Song Review:: KiiiKiii: I DO ME {Pre-Debut}

• Release date: 2025 February 24

• Album tracklist: I DO ME

• Album runtime: 3 minutes

 So this is a pre-debut release, which is something that I generally support. It's a good way to drum up interest from the public before the full debut happens, and gives potential fans something they can use to test the group before they commit. It's almost like a full scene trailer for a movie. And in this case, with the group being a March debut which I gravitate towards for an unknown reason, I'm tentatively excited about this group. But, as they're a debut, I have to check on ages. Debuting under Starship, that makes them IVE's younger sisters. The eldest is eighteen, turning nineteen this year, so that's okay. The maknae, however, turned fourteen two months ago, which is deeply infuriating. So I'm going to underage protocol, which means they get one listen for instrumentals, one for vocals, and at most two for the music video. Also, judging by the Hangeul, the group name is pronounced "key-key". But at least this song is three minutes long. Silver lining.

Ah, we're going for the watery echo at the start, which is a little bit of a worrying sign for me as a listener. Good news, there's a strong bass to ground it, but it's not always present. The beats of silence were a pleasant surprise, and there is quite a lot of variation in the instrumentals, technically, but it's mild and easy to listen to. And herein lies the problem. The amount of rhythmic ebb and flow is more lacking than I'd want it to be in a pre-debut single. This isn't making a splash. This is slipping quietly into the water with very few ripples. Have I mentioned how many groups have been debuting yearly since 2010? Too many. And with the current trending style still pretty present in this song, this isn't standing out too much from the crowd. I wouldn't consider this too much of a problem with a group with a few years under their belts and an established fandom, an annoyance but not too much of a problem. For a debuting group without an established fandom? Not making a splash could be problematic. There will be a lot of people who take a look at the group because of who they're debuting under and who their older sisters are (and the music video currently has over 6 million views on YouTube, so that could be a lot worse), but I'm a little worried about the longevity. And maybe I'm an alarmist. I hope I'm wrong.

The song starts off with echoing vocals to mimic the instrumentals, but that strengthens into well-supported voices that aren't trapped in the stratosphere, so it has that going for it. The pre-chorus and chorus are much softer compared to the verses. I'm pretty sure that I can hear the auto-tune on their voices, so it's too heavy to be unnoticeable (or less necessary; it depends on the reasoning for the auto-tune) but it's not heavy enough that it fully feels like a stylistic choice. The vocals, while definitely having potential, are very middle of the road. This is a pre-debut single. Show off those voices that I think are lurking underneath the auto-tune. Give us big belts. Give us a big range for those vocals. Make the song big in some way. Please don't give us milquetoast when there are so many other groups who are currently doing the exact same thing and have been doing it longer. 

It's a lot easier to sit on a horse side-saddle when you're wearing a skirt. For the record. We've got a vibes and visuals music video going on here, which I'm actually not too upset about this time. We're establishing the members, and this isn't even their debut song, so not having too much of a storyline isn't a problem. Also, it's not a slice-of-life music video, because I doubt the members spend that much time on horses on a daily basis. If I'm wrong, well, that's really cool of the company. But we're getting a look at what they look like and their vibe without aggressive costuming or dramatic camera cuts and movements getting in the way. This is quite satisfying to watch and feels like a more saturated introduction for the group than the song currently is. The actual colors of the music video are actually quite vibrant and varied, which I also like. They're also really cute and I like the vibes I'm getting from them. I'll be watching with interest for the next four years to see if they have any songs I'll be adding to playlists once the maknae is eighteen.

As a side note, and on the subject of auto-tune, I took the bus to one of the places I visited while I was in LA, and there was a woman who got on who was having a conversation with another woman on the phone. In the five minutes we were on the bus together, she called the other woman "delulu" about fifteen times, and I was very much struggling to keep a straight face because I was trying not to eavesdrop, but the half of the conversation I was listening to was very loud. I mostly agreed with what she was saying about autotune, but it was the accusations of delulu that forced me to do my best to keep public transportation etiquette. I have nowhere else to share the story. I hope someone smiled over it.