/March, which would mean New Emotions was set as their title track long before they got signs that people still wanted them around quite badly (May-July), so it makes sense they went with a trendy-sounding song by a popular current producer as a safer bet. I feel like New Emotions was their song to try to catch some of attention from the general market and remind people they exist, and their B sides fit their normal style more.
While I like Time Difference the best by far and think it sounds the most like Infinite (Sungjong was actually pulling for it to be their title track), I do think New Emotions is the most commercial and makes the most sense as a title track. It has a lot of replayability and actually weirdly grew on me even though the chorus really disappointed me at first. Like many people, I think its biggest flaw is a lack of a good climax with some strong vocal power, either replacing the chorus or at the end and extending the song. I have no idea how buying existing songs go, are you allowed to go back and say, “Ryan, we like the song, but can we have a new chorus” or is it take it or leave it?
Anyways, I’m hoping that if they gain some confidence, they’ll go closer to their existing style. I’m not sure who they’d ask for a song though, I don’t think BLSSD’s recent stuff sounds much like Infinite either. I wasn’t super impressed by his B side on this album.
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Came here again after finding out that Woohyun spent months recovering from cancer earlier this year. Holy jesus, if anyone had a good reason for laying low on the belting or voting for a flawed title track, it was absolutely Woohyun, oh my god.
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Amen to that.
What shocking news…
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I really have to wonder if this affected everyone’s song choices for the album. Woohyun’s health issues started around the same time as Infinite Company’s founding. If you’re worried about the health of one of your members but he’s insisting on performing, you’re all probably going to be inclined to less intense songs. I wondered about customization before, but there’d be no reason to ask composers for a classic Infinite climax if 1/2 of your classic duo is having trouble breathing.
I remember being all, “Why didn’t you extend your long note in Time Difference, Woohyun, that’s begging for a proper belt,” and I take it all back. Now I’m just grateful he sang all his old parts at their concerts. I hope he didn’t overexert himself.
I can’t believe Infinite had both their main vocals knocked out of commission in the span of a few months. Right when the last member was discharged too! Talk about bad luck
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It’s a pretty nice (although short) song, but it’s nothing “The Chaser”-worthy. I do agree that this song lacks a bridge and a vocal climax to get things going. I guess it could help the song a bit. But yeah, I get how underwhelming the song is for a very overdue comeback.
Can’t wait for your in-depth album review though!
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Infinite is back!!! 😀
I agree with the majority of commenters here that this doesn’t feel like peak Infinite. It has a little too much restraint for my tastes as well, though the distorted vocals are interesting in their own way.
I’m impressed that there’s not a single dedicated rap verse in this, though. That feels rare in K-pop nowadays.
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aw i feel like im one of the few ppl here who actually likes the song. i know its not some of infinites best work but with a discography like theirs, its hard to compare. i personally feel like it gets better with each listen. its has a sleek and groovy charm.
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I know most comments express disappointment but this song is perfect for them, in my opinion of course.
I agree it could be longer and maybe something else, depending on your expectations, but since I reigned mine, I think it is current, mature, elegant, and the more you listen to it the better it gets✌🏻
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This one’s really growing on me.
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It’s sleek and sexy. With regard to their performance, I enjoy seeing the confidence that comes with experience, so different from the cockiness of younger performers (not that I have a problem with younger performers trying it on).
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It is incredible to see Infinite back, together!
I only ever became a fan of them much, much later on, so I think this is technically my first comeback with them as a fan..?
This is where my bias shows, a lot. From any other group, I would likely find this a bit bland and boring. Infinite carries this with an ease, a confidence and charisma you only see in seasoned groups. It makes the song for me.
However, I understand the disappointment, too. Like SHINee, Infinite is a group that has tons of skill and experience – they could do something original or something outstanding and succeed spectacularly. When you think about that, this song does feel disappointing.
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