The Singles Jukebox

In the interest of search engine optimisation also “Red Cheek Puberty.”

[Video][Website]
[6.00]

Iain Mew: The late late summer sweetness of Ahn Jiyoung’s vocal is the centre, but the song switches up more than I was expecting while remaining effortless, rap that sounds delivered from a hammock and all.
[7]

Alfred Soto: Here’s something: conjuring Norah Jones and Van Morrison, Ahn Jiyoung sounds distinctly like herself. She inhabits this would-be show tune as if she’s going to plug the piano amp into a bucket of water.
[6]

Claire Biddles: This would be a little too polite if it weren’t for the unexpected rap break in the middle, which jerks me awake from the sleepy feeling of the rest of the song. The instrumentation is a little too corny-cutesy for my taste — that organ sound in the chorus! — and I wish the spacey sounds that close the song were extended throughout rather than used as a token allusion to the title at the last second.
[5]

Will Rivitz: Snippets of funk bass, Muzak-y piano chords, a chorus straight out of a mid-aughts soft-rock snoozer – is K-Pop entering its vaporwave phase?
[6]

Cassy Gress: The pilot/space theme is cute, but the rap is pretty unnecessary, and to be totally honest, my first thought about “raining starlight on your arms” was the sort of little burns you get on your hands, holding a sparkler. There’s also a sloppily-edited fade-in from the muffled chorus, at around 3:05. Nevertheless, “I’m your pilot anywhere” is the sort of breezy lilt of a line that can cheerfully hang around in your head for a while.
[5]

Thomas Inskeep: Not your typical K-pop: a semi-acoustic midtempo number, which is also a sweet little gumdrop of a love song with lines like “I’m gonna rain starlight on your arms.” It makes me smile, which is enough. 
[6]

Edward Okulicz: Trust the geniuses of South Korea to weave together adult contemporary pop with some beats and a rap bit in a way that’s so seamless it doesn’t feel like the mutt it is. 
[7]