Song Review: UNFORGIVEN (ft. Nile Rogers) by Le Sserafim

I’ll admit, I had high hopes for this comeback. I am a massive fan of their last title-track, ‘Antifragile’, and even though ‘UNFORGIVEN’ indeed took notes in the creation of the latter, the product becomes much weaker than expected, leaving feeling me painfully hollow.

The main problem with UNFORGIVEN is the fact that it fails to reinvent itself almost throughout the track. It took its main hook, ran with it, and didn’t know what else to do with it. It lacked excitement, creativity, and failed to push any boundaries. It already had a solid baseline with the legendary Nile Rogers on the admittedly commanding guitar riff, but it didn’t fulfill its full potential.

The pre-chorus is its strongest moment, but even that didn’t feel particularly outstanding in the face of everything else I have listened to in the past.

The second verse rap was also a really great move, adding much needed texture to the track and was undoubtedly well-delivered by the main vocalist Huh Yunjin, a girl with many talents only to be shackled by this title track not worthy of her (yes I’m mad lol). But right after that, everything feels too recycled. The bridge was an absolute disappointment because it did not build to heights that you would expect it build. (replace you with ‘I’)

The chorus, ironically, lacked the initial punch, and was still building when it first hits. This can be fine, as it did work in ‘Antifragile’. However, it did not work in ‘UNFORGIVEN’ because it sounded far too hollow, which makes the energy distribution inconsistent and unbalanced. Hence, it fails to feel satisfying. It repeats in almost exactly the same way too, in all its uninspiring glory.

Yes, the track did grow on me, and it is somewhat annoyingly catchy, and the girls performed the hell out of it (I will stand by the opinion that they are the strongest performance girl group in K-pop right now), but I no longer have much initiative to play the song by itself except for an occasional jam, knowing that if I play it repeatedly, I will wear myself out listening to it.

Hooks – 7
Production – 5
Vocal delivery – 8
Rap Delivery – 9
Overall – 7.25