Over time, the K-Pop Review community has grown from a few individuals into a full subset of the internet. Now, TheBiasList, Kbopped, 10/10 – Music, Hallyureviews, Jei’s Kulture Notes, Deforested Music, A Floating Realm in the Corner, 8.5 Music, and Kpopreviewed are working together, to create a series, where we review our favorite K-Pop summer song.
Be sure to check out everyone’s posts in the links below!
10/10 – Music (Blog / Hi Ya Ya – TVXQ Review)
Blueraspberrysyrup (Blog / Summer 127 – NCT 127 Review)
Kbopped (Blog / The Star of Stars – SNUPER)
Jei’s Kulture Notes (Blog / Boogie Up – WJSN Review)
Hallyureviews (Blog – / Power – EXO Review)
8.5 Music (Blog / View – SHINee Review)
Kpopreviewed (This Blog!! / Hot Summer – f(x))
Deforested Music (Blog / Wave – ATEEZ)
The Bias List (Blog / Loving U – Sistar)
There are so many artists and songs that are synonymous with Summer released over the years. But since I have been around for a while now (I won’t put a number on it – that can be the subject for a later post), I have reviewed a large bulk of them already. So, when I found a song that I haven’t reviewed yet that also suited the theme of this collaboration, I actually felt like the stars align. My chosen song is F(x)’s Hot Summer, which was released way back in June 2011. This particular decade young track was released as the title track for the repackaged version of their first studio album, Pinocchio, and was a massive hit in Summer of that year.
I vaguely remember not enjoying Hot Summer when it was first released for some reason (don’t remember what exactly – it has been 10 years). But like many songs that I have expressed dislike for or criticised, Hot Summer has become an iconic track to have on my Summer playlist. But how so? Well, Hot Summer continually repeats its title throughout the song, especially in the chorus. It is pretty much in your face and there is no escaping it. A bit of an extreme tactic, but it got keyed into my memory. Now, there isn’t summer where my mind don’t gravitate towards the song, especially when the temperatures are unbearable (a bit of song and dance may ensue). Throw that over an synth-heavy (pretty much the norm for back then) and bright instrumentation that comes off as refreshing, and you pretty much have a strong catchy track. What I also liked about Hot Summer now is how it just keeps on going. There was virtually no breaks throughout the song, so the energy is very consistent and just continually pumps. But I think the textures that come from the synths and the vocals do a good job of distracting you from that consistency, and hence I don’t see it as a problem. We do get a bit of reprieve following in the chorus, with the whispery-like delivery of the song’s title (repetition, once again), which was really cool and a nice change in momentum. I would have liked to hear transitional effects between various parts of the song, just so the various sections could be more easily identified and defined. When it comes to the vocals and rapping, Hot Summer is a solid number. The vocals, which bring an undeniable pop influence to the song, stood out over an already loud and texturally heavy instrumentation. I also really liked how edgy they sounded in the first verse. Amber’s rap, although brief, was a nice intense moment that worked well with the rest of the song and allowed Amber to show her style off more. The interesting part is the high-pitch whiny ‘Hot Summer‘ we get in the last iteration of the chorus that blends into the instrumentation. It feels pretty much ahead of its time. Hot Summer is a song that I keep going back to, especially when the temperatures start heating up where I live, and it is one of my many recommended KPOP Songs of the Summer.
Not too sure what the premise for this music video is. A pink tank rolls down the street doesn’t seem that summery to me. But it was an epic entrance for the group and definitely feels like a F(x) thing to do. Aside from the questionable background, I thought the music video was pretty decent and rather simple (which you know I like). The brightness reminds you of a really hot summers day. They outfits provided that pop of colour (alongside the pink tank) in such a barren city landscape. Even the red outfits in their studio sets managed to show Summer in a simple dual colour fashion.
The iconic choreography for this comeback was pretty much self explanatory. Too hot, fan yourself. It is also simple, so people like me who have two left feet and look really awkward dancing (like those dancers we see in the background at the end of the video) can pull it off reasonably well. That being said, there is a bit of complexity with the rest of the performance (i.e. formations and other parts of the routines) that results in the choreography for this release being quite balanced and looking good.
