Song Review: Bet On Me by ITZY

It’s been almost a year since I’ve done my last ITZY review (which coincidentally was also one of my first ever reviews on my blog). Despite the controversial reaction ‘Sneakers’ received, I still remain firm on my opinion that it was better than it was given credit for. Its fun production ended up aging really nicely in my playlist.

New pre-release ‘Bet On Me’ shows a side to ITZY we have yet to see. It takes a much more subdued approach in comparison to most of their discography. In fact, if you list all ITZY title tracks and pre-releases up to this point, all of them have been quite high energy, involving some sort of talk-chanting (no surprise as their debut greatly influenced other groups to adapt a similar sound), and their tones more confident, aggressive, or something along those lines. However, in ‘Bet On Me’, ITZY sound vulnerable and raw as they sing about the believing in oneself and going at your own pace.

I will admit, there are things that do bother me about the song. First, the vocal delivery of the chorus makes for a somewhat unpleasant listen. Yeji’s voice in particular can sound grating, and because she sang the chorus first, it became even more apparent. You know how the person who sings first and last usually leaves the strongest impression? The vocal arrangement ended up backfiring for the song as whenever I think about the song’s chorus, the nasal, tight, and strained delivery of Yeji immediately comes to mind. Chaeryeong, while not a stronger singer than Yeji, has a more heady voice that sounds a lot more at ease in the high notes. Because the entire chorus is set reasonably high, it would have made more sense if Chaeryeong sang the chorus first in order to leave the best impression on the listener.

Perhaps Yeji’s approach to singing best reflects the song’s mood and meaning, as it genuinely sounds like she is putting a lot of effort which parallel’s the message of trying to believe in oneself despite the doubts. I guess it works in that sense, but I’d still rather have a more pleasant vocal delivery.

Maybe what should be blamed instead is not necessarily the girls, but the song’s producers who could have set the song a couple of semitones lower so that the chorus will enter ITZY’s comfortable singing range. ITZY are not technical singers, so this approach would help them sound exponentially better, working around the natural skill level of the idols rather than the idols having to forcefully adjust. The girls sound very pleasant in the verses, so it shows that when they are within their comfort range, they sound amazing. All it takes is a few semitones lower.

To add on, the strange mixing of the harmonies within the song’s chorus makes it sound somewhat unpolished and rough, which further perpetuates the girls’ struggles in singing the chorus. There should be some other way to do this that would make them sound better. I think of FIFTYFIFTY’s Loving Me as a song with a similar sounding chorus and approach with better vocal mixing that would have used nicely as a reference to improve upon the chorus.

Additionally, I think that the chorus could have added new beats within the layers with every repeat to create a gradual swell of hope and determination that would completely echo the song’s message as well as the music video (where the girls run to the light at the end of the tunnel in the final chorus). It isn’t enough to make slight variations within the toppling melody, the production has to follow through in order to truly be effective. This would, in my most humble opinion, enable the song to fulfil its full potential.

With all of this said, I still have a lot of things that I like about the song. The chorus melody itself is really great to sing along to and is surprisingly sticky. I love the production at parts, particularly the verses and pre-chorus, which all sound very clean and successfully set up the atmosphere that they were going for. The rap at the second verse is easily one of ITZY’s best raps, with the best both Yuna and Ryujin have ever sounded. For the most part, ITZY have been successful at delivering the song’s message.

Overall, ‘Bet On Me’ is a welcome shift of sound from ITZY that could have been executed better in order to make it a truly inspiring anthem for all of us who have something to doubt deep within our hearts. It almost had it, but as I (almost) always say, it did not fully commit.

Hooks – 9
Production – 7
Vocal Delivery – 7
Rap Delivery – 10
Overall – 8.25