And we’re so meh.
[Video]
[5.00]
Will Adams: Oops! All Genres
[4]
Will Rivitz: Part electro swing, part Eurobeat, part auditorium-shaking teen spirit, all dated by at least five years at best. Music for guys who think a tuxedo T-shirt is fashionable.
[3]
Katie Gill: At least with this, Momoland have proved that they can do more than one song! Unfortunately, their two songs are “Bboom Bboom” and “Lipstick,” and considering that our post on “Bboom Bboom” had its fill of Orange Caramel comparisons, maybe I’m wrong, and they can only do one song. Still, everybody and their mother has reinterpreted “The Streets of Cairo” at some point, so I can’t hold that against Momoland TOO much. Upping the swing stylings is a smart choice, especially since the chorus itself is just kind of there. Still, it’s infectiously catchy and I’ve found myself humming it for the past hour, so you’ve done your job, Momoland.
[7]
Katherine St Asaph: The verses are a more accurate recreation of early ’00s R&B than some songs that actually try for that. The rest is a muddle of cod-jazz vocals, “The Streets of Cairo,” saxobeat, and many other things that garishly don’t work.
[3]
Ryo Miyauchi: Momoland in “I’m So Hot” acts as though they read the negative reviews of “Baam” posting that the group remade “Bboom Bboom” in attempts to recapture its success. But instead of offering a corrective, they shamelessly indulge while showing some self-awareness that this is the very formula that got them docked down. The honking sax sounds knowingly arrogant as theme music to the members who appear proudly vain. The chorus nags like a playground taunt as if the stickiness of the horn riff wasn’t difficult enough to shake off. Momoland can’t help but be silly and obnoxious, and their dare to accept them as such re-introduces a sense of personality to a group whose songs seemed to almost overshadow the group itself.
[7]
Alex Clifton: It’s not a clone of “Bboom Bboom”/”Baam” (to be honest, I’m surprised it wasn’t called “I’m Soo Hoot”), which is nice — I’m glad to see Momoland branching out. I keep thinking of AOA and how they made their career on songs about how hot and sexy they are, to great success: “Miniskirt” fits in that category and makes you feel powerful when you listen to it. But I’m glad that “I’m So Hot” doesn’t go down the seductive path; it’s goofy instead. If AOA are the hot popular girls at school who leave you breathless, then Momoland are a gaggle of teens at a sleepover laughing themselves silly between bites of cookie dough while talking about their crushes. It’s charming and sweet and kept me dancing the entire time, which is all I ever ask for.
[6]
Iris Xie: T-ara, I miss you so fucking much. This relentless attempt at electro swing just makes me reminiscent, and the hip hop section that is “Bboom Bboom” v.3 is even less interesting here. The last third attempts to play it up with introducing some more varied arrangements, but overall, and like a lot of the lesser songs in recent K-pop, this lacks the spark and charisma that I associate with pulling from such out-there genres. You know there’s something wrong if even a silly Eurobeat horn is an underwhelming hook, but I will give it credit for haunting the interior of my skull for hours. But it’s a testament to how K-pop as a genre manages to combine both adventurousness and a strong skeleton to house it all in, that a song like “I’m So Hot” can sound so boring and rote.
[5]