The Singles Jukebox

Rose presents to us a long running K-pop duo who made a comeback this year…

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[5.50]

Rose Stuart: I have to admit, TVXQ!’s newest release had big shoes to fill. Infrequent comebacks can create lofty expectations, but “Down” proves what K-pop has been missing during their five year absence. This dreamy sex song (a genre that also has been rarely heard recently) floats from note to note, with soft, whispery vocals that manage to soar to new heights of TVXQ!’s already impressive range. It’s filled with yearning to the point of desperation, the drumbeat an almost maddening ticking clock, and the relaxing guitar contrasted with an almost aggressive electronic breakdown in the chorus beautifully showcases the conflict.  When the song reaches its climax, the energy is enough to knock you off your feet in the best way. Sex has been TVXQ!’s signature since “Mirotic,” but “Down” feels closer to “Wrong Number” and “Before U Go” in its R&B influences. Throwing back to past songs while also carving out a new direction for themselves is the best thing TVXQ! could have done for this release, and I have only the highest hopes for what their 20th anniversary album will bring.
[9]

Nortey Dowuona: The drum programming on this is amazing, in that it’s completely stationary beneath the post chorus breakdown and limp during the bridge and over compressed to the nines during the actual chorus. Truly amazing. Thank god these boys can sing.
[7]

Katherine St Asaph: Alternate 2010 history in which Justin Timberlake had a collab with Alex da Kid, with falsetto that’s practically countertenor.
[6]

Will Adams: A solid update of turn-of-the-millennium boy band pop, right down to the glitchy breakdowns that BT had once provided them.
[6]

Ian Mathers: Those growly synths on the chorus come so close to having that dog in them (especially at the end when the one guy starts really wailing) but “Down” feels like just one small push away from being properly and satisfyingly OTT.
[6]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: Sounds like something Jason Derulo would reject on account of lack of subtlety.
[2]

Micha Cavaseno: Back in 2019, I grabbed a TVXQ! single from a used book store close to my family (along with records by xbxrx, Ellen Allien and something else I can’t recall), one of the ones where they still dressed up like Visual Kei artists on the cover. I found it less an interesting record and more a curious artifact given how K-pop has had its faltering existence on this continent for roughly as long as the group in question has been around in some incarnation or another. So as a result, I had to grab the CD in question just as a sort of totem, a weird reminder of where my Twice and Dreamcatcher CD books (with all its extensive paraphernalia) came from. It was more reverence than any sort of eagerness or desire. Listening to TVXQ! is kind of similar to that due to how any comeback single they make relies so much on their importance and not anything in particular that feels like a good song. It’s an R&B Imagine Dragons record of swagger-step that doesn’t feel particularly cool or sexy or beautiful, but you know it’s important! It’s not about actually enjoying it, but about respecting it. It’s unfortunate that I can’t respect them for making records I want to hear in 2023 though.
[3]

Michael Hong: Proven by single “Rebel” from earlier this week, SM’s experiments are still alive. That one might feel tame compared to the best of what they’ve done — it’s further evidence that the company formula has grown rather tiresome — but “Down” feels like nothing more than a set of ticked boxes.
[5]