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.
VERIVERY’s new mini album is an interesting study in contrast. You can practically feel the tension between what their agency thinks might help them internationally, and what the group actually excels at. It’s not that they can’t pull off a song like Thunder, or even that it’s a bad piece of pop music. It just renders them completely generic. All their unique energy is gone, replaced with a performance that could have been delivered by any boy group this year.
I really do understand the temptation to go darker. When agencies see how successful it’s been for a lot of K-pop acts internationally, I imagine the dollar signs light up in their eyes and they think: “well, why can’t we do this too?” But, the problem is that this sound has become over-saturated. Unless you’re willing to do something different with it, I don’t think it’s going to help many groups’ chances in the long run.
Face You’s tracklist exhibits this struggle with stunning clarity. Its two darker tracks kick off the album, followed immediately by a drastic shift in sound and energy. The sudden reversal is jarring… and telling. I still think that Beautiful-x would have made the best title track. It’s easily the strongest song, and very well-suited to this season. But, Skydive comes at a close second. Structurally, it’s a little more generic, but I enjoy the percolating electro beat and strong kick to the instrumental. The chorus drips with a satisfying disco sheen, harnessing the timeless power of roller-rink synths without an ounce of trap to be found. A more memorable chorus would have put this over the top, but I’d be quite satisfied to hear an entire album in this style. Given this year’s track record, that would be a minor miracle!
| Hooks | 8 |
| Production | 9 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 9 |
| RATING | 8.5 |
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The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
When it comes to talk (or just to think) about Verivery, I can’t do anything but asking me – or whoever else – “what exactly Verivery are made for?”.
Although I like a few songs by them (and Skydive is definitely my favourite), I completely miss their value proposition in the KPop scenario. They’re that kind of eternal rookies with an undefined market positioning whose career can go on for over a decade without leaving any trace of their existence (apart from 10MLN average views on YouTube, *OK*).
Did – or will – they have to replace VIXX like Golden Child have to replace INFINITE? At least Golden Child created a strong sense of continuity between the past and the present, driving them lots of orphan Inspirits. But Verivery have no drop of VIXX heritage in their blood: they could easily be the contestants – and maybe not even the winners – of every generic talent survival show in the last 5 years with a glimpse of everything but nothing really remarkable.
And it seems Jellyfish isn’t doing that much to build their artistic identity in a(ny) different way.
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This might sound harsh but IMO even VIXX kind of lost what made them VIXX towards the end…their concepts, while visually pretty, felt lightweight and more “symbolic” compared to the intensity and thought put into their earlier work, and their music became a bit watered down with trendier elements as well. like Jellyfish was on autopilot a bit, and unfortunately that’s continued with their other artists, even if they at least TRIED to give Verivery a unique identity at first.
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Rather than making VIXX too trendy towards the end, I really feel like the main issue was money… Jellyfish appear to be nearly flat broke at the moment. They launched Gugudan and VERIVERY a bit too close together and it seems they’re completely financially drained. VIXX’s last few comebacks were noticeably way lower budget than before and the company wasn’t even paying for the member’s transportation anymore.
For example, VIXX actually had a music video for Parallel that was so low budget and embarrassing, Jellyfish immediately removed it from their YouTube because the backlash was so severe lmao. That music video is almost fandom lore at this point because it was snatched off YouTube so quickly, many never saw it.
There are pics showing VERIVERY members are running around in shoes with the soles coming apart… I have no idea wtf is paying to keep Jellyfish’s doors open atm. The switch to dark concepts might bring up VV’s youtube views, but I don’t see it significantly increasing their cash flow since ifans are much stingier with their money than kfans.
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I don’t think this comment is veri fair at all. VRVR had a pretty unique sound/image early on. New Jack Swing/Retro however you want to categorize it. The issue is that soudn didn’t connect and the sales/reception wasn’t great so now the image is evolving to a more generic/popular style. to just say they have no value within Kpop is beyond hyperbolic and unnecessary as well.
The group is heavily involved in the creation of their albums both musically and also artistically in the form of their DIY versions and also directing/editing/producing Music videos themselves as well. They are far from generic compared to their peers. Their vocals are imho some of the strongest of the new crop of boy groups, and their dancing is also much more competent than others in terms of sync and skill. They are not sub standard in any sense of the word
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