MCND makes their comeback, just a few days after the group kicked off their musical career with their pre-debut single Top Gang one year ago. They later debuted in 2020 with Ice Age, and returned with Spring and nanana later in the year. On the Thursday and Friday that just passed, the five member male group from TOP MEDIA returned with Crush and their third mini-album, MCND Age.

Since their debut, MCND has managed to show more and more of their skillset to me through their main title releases. And it seems like Crush continues momentum with another pretty good song for me at least. Their new song has this playful persona especially when it came to the song’s chorus, which helped made the song appeal to my taste and make it likable. It is a little masked, however, which allowed the group’s hip-hop roots to flourish a bit more and help it be consistent with the rest of their discography. I am not troubled by this though, as Crush still comes out to be a really enjoyable song for me. The instrumental has this really nice energy profile throughout the song. From the looping guitars to the conisistent snare beats to the synths employred throughout Crush, everything comes together really tightly. I really liked the dance break section that formed part of the bridge, which felt like a brief reset before the song brought back the chorus in a more amped up and chanty fashion. Their vocal delivery was also quite good. It might have been a dull move when paired with other instrumentals. But the deep rap-speak delivery of the lines in the chorus worked really well and added that playful persona that I mentioned before. The ad-libs were also quite nice, giving the song some flair at the end. Altogether, a great listen from MCND.

Aside from choreography shots and closeups, the music video to Crush doesn’t have much else to it. But despite the basic formula, I did enjoy the various sets that the members shot those scenes in and the different angles/confined places that were used helped make the music video feel a little more creative. I do question some elements. The closeup shot of one of the members in a tanning bed doesn’t seem like a great message to send out to the audience (I come from a country where those are banned because they are dangerous and not great for one’s health). The whole final set of scenes where the members perform ‘outside’ with hot air balloons floating in the background made no sense and felt like a random addition. The hats worn by two members in those scenes were also horrendous. Who ever thought that pink fluffy hat in particular was good really needs to have a long think about themselves. But apart from those questionable elements, it was a good video.

With a song such as this and great energy being one of the highlights, it is expected that the choreography would carry through the same energy levels. And they do just that. The song’s playful nature also carries over, making it quite en enjoyable stage. The members’ smirks and smiles add another layer of appeal to the performance. That dance break we get at the end was another highlight of the choreography.

Song – 9/10
Music Video – 8/10
Performance – 8/10
Overall Rating – 8.5/10