Song Review:: NXON: Ride or Die- Ride or Die {Debut}

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  • Release date: 2026 June 06

  • Album tracklist: Ride or Die Japan Version, Ride or Die, Wake Up Japan Version, Wake Up

  • Album runtime: 11 minutes

 Okay, everyone. This is a friendly recommendation that YouTube gave me that I then immediately looked up because I didn't recognize the name and wanted to make ure it wasn't an AI group, because there have been a few that YouTube has recommended to me and I have to decline those. I'm here for the human effort and ability with the actual performers. Anyway, they're made up of AWIN, which debuted early in 2024, and APEX, which debuted in 2018. Also one of the members is a Melody (BTOB fan), and fan of my man Hui from Pentagon, and auditioned for Peak Time. The maknae was born in 2001, which means the group is not on Underage Protocol, and I am happy as a clam about this.

Okay, electric guitar. Hello there. The Tron vibes are strong with this song, and it's such an anime theme song, which makes sense since they've been promoting in Japan for months now, even before they debuted. There are a lot of very different sections to this song, and I'm pleased by this. Imagine how much happier I'd be with another fifteen seconds. There's a strong intensity to the whole thing that even the quieter sections can't be bothered to hide or disguise. It's remarkably appropriate for a song called "Ride or Die", you know?

I'm actually pretty fascinated by the vocals going on here. They sound very J-Pop, which, again, makes sense since they started their promotions in Japan and not South Korea. There's a very fitting rock intensity to the song that I like well enough to add to the playlist, and that intensity is there regardless of whether they're approaching or tapping into their falsettos or the much lower rapping and verses. It's a very fun song. I will however say that you probably shouldn't listen to this to try to go to sleep to. I can sleep to just about anything and it was trying to keep me awake. Not that I was trying to sleep to it, but I wasn't tired listening to it and crashed almost as soon as I turned it off. And that's the kind of review you can only get with me.

Well, that's a fun music video. It's got some.odd parts, and that angle that a lot of music videos are using these days with one member up in front very close to the camera while the members are doing stuff in the back (it reminds me a bit of documentaries of interviews), but there is also a storyline that directly ties back into what I can understand. 



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