Greatest Hits:: Tempest: Bad News

 Come one, come all to the latest addition that proves I either hate myself or just want to see myself suffer! As I said in the hub page, K-Pop has a lot of songs out there. So many, in fact, that I think it's worth revisiting some blasts from the past. So without further ado, we're going to go not very far back to 2022 to a debut song from a 4th Gen boy group. And, quite frankly, it's hilarious to me that The Wheel chose a March debut for me, since that is the majority of my first favorite groups and the first three groups I saw in person were all March debuts as well. 

It's a thing with me.

• Group: Tempest
• Debut Date: 2022 March 02
• Company: Yuehua Entertainment
• Status: Active
• Album: It's ME, It's WE
• Song: Bad News
• Release Date: 2022 March 02

I'm deeply entertained by the fact that I get to take a look at this debut. I love debuts. They really lay out the vibe for where a group is starting from. Obviously, groups change over the years as the members mature and as sounds change, but for most groups, their debut song is what the fans have to look forward to for a while. 

Bad News bursts onto the scene with a funky guitar, boisterous energy, and a lot of confidence, although a tempest is generally not something you want to be caught in generally. It's...bad news, if you will. However, I'm also so distracted by the fact that they're adorable. With the amount of confidence in the lyrics, you'd expect something edgier or more swaggy, but instead we got mischievous punks that just want to play. It's a very fun song, with a good mix of vocals and rapping, and in the context of when they debuted, their generation marked by the dark and intense performances of Tomorrow x Together, THE BOYZ, Stray Kids, Enhypen, Treasure, and ATEEZ, this song puts them a step apart from their peers, something that's important in a saturated market. It actually ended up heralding the upcoming wave of fresh and bright concepts with the later debuts of the generation. Or the next generation. I have no idea.

This is just a fun song. It's taken seriously, but it's not serious. The lighthearted, fun of the song remind me a little of early Seventeen, if Seventeen had done a title track that wasn't about love. It also reminds me a little of Astro. But mostly it reminds me of the older brother of xikers and TWS. Bad News has the playful spunk of xikers with the cheerful softness of TWS. It's actually a pretty cool combination that functions fairly well as a transition piece between the two styles of the dark and edgy vs the bright and fresh.

This is a celebration for fans of Hanbin. It really is. I'm assuming most of his early fans came from his time on I-Land, but they're all very excited to see him still smiling and still happy despite everything. And I'm really happy for him too in that regard. The whole group looks like they're having such a fun time. It's also cute that they all got a chance to ending fairy.

They're adorable. Look at them. They're having so much fun. And I'm hearing some tell-tale signs of live vocals in occasional breathiness, breathing, and not quite hitting every note, which makes me very excited! Plus, they've got that freshly debuted, bright concept glow radiating off them.

Hanbin gets the ending fairy for this one! And he flirts and winks and is just generally a total cutie patootie. Though they're all so smiley and joyful, his specific joy is something to behold. 

And also, because I really like this version because it's the pure choreography without fluff or fancy camera angles or exaggeration, this is the dance practice version. It's almost like getting to see it live and in person, on the internet, and somehow this version without getting the close-ups, makes the whole group even cuter. They're adorable, and this choreography does not look particularly easy. It's genuinely mesmerizing watching the different parts and members move and shift and change positions.