I’m surprised that, with aespa in tow, SM is going for a much more subdued, cute girl group sound with Hearts2Hearts (God, I’m still not sold on that name). But I honestly enjoyed “The Chase”—it had a sort of elusive sound that kept rising and falling in energy in a sort of…chase! Unfortunately, however, my opinion has not stayed so positive with “Style”…

Concept/Message: 2

This is just a cute girl concept, “oh I like you” message song. So mid, so reused, so safe…I really want songs with more nuance and originality.

Visuals: 3

It’s a cute music video. The girls are so pretty, and the schoolgirl, fresh & youthful concept looks really good on them. But there’s no storyline. There’s no direction. It’s just a series of well-constructed scenes and sets that fulfills the cute-girl vibe. It is very average.

Lyrics: 3

Again, I only have average to say here…we plop in some English colloquialisms, like “lowkey,” “type”, or “style”. We keep the lyrics plain and simple. We entertain but we don’t make an impact.

Music: 3

It sounds so…safe? Where is the subtle rebelliousness I heard in the whisper anti-drop chorus of “The Chase”? That’s honestly why I loved that song… I really thought Hearts2Hearts was going to follow that quiet-yet-rebellious agenda moving forward, but I guess not…This is just sweet, bubbly, pleasant…verging on boring. 😦

FINAL: 2.75/5

I hope Hearts2Hearts gets more original 😦

⋆˙ eighteen rants ⋆˙