Minus 5 points for not being a Rachel Stevens cover.
[Video][Website]
[5.78]
Iain Mew: “Dumb dumb dumb dumb” rhymes with “Rum Pum Pum Pum” and it’s very much the equivalent — ebullient, confident, naggingly catchy, and barely a hint at the heights of the accompanying album.
[7]
Micha Cavaseno: I just don’t know; the brashy speed-run soul embellishments on the verses remind me of the worst parts of “Problem,” the chorus with its almost Andrews Sisters-like earworm has some staying power, but then we end up with that ABYSMAL Michael Jackson-themed rap and the pointless EDM-beatswitch. A lot of this just feels undercooked compared to the debut EP’s rock solid singles. Hard to say what’s going wrong, but I doubt Red Velvet will suffer too much in the long run.
[3]
Thomas Inskeep: Horn-y, hyper-caffeinated K-pop spiced liberally with schoolyard chants but, unfortunately, little else.
[4]
Jonathan Bogart: Not dumb enough.
[6]
Patrick St. Michel: Add “Dumb Dumb” to the pantheon of K-Pop songs highlighting the general smartness of the industry. It’s clearly inspired by “Bang Bang” — down to the monosyllabic title — but taken in a bunch of exciting new directions over the course of its run time, like nobody in the production meeting could decide on one idea and just stuck them all in. As scatterbrained as it gets, though, the end result is a really catchy song…which is how you could describe a lot of pop out of Korea over the last few years. It would almost be a bit predictable if it weren’t for moments of genuine wonder, like the rap interlude made up of nothing but Michael Jackson puns.
[7]
Alfred Soto: Those giddy ascending vocal parts! And video game sonics to match! More more more!
[7]
Will Adams: Despite its best efforts to sneak up on me in the middle of the day and drill right into my brain, “Bang Bang” never won me over. “Dumb Dumb” takes the same kitchen sink approach but distributes its pyrotechnics more evenly between vocals and music, which is the only way I can explain away the six random measures of trance in the bridge. Each listen, I can’t decide whether the song’s fascinating or annoying.
[5]
Brad Shoup: Constant scales and rises, goosed with sax excerpts (some Meghan Trainor, some “GDFR”). It ran me so ragged I could barely appreciate the MJ section.
[5]
Mo Kim: The verses are all escalating action, rising pitches and woozy 808 beats and “baby-baby-baby-baaaaaabes” drawled out Valley Girl style. The chorus mashes its disparate elements together into prime traffic jam pop: SM has been experimenting with how many cooks they can get away with employing in the same kitchen, and this may be the agency’s high point to date, synthesizing the brashness of f(x) with the cohesion of SHINEE and the sweetness of Girls’ Generation. Songs about being dumbstruck by love are rarely composed with such intelligence, nor are they embodied as playfully as Red Velvet manage here.
[8]