Song Review:: AB6IX: BORN LIKE THIS- NVKED

 

• Release date: 2024 October 10

• Album tracklist: In My Vein, NVKED, Forever Young, Hurt Me, Butterfly Effect

• Album runtime: 16 minutes

So, hilariously, I just started re-watching Produce 101 S2 today. I'm seeing a lot of faces I recognize from other groups that debuted later, so it's been a much more enjoyable experience this time around. And then I see that AB6IX dropped their ninth mini album as well today! That's a good coincidence right there.

This is some groovy funk going on. I was trying to decide if it was disco, because this is very clearly dance music, or jazz, because of the lovely saxophone. And then I remembered that funk exists. There's a saxophone in these instrumentals, which given that the perception of that particular instrument is one of the sexier ones, matches the lyrics well. The saxophone is a great addition to what otherwise would be a fairly standard addition to the recent trend of music to come out of the younger boy groups especially. Not that these guys are necessarily a young group, not when they've got company dongsaengs of their own that I'm also watching on a survival show, but it's a sound that I'm still hearing a lot of from the younger boy groups right now. The topic of song is not one for the younger groups, which makes that funnier.

You know, I actually love the fact that there is a falsetto on display. Or more than one, I'm not sure if those are two different voices doing that part. And I also love the tone of the lower-voiced rapper. They could do some really interesting harmonies if they can get him to sing. There already are a lot of harmonies going on, even during the chorus. Is the chorus harmony a double recording so that whoever is singing the part doesn't have to try and dance while using their falsetto? I don't know. I do not know their voices well enough to be able to figure that out, and I'd likely have to watch a music show stage to be able to tell for more certain. But I genuinely love what they're doing with the vocals. The harmonies are fabulous enough that I forget I've heard quite a few similar songs recently.

The music video is a lot cuter than I thought it was going to be. Not that I'd necessarily call it cute and adorable, but on the spectrum of sexy <-> cute, I was expecting it much further on the sexy side than it is. I'm not sure that there was a lot of a storyline to be seen, but since this is a "here for a good time" kind of song, it's not a necessary ingredient, though I would have liked it. Also, the hints of the choreography we see? That looks intriguing and I wish they had just a little more of it, but I'll just have to watch a comeback stage or dance practice video when/if it comes out.