Most of the time, a k-pop group’s title track is the best song on their album. But, sometimes b-sides deserve recognition too. In the singles-oriented world of K-pop, I want to spotlight some of these buried treasures and give them the props they deserve.
Song for song, ENHYPEN’s debut mini album is perfectly solid. However, I find it odd that they bookend the album with ultra-dramatic intros and outros, only to deliver fairly standard Big Hit style pop in between. It makes for an awkward listen, and has me wondering how carefully thought-out this release was. I’m all for the drama, but I wish it would extend to full songs as well.
With that said, the album’s centerpiece is the fun, bouncy 10 Months. To my ear, it’s the strongest melody the guys have found yet, and would have been equally suited to agency-mates TXT. The track opens with a lounge-like synth that forms the percolating backdrop for most of the instrumental. The verses aren’t particularly exciting, rehashing the kind of offhand refrains we hear so often from modern K-pop boy groups.
However, when 10 Months hits its pre-chorus, we’re treated to a fun little melodic twist that really takes advantage of the song’s serpentine rhythm. The vocals are given that frustrating Big Hit processing we’ve all grown accustomed to, but I think that haziness goes well with 10 Months’ atmospheric style. As straightforward a pop song as this is, it’s got a slight air of mystery that feels right in line with the aesthetic that ENHYPEN are seeming to embrace. A stronger chorus would have put this over the edge, but the unyielding groove scores it bonus points.
| Hooks | 8 |
| Production | 9 |
| Longevity | 9 |
| Bias | 8 |
| RATING | 8.5 |
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The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
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OK, disagree here. I find this one dull, 7 at best.
Even I know enough of the BTS oeuvre to know the melodic phrasings that are common in the Big Hit style, and this song is to my ears a bside pastiche of a grab bag of them.
For example, someone commented on the Enhypen post a few days ago that Big Hit should be called the Oh Yeah, but that is exactly the problem here, it uses that same interval on the lyric “All Day, All Night” and throughout with other lyrics as in Boy With Luv.
And true to typical Big Hit style, this song resolves to the tonic with so much regularity, its crazy. “The Truth Untold” came up on my great big ipod shuffle play the other day. So I listened to it again for the first time in a year or so. Resolves at the end of almost every single phrase. That makes it warm and comforting sounding, but doesn’t do much for me personally. Its like the old 50’s early rock songs that had the same I IV V progression every single line.
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Second this, they even use the exact same “oh yeah” 100 times more than in Boy With Luv
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I’ll concur with the other comment and say that I find this one, and really the entire mini, to be pretty weak, especially when compared to other BH releases this year (that’s kind of stiff competition, but still). And I’m not quite convinced they know what kind of sound their going for at all, which is odd considering both BTS and TXT started out with such distinct, signature sounds. I feel like they have a lot of potential though, so I’ll definitely keep listening.
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This track is cute, but it was almost comical to me how much more distinct and interesting the intro and outro tracks on the EP sounded while all the actual songs in between were about as bland as they come.
Groups attached to the BigHit name have the marketing power to pull off any bonkers musical concept they want, why don’t they just go for it….
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I’ve found myself coming back to this mini a lot in the last few days despite not being immediately impressed by most of it. Songs like Flicker and 10 months feel a bit underdeveloped to me, but little aspects of the instrumentation or melody (like Nick mentioned in this review) as well as the consistent groove are quite satisfying.
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i still prefer let me in but 10 months has definitely grown on me more. and i totally agree on the vocal processing in this one, it totally fits the song. i didn’t even take that much notice to it the first few times i listened to it.
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Why are intros and outros so much better than the full tracks? Unpopular opinion: But the title track is by far the best full song on the album. I just hope they later turn the bookends into full books (okay, that did not sound half as philosophical as it was supposed to be).
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I agree. To be honest, the album’s production is solid but with the presence of the intros and outros I find it very ok-ish. But still a great album.
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I think this song will age as one of the best b-sides of the year. It isn’t impressive at first listen but it keeps getting better. I’m now addicted to this and I can’t stop playing it lol.
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why am I feeling this song is messy, like … noisy in a bad way. I don’t like this one. I prefer more 20 cube.
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