As consistent as IVE‘s music has been, I’ve been waiting for the moment to be as blown away as I was by their 2022 output. HEYA had been quite close to making into my Top 40 list last year, but my thoughts from my original glowing review (which can be found here) have dimmed considerably. I simply have not come back to that song as much as I expected. Similarly, their recent pre-release Rebel Heart shows traces of their very best (aka, queen I AM), but it still does not quite get to the same heights (which I shall elaborate when I post the review later in the week). The actual title track, ATTITUDE, unfortunately seems to be on a similar vein.
It starts off well enough, quite amazingly, in fact. The intro leading into the first verse is immediately catchy, carrying itself with a well defined percussion rhythm. In most cases, this should set a song up for success. The pre-chorus is spectacular, probably one of their best, vocals wonderfully mixed and layered. This is a feat in itself, given how IVE has had a strong track record of pre-choruses in their title tracks. Liz’s vocal delivery into the high note along with its vocal chop is a perfect example of how the production intermeshed with a strong vocal performance to push a song into new heights—creating strong anticipation for the chorus. Generally speaking, the instrumental throughout the track is quite impressive; it feels quite full and cleanly incorporated. I’m loving the use of the vocal chop in particular, for it brings me back to the best of 2010s EDM. I need this back into pop music.
Unfortunately the immediate melody of the chorus does not measure up to the promise the first verse showed. At this point, I’ve listened to the song a couple of times, and while the chorus is growing on me, it relatively flat in relation to all the song’s surrounding moments that serve to support it. The post-chorus seems to be the one ‘poppy’ hook that immediately sticks, along and the transition out of the chorus into the second-verse uses a similar arpeggio melody that the pre-chorus also utilizes. It feels like a missed opportunity because of the level of anticipation the vocal chop creates is disproportionate to the payoff. The reason why vocal chops work so well in EDM pre-choruses is the beat drop/chorus that comes to support it is massive and hard-hitting. Yet, the chorus melody of ATTITUDE seems to wish to retreat into the minimalist tendencies that the K-pop girl group soundscape has been adapting over the past year or so due to the success of NewJeans. This also quite ironic given the song’s subject matter, for they sold it most of the song’s other parts.
The second verse and bridge also seems to be another point of contention. Previous IVE songs have incorporated rapping more seamlessly than what had been done in ATTITUDE, which slots it into the 2nd verse. The momentum drop is not as bad as some of the worst offenders (see an average early 4th generation boy group song, though of course, there are times when it does work), but what is more disconcerting is that the general sound palette of this section does not seem to match the the rest of the song up to this point. One can probably try to justify it by putting ATTITUDE in the same vein as an aespa or NMIXX song, but it is quite clear that it was not going for a ‘disjointed’ approach. Not to mention, the bridge also follows the same problem, and the transition back into the final chorus is probably the roughest transition present in the song.
As the song ends on a high, with another wonderful vocal performance, this time from Yujin, on another arpeggio that they have utilized, my feelings are quite mixed. I think I need more time to fully process my feelings for this song, but as for now, I am quite disappointed. There is so much to love here, but also things that it could have not done without.
I will give the album a listen, and hopefully I can find a song that I can wholeheartedly love, as is the case from their 2022 output.
Hooks – 8
Production – 9
Vocal and Rap Delivery – 9
Overall – 8
Note: For those new here, the overall score reflects my overall feelings towards the song, separate from the individual aspect score.
K-pop Evaluated 
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