Song Review:: WHIB: Rush of Joy- Rush of Joy

• Release date: 2024 September 30

• Album tracklist: Rush of Joy, Play

• Album runtime: 6 minutes

 The best part of doing this is getting to know a little bit groups that I previously knew only by name. WHIB could have, for all I know, debuted twenty years ago or at the beginning of 2024. I have no idea. I'm pretty sure they're a boy group, but I'm not positive, so this should be interesting. That runtime was also rounded up to the six minutes.

Ah, boy group that seems to have debuted last year. Nice.

I'm noticing a trend with a lot of the recent debuts, and this may be what sets fifth generation apart from fourth because I was very much struggling to differentiate the two, and other recent releases, that there seems to be a heavy disco influence and the guitar becoming more prevalent. I'm also hearing a lot of happy songs, but the ones who are debuting now, likely became trainees during the pandemic, or were trainees through the pandemic which is different in many ways from the ones who debuted just before or during the height of it. And look at the title of this single: Rush of Joy. Example A.

It took me like three listens to figure out why the opening of Rush of Joy sounds so familiar. And it was the word "rush" that finally answered that question because I'm apparently dense today. This song sounds a lot like Sugar Rush Ride by Tomorrow by Together, though this lacks the whistling that I find so intriguing about that song. Instead, Rush of Joy favors more of a celebration sound, one that would work well in a musical about high school or a graduation of some sort. But if it was in a musical, it would have to be an ending song, like We Go Together from the musical Grease or We're All In This Together from High School Musical. But still very disco.

The whispering was a welcome surprise to the song. It still makes the song sound similar to Sugar Rush Ride, but it also separates from other recent releases. Whispering is not as common as I'd like it to be. I'm not sure, if this was the only thing that they had available, if I'd be able to say what was special about the group. Something about their vocals reminds me of a trainee survival program in later rounds when they're given the new songs. On the one hand, it gives them a very youthful sound. On the other hand, while it's very good, those songs are also learned and performed in a very short amount of time and it's a little concerning that this is what I'm reminded of. But, the group is young. The members are also probably fairly young as well. (Although, and I just looked them up, they aren't that young and they're all adults now and were adults at debut, which is a win in my book). Still, they have good voices and I'm curious to see what they'll give us in the future.

The music video does have a storyline, I'm pretty sure, but it's not . The various scenes felt related, especially at the beginning. If I had to try to explain it, "WHIB are so hot that their dancing causes global warming," which is a delightful statement to be able to write. I did have to laugh a little at the newspaper. "WHIB's Stadium Dance Performance Becomes a Global Sensation!" Fast forward to the news report about global warming and their shoes melting from the heat. Connection between the two? I think so. It could also be a huge stretch on my part, but that's fine. Also, the part where the one gets his face cut by the glass was pretty cool, even though the continuity through the rest of the scene didn't have that cut, which is a shame because that would have made it even cooler. The cut actually gets the thumbnail. That's pretty cool.