Today marks the debut of Cube Entertainment’s Nowadays. They follow in the footsteps of agency seniors Beast, BTOB and Pentagon, each of which debuted with a song very in keeping with their K-pop era. By all accounts, we’re now in K-pop’s fifth generation, but the boisterous OoWee feels more in line with the industry’s past few years.
I’m pretty sensitive to sound, and particular sounds tend to set me on edge. K-pop boys shouting in unison has slowly become one of those triggers, making it hard to enjoy any song that employs this technique. Unfortunately, shouty choruses seem to be sticking around, allowing for difficult choreography without all that pesky singing getting in the way. OoWee is the umpteenth boy group track to center itself around such a chant. I guess I should have known from its onomatopoeia title.
OoWee is fine. It tells me nothing about Nowadays beside the fact they can do whatever everyone else is doing. The rap is fine. The beat is fine. The attitude is fine. However, there’s not a single element here that makes me lean in closer. It’s pre-packaged K-pop of the most cynical kind, covering its lack of ideas with a slick performance and quirky music video.
Hooks
6
Production
8
Longevity
8
Bias
6
RATING
7