Review

Song Review: nævis – Done

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nævis - DoneIt’s been teased since aespa’s debut in 2020, and now SM Entertainment has finally debuted their virtual creation nævis. For those not in the know, nævis is (according to Fandom.com) “an AI system that helps the aes of aespa appear in the real world, allowing them to be seen by the real aespa members.” Okay, then. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather SM spend their money on the debut of their upcoming girl group.

AI has already begun to change the music industry and this kind of AI “artist” is likely to become more common as time goes on. As consumers and music aficionados, we must fight against it. Utilizing technology for art is one thing. Ceding musical expression to a computer algorithm is something else entirely. Done hosts a trio of human producers/composers, but you wouldn’t know it from listening to the track. It’s only a few notches above Eternity’s death spiral nightmare I’m Real, and that’s shocking coming from an agency as well-regarded and well-funded as SM.

Musically, I don’t know who Done is supposed to appeal to. It’s off-putting from the start, trudging through a defeated instrumental that melds dull percussion to vague symphonic synths. I can’t tell if the vocals are a heavily processed human or a robot halfheartedly reaching for notes, but either way the result can barely be considered singing. The execution moves from plodding monologue to screaming computer virus, rarely finding melodies that do anything beyond shrieking.

More than anything, I’m left with one question: Did anyone actually want this?

Hooks 5
 Production 5
 Longevity 5
 Bias 4
 RATING 4.75

Grade: F

56 thoughts on “Song Review: nævis – Done”

  2. I mean, I suppose someone will dig this. Not me. I spent a while wondering if they could make the figure any more ideal and still be credible. Disney princess doe eyes, where the eyes are wider than the wrists.

    And where did the cheek bones go? Are devoted followers going to get both their jaw bones and cheek bones shaved down to be more fennec fox like?

    It reminds me of the vocaloid characters for Jpop but use more contemporary technology. The Hatsune Miku’s of the world, but make it a few steps closer to the uncanny valley and attached on the backend to a real group.

    Its a pass for me.

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  3. Nick, that 4.75 is too generous. But then again, it is a slight improvement from I’m Real, but still horrible.

    The hooks is too whiny, it becomes too grating easily, like, she’s just shrieking, the production is really bland, like, as if they extended the BGM of some futuristic, dystopian movie.

    2.25 (2, 5, 1, 1), because AI artists will never get above 1 in terms of longevity or bias from me and I hope it never gets normalized. (Still surprised it’s rated higher than Joke, My Idol and Ice Cream)

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      • Well Nick tends to focus on the songs quality itself and I agree with him on this one (though I haven’t heard Joke), I vastly prefer this to the other songs. I could barely make it through My Idol and Ice Cream, this one is just kinda bland and repetitive with a mid vocal performance, I’d give it a 5.

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        • While I understand where he’s coming from, I meant it in a half-jokingly manner when I said how this song did better than the other 3 in ratings. The vocals sound pretty straining for me, and gets really grating to me (again, AI singing voice isn’t fully developed yet). I’d still give it a 2.25 or 3.25 (longevity bumped to a 5), but the rest remains the same

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    • And also, with all the energy SM’s wasted on this, they could have used that to promote their current artists, debut their new girl group, release aespa’s solos or/and bring Seunghan back (it’s been way overdue now)

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    • oh good heavens, I wasn’t even paying attention to the lyrics – though honestly half of them were unintelligible with the tinniness.

      sheesh

      … sheesh had better lyrics than this. This is very S&M of SM.

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    • I clocked that.. if it wasn’t so jarring and unpleasant I’d say this gets the award for Unintentionally Funny English Lyric of 2024.

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  7. An F? No way. It’s a B for me at the very least. I get that k-poppers might think it’s “weird.” But for me, this is totally 2009-2011-era London dubstep that labels like Hyperdub & Hessle Audio were putting out, and artists like early James Blake & Instra:mental. It could almost be on 5 Years of Hyperdub or 116 & Rising.

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    • lol no, the first years of James Blake or labels like Hyperdub have nothing to do with this song.

      I guess you are trying to see something revolutionary in Done but this is just a normal song with some AI winks. I dont think is bad, just mid, sounds more like the opening track in a pop album imo.

      Btw the video catch the concept better than the song.

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      • No, you’re right, in that the form and structure of the song is a pop song like most other K-pop songs. I assumed that what was being objected to were the “bells and whistles” on the production end, and I was trying to express the notion that that aspect of the song is what’s interesting to me about it, and, it draws from a body of past work which includes what Kode9 termed “dubstep mutations.”

