Song Review: LIP GLOSS by The Boyz

The Boyz is one hell of a talented group, but more often than not, their songs fail to life up to their strength as performers. The Boyz fit spectacularly within the summer concept as seen in 2021’s ‘Thrill Ride’, but while the song aged somewhat gracefully, it still feels like a missed opportunity. The idea was there, but the execution was somewhat subpar. Thankfully, as the group tackles this sound once more, it shows that sometimes, it takes a second try to get it all right.

From the get-go, it was apparent that ‘LIP GLOSS’ does not intend to take itself too seriously. From its playful yet sleek bass line, to its corny and outlandish lyrics, it was made to establish a bright atmosphere evoking the warmth of summer, along with its many connotations- the beach, a vacation, and the heat, not only literally, but figuratively, in reference to summer flings.

Its production sells the idea with surprising potency, stuffed with instruments of varying sound frequencies- high, middle, low- making the song sound luscious and full. The mixing is clean, making no attempt to distort the natural tones of the Boyz. With their talent and charisma, the members managed to utterly sell the entire concept of the song, both in delivery and in the music video. Well, at least almost.

There are some things that charisma cannot completely compensate for. The Boyz lack technically strong singers, but this usually does not bother me in their other songs. However, the pre-chorus of ‘Lip Gloss’ is surprisingly dynamic, requiring an equally captivating vocal performance to match it. Sadly, their best vocalist, Sangyeon, still sounded like he lacked power in his delivery, and he was somewhat swallowed up by the song in the process- at least in this section. This is a shame, because the the song does not swallow up the members in the other sections as they are relatively much easier. This shows that at the end of the day, vocal technique is still very important, and it should be much more emphasised in future K-pop groups that will debut. For example, SM’s new boy group RIIZE, whose main vocalist appears to be Sohee, seems to be much weaker main vocalist technically compared to any of the other SM groups, bar NCT DREAM (at least from his pre-debut videos). This is not a good sign. At some point, this lack of vocal technique will pose long term consequences, such compromising or limiting the final product of K-pop songs released in the future. I pray that this will not be the case (at least more often than not)

This ended up being slightly off-topic to the song itself, but I felt that it was still quite relevant, and gives some food for thought.

I believe that ultimately, while LIP GLOSS possesses many addicting qualities, the vocal delivery negatively affects the final product.

Hooks – 9
Production – 9
Vocal Delivery – 8
Rap Delivery – 10
Overall – 9