Song Review:: TUNEXX: SET BY US ONLY- I'm Alive {Debut}

• Release date: 2026 March 03

• Album tracklist: 100%, I'm Alive, Obsessed, Twenty Something

• Album runtime: 11 minutes

 Well, well, well. This is the new boy group for IST Entertainment, former home of The Boyz. And because this is a debut group, I need to check the ages, which I did before I started writing this and I found something hilarious. So this is a seven member group, with like four of them from Boy's Planet 2. Which is fine. Use the trainees you have and since most of them made it close to the end, they're likely that special blend of well-trained and slightly skittish that you often see with trainees that go through survival shows like that. But the thing I noticed, which made me laugh is that their birthdays range from January to November. Now, you may be asking yourself, "Fangirl, why is that funny? That's how birthdays work." It is exactly how birthdays work, which is why this is so funny. All of them, except for the maknae, were born in 2005, which means that six of their seven members are the same age. It's like TVXQ!'s original lineup, except bigger. And while the album runtime overall is disappointing, the title and debut track is over three, so I'm not too annoyed about it.

That is a choice to start off the song. That's not a passive sound even though it's so simple at the beginning, and it's immediately grounding while being completely stripped down. The simplicity of the instrumental in general forces the focus on the vocals. It feels a little bit science fiction-y, something I generally like as a theme or motif, and it's not something that I've heard a lot from debuting boy groups the last little bit. I'm a little bit fascinated that we've had two boy groups debut that are out of the ordinary so far this year, especially when they're both R&B leaning if not outright.

These are some sleek vocals going on here, with a nice rapping contrast. I'm here for the different textures. We don't have any of the big vocals I like, but occasionally we get brief, added layers to the vocals, which pulls the song away from the sleek trap. There's one of the members that reminds me a little bit of V from BTS in sound. He doesn't have quite the same low timbre, nor the distinctive huskiness that has my ears on attention every song V is in, but there's the same quality and vibe to it that I'm mentally cataloguing him into the same category. Saying that is also one of the highest compliments I can give, because I love V's voice. I'd metaphorically roll in it if I could. And that member closes out the song. I appreciate that, even if the song on the whole isn't one I overly like just from a personal taste level. But as a debut? Despite that, I think this may work well. 

What is up with the boy groups debuting with music videos that are bafflingly weird this year? Why is there a toad? Why do they have some sort of gingerbread man shaped chicken nuggets? I have questions. I have a lot of questions. But this also feels like it's taking itself seriously, and that's not something that works well if it's something this weird (see also: the difference between Sharknado and Sharknado 2: The Second One).