Rather than promote a follow-up track from their recent album, BABYMONSTER have taken the rare approach of releasing a new song just a month after their comeback. This reminds me of the old days of album repackages, which I miss very much. They made comebacks feel more like eras and stretched out the excitement. Unfortunately, BABYMONSTER’s Choom wasn’t particularly exciting and Sugar Honey Ice Tea doesn’t fare much better.
We’re in a weird era of K-pop girls sing-talking about sugary sour drinks over club beats. That’s a hyper-specific trend, but how else do you explain this double volley of Lemonade and Sugar Honey Ice Tea? As with aespa’s song, this has its fun moments but is overall let down by its lack of melody. The thing about this style of “charismatic” talk performance is that it feels extremely put on. Yes, K-pop has always traded in artifice (and I love artifice!), but without the sense of a beating heart behind the facade you end up with hyper-disposable drek that may get your blood moving in the moment but ends up being empty calories.
So, what makes Sugar Honey Ice Tea different from a classic K-pop track like… let’s say… T-ara’s Bo Peep Bo Peep? Both are silly, irreverent catchphrasey tracks over propulsive electro beats. However, Ice Tea is a constant stream of “I, I, me, ME” posturing and lacks the candyfloss hooks this style demands. It takes itself weirdly serious, as evidenced by the momentum-killing trap drops that fracture the song’s flow in service of — I assume — some bid for musical credibility. Terminally online K-pop fans will counter this review with a “you just hate fun!” critique, but if “fun” is what Sugar Honey Ice Tea is aiming for, there are so many things it could do to be legitimately cheeky. Instead, this is a copy of a copy, corporatized down to its bone.
Hooks
6
Production
8
Longevity
7
Bias
7
RATING
7