As tropical house has quickly fallen out of public favor, the artists that continue to subscribe to its specific template risk appearing out of touch with k-pop’s ever-evolving sound. When Hyeongseop and Euiwoong debuted as a duo last year, it was in the form of wistful mid-tempo It Will Be Good. That low-key single didn’t conform to the industry’s idea of what a title track should sound like, so it’s a bit surprising that they would return with Love Tint, which feels like every ounce of 2017 rolled into one song and released one year too late.

Even as I complained about tropical house’s ubiquity last year, I made it clear that the genre itself wasn’t inherently unpleasant. And Love Tint — as familiar as it is — isn’t unpleasant either. In fact, it builds on the duo’s past work by offering a more engaging instrumental. The addition of piano to the tropical production was a smart touch, and the entire structure has a nice build reminiscent of B1A4’s excellent Rollin’.

Unfortunately, Love Tint’s melody is slight at best. There’s not much to grab on to, and that includes the one-line hook at its center. Rather than provide a fully-developed chorus, the song takes the easy way out and supplies an unimaginative catch phrase that isn’t given enough weight to feel memorable. The instrumental does its best to compensate as it climaxes in a gorgeous sprinkling of synths. But although Love Tint is an enjoyable ride, it doesn’t do enough to distinguish itself from every other tropical track of the past two years.

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