Song Review:: CLASS:y: LOVE XX- Psycho and Beautiful

- November 16, 2024

Release date: 2024 November 15
Album tracklist: Psycho and Beautiful, Love Game, Psycho and Beautiful (Inst), Love Game (Inst)
Album runtime: 12 minutes

I'm almost positive this is a newer group even though I know next to nothing about them other than that they're a girl group, and that's only an assumption based on the name. So a quick sniff into the group is in order. Survival show group, recent debut like I thought, the oldest is a good age, but the maknae was fourteen at debut. Bummer.

Uncomfy runtime for the album. That time is rounded up.

I was going to say the instrumentals feel pretty representative of the genre which wouldn't have been a bad thing as that's why genres are established like they are, but there are some interesting little surprises where they speed up briefly or go to pure, slow beat. There are also brief moments of the song where the members sing acapella, something that I think should be a lot more common than already is. The instrumentals at the beginning have an echoey filter applied to them, to give them somewhat of an older feel, something that is supplemented by the shutter clicks and the DJ record noises. Even if vinyls are becoming more popular again, I still associate them with much earlier decades. And I appreciate the instrumental track, because it gave me an additional listen for the song I wouldn't have gotten, and some subtle sounds I didn't hear in the song with the vocals included. And as a side note, I really like the instrumentals for Love Game. I haven't listened to it with voices, but that's a spy movie soundtrack right there, maybe a little bit of a goofy one, but definitely a spy movie.

Their voices are a yes from me. Well-supported. Clear. Some of them are a little breathy at the end of their lines, but that's likely a producer thing if the various behind-the-scenes I've seen for other groups is any indication, and they don't spend the entire time being breathy, so it gets to be a feature, and not a game-breaking bug. The song is well within their ranges, so it sounds very comfortable. We didn't get any big explosions of voices, but the run time really doesn't allow for that, and the natural consequence is that even though they obviously sound good, they don't have an exceptional strutting moment for their voices, which is a shame because that's something I'd love to hear from the group, in the future because I can't listen to them right now recreationally. But if the maknae was older, I would definitely be looking into their discography. As it is now, I will simply have to wait and catch their comebacks when they happen. Although I'm not overly fond of the repeating "me". It's super catchy, it'll be a good earworm, but it rubs me a little bit the wrong way, even if there are some interesting effects happening to it. And since I mentioned Love Game in the instrumentals, I feel like I should listen to the vocal version. And the verdict is, I think I like it better.

Their outfits in the beginning remind me so much of Bratz: Rock Angels, it is not even funny, although some of them aren't wearing much. If they're comfortable in them, that's what matters though, and also as long as the maknae is wearing more clothes. It's a pretty simple music video, but very cleanly put together with some rather good lighting, camera angles, and effects. I appreciate the simplicity. The best shot was whichever member that was throwing the flowers at the wall, and the resulting petal explosion looked really good. I get the feeling that this didn't have a super high budget, but I'm also impressed with how much the crew has done with it.