A K-pop act’s title track isn’t always the best song on their album, even if it’s the one most people will hear. 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.

I was pumped for Mirae’s long-awaited return, but even though I enjoyed title track Drip N’ Drop I’m feeling kind of nonplussed about the whole comeback. I’m not sure why this is. Maybe I just haven’t listened to the album enough times yet.

When it comes to pop music, I tend to be much more generous to songs with big, uptempo dance beats. I’m sure this revelation won’t be surprising to any longtime Bias List readers! A dynamic dance instrumental improves pretty much any track for me, and you can get by with a lackluster hook as long as you’re bringing the energy.

This applies to Mirae’s Welcome To The Future. Its chorus is the kind of shouted, vaguely structured hook that feels like adlibs you’d lay on top of a beat before going back and crafting your actual melody. Basically, it’s a rough draft. This approach would draw my ire if underlined by different production. But (and this is a big but!), the production on this is enormous. It’s not often we hear an idol act perform over a beat so robust and explosive. We’ve had all kinds of house beats thrown at us over the past few years, but they rarely commit so fully. This is practically rave music, and I adore the energy.

This bias results in a pretty high score, even if Welcome To The Future doesn’t do much as an actual song. It’s thrilling and frustrated in equal measure.