        And I do think whoever was involved in that end of the song are aware of it. I intentionally mentioned Kraftwerk because AESPA’s previous single a few months back actually sampled Kraftwerk in a knowing nod to the “robotization” of aespa’s music. (At the time, Nick said they were sampling Planet Rock, but which also actually samples Kraftwerk.)

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  9. SM should’ve used that budget for literally anything else. Idk, maybe in reprinting old albums (or reinstating that production wiki website they had), but what do I know

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  12. In the 70s traditional music critics hated acts like Pink Floyd, Kraftwerk, and Tangerine Dream because they thought computers/syntheziers were taking over music and would render real live musicians obsolete. [Here’s Lester Bangs’ interview with Kraftwerk, for example: http://bigshotmag.com/features/26854/ ] It’s funny now to read those reviews, because we know the music was always the creation of the artists’ visions.

    As AI gains sentience, it’ll be interesting what kind of music they’ll like and make;)

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    • fuck that, ai is way different from the synthesizer in that it relies on an algorithm to essentially make an amalgamation using other peoples work, which is overkill for anyone wanting to get into the arts. meanwhile, the synthesizer still requires human work and doesn’t rely on stealing others’ work

      that along with the potentially harmful effects on the environment means theres no good reason for gen ai to exist in our climate

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        • I agree, it needs to be heavily regulated. But it’s definitely coming, no way to stop it.

          Even the free mixing tool Audacity now has AI capabilities. A few weeks ago I prompted it to remix James Blake’s CMYK in the style of Burial during his Untrue era. (Burial’s my favorite artist since he emerged in 2005.) Unfortunately, what it spat out was pretty bad. But wow, the day it can do stuff like this competently, I don’t know, I’m going to have so much fun with it. (Burial of course is still the author of his unique sound design and methodology. All AI would be doing is mimicking it.)

          I remember discovering on youtube some videos in which AI put Paul McCartney’s voice over some 70s Billy Joel songs, and I was *shocked* at just how McCartney-esque those Joel songs were. I guess because their voices are so different, it never occurred to me until hearing those AI McCartney vocals.

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  13. seriously SM could’ve done something else and focus more on AFOTS because I know they invested into that group that has actual people behind them, like I’m fine with Virtual idols as long as there is a real person behind it, but if there is no real person singing behind it and using AI for that voice, no thank you

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  14. I enjoy vocal distortion frequently enough and I like my fair share of amateur-produced vocaloid/vocal synth songs, but even with that fondness, Done didn’t really do anything for me. And it feels kind of gross to even engage with. As someone once said about AI-generated writing, “if nobody could be bothered to write it, why should I be bothered to read it?”. It just doesn’t feel worth giving attention to.

    Humans are extremely prone to projecting feelings and sentience onto objects. Put goggly eyes on a rock and people will coo over it. So it doesn’t exactly come as a surprise that people treat chatgpt like it’s a person even though it’s a glorified text predictor. So I wouldn’t be surprised if people develop an attachment to an AI-generated picture and AI-generated voice and start stanning someone who doesn’t even exist. But it all feels somewhat dire.

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  17. Boring ass song. People might listen to it out of curiosity, I doubt anyone is going to like it and stay. Every time a project like this comes out it gets compared to Vocaloid. If that’s what SM (and other similar projects) are going for, they WILDLY misunderstood what made Vocaloid popular in the first place.

    Vocaloid is a voice synthesizer, not AI. Anyone can buy the software and make their own Hatsune Miku song, all of the music is made by fans, which is what made Vocaloid appealing for so many people. Vocaloids were never supposed to sound realistic or replace human singers entirely. They were created as an alternative for people who want to start making their own songs but don’t have someone to sing for them. The companies that made these synthesizers (especially Crypton Future Media) figured out that Vocaloid sold better when they attached characters/mascots to it, and it was the fans who started treating these characters as “virtual idols”. Crypton saw a business opportunity, and that’s how we ended up with concerts where thousands of people cheer at a hologram.

    But yeah… When you remove the fan participation aspect, use actual AI, and the product comes from a multi-million-dollar company that can afford human producers and singers (which they’ve been doing successfully for almost 30 years), I don’t see why anyone would be interested.

    I sincerely hope this flops as hard as HYBE’s SYNDI8, and serves as a warning to any other company that might think AI music is a good idea.

    sorryforthelongcommentbutasavocaloidenjoyerireallyneededtogetthisoffmychest🤣

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  18. Ok – in the world of capitalism (yes, great start by me), eveything is a product pushed by a conglomerate, but behind every product, there is some talent (even if it is minimal). Now, behind every product pushed by a conglomerate, is a *____* – ergo, a conglomerate puppet which celebrates NO talent, only nameless programmers who are also not profitting off this. We are in a spiral downwards ladies, nowhere else to go.

