It’s time for another International Song Review post. Last time, I covered Kep1er, DRIPPIN, New Hope Club & P1Harmony. & WayV. Today, I will be reviewing KANG DANIEL’s Wasteland, Golden Child’s CRAYON, AB6IX’s FLY AWAY and THE BOYZ’s Delicious.

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Wasteland – KANG DANIEL

Weeks prior to his SOS comeback earlier this year, KANG DANIEL teased his return with the single WASTELAND, an all-English side track from the same mini-album that SOS was part of (Realiez). To me, WASTELAND adopts a familiar style that I personally associate with KANG DANIEL. His music is quiet and never-in-your-face, yet very impactful and rhythmic at the same time. And that is what we get in WASTELAND. The backing takes on a slightly grungy form of alternative rock and has such a memorable haunting vibe that. By itself, the backing of WASTELAND already captivates me already. Throw in KANG DANIEL’s vocals, and you pretty much have a solid song. His vocals are quite interesting, as they are quite soft in sound, but firm in terms of delivery. His ad-libs, whilst do sound distant, does give the song some hype energy. I am also with everyone when we chat about the lyrics of WASTELAND, which KANG DANIEL himself says is about “betrayal of a firm faith and the moment of realizing it“.

To complement this dark messaging and sound, the music sequence (which serves as the ‘music video’ component of the comeback takes on a dark vibe as well. The short version is an extension of the scene in SOS where KANG DANIEL is captured by ‘death’, while the long version is an extension of the scene in which (I believe) is in hell. Both scenes work extremely well with the song and concentrating the darkness that KANG DANIEL exudes in the lyrics of WASTELAND.

Overall Rating – 8.6/10

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CRAYON – Golden Child

It has been a while since we have heard from GOLDEN CHILD. Their last released covered on my blog was their AURA mini-album from last year. In April of this year (and literally their only release so far this year) is their 3rd Japanese single CRAYON. It is a powerful dance track with very intense and crunchy synths serving as the background. I quite enjoyed the emergence of guitar riffs in the pre-chorus, which adds a refreshing element to the song and allows CRAYON to feel not as reliant on synths as previous Japanese tracks of there have been. I did think the the vocals and rapping were a let down. While CRAYON does give us some melodic material to enjoy, but I felt that it didn’t feel as bold or loaded as it could have been. Likewise, the rapping was a fair element in the song, but it largely lacked anything memorable. For me, I would have liked to hear the vocals soar a bit, and the rapping deliver some more intensity. This in turn would have made CRAYON come off as a stronger piece.

As for the music video, it was a stylish 3 and half minutes, with a lot of black and white in the sets and outfits. The most colour we got in the video was in the more casual outfits that were neutral camo-like colours. I did want more out of the video, but it works. As for the performance, it is a powerful piece that works well with the song.

Overall Rating – 7.3/10

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FLY AWAY – AB6IX

AB6IX made an ‘under the radar’ release in Japan back in May of this year with FLY AWAY, their first Japanese single since their debut in Japan in 2021. I describe FLY AWAY as an ‘under the radar’ release because I don’t remember it being promoted on social media and I only knew of the song through the list of KPOP releases on Reddit. Anyhow, FLY AWAY is a pleasant pop release from the four-member male group. It has a nice upbeat soothing synth-line as its instrumental. The vocals and rapping pretty much follows the same direction, with an equally soothing and enjoyable brightness to their vocals and WOOJIN’s rapping stays pretty much in a vocal manner for most of the song. He does manage to go into more of a rapping motif during the bridge that worked well with the rest of the song, but it was short. Unfortunately, while FLY AWAY is all very nice, it doesn’t have much of a longevity aspect to it. I pretty much forgot about the song after I took it out of my Weekly KPOP Chart system, and even after listening to the song for the purposes of this review, I am not inclined to return to it once it wraps up.

As for the music video, it too lacks that memorable aspect and is easily forgotten. It looks like 3 members (DONGHYUN, WOOJIN and WOONG) are hiding from DAEHWI, who is using drones to look for the members. But everything about this release is pleasant, so think hide-and-seek type of finding (and ignore the lasers and worried looks at the end of the video). Interestingly, there is no choreography to this release. Instead, the members just stand around and sing towards the camera for their group scenes.

Overall Rating – 7.1/10

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Delicious – THE BOYZ

Also released in May of this year is THE BOYZ’s Delicious. Compared to their other tracks, Delicious is rather flat and also lacks that longevity element that I spoke about above. However, Delicious does have a bit more to it, which helps in the appealing department. The vocals exude a laid back vibe here that sounds comforting and inviting. The melodies follow a similar frame and has a nice ring to it. The instrumental was uneventful and rather generic for the most part, but I did like the splashes of synths and guitar in the verses. ERIC’s rapping in the second verse was probably the best aspect of Delicious.

Concept-wise, this feels very typical for a Korean act going into Japan. Instead of their more intense image that the group adopted in past Japanese singles or in their previous Korean single (ROAR) prior to the release of Delicious, the group adopt a more casual, brighter and almost cutesy demeanour for this release, which I feel does feel like the expectation in the Japanese pop industry. Obviously, the bigger driver from the brighter concept is the song choice, but it is also something we have seen often when Korean songs/videos are remade for the Japanese market. Choreography-wise, my thoughts above is pretty much aligned. It works well with the song, but it is many steps away from their other performance pieces.

Overall Rating – 7/10