Review

Song Review: Fanxy Red – T.O.P

Posted on by 8 Comments

Now, this one’s interesting! Fanxy Red are an established C-pop group, re-debuting after spending some time training in Korea. I can’t remember this approach being used before — usually it’s Chinese K-pop idols leaving to perform in their (very lucrative) homeland. Fanxy Red are also known as a “girl boy group.” They all identify as female, but utilize more traditionally “male” styling as part of their concept. New ideas — and subversions of gender roles — are welcome anytime and anywhere. Sadly, their new single T.O.P isn’t nearly as exciting as everything else about them.

Despite being marketed as a K-pop track, T.O.P shares many of the hallmarks of Chinese idol releases. It’s not overly concerned with melody, and utilizes a bass-heavy instrumental that doesn’t offer much modulation. The group has a great rap line, stuffed with personality. I also love the sound of their vocals when layered together. We don’t often hear this lower tone when it comes to K-pop girl groups. It’s a nice mix of the traditionally feminine and masculine roles performers usually fill within this industry. If given the right song, I think Fanxy Red could really pop.

Unfortunately, T.O.P centers itself on a repetitive, throwaway hook that relies too heavily on the gurgling bass underlining it. This could have made for a fun pre-chorus, but the song needs a few moments when it cuts through the formula and absolutely explodes. The recycled trap beats and moody tone hold it back. As a whole, the production feels a little low-budget and unimaginative, which isn’t unusual for a smaller agency debut. Fanxy Red have piqued my interest, but I hope that they can pair their unique concept with equally unique music in the future.

 Hooks 7
 Production 6
 Longevity 8
 Bias 7
 RATING 7

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8 thoughts on “Song Review: Fanxy Red – T.O.P”

  2. I feel kinda pampered now by how everything in k-pop always sounds crisp and clean when i listened to this. My favourite part is probably bridge with the “down” refrain, should have been the be chorus

    And i can’t be the only one who thought this was a new girl group from zico’s company

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  3. I am digging the styling. But even the guys songs even lift up to tenor range, and this one never lifts up. And so it just S I T s. Also, I have no idea what language this is supposed to be. The pronunciation sounds like “none of the above”. It may as well be in Esperanto.

    Fun Fact: “Fanxy TOP” in the search boxes returns either “fancy tops” as in clothing or things I can’t repeat on a family friendly site.

    Off topic: The bass in this song is one that would make your car That Car that has the sub woofers cruising through the hood. I finally bought Zimzalabin when Umpah Umpah came out last week. I didn’t realize this on my new best earphones at the time, but the chorus of Zimzalabin also has a low subwoofer bass in the chorus. I am sitting in the school car pool pick-up queue, and the bass kicks in, and I am thinking oh no and how do I and oh the queue is moving and oh. Now listening for it deliberately, I hear it, and I am also thinking it is beyond time to buy real headphones.

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      • I think the autoboots in English don’t know what to do with “fanxy” as there are no obvious misspellings besides “fancy”, c and x being next to each other on the keyboard, and so they do a random forest pick a mix of alternate spellings. I am thinking more letters get replaced by the autobots with x’s and/or the “a” drops out. But yanno what, I am not going to test it out on my work computer. .

        I have mentally pronounced it FAN-ksee with fan rhyming with man can plan. At least that is how Zico seems to pronounce it. Does it mean something in Chinese or Korean for realz or in slang?

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