Rundown: ITZY, HYOLYN, SEVENTEEN, NCT U, SF9, more

Just an absolutely brutal week, to be honest. ====== SF9 – “SCREAM” [embedded content] Peppy but ultimately it doesn’t feel like it goes much of anywhere and there’s a lack of anything melodically appealing or hooky to get me to want to return to it. —— Me:Us – “Wind” [embedded content] I am glad the former Nine Muses duo of Hyuna and Hyemi are staying around, even if it is for boilerplate city pop stuff. —— ITZY – “Sneakers” [embedded content] Not nearly as bad as everybody online in the buildup was leading me to believe it would be, but “I’m not like the other girls” song #3234 is not nearly catchy enough for me to care about. —— BUSTERS – “Tropical Romance” [embedded content] An attempt at a summer bop that was honestly a painful listen at times, honestly. —— HYOLYN – “NO THANKS” [embedded content] Don’t blame her for going with the whole unaffected, flat, repetitive droning choruses that seems to be the trend nowadays, as people clearly like it even if I don’t. That said, it’s still rather disappointing that she would choose a song that basically seems made for a sexy soloist who CAN’T sing. —— NCT U – “Rain Day” [embedded content] It’s not necessarily a vocally unique or impressive showing here, but it has a brisk rhythm to it at least, and fans should be able to eat it up since it’s a cautious and well-worn template. —— ILY:1 – “Que Sera Sera” [embedded content] A bland and pitchy version of early A Pink and Lovelyz. —— SEVENTEEN – “_WORLD” [embedded content] Light and safe and sorta there in the background, but aside from the excellent “Rock With You”, their music output since the HYBE move has left me wanting.