Song Review:: NAZE: NAZE- Pretty Pink Socks

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  • Release date: 2026 May 04
  • Album tracklist: Pretty Pink Socks, People Talk, Awesome, Seoul
  • Album runtime: 12 minutes

  Do I have other songs I need to be doing? Always. Is this just a b-side? Yup. But they did just debut and that means they need all the attention that they can get, so with my small contribution, here we are. They are in the CIX/EPEX lineage, in case you missed my review of their debut song (link above), and we have an eighteen-year-old maknae. All is quiet on the western front, everyone. And this one is over three minutes, so I'm happy about this as well.

Does this start a cappella? That's what we call a "Bold Choice". It's a very minimal instrumental through most of the song, but then it kicks up into more familiar territory. The interesting thing is that the instrumental doesn't feel like it matches the vocals very well on a structural level, which creates a dichotomy that forces you to pay attention because it doesn't do what it's supposed to. One of them is centered on the off-beat and I'm not sure which one it is. I know this sounds like I'm complaining, but that's interesting. I'm a little sad that this wasn't their debut track because there are Choices that were made for this song and that would have been so satisfying to have a debut song that stands out this strongly, but I understand why People Talk was chosen for the debut song and this a b-side. Not that it wasn't also interesting, but this is just je ne sais quoi. 

They barbershop quartet. I know I just used that as a verb and grammatically speaking, I'm stretching English's flexibility with that denominalization, but it's one thing that I really love about English as a language. There's so much going on vocally with this song that there are points where I just stop and sit here and blink. This is a rich song. There is a lot of fat and salt in this gravy. Almost the entire song we've got rapping and singing happening basically at the same time and the members handing the lines off to each other in the best way. Amazing. I love this. 

I love their music videos. This one had me laughing a little from the get-go. If they don't sell pink socks as merch, then what are we doing? What even are we doing here?

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