‘Bubblegum’ ended up aging better than I anticipated from my initial review (read here, I would increase its overall score to 8.25 as of present), but it still feels distinctly weaker than all their previous titles. ‘How Sweet’ consolidates this trend (unfortunately) and faces issues, to a large extent, that were never present in their previous title tracks.
In my original review of ‘ETA’, I took note of the very cool and almost robotic vocal delivery of the NewJeans members as a con but given the song’s meaning (exposing a cheating partner), it ended up aging to be a stylistic element that characterizes and compliments the song.
However, in the case of ‘How Sweet’, which aims to be a sweet, refreshing summer song, the same kind of detached vocal delivery employed in ‘ETA’ creates a strange disconnect, making the song unconvincing. Unfortunately, this was what was employed, leaving me greatly disappointed.
Not to mention, the mixing of the vocals stripped a lot of the distinct character of girls’ vocal timbres. This is something that I’ve always appreciated about NewJeans songs but is unfortunately not present in ‘How Sweet’.
Additionally, the vocals don’t feel smoothly integrated within the song’s instrumental, being placed more forward than the latter. This ultimately weakens the song, because the instrumental, I would argue, is the song’s biggest strength. Yet, the vocals, present with all the mentioned issues, take the spotlight instead.
On the other hand, I really like the instrumental of ‘How Sweet’, especially in comparison to ‘Bubblegum.’ The laser sound-effects give it character that distinguishes itself from most other songs. In general, the instrumental of the verses are particularly strong. In the chorus, the instrumental takes more of a backseat than I anticipated due to the forward placement of the vocals, but it isn’t too bad. What does bother me, however, is the production of the bridge is simply uninspired. This is highly ironic, considering that ‘How Sweet’ is actually NewJeans’ longest song, running at three minutes and 40 seconds. However, the time added via the uninspiring bridge makes me think that the extra run time was not used to its full potential.
The production is not the sole problem of the bridge- the melodies themselves are also quite repetitive and one-note. It frustrates me to no end.
The song’s saving grace is that the chorus melody is sticky, more so than ‘Bubblegum’, at least at the first few listens. Like in most other NewJeans songs, the melodic intervals between notes are musically interesting, especially in the phrase, ‘now that I’m without you.’
Overall, ‘How Sweet’ is by no means bad, but like ‘Bubblegum’, it is a far cry from ‘Attention’, ‘Hypeboy’ and ‘Ditto’.
Hooks – 8
Production – 8
Vocal Delivery – 7
Rap Delivery – 9 (The outro and the first pre-chorus)
Overall – 8
K-pop Evaluated 
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