It’s whatever…
[Video]
[5.53]
Alfred Soto: Blackpinker releases “punk” thrasher with judiciously sprinkled oh-ah-ohs and an palate-cleansing acoustic bridge. Length: 3:02. What else do ya need?
[7]
Tim de Reuse: A catchphrase like “New trick, watch this, WAAOUGH” is expressive and jubilant enough that it only really needs to show up at the absolute peaks. It’s something to build towards, not something to run circles around. You repeat it this many times with this level of exuberance and it makes a three-minute runtime feel overlong.
[5]
James M Errington: There’s a lot to like with the sound here, the wall of guitars in the chorus and post-chorus works particularly well, I just wish the transitions between sections worked better. Sometimes less is more, Rosé.
[6]
Kayla Beardslee: “New trick, watch this!!!” immediately followed by nothing but old tricks. The first time I heard this hook was in an Apple commercial, and I’m sorry Rosé, but there’s just no coming back from that. All the pieces here are very normal and agreeable on their own, but there’s something about the blind combination of shouty pop-rock with overenunciated indie-girl vocals that feels a little too uncanny.
[6]
Ian Mathers: It’s not that “New Trick” feels fake (hell, there have been plenty of ersatz versions of this sound, in both good and bad faith, that I’ve loved) it’s that it feels mostly ineffective. It finally does build up some momentum just before the bridge flips that particular switch off, so it never comes to anything. Will sound great half-listened to on the radio in the months to come, I bet.
[6]
TA Inskeep: Rosé seems like the most musically interesting member of Blackpink, and after a few singles it seems like she’s taking pages from the Olivia Rodrigo textbook — a good thing. “APT.” was a deliciously chewy pop treat, and this rocks a bit more even, giving an almost pop-punk, very bratty vibe. It suits her, and she’s clearly going all-in. I bet this’ll sound great on the radio.
[7]
Charlotte Gaze: New Trick… same as the Old Trick! There’s more than one way to read that: this is a natural and maybe too obvious next step after “APT.” with blessedly less preschool energy. More than that, it’s an effective revival of any number of Rock Mafia productions from the peak Disney Channel days: a slice of bratty pop rock that gestures at abandon but doesn’t shy enough from the pop music factory grid. It’s fine for what it is, but some tricks aren’t as impressive as others.
[5]
Lichelle: Fefe Dobson would’ve ate this in 2003.
[7]
Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: Unclear, exactly, as to what the trick here is; I’ve not heard a more straightforward power pop single this decade. There’s nothing wrong with a clarity of purpose, though — this doesn’t ask much out of Rosé’s sing-talk or Andrew Wells’ pile of lightly-overdriven power chords, let alone a vestigial Amy Allen co-write, and it doesn’t need to with hooks this punchy.
[6]
Tom Feckerdt: The lyrics are almost explicitly meaningless, not only because Rosé’s enunciation is so clumsy and mushy that you can barely make out what she’s saying, but because the words themselves are proud Anglo-Saxon gibberish. The chorus opens with 2014 Tumblr catchphrase “lovesick, I’ll pick my heart off the floor,” sung with such determination you’d think the song was actually called “Lovesick” — unfortunately for Rosé, that’d mean recycling herself. That gives way to the mouthful “new trick, watch this, I’m kickin’ the door,” an action-setter followed by its ensuing sound effects “get out, ka-pow, bitch” and failed action movie tagline “I know the cure.” So many funny-sounding words and strange turns of phrase sung with no obvious wink to the audience… that can only be a formula for success. The whole song revolves around that chorus, which sadly means every other section is there to stall until we get to the big hook again. But it’s held together by some great vocal arrangements like the lower harmonies in the chorus (alongside the high-pitched synth harmonizing with them), the cramming in of words at the end of the second verse, the sighed post-chorus, and the sassy whispered refrain that occasionally pops up. Hilarious that co-writer Amy Allen and producer Andrew Wells had this and Tinashe’s album-closer ballad “Heavy Weight” released a week apart. There’s no auteurist connection between the two songs, however; it’s just that one of them has a funny hook and the other one doesn’t.
[7]
Nortey Dowuona: Amy Allen miss challenge: achieved.
[0]
David Allun Jones: Somehow Rosé mistook the ginormous success of “APT.”‘s perky mall-punk thrill ride into believing we wholeheartedly bought her in rock threads. “New Trick” utilizes the big budget at her disposal for some crisp ’90s alt-scuzz but, try as she might, she’s just not believable in the role, not even reaching Ashlee-Simpson-as-nu-Courtney-Love levels of mild respectability.
[4]
Katherine St. Asaph: Not sure how I feel about the meta: “New trick, watch this!” Rosé announces like a middle-school cheerleader amid a single whose Ting Tings-ish sound is indeed a “new trick” in her musical repertoire. Also not sure how I feel about the fact that the “new trick” is kicking a door, like it’s a skill on some winning-the-breakup tech tree. Definitely not sure how I feel about how the fact that this song was preceded by its own pre-roll ad, and how long it took me to notice. I am, however, sure how I feel about Catcall – “The World Is Ours.”
[7]
Al Varela: I was really annoyed with “APT.” and it’s utter lack of commitment to any melody or hook, putting me in the contrarian spot for a song that otherwise became the biggest Blackpink success to date. So imagine my surprise when “new trick” delivers everything I wanted from “APT.” onto a substantially better song! The guitars rock hard, the hook is incredibly tight and fun, and Rosé gets a chance to truly shine with her fierce confidence and harder commitment to the cheerleader bit. She’s developed a much more concrete identity and it’s resulted in a far more electric and exciting song! I really hope she continues down this direction.
[8]
Jel Bugle: It’s pop-punk Rosé, with an uninspiring 6/10, I think she could do better! Even she could make a more interesting pop-punk song, work with Bowling For Soup or something. Sugar-free bubblegum.
[6]
Hannah Jocelyn: What the hell is Rosé doing trying to make a 90s punk song? How is Renée Rapp more convincing here? I imagine Andrew Wells thought he was producing a riot grrl tribute, but this is more No Kings Grrl, inoffensive enough for commercial syncs. (Alternate jokes here: Courtney Neutral; Carrie Beigestein, Bikini Only A Flesh Wound)
[2]
Andrew Karpan: Better in some objective way than “APT.,” Rosé faces down the limitations of her lack of rizz and talent with a kind of grace that one begins to begrudgingly respect. You got this girl. Redemption arc incoming.
[6]
Alex Clifton: It’s not bad, but the entire song screams “THIS IS AN IPHONE AD” in a way I can’t ignore, like it was surgically constructed to be a good thirty-second sound bite. Not exactly a new trick but Rosé’s had better ones up her sleeve previously.
[5]
Harlan Talib Ockey: Sounds exactly like an iPhone commercial.
[5]