I don’t think I’ve ever reviewed a Greyish track on this site, but their name has always made me chuckle. Of all the possible colors, they just had to pick the blandest of them all (technically, it’s not even a color). The word conjures equally bland music, but that hasn’t been the case so far. I can’t say that any of the group’s music has clicked with me, but I appreciate how they’ve embraced the campier, high-energy side of K-pop.

New single Candy (캔디) is no different, though it actually dips its feet further into J-pop than anything else. The song seems to be targeted towards fans of quirky groups like Orange Caramel and Crayon Pop, though even they may find the delivery too cloying. Greyish tracks have often drawn from elements of trot music, and that influence is in full effect here. After a brief vocal-led opening, its instrumental strikes a peppy tempo with flourishes of electric guitar and plenty of celebratory bombast. It’s all very upbeat, but feels like an endless stream of anime-style musical cliches.

Through it all, Greyish give an overwrought performance that draws on elements of love-it-or-hate-it aegyo. Unfortunately, I lean closer to the “hate it” side (and the ridiculous music video doesn’t help…). Most of the time, Candy just feels quirky for quirkiness’ sake. I wish there were more layers to its bubblegum charm. A concept like this could be pretty cool, but Greyish can’t quite find a way to make this sound palatable to those who don’t already enjoy it.

~