The Singles Jukebox

A bunch of YouTubers responsible for this sentence: “The music video also announced the group’s official fandom name to be “Kpoopers” and color to be “gold & silver”, and lightstick handmade by Daina Benzon using a saw scroll.”

[Video][Website]
[4.00]

Thomas Inskeep: This K-pop parody boy band isn’t nearly as funny as they think they are. And their song is every K-pop cliche taken to the lowest common denominator.
[0]

Iain Mew: The sounds of K-pop are diverse and sometimes derivative enough that this can sound close to Backstreet Boys/N*Sync pastiche yet, without much tweaking beyond the language of the verses, still sound well-placed for a parody. If only they’d stretched to actually coming up with one.
[3]

Jessica Doyle: Points off for pulling punches — with their attention to detail, no way they didn’t think of “The next GD! / Next Bae Suzy!” — and repeating a 20-year-old-joke in the process. And we’re starting from a [5] to begin with, because BgA has taken a step forward from the shallower parody of “Dong Saya Dae,” but not far enough that “Who’s It Gonna Be” can stand on its own. The concept isn’t big enough for the full song, let alone in a 10-minute-long container, and the lines feel overly simple, as if they were specifically written for a non-Korean speaker to sing. I’ll put one point back, though, because “Our lightstick could be two colors!” still makes me laugh.
[4]

Alfred Soto: I’m impressed by the tick-tock percussion and the way this act wants it both ways: camp and exaltation, ominous block synth chords from a mid ’80s British duo and I-did-it-again euphoria.
[8]

David Sheffieck: An earworm, especially for a parody song, and an understated one despite its maximal production. That “This is only our second song!” is relegated to a verse shows how skillfully BGA are operating: it’s a hell of a punchline, but it’d be corny if it was shoved into the chorus. They commit fully to their idiom, and never let the joke get the better of them.
[7]

Will Adams: My opinions on parody music have barely changed: I know the orchestra hits are intended to be cheesy and overused, I know the lyrics are on the nose so the jokes will land, and I know the mugging is meant to heighten the ridiculousness of the subject matter, but it doesn’t make the song any less annoying. Making things worse is that “Who’s It Gonna Be” is industry parody, meaning we have to deal with comedic softballs lobbed at a broad-strokes sketch of what people assume the machine is like from inside the machine. And this is even before wrestling with a ten-minute music video that’s on the level of the Jem and the Holograms remake in terms of insight and quality. Who is it gonna be? Who cares?
[2]