iKON returned earlier this week with their long awaited comeback, BUT YOU. It is the title track off the group’s fourth mini-album, FLASHBACK, which also dropped on the same day. This is the first comeback made by the group following their Why Why Why comeback last year and their participation on the show Kingdom: Legendary War (also last year).

To me, BUT YOU comes off as a mild synth pop that has a ‘just right’ feel to it. There are also 80s retro influences in the instrumental. Sure, retro influences and synth-pop is very much the norm nowadays within the industry, but iKON’s take on the trend with BUT YOU is extremely satisfying. However, the instrumental only only makes up half the reasoning to the ‘just right’ or ‘extremely satisfying’ descriptions. The other half of the reasoning to why I gave BUT YOU such descriptions is the melodic glide that it has throughout both verses and choruses. It just gives off a really smooth and polished atmosphere that moves along so nicely. It is also the most memorable aspect of the song, for me. Put the two halves of the reasoning together, and you have another winning combination. To make the melodies work as well as it did, the vocals had to be spot on, and iKON definitely nailed this department of the song. Rapping (in general) and Bobby himself takes a bit of a back seat in BUT YOU. I did like his rapping sequence, especially for its rhythm (as I felt it worked well with the melodic glide I mentioned before), but I wished he broke the barriers a bit and delivered a more striking, bold and/or impactful sequence. This would have definitely made him standout more. I also wished the final chorus was a bit explosive, just to give something more to the end of BUT YOU. I think there was opportunity following the climax to really bring it home, but BUT YOU missed that opportunity. Apart from those minor issues, BUT YOU is a satisfying single that I will be revisiting.

The start to this music video has to be one of the most stunning and aesthetics introductions I have seen this year. It may also be one of the most stunning introductions I have ever seen. I am a sucker for simplicity, and I felt the dark background, lights moving up and down along each member and the sparkling glitter falling down was just so aesthetically pleasing to watch. It was also just perfectly fitting for the atmospheric introduction to the song. The rest of the video has this bittersweet type of feel to it. The members appear to have moved on by going clubbing and getting back out there. But in reality, they still harbour feelings for their ex-lover who has moved on from them. The only scene that I have to be critical about is Bobby’s solo scene on the back of that truck. I just don’t get it. I might be missing something, but I saw no relevance.

They started the choreography by doing a slight twist without moving their feet. I felt that was pretty cool and had the same aesthetic as the start of the music video. I thought the hype sequence that they followed up with was a bit odd. It just didn’t feel right for the stage performance as there wasn’t really anyone to reciprocate it (but that might just be due to the lack of audience). But aside from that, I am liking the smooth ‘You‘ movements with the two hands/arms, and their dancing with the female dancers throughout the routine.

Song – 9/10
Music Video – 8.5/10
Performance – 8/10
Overall Rating – 8.7/10