Song Review: Island by The Wind

I have been contemplating whether I should write about this song or not, but I think I have come back to it enough times despite some initial misgivings to be worth writing about.

I did not think there would ever be some sort of male GFRIEND to debut in the industry, but I suppose the creative directors of The Wind (interesting group name haha) thought that instead of following trends, deviating from them would do the group well. And honestly? It paid off.

‘Island’ stands fresh among all boy group songs released in the past few years. Even though you could technically call ‘Island’ a bright boy group song, it still feels distinctly different from the likes of Cravity (especially about their recent material) and Tempest. This is because both the latter and former’s releases still stick to a traditionally ‘bright boy group sound’. It is a bit difficult to describe what I actually mean by this. ‘Island’ feels more akin to the likes of Astro’s Hide and Seek and Seventeen’s Pretty U, which leans more into its cutesy and youthful aspects, feeling more ‘boyish’ than ‘manly’. Meanwhile, Cravity and Tempest’s releases are more high energy and groovy, and they feel more (for lack of a better word) masculine. To make the distinction even clearer, ‘Pretty U’ and ‘Hide and Seek’ have a distinct sound similar to the likes of the girl groups GFRIEND, Lovelyz, and April. ‘Island’ has similar qualities. From the sung melodic choruses, the choice of vowels (how they sing ‘so’ with a heavy emphasis on the ‘o’ vowel), the enunciation, and the production which leans more into instrumental pop. Even the well-placed high notes in the climax feel so GFRIEND. If you would ask me what I first thought of when I listened to ‘Island’, I would ask you to listen to GFRIEND’s debut Glass Bead.

With this established, ‘Island’ also has a lot to live up to, given how many strong K-pop hits this ‘sound has produced in the past. Thankfully, the song is strong enough to impress and has the longevity to match.

At first, I was not sure of the song’s chorus. Something was telling me that the chorus feels a bit melodically imperfect, making it a tad bit less satisfying than I was expecting it to be. I was expecting a chorus of the likes of GFRIEND’s Rough or Navillera, and it didn’t reach those heights. Nevertheless, with time, I’ve grown to appreciate it for what it does give, and it is still a lot stronger many hooks in K-pop this year. Particularly, the second part of the chorus is quite sticky, even though I was not as convinced by the first part.

Additionally, it should be noted that the vocal delivery of ‘Island’ is strong, although it would have benefitted from a stronger main vocalist on the likes of Yuju, who would have belted the high note better and shifted into a head voice rather than a very airy falsetto that sounds quite funny with the vocal processing. However, being used to HYBE shenanigans at this point, it doesn’t even bother me (that much) anymore.

The production feels like a tribute to songs of the style I mentioned earlier, and I think it does everything just right. It did not overstuff it with unnecessary instrumentation and kept everything relatively simple and traditionally ‘correct’. This is a nod for me, especially because the group is trying to emulate a certain style.

All in all, I am quite happy with this release. A male GFRIEND is certainly something I will welcome with open arms, with GFRIEND being one of my all-time favorite groups. ‘Island’ isn’t perfect, but it is a great debut song that manages to establish the group’s sound. I don’t think one can ask for anything more in a debut.

Hooks – 9
Production – 10
Vocal Delivery – 9
Overall – 9.25