Returning back to Monday, STAYC also made their comeback on this day, with RUN2U and their second mini-album, Young-Luv.com. This new release follows their successful 2021, which started off with their hit ASAP, and their September 2021 release STEREOTYPE (the latter earned them their first music show win since debut).

RUN2U has a lot of potential to be the next big track for STAYC. And for the most part, I feel that the song lives up to that potential. But the verses were just so boring and lackluster. One of the reasons why I feel this way was because of the bare/minimalistic instrumentation. Now, the bareness stays on in the other parts of the song that I would describe as highlights of RUN2U, as it helped draw out some interesting elements that I ultimately enjoyed (though it comes back to bite them later on – more on that in a little bit). In the verses, the bareness/minimalistic just made RUN2U feel so empty and dry. Another reason is that I didn’t get much out of the vocals and rapping. They lacked character and profile. This does get better though, as when we enter the pre-chorus territory, we get a familiar profile of the vocals that reminds me of STAYC’s 2021 tracks. Apart from the verses, as I flagged earlier, other parts of RUN2U was quite catchy and memorable. I really like the squeaky brass synth used in the chorus as the song’s central element. It did sound off at first, but I find it extremely charming now. I also liked the ‘So I’ll run to you‘ repetition in the chorus, and the melodies that make up the lines that follow. The pulsing/descending spiral like synth at the start of the song was also quite notable for me, which kicked RUN2U off with a bit of sophistication. The “Little Bit Little Bit” hook was also memorable for me, but not as much as the chorus’ hooks. When we got to the final chorus, I wished the producers added something new into the mix, just to give us a bit of freshness, excitement and pop to make RUN2U end on a much stronger note. That bareness and minimalistic vibe they adopted throughout the song bites them at the end, and makes the song feel repetitive in a bone-dry way, which ultimately is not a good thought to have at the very end of the song. Thankfully, it had the catchy chorus to rely on (which I just really dig) to make the final chorus a bit better.

Colourful sets, a range of closeups and choreography shots. That is the music video summed up. So a bit generic and typical. I did like the more elegant shots (the scenes with the crystals hanging down, the colourful flowers) the video had, and I wished the video explored more of that side for this comeback. They also felt a bit more cohesive as a concept compared to the mashup of colours we got in the brighter and colourful sets.

The choreography was on the meh side of the spectrum for me. I did like the domino pattern than began the performance with, but the rest of the performance just felt a bit flat and nothing really stood out at me.

Song – 7/10
Music Video – 6/10
Performance – 6.5/10
Overall Rating – 6.6/10