Song Review: hey! hey! – TWS

TWS has been one of my biggest surprises of 2024. Though I wasn’t able to officially review ‘Plot Twist’, it stands as one of the strongest K-pop debuts in my recent memory. I believe it fully deserved its viral moment a few months back, and has already become an iconic song frequently referenced in its own right especially within South Korea. Not to mention, the rest of their album was excellent. ‘BFF’ and ‘Unplugged Boy’ in particular have my heart. Hence I was very much looking toward their first come back with high expectations.

My first impression of ‘hey! hey!’ is that I should technically like it a lot more than what I felt when I was listening to it. The introduction school bell sounds of the music video harken back to GFRIEND’s Glass Bead, which is one of my favorite K-pop debut songs of all time. The production is consistent with their concept, very upbeat and effusive. Particularly, its pre-chorus effectively takes its sweet time to build a high-energy chorus. It is unique in the sense that it is split into two parts to make the transition very smooth and allows the song to reach greater heights. This dynamism is something I typically advocate for and praise.

Ultimately, however, none of melodies don’t seem to grab me at all. I’m quite surprised by this myself. I should technically like it, it is a sound which I have heavy favor towards, but everything I listened to left my head the moment the song ended. Perhaps I need a little more time for it sink in.

Additionally, I also think that the vocal direction of the song was not as well thought-of as it could be. Most of TWS are not technical vocalists. Only Dowoon, Youngjae, and to an extent, Kyungmin, have some proper foundations. Their capabilities were well taken into account into the creation of ‘Plot Twist’, and all of them sounded within their comfort zone, more or less. Unfortunately, in this song, the vocal strain was a lot more apparent especially during the chorus, and it distracts my listening experience.

Overall, I’m somewhat disappointed by ‘hey! hey!’. It is ironic that it is the kind of song that I was expecting from them, yet at the same time, though I was expecting to like it, I don’t. I hope time will prove me wrong.

Hooks – 7
Production – 9
Vocal Delivery – 8
Overall – 7.75