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  19. An unasked for and unwanted Nævis solo debut before Seunghan’s return to RIIZE (assuming he ever comes back, atp), Yuta’s solo debut, Irene’s solo debut, OR the debut of the rumored new gg is INSANE. I’m so DONE with SM (no pun intended lmao)

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    • That Irene solo omg. Why would SM give us this soulless, uninspired, insipid, dull, tasteless, uncanny valley monstrosity when they have THE original visual, the one and only Bae Joohyun, right there? They had the aespa solos and that trot boygroup too. But sure, let’s give NAEVIS a solo debut.

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      • Oh, yeah, I forgot about the new trot bg, but I think their reality show is about to be aired soon. There’s been absolutely no updates on Irene’s solo debut or Seunghan’s return or expulsion from RIIZE though. SM has their priorities all messed up. :/

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  20. I think the world didn’t need Naevis, at least in the way she’s presented, but for people interested in SM’s previous…interesting roduction and release choices😂, I’ll leave these two links here

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  21. Reminds me a lot of K-DA, except without the good hooks, great production and great vocals. I can totally see the sound that they went for but I guess Riot Games is a different level of production all together

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  22. I think it sounds fine? Shares a lot musically with “Welcome to My World”.

    I think the voice is either a synth/vocaloid based on the grils’s voice or just legit just them singing and blended together. It is definitely too robotic, but also like. if she sounded like a real person, it would put us (or me, at least) into a weird uncanny valley and feel borderline unethical. This is alien enough to not feel too weird.

    The song is, admittedly, a bit of a snooze. But idk it could be cool if Naevis is becoming the villain or something in the future (straight-up did not watch the video; i have no idea what it’s about).

    Overall, not horrible, not particularly exciting. Re-arrange it a bit, get all four girls singing it, and you have a decent intro track to their next album.

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  24. Can anyone told me if this song is 100% AI written & composed without human touch (maybe included the prompt that human needed to propose).

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    • We cannot tell you that because there is no evidence of that. This song has 4 credited human songwriters, all of which who have worked on multiple projects. Best I can tell, no generative AI was actually used for this, unless it was used for the voice (ironically, madein’s debut likely has more generative AI than this). Unfortunately, it is humans who are responsible for this slop.

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  27. The music, I never expected it to be a funky tune that will end up on my playlist, but exactly what we got: something eery, otherwordly and not quite human sounding. Something that fits well into the aespa lore and story. And even though a computer and technologies might have created the majority of the sound and visuals there are still talented and creative humans behind those computers.

    Its a kind of sport to bash SM for this and that and everything (and yes, sometimes they are insufferable) But what I see is SM being very diverse in the release of music and I appreciate that. From their iScreaM label for those cool remixes, to SM Classic (has anybody listened to the Jazz version of Supernova??) to SM Station /Lab, opening their own R&B label to debuting a Trot group . I am not sure if any of the other agencies are so invested in arts and music in a wide range of genres that might not make them tons of money.

    Therefore I really dont agree with statements like ‘they should have used the money better’ or ‘they should concentrate on their ‘real groups’. To me this feels like they are expanding their portfolio with this and it makes sense to do it. Those technologies are here now and they are not going away.

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  28. I sat through the mv out of curiosity bc I remembered how Welcome to MY World was supposed to be naevis’ debut originally and I loved that song, but Done is so disappointing in comparison. I guess SM really didn’t want to risk aespa liking and taking the song again lol

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  29. nah cause if this was sung and performed by a real person then i think you guys would be eating it up .. what im trying to say is that done is not a bad song and all these poor reviews just dont make sense. im sure its a vocaloid production which means there are real people behind it, i dont see the ai.

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  30. Wow, what a difference from the YT comments!! I mean, it’s not my favourite song, but it does succeed in creating a very eerie, creepy, uncanny vibe, which I guess was the point. Naevis isn’t human, so the song doesn’t really sound “human” either. If it did, it wouldn’t fit with aespa lore…

    I find the song quite hypnotic, almost cult-like; again, this may be the intention, since Naevis can be read as a (very complex, manifold, and possibly internally contradictory) messianic figure. The lyrics do make some kind of sense (they clearly refer to the lore) – again, they don’t sound particularly human.

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  31. This song does me a great favour by sounding absolutely terrible. This way, it doesn’t require me to make a choice between my morals and my enjoyment!

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