Song Review:: THE BOYZ: a;effect- Stylish

• Release date: 2025 July 28

• Album tracklist: Stylish, Talk, You and I, Constellation, AURA

• Album runtime: 15 minutes

 Taking advantage of the weekend and the slowdown in releases to get this one done so that I can finally add it to the week it got a music show win. I'm deeply frustrated by what's been going on at their company with them, and I cannot imagine how angry the fans are. I'd be stubborn about some things, like with fan chants. But, anyway. Here we are. And even though the album runtime is fifteen minutes long, the title track is the shortest of the bunch and gets averaged out by the three-and-a-half minute song. Not my favorite thing, but it could be worse.

There are some interesting things going on with this instrumental. It's got some sirens in it, which I really appreciate, but they're kind of constant through the entire thing, which I don't like. It's a little bit too aurally grating, so I can't actually listen to the song on repeat like I normally would. I hit the halfway mark on the second listen and had to turn it off, because it was a little overwhelming. I'm blaming it on the fact that I've lived in a city for only part of my life and had to learn that sirens are bad. The beat is good and strong, which is something that I also really appreciate. The lack of any strong variation irritates me. There is a pause in the regularly scheduled programing right before the ending, but then it resumes with no change. It's the rare song that makes me glad that it's only two-and-a-half minutes long.

...This song reminds me of Gnarly by Katseye, which I also wasn't overly pleased with. This isn't a particularly pleasant song, more like stagnant bog water. There's an oblique reference to them being able to sing, when the omnipresent instrumental backs off, but for the large part, it's stuck in a sing-songy... I don't know. I hesitate to even call it rapping, because as far as I can tell, it doesn't require any talent, which is stupid because I know the members have talent and skill in spades. You wouldn't know it if this was the first song you'd heard by them.

Well, it looks nice. We do have the problem of this being more of a performance video than a music video. I'm not entirely sure I understand what their company is doing, especially in light of the fact that they pulled an SM regarding Haknyeon, which is never something you want to do, but it looks nice. (It also feels like a rush job to distract us from the fact that he's suing the company, as he should, and that does mean I'm a little bit peeved that it got a win under these circumstances, but I'd never tell the fans a group didn't deserve a win because it's not their fault their company has turned out to be following in SM's steps). We get less choreography than I'd want from a performance video, but what we do get looks like it's fun and delightful to watch, so maybe the live performances are better. That's my hope, anyway.