Song Review: Lovelyz – Lost N Found | The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion

The quality I most appreciate in Lovelyz’ music is the very same one that may turn some listeners off. Since debut, the girls have pursued a specific synth-pop sound – fizzy and light with complex instrumentals. They’ve pushed outside the lines here and there (the effervescent That Day and For You), but have more or less stayed confidently in their lane. Yet, as predictable as their music can be, it never feels pedestrian. It’s the perfect match between artist and sound. Whether it’s to your taste or not is another question.

Lost N Found (찾아가세요) reunites the girls with producer Spacecowboy from the OnePiece team. Sweetune takes charge of the lyrics, which is an oddly limiting role for them given their gift for a melodic hook and dynamic arrangement. As you’d expect from this division of labor, Found is much more indebted to the off-kilter electronics of OnePiece than the lush vocal layering of Sweetune. That’s understandabe, since Lovelyz pulls off this sound so well.

The song’s sprightly pace maintains the bubbly energy of the group’s past work, but there’s a newfound maturity in the vocals. Its ethereal tone seems to pull from peers like Cosmic Girls and Oh My Girl. Found lacks the power of the former and the quirkiness of the latter, but brings an added sense of depth thanks to its intricate production and silky vocals. The instrumental never sits in one place for long, chock full of chiptunes synths that constantly scatter in all directions. Wisps of strings tug at the arrangement, threatening discordance but always managing to fit just in place. I would have loved to hear the song build to one definitive climax, but its chorus is brisk and delicate enough to act as a memorable centerpiece. If you’ve enjoyed Lovelyz’ music in the past, there’s no reason you won’t love this, too.

Hooks	8
Production	9
Longevity	9
Bias	8
RATING	8.5

7 thoughts on “Song Review: Lovelyz – Lost N Found”

I can never tell which Lovelyz song you’re going to like! Some of my favorites you don’t like so much, and then sometimes (like with “That Day”) you end up loving them. OnePiece may be distinct in their sound, but they definitely don’t produce pop songs like really anyone else in kpop right now. They have a certain affinity for melancholy and economical arrangements that actually have SPACE (as regarded to the rest of kpop, in which arrangements have zero empty space), both features that I love in my pop music. Spacecowboy in particular has some very excellent electronica songs on his own, but I’m willing to bet that Yoon Sang did most of the melody-writing, because what’s here is nice but not as strong as past OnePiece Lovelyz songs. The arrangement is, as gorgeous as always, if a little random, but I don’t know if the song is there. Perhaps I’m harsh on Lovelyz because I’m constantly waiting for another Ah-Choo, which (don’t @ me) is still one of the best songs in kpop.

Maybe it’ll grow on me, like a certain other cocaine-fueled fizz explosion from 2018.

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Nick says:

November 27, 2018 at 5:22 pm

I will say this… there’s never been a Lovelyz track that hasn’t grown on me. I think I definitely underrated their 2017 title tracks, and you know how much I love That Day.

The only song that’s never really clicked with me is Destiny, which is weird because so many love it. I can objectively see that it’s a solid track, but I find something about that chorus too repetitive.

On the other hand, I feel like I’m enjoying Lost N Found more than most people. I wouldn’t call it Lovelyz’ best, but I think it’s a super-solid distillation of their sound.

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