Song Review: I DO by G(I)-DLE

Before I begin, I would like to apologise for the lack of posts recently. I’ve been holiday in places where wifi is either not present, and/or the signal of my phone hotspot is so weak that I cannot even load a webpage on my computer. Hence, I was unable to post for 5 whole days, which is quite painful considering that I was on a roll the last week and even managed to hit the peak number of daily views the whole year. It was something out of my control however, so now and in the following weeks, I will simply grab the opportunity to post when I can. Again, apologies for the inconsistencies to come. Without further ado, here is the review.

(G)I-DLE’s choice to release an all-English single at quite a short notice (if I am not mistaken, it was only been a week or two since they released the promotional teasers for the song before its release) came as a surprise to many fans. Not only that, given their reputation for releasing songs that have somewhat questionable English lyrics also made many wonder how a full-English song from the group would sound like. (personally, I don’t mind it, but many people do, so it is worth mentioning)

Thankfully, the worries of fans did not amount to anything, for ‘I DO’ sounds refined to the point that if one told me that it was a song sung by an English-speaking artist, I would have totally believed it. The vast majority of the member’s pronounced most the words tastefully, even if only about 2 (or 3?) out of the 5 of them speak English with fluency. There were a few which I can’t understand, but it was not to the point where I can’t understand what were they singing about. The lyrics were also surprisingly well-written, containing a surprising amount of emotive nuance.

I am particularly fond of the melodies. Every single note sounds satisfying, synergizing perfectly with the 50s-style production employed to support the song. One can easily follow the melody from the beginning to the end. Because of this, it almost sounds like a classic from the get-go, even with some of the choices within the vocal delivery (the nasal and bright sound from Soyeon for example) strongly reminds me of some old trends in the 1900s (don’t remember which decade honestly, but it is not a sound of the 2000s or the 2010s). However, the indie-style delivery of Minnie, which mostly gained prominence in the mid-late 2010s and remains trendy today with the popularity of artists like Billie Eilish reminds listeners that it is indeed a modern song. 

Usually, I would be against a song not building up to a strong climax or ending via a fade out. For example, see my review of ENHYPEN’s ‘Bite Me’. However, because of the way ‘I DO’ was written, the lack of climax and ending through a mere fade out fits the song like a glove. Perhaps this would hold me back from liking it to a certain point as I will always advocate for songs with a proper climax and outro, but I can acknowledge that some production choices which I do dislike indeed make sense in certain situations. ‘I DO’ is one of them. 

If there is anything that particularly bothers me, it is the contrast of vocal delivery between Shuhua and the rest of the members as she is a lot less convincing in terms of enunciation and flair. I can understand that she is trying her hardest, but when the other 4 blew me away, it is hard to not stand out. Nevertheless, if taken out of the context of the rest of her members, she still sounds quite decent. It is just relatively flat and uninspiring. 

All in all, ‘I DO’ was a successful attempt of an all-English song that was delivered convincingly as a whole. It might even be one of my favorite songs from them in their whole discography. This kind of sound suits them very well, so I hope Soyeon can attempt this sound for the group once more in the future. 

On a side note, the music video is stellar. I absolutely recommend everyone to watch it at least once.

Hooks – 9
Production – 8
Vocal Delivery – 9
Overall – 8.75