Song Reviews:: IVE: IVE EMPATHY- ATTITUDE

• Release date: 2025 February 03

• Album tracklist: REBEL HEART, FLU, You Wanna Cry, Thank U, ATTITUDE, TKO

• Album runtime: 19 minutes

 IVE was one of the groups I briefly considered for the position of Emotional Support Group back when I was working through The Rage over NU'EST's disbandment. That position ended up going to BTOB, but they were on the list at one point. Unfortunately, one of the disqualifiers was the maknae age. Debuting at fourteen means that she doesn't turn eighteen for a few more weeks. However! Shout out to that runtime! There's only a single song on the mini album that is less than three minutes, and it's only just shorter than that. So I'm satisfied.

The relatively quick clip of the instrumentals makes this song designed for the dance floor, and even though there aren't any proper EDM dance breaks, something I fully admit to having a deep soft spot for, the song does have sections carved out to allow a dance break, with the vocalizations fully positioned to remain with the backing track so the members don't have to worry about doing the dance breaks while also singing. I'm given to understand that this song samples Suzanne Vega's Tom's Diner. Now, not gonna lie, I had to look up this song, because I didn't think I'd heard this song before. But as soon as I heard it, I recognized the part that was sampled for ATTITUDE, from ATTITUDE, not because I recognize the original song independently, and it is in fact the section that I identified as what would be well suited to stay with the backing track. 

They've got some good power behind their voices, though I'm still not overly fond of the shouting. However, if I must have the shouting, which I wouldn't qualify as chanting because of the lack of repetition and anything remotely related to a religious connotation, in order to have the strong vocals and some good texture, then I will accept it, especially since ATTITUDE doesn't rely on the shouting to make up the bulk of the song. The group is also only three years old, so I'm not necessarily sure that they have the proven heft to back up a song that one thinks of with a title like this, but at least the majority of the song isn't eye-roll worthy grandstanding. Confidence? Yes. But it could be a lot worse. Would I also prefer to have more of a storyline in the song rather than having it relegated to the music video (potentially, I still haven't seen it)? Yes. But it's okay. My disappointment in the topic doesn't change that this is a technically well-crafted song and all of the elements that make up their vocals, both singing and rapping, are incredibly solid. 

So, even though there's not a lot of color to this music video, because it's in an office, thematically, that seems appropriate. It's kind of a mindless drones kind of situation, where even if they look like they match in with the other office workers, the members don't act like they're drones in a hive. I wish there was more of a storyline going on, but there is one, sort of.