The Singles Jukebox

Today TSJ is split by their resistance (or not) to tweeness.

[Video]
[6.00]

Ryo Miyauchi: “Travel” comes from the same diary pages of “Some” with the latter’s teenage innocence informing the former’s wide-eyed gaze as well as its acoustic-pop bounce. Yet Bolbbagan4 loses some of its magic by broadening its sights to the point of reduction. While its previous hit charmed with a series of cute specifics, the duo is generic as it can be, from its made-for-ads chorus to a one-size-fits-all brand of small-town boredom.
[5]

Katie Gill: This is the cutest four minutes you’ll hear all week. Bolbbalgan4 give us a song that’s soft, gentle, and absolutely adorable. It perfectly captures that sort of ennui of being stuck in one place, but replaces anything sad and doldrums with a chill and relaxed beat. And those handclaps! That pumped up chorus! This sounds like it would score a montage in a romcom and I am LIVING for it.
[8]

Iain Mew: New York, London, Paris, my-y youth/Everybody talk about… pop rock music that needs a sweet tooth.
[5]

Ian Mathers: Setting a reminder right now to put this on my phone the next time I have to take a plane somewhere.
[7]

John Seroff: Like a candy bar left on a car seat too long in the summer heat, “Travel” is sweet, unctuous, and a solid minute to the left side of unpalatable. If you need a quick rush, I suppose this will do in a pinch.
[5]

Alfred Soto: Boasting the piano-drunk exuberance of the Corrs’ “Breathless” and Shuma’s “What’s It Gonna Be,” Bolbbalgan4’s bauble could sport a faster pace, perhaps a remix to unleash its potential. In its current form the sweetness is earned.
[7]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: The sterile, stock music-esque instrumentation has a simple sincerity to it that’s slowly revealed with every vocal melody. But as arresting as these verses may be, the chorus finds “Travel” stepping too far into the unabashedly corny to stomach.
[5]

Josh Love: As much as I enjoy the kind of K-pop that bounces giddily around between genres from moment to moment, there’s something to be said for the charms of this relatively straightforward slice of pure pop. Even setting aside the English earworm of “Take me to London, Paris, New York City,” this song still feels especially infectious and immediate. Am I crazy or with its lightly galloping guitars this is essentially a great pop-country tune?
[7]

Vikram Joseph: I can get behind the giddy excitement and adventurous spirit they’re trying to convey here, but it’s much too twee to convince. This is largely down to the polite, restrained production – that chorus needs to lift the fuck off, but instead it just simpers. It’s a shame, because there are some lovely vocal melodies here, but it’s in desperate need of a jolt of energy.
[5]