Ahead of their debut later this month, boy group Newbeat is previewing their sound with several pre-releases. First up was the quirky JeLLo last week. Now, they’re cementing their style with Hiccups. It’s clear Newbeat will be aiming for a quasi-retro, somewhat gimmicky hip-hop.
There’s no shortage of boy groups doing this sound, which may make it difficult to stand out amongst the crowd. To catch my ear within this well-trodden sub-genre, a group needs to find excellent material that somehow pushes things forward rather than simply regurgitate tropes we’ve heard time and time again. There are moments in Hiccups that show potential, but they’re couched within a ton of silly boy group posturing underlined with hiccupy sound effects. Newbeat pull it off as well as anyone, but I’m just not the target audience for this song.
Hooks
7
Production
8
Longevity
7
Bias
7
RATING
7.25