Song – 9/10
Music Video – 7/10
Performance – 9/10
Overall Rating – 8.4/10
KPOPREVIEWED 
What a review! Honestly this is one of those songs that will never not make me want to dance and sing to its chorus and attempt to do the choreo… and fail miserably. 😄
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Thanks! ^^
Trust me, I am sure I would make you look like a professional if you ever saw me dance. 😂
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Since we all are talking about our terrible dancing, I’ll just say one thing. If I tried any K-Pop dance, my neighbors will likely call the exorcist…
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😂😂
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Epic review! Thanks for participating Tony, add this to the list of excellent reviews this series has given us 🙂
Honestly, when I got the feature together, I was most curious on what you’d pick Tony. As you pointed out, you’ve been around for a really long time, and you have basically reviewed all songs except my pick on their launch week. I expected you would either re-review a song you all reviewed, but glad you reviewed something new!
Onto my trivia for the day:
– KPOPREVIEWED, as I said, has reviewed every single song in the feature except for Hi Ya Ya.
– As I prefer online anonymity, I have put the name of a favorite sweet of mine ‘Laadoo’ as my email name. Tony, being the super nice guy he is, addressed me by what he thought was my first name lol. In my reply, I just pretended that it was my name because it is kind of hard to admit that your email name is an Asian sweet haha.
– TheBiasList is the only reviewer to review this song, minus this review. He gave the song a 9.
– Just like Tony, I have no idea what the tank means…
– This is the second oldest song in the feature, minus my pick of Hi Ya Ya (my song pick is 7 years older than the second oldest, embarrassing…)
– We only reviewed three girl groups in this whole feature, Tony and Jei are two of them.
Looking forward to StillBangtan’s review tomorrow. Here is a hint: It is a modern K-Pop boy group summer staple, with it taking a derided genre to make a classic. It also is the newest song to be reviewed in the series 🙂
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Somewhere, someone knows the significance of that tank. 😂
I was thinking about re-reviewing a song and that made me think of one particular song that I have written reviews for twice now. I didn’t think it needed a third review with the exact same comments. I wonder if you can find it. 😋
I also love the facts you have for each review! You did a lot of hard working of setting this whole collaboration up, getting the ball rolling and now the comments and the conclusion posts! You are the MVP!!!
And so sorry for assuming ‘Laadoo’ as your name. You signed off with your online handle and I wanted to be more casual than ‘professional’ hahaha…
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When I was a baby, I was obsessed with Garbage Trucks, I’d often download Garbage Truck photos on my parents’ computer, once confusing one of their bosses, if I remember right. Maybe, someone on the MV director’s team had a kid obsessed with tanks, and they just went with it. It is the only thing I think of that makes sense lol.
I can’t think of the song, can you give me a hint?
Thank you so much Tony, we all are MVPs!!!
And don’t apologize! If it were me in your shoes, I’d call myself ‘Mr. Kha’, which translates to ‘Mr. Eat’, so there are a lot more goofy combinations in my name. Sorry for the goofy name, but it does tell a lot about my personality lol.
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I remember back in 2017, when I was coming back to K-Pop I saw KPOPREVIEWED’s blog and was astonished by the vast array of songs that you have extensively reviewed throughout the years. It was also the reason I started to do a review blog which failed in 2018, but anyway, this blog was my inspiration. Thank you so much. This is a wonderful review!
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I have been around a while, as 10/10 Music has pointed out.
It is great to hear that I was someone’s inspiration, and sorry to hear that blog didn’t work out. But your current blog is totally killing it atm (and you are a lot quicker with the reviews). I guess I am getting too old to keep up hahaha…
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I used to love “Hot Summer” alot back in the day (i.e: just one year ago) but now I hardly find myself listening or even enjoying the song. It’s chorus is a bit to saccharine for me. I mostly agree with your thoughts on the Music Video and Choreography though!
This was another great review, had just enough of the comedy and euphoria to make this a very, very enjoyable read.
Now onto deforestedmusic, I am suspecting that this one would be either ONF’s Complete or ATEEZ’s Wave, I might be wrong though.
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👀
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Fair enough 👍👍👍
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YES! Great choice of song – and truly, they epitomise that ‘Hot Summer’ energy.
I was reading this line –> “I vaguely remember not enjoying Hot Summer when it was first released for some reason”, and I suddenly thought, “Wait, are you me?” – I remember feeling the same way as you when I first heard it, but it grew on me more over time, and I have to say, over the years, even more so…. I guess a part of that is to do with nostalgia, but its appeal just totally changed for me.
Great piece of writing as always!
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I also feel that this is one of f(x)’s more standard pop tracks, so I guess that does help make the track standout, given how experimental they were with their other releases!
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