Song Review:: Daily:Direction: First:Delivery- ROOMBADOOMBA {Debut}

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  • Release date: 2026 February 23
  • Album tracklist: ROOMBADOOMBA, Self
  • Album runtime: 5 minutes

 That is a fascinating title for a song. It's also incredibly fun to say, and I haven't even heard the song yet. But I get to do some investigating for all of us. So, Daily:Direction is a six-member new boy group under a new company called ODDWAVE, whose CEO was the creative director of projects for LE SSERAFIM, Stray Kids, and ZEROBASEONE, so I'm cautiously optimistic. The group has two previously debuted members (Kim Joohyoung formerly of NINE.i and E-VAN formerly of MIRAE). EN-KIM, Lim Jihwan, and Lee Wonwoo were all former members of various survival shows. And then the maknae is named Jang Yoonseok, and he turns nineteen in a few weeks, so we are good on that front. The pre-debut teasers have been wild though, so I'm hoping that they continue with this oddity. 

Wow, that started out a lot more mildly than I was expecting. Instead of going the high energy route, or the bright energy route, they went with something very chill. Interesting. There's very little drive to the song, and with how short it is (both of the songs are around two-and-a-half minutes and that's so disappointing, I can't quite express it), it's easy to space out and before you know it, the song is over. I'm definitely not speaking from experience here. It sounds like there may be bamboo instruments in here, maybe also a xylophone, chimes maybe. It's kind of a jungle-y mix of instruments that's on the laidback side of the vibe. Self has a lot of the same vibe instrumentally, if maybe a tiny bit more energetic, and I checked because I was curious. In both songs, there's a bit too much happening for me to comfortably be able to call it milquetoast, but since so many of the debuts the last couple of years have leaned into the energy and/or the brightness, maybe it will work out well for them.

We've got some good range in terms of pitch. We've got both falsetto and something a little lower than I was expecting, but that's a good thing. I'm feeling underwhelmed by this as a debut, but at the same time, I think if this wasn't a debut, I'd be pleased with this as a comeback. There's just not a lot of drive to the song. The ad-libs are also quite brief, so I'm a little disappointed by them, but then the song is only two-and-a-half minutes, so it's not like they have a lot of time to really show off what they can do. Still, this is their debut. If there's a time to show off, wouldn't it be now?

This is a weird, weird, weird music video, and I adore it. I adore it beyond all recognition of the word. What genre is this? I have no idea. It almost feels like a Monty Python title sequence, if that makes sense. I do have to admit that the after credit made me snort so hard I think I hurt my sinuses. What was that? 

You know what? I will take the chill, mild song because the nonsense of the music video would have been completely overwhelming if I'd had to deal with a louder song and all of that weirdness. I'm not even going to try to explain that because it is simply better if you watch it yourself. 

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