Song Review:: tripleS: ASSEMBLE25- 깨어 (Are You Alive)

• Release date: 2025 May 12

• Album tracklist: @% (Alpha Percent), 깨어 (Are You Alive), 추리소설 (Detective Soseol), 어제 우리 불꼭놀이 (Firework Diary), Love Child, Persona, Too Hot, Diablo, Friend Zone, Love2Love

• Album runtime: 30 minutes

 This is the second of their full group releases, correct? I don't think I actually listened to the first one last year, although I heard pretty good things about it. It's also incredibly ambitious for the company, and I applaud that. However, especially with how many members they have, I'm diametrically opposed to the age of the youngest members because at that point the company is being ridiculous. They clearly had enough trainees. They didn't need to debut any of them under the age of sixteen. So the group as a whole is going under Underage Protocol until 2028, unless they get another maknae, but the subunits will be on a case-by-case basis. I think that's the most fair way to do things. Also! This song got a win on The Show, so I'm very excited for that.

As a side note, Detective Soseol is getting added to my playlist for underage groups. It started playing because I didn't manage to pause in time and I was instantly sold. Which is annoying, but it's only until 2028.

Are You Alive is prevented from being too soft by the grungy feeling to the bass in sections. But because it's only in a few sections, that provides the song as a whole a good deal of variation, something that I always look forward to. Best part is the "la la la" section where the instrumentals go a little clangy, and then soften into something a little sweeter.

I'm getting kind of CRAXY or PIXY vibes off of them a little, both of which is super cool for me because I love those two groups. I can't decide how much I like the amount of time spent on the "la la la" parts, because while they do give the song something of a haunted doll, creepy kid vibe, they take up a lot of time for the song. It feels a little like they're about half the song, which is excessive, but at least the run time is over three minutes long, so it could be worse. We've got some ad-libs, but no big explosion of sound.

Hello, storyline. Apparently, this music video is like a continuation of Girls Never Die, which I haven't listened to and didn't watch so I can't speak on the validity of that statement. What I can say is that I got some major post-apocalyptic, cult vibes off of it. Did they bring about the end of the world? Maybe. Did they also survive it? Yes. And you know, I like that. Even if bad things are your fault or even if they aren't, it's a moment where yes, you have to live with it, but the point is that you live, even if you're bruised and bleeding, even if it isn't easy. Sometimes you get to bandage yourself up. Sometimes someone else gets to do it for you when you can't do it all on your own.  It's a good message. Also, I love the choreography. The choreography is incredible