He’s got a terrible… third degree… SUNBURN!
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[4.86]
Iain Mew: If you’re worried about all that tropical house turning dance a bit tasteful, here’s a remedy with blurting synths and a silly lyrical conceit too outsized to handle. What I guess we should call the Jekyll bits are dull enough to bring the whole thing down, though.
[4]
Katherine St Asaph: B-movie gonzo in the same way as Yellow Claw, and as willfully ridiculous as the time the baddie on offer was a criminal or a zombie or Judas: give me this over chill any day. At least this time she, not her paramour, gets to be Hyde (though not to be credited; Hyolyn’s on the Korean version). But judging by the lyrics she doesn’t wanna be evil so much as the star of a sci-fi starfish plot.
[6]
Alfred Soto: I might be showing my biases here, but shouldn’t a song with this title be more menacing? That stuttering electronic riff might signal the transformation from mild-mannered to savage, but the sweet vocal, fine by itself, doesn’t fit the track.
[6]
Katie Gill: So we’re all fine ignoring the fact that Mr. Hyde killed people? Pop stars fundamentally misunderstanding classic literature is nothing new — I’m still convinced Taylor Swift never read The Scarlet Letter. But even Wishbone knew that Mr. Hyde killed people. The “good versus evil” or “proper behavior versus a lack of impulse control” aspect is the most interesting thing about the Jekyll/Hyde dichotomy. It’s also missing from this song entirely, as Justin Oh uses the metaphor in such a vague way that it doesn’t really mean anything.
[3]
Will Adams: Justin Oh’s basic future bass template does most of the heavy lifting for the concept. There’s an uncredited vocalist handling the verses, which is either an extra meta way to hammer in that title some more (as if the lyrics hadn’t done that enough) or just another example of that frustrating trend in dance music. Because of this, the Korean version where it’s just Hyolyn singing is an improvement on multiple counts.
[5]
Adaora Ede: I’m feeling tense about ghost-sung verses by an unknown, slightly automaton vocalist in a breaking-new-markets move, but the feeling parallels what I imagine I would feel even if summery goddess Hyolyn herself were the voice mumbling along to this ~introspective~ and ~deep~ EDM track. There’s no dual identity in the song itself — the elements that make “Jekyll and Hyde” that distinct genre of bass house are squeaky synths and vocoder, which are at the mercy of wear-and-tear by the mighty drop. By the third or fourth, the chorus is achy and sounds as if it would’ve been better suited to something less stabby, more balladic.
[5]
Ryo Miyauchi: Hyolyn’s Jekyll/Hyde narrative is secondary to Justin Oh’s beat, which makes any drama attached feel like a million-dollar production. The drop satisfies for a few spins, though it’s a missed opportunity not to use the featured singer more. Take it from Giorgio Moroder, who also wrote a simple and plain EDM production for Sistar recently but knew to leave room for the group.
[5]