Song Review:: N.Top: WE:DISCONNECT- Stay With U {Debut}

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  •  Release date: 2025 August 6
  • Album tracklist: Stay With U, Take A Shot, I'm Not Okay
  • Album runtime: 9 minutes

 New boy group! They're labelmates with ABLUE, which is fun, but most importantly the maknae is already twenty! A couple of them have already debuted as soloists, or in bands. I also had a little bit of a difficult time with finding them, so I'll provide their links to: Spotify, YouTube Music, Apple Music, and Melon. I think the Melon link goes to the whole album, and not this song specifically, but I'm just glad to have found the share link for it because my Korean is not great still. The title track is over three minutes, even though I did technically have to round that up to get to the nine minutes, and three songs is better than a one-song single for debut. A bigger sample size will always be better, especially when I eye how many views the music video has and how difficult it is to find either the group or the song. I'm not kidding. Even my one playlist that I regularly check to see if I missed any new songs doesn't have it and I had to use my computer to start playing it so I could listen on my phone, because I couldn't find it when I searched on my phone. 

This is a very pleasant instrumental track. It's got a little bit of a bass, not enough to fully ground it but it is enough that the song has a little bit of weight to it. We get some tempo shifts, which is nice, but the sound remains consistent through the whole thing other than the brief a cappella section. The lack of big variation means that the song doesn't really have any surprises in the instrumental. I do really like that opening bit though, because it has a light sense of whimsy that the rest of the song lacks, which is a little bit of a surprise considering the age of the members. The song feels like it's cute-adjacent rather than being a cute concept. It's definitely bright and happy, but I wouldn't call it carefree. Which is nice. It's a little refreshing.

Well, we have another debut song where we don't get a big showcase of vocals. I don't understand it. Instead of trying to show off vocals at perhaps the most critical time for a group, N.Top is given a song that is quite lovely, but not exactly what I would call vibrant and demonstrative. That's not to say that I don't like the song. I keep catching myself wanting to sing along because the choir kid in me is like "This is doable. Let's go." But at the same time, I'm left a little bit frustrated. Shout out to the rappers though. The rapping gives a much needed texture shift to the song to keep it from being too soft, though. They give the song a little bit of bite, especially the one who gets to shine with the a cappella. It's not often you see the rappers get no instrumental underneath them.

Because this is the debut, I'm going to briefly mention the other two songs on the debut, multi-song single, because the sample size is limited and they obviously need the attention and help. Please refer back to the first paragraph. The longer of the two, Take A Shot, is another of the milder love songs, like the debut track. They exist in similar social circles, so to speak, with the same strengths and weakness. I'm Not Okay, by contrast, has a little bit more of a grit to it. We get some falsetto, which is nice, and opening with whichever of the six that is sets the tone well. I actually really like the instrumental track on this one.

Okay, so I will give this to the company. They gave them a proper music video at debut. They could have gone with a full vibes and visuals music video, which would have matched the tone of the song and I would have been disappointed, but understanding. But a science fiction music video? Yes, please. Also, one of the members made me laugh, because we have another Ren situation, where I thought that member was a girl and I was confused. And then I realized I'd done it again. I have no idea which one he is, but he delights me because of this, just pink/brown instead of blond, but the hair style is very similar. The green screen is a little bit heavy-handed and noticeable, but at the same time, it could be seen as sort of a reinforcement of the idea that their characters don't belong wherever they are. And the comic book aesthetic that pops up? The whole thing is just cute.



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