Song Review:: AHOF: The Passage- Pinocchio

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  • Release date: 2025 November 04

  • Album tracklist: Everything is Love, Run at 1.5x Speed, Pinocchio, Never Lose You, The Sleeping Diary

  • Album runtime: 17 minutes

 These guys are directly up against my boys xikers right now for The Show. So I'm in a little bit of a weird spot with my personally feelings. Still. Just in case AHOF wins, which would be a huge congratulations for them, I'm going to make sure to get this one out so I'm not scrambling later. An almost four minute song. Perfect. I cannot tell you how excited I am for this. Actually, there isn't a single song that's under three minutes here. Warms my little heart.

They went for something very soft, comparatively speaking. We get the range, though, from the soft hug at the beginning, a point in the middle, and then towards the end to the softer rock. It's a gorgeous blend. We also get quite a lot of melody within the instrumental, which obviously is going to delight me, and that's audible even in the spots where the drums get more of a chance to shine. Genuinely loving this. It feels like such a big hug.

One, maybe two, of the rappers sounds like G-Dragon in style. They're not dead-ringers for him, but they inhabit the same general circle on the Venn diagram. Okay, with that out of the way, much like with the instrumental, we've got such a good range of tone. There's the harder rock to them in spots, with soft hugs in others. We sadly do not have any of the big belts I'd hope for with a song that actually has the space to do it without overcrowding the song. Still. It's very satisfactory. It probably won't satisfy the listeners who want the hard driving songs, but if you're looking for a safe space to settle, this feels like it'll be one of those. I'll have to check the lyrics, but I'm hoping I'm right. (We do get vibrato on some of the other songs, so I'm good.)

I'm so amused at what The Show has as the dueling songs.

Anyway. So on top of the gorgeous music, the music video is It. Using a set as a metaphor for artificiality and inauthenticity? Incredible. Actually, there's a lot going on metaphorically and I'm so here for it. I'm kind of in love. Ugh, I was hoping not to pick up yet another rookie boy group, but apparently it is what it is because this is storytelling. 



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