The Singles Jukebox

That’s right, it’s Four Letter Acronym Or Acronym-Like Name Day!

[Video][Website]
[4.12]

Adaora Ede: EXID (that’s Exceed in Dreaming to you) serve to do just what it says right in the name: they continually exceed in dreaming, hoping, that they will create the ideal K-Pop mashup track. The formula has been made more complex since “Ah Yeah” and “Up and Down” because belting + drops + hip hop = HIT doesn’t cut it anymore. The two aforementioned singles continue to be indistinguishable to me, but “L.I.E” manages to be more striking than anything they’ve ever done with the noughties inspired “l.i.e, l.i.e, l.i.e eh eh” hook to Hani’s somewhat audible cooing on the downtempo. But there is still a lesson to be learned about mid song EDM drops and genre switchups. Air horns don’t make it any better either.
[4]

Madeleine Lee: Midtempo ball-busting with light touches of reggae has been a good look since “I Don’t Care.” Too bad about all the noise: as if the presence of air horns wasn’t enough, all the trendy EDM-ish ornamentation seems to be mixed at the same level as the voices, as if we might not notice how trendy it is otherwise, and the melodies aren’t strong enough to hold their own against it. I’m tempted to give this song an extra point just for LE’s part, but overall this is not as fun to listen to as it should be.
[3]

Patrick St. Michel: Never a good sign when the silly controversy surrounding your music video ends up being more interesting than the song it should be promoting. “L.I.E” suffers from this form — pop song goes EDM goes rap goes something else — being so drained in 2016, that their have just been so many better songs doing the same thing in recent years that EXID sound…flat.
[3]

Jessica Doyle: As we’ve noted before, it’s not easy to hit suspicion in the lyrics while keeping the tune chipper, and the swerves in presentation here don’t help: LE’s rap, one of her best, gives way to Hyerin trying to sell “I hate even your breathing” as something to ascend with. (Compare her live delivery of 싫어 to Jiyoon’s in 4Minute’s “Hate.”) EXID’s done the Hyerin-to-Solji chorus handoff to death anyway, which is why most of Street finds new strategies, which is why “L.I.E” is only the fifth- or sixth-best song on Street. And yet: the fifth- or sixth-best song on Street still manages to get in that rap, plus Hani setting up “go-o-o…” and then knocking it out: “…to hell.” And the first-best song, for the record, was inspired by Hyerin and Junghwa chewing loudly. I’m saying. Shrug off the confusion here, proceed straight to the rest of the album, resist the temptation to watch clips of them making fun of each other, you do not have that kind of time, trust me.
[6]

Leonel Manzanares de la Rosa: That half-timed pre-chorus and the air horn drops save this one from boring lineal semi-ballad territory, and while Hyerin and Solji are capable vocalists making interesting melodic lines in the chorus, the hook just doesn’t quite hit. What does create waves is LE’s gritty rap — second verse instead of bridge, which is always refreshing — providing more personality in a couple of lines than the rest can muster in a whole mini-album. We need someone to get her a full solo release. 
[5]

Cassy Gress: “I’m not going to be ignored, Dan.” They hate the liar, they don’t want to see his face, they want him to go to hell, and no matter how sweetly they may sing, just listen to the blunt venom in LE’s rap and that meat-pounder of a bass drum. If it didn’t make me think of a Korn video I’d envision them with slasher smiles and knives.
[6]

Thomas Inskeep: The verses offer something promising, but the chorus is largely shrill. 
[4]

Katherine St Asaph: EDM x-plosion is disjointed; listener is exhausted.
[2]