Song Review:: AIMERS: FULL COUNT- CALLED GAME

• Release date: 2025 September 25

• Album tracklist: Called Game, Truth & Dare, As Much As I Love You, Summer Rain

• Album runtime: 12 minutes

 Okay, so this is my first review for the group, which is always an exciting time, but because there are groups that also debuted in 2022 that I cannot listen to yet because their maknaes were fourteen, I do have to check. To my relief, it looks like the entire group was at least eighteen at debut, so I am good on that end, and the runtimes are also acceptable with everything under three minutes quite close and an average over three minutes. 

I think this is one of those songs that are going to be described as refreshing, which hasn't made sense because I apparently use that word to mean something else (I use it to mean unusual in a good way, as in: "After having months of milquetoast songs, having a song released that has texture and depth is quite refreshing.") It also helps that I recently learned the word for refreshing in Korean, but, again, it's not being used the way I usually use it, but rather in the "tall glass of iced lemonade on a hot summer day" sort of way which seems to be the primary definition, rather than the "breath of fresh air" sort of way that I tend to lean towards. They are related and this is linguistic quibbling and I'm aware of this. All of this to say that although this technically came out during fall, this is very much a summer song. The beat is bright but solid and grounded. The other instruments have an actual melody to them rather than simply being another beat in disguise, and there are high-pitched movements in them, contributing to the bright, summeryness to the song as a whole. Plus, and this is more of a me thing that I'm excited for, I love it when I hear brass instruments. They give the song a little bit of a jazzy air, but when combined with the higher sounds, makes everything sound happier.

Much like with the instrumentals, the group vocals are very bright and quite high-pitched. We don't really get a belt like I want. There is one, but it's stunted and feels a little too high for whichever member that is. He can reach it, which is impressive, but there's a tiny bit of a strain. And there's almost no vibrato to speak of, but at the same time, there's a surprising and delightful amount of vocal layering because there are soft ad-libs gently littered throughout the song, tucked back behind the main melody, including behind some rapping. The dichotomy of rap and singing happening at the same time is also one of my favorite things because it's a delicious combination of sounds.

There's a glamour lens on the entire music video. I love it. And while I'd normally classify this as a vibes and visuals music video because there's not much of a storyline, the use of the camera as another person nudges it into a slice of life music music video. It's very cute. Very sweet. A little bit sappy. This'll be a good time for people who are looking for rom com levels of cute.