Maybe this’ll be their… er, *NSYNC’s first single went gold, so I’ve got nothing…
[Video]
[4.90]
Will Adams: Don’tcha like that dirty pop? Boys Republic do.
[5]
Madeleine Lee: How does a tabula rasa boy group like Boys Republic keep getting such unconventional beats? It’s common for bottom-rung Korean idol groups to get the fabric ends of whatever producers weren’t able to sell elsewhere, with the patterns ranging from mild to wild; somehow, Boys Republic’s camp has managed to consistently grab the interesting ones. Not that the shrill whistling and belching bass of “Dress Up” are anywhere near as cool or fresh-sounding as “Video Game” or “L.I.U.,” but that was coming from Dsign Music, i.e. the same source as “I Got A Boy” and SHINee’s “Destination” (also EXO’s “Wolf,” which is inventive in its own way, I guess). The instrumental of “Dress Up” is a surprise coming from Dublekick Music, who are usually more conservative in their melody and production choices than this. They also usually make much better pop songs.
[3]
Alfred Soto: The bridge stopped me: harmonies supporting a melody as terrific as the one gracing the middle eight in *NSync’s “Girlfriend.” It’s all hooks, in fact, and without the unhinged wheels of fury of “Video Game” — a devolution.
[6]
Micha Cavaseno: It’s a sad day when you can hear a K-Pop single and think, “This sounds like this would make a great filler track on an album by one of those 90s Western boy bands that everyone purposely forgot, like No Authority or 911”. The production here is just a generic stomp and the fashion-obsessive angle the song takes on seems more or less cloying. If only they’d maybe dressed up the song a bit, they wouldn’t have been so easy to chuck in the bargain bin.
[0]
Jessica Doyle: There are a lot of nice little touches in the background — record scratches, bleeps and beeps, burping bass — but not enough to keep the melody from becoming monotonous.
[5]
Anthony Easton: I like the studio slickness and the rigour of the voices working in concordance.
[7]
Thomas Inskeep: I’m no expert on K-Pop and will never purport to be one, but I love the vibe here, which to my 40-something ears is very reminiscent of New Kids on the Block’s “The Right Stuff.” Riding some Fine Young Cannibals drums, maybe T-Swift should cover this for 1989, because this definitely has that year’s feel (while still sounding contemporary).
[6]
Patrick St. Michel: K-Pop boy bands of all stripes tend to follow a few general guidelines… they just tend to do it well enough that they don’t seem like cookie cutters. “Dress Up” touches on all of them — stainless pop where even the potentially abrasive elements (guitar) fit in like cogs, a great chorus, a rap part, an interlude that reminds you that EDM still exists. Here, Boys Republic sound fine, but they never really make any of those elements sound special. Undercutting them a bit more is the generally goofy lyrics, about wanting someone to dress up nice for their friends. If you need a song about a lover making requests that also sounds a lot more interesting, Orange Caramel have you covered.
[5]
Brad Shoup: We think of most genres as having expiration dates — one day they’re mined, the next they’re pastiched — but get a load of these bass and guitar timbres. It’s like a filthier Big Data, and it actually sounds like data. Our republicans aren’t great vocal shakes, but they handle all this nastiness professionally.
[6]
Sonya Nicholson: Always look up the lyrics before recommending a song — far from the transgressive meditation on dress and gender I was hoping for, this is a song is about loving your hot girlfriend for the social status boost she gives you. All Boys Republic’s singles to date have come from a similar Straight Male Asshole space, which may be why Boys Republic have yet to find much of an audience despite being managed by Universal (as are Wa$$up, for those keeping score at home). Have Universal made it their mission to break underground styles in S. Korea simultaneously — give or take half a year — with their break into the US mainstream? Oh yeah, and speaking of the music: “Dress Up” pairs an easy melody with accomplished production that’s Moombahcore-lite — the dubstep wobbles swapped out for old-fashioned electric guitar — making it, above all else, accessible. But hey, I just found out about Moombahcore, so that’s worth an extra point.
[6]