Xdinary Heroes is nominated for Best New Male Group and Best Band Performance in the 2022 KPOPREVIEWED Awards. Support Xdinary Heroes, and your other favourite artists, songs, and performance by clicking here to vote today!

After making a comeback in July of this year with Test Me, Xdinary Heroes made a slightly speedy comeback (relative to the period between their debut and their first comeback) with their latest single Hair Cut and the mini-album Overload. Just over a year ago, Xdinary Heroes made their debut with Happy Death Day, which earned them a few accolades at the recent MAMA Awards and nominations in the 2022 KPOPREVIEWED Award (where fan voting is still open).

Xdinary Heroes’ Hair Cut is quite a unique track, and I liked it for the most part. I appreciate the ambition this group has, exploring different areas of rock that haven’t really been approached by KPOP bands in the past. For Hair Cut, the band delves into a punkish form of rock. What they did in the first verse and pre-chorus was quite likeable. There was potential behind these segments and their delivery of these segments (i.e. vocals), and I enjoyed how Hair Cut ramps up to the choruses. But the trouble comes next. We are met with a low groaning ‘Get a hair cut’ repetition that was quite unsettling for me. We also get some scissor or knife sound effects, which didn’t add any value to the song. This all comes before a hard-hitting second half of the chorus, which is my preferred centrepiece for the song. But unfortunately, as a whole, the chorus pretty much disappointed me. The lack of cohesion, hooks that I was comfortable with or even memorable melodies upset the overall appeal of Hair Cut for me, and stuck out like a sore thumb. The chorus is then followed up with a rap verse, which was another miss element for me. The whole rap segment stripped out everything from instrumental to momentum, leaving Hair Cut bare and empty for a moment, and the whispery delivery itself (sorry Gaon) felt soulless. O.de’s contribution was fairly more promising, but that might because he was helping ramping Hair Cut back to mor enjoyable territory from quite a low point. The pre-chorus and chorus repeats, and my thoughts on both (positive and negative) have already been noted. The bridge portion of Hair Cut was a nice return to form and sounded solid. Then we go back to the not-so-good chorus. I was hoping they switch things up at this point, to give a satisfying end. But that didn’t eventuate. We did manage to get an instrumental outro, which I thought was decent. But with the mix feelings prior to this instrumental outro, it didn’t have a huge impact and swung me into liking or disliking the song. Overall, Hair Cut‘s chorus leaves quite an impact and not in a good way.

I am not one to usually negatively comment on members’ visuals. And I understand it is their concept for this comeback and all, but Xdinary Heroes really need to take advice from their own books and get a hair cut. This era is probably one they will regret in the future for the wacky and awful hair-do the members were forced into. I can already imagine the interviews consistently pulling up pictures from their Hair Cut days and the members expressing embarrassment over them. Aside from that, I do like their edgy profile, which works well with the punkish rock sound I mentioned earlier. I also like the use of the ‘scary fun-house’ location within the theme park, which seems to be JYP Entertainment’s go to location this year. As for the outro, I want to know what that ending means, with the police report being made and being reviewed. Potentially setting up for a future comeback? Who knows.

Song – 6/10
Music Video – 7/10
Overall Rating – 6.4/10