xikers is nominated for Best New Male Group and their single ROCKSTAR is nominated for Best Rock Song in the 2023 KPOPREVIEWED Awards. Support xikers and ROCKSTAR by clicking here to vote for them and your other favourite artists, songs and performances today.

xikers returned back in August of this year with their first comeback and second mini-album, House of Tricky: How To Play. Leading the charge of this mini album was one of two title tracks from the mini-album, DO or DIE. A little more than a week on from the release of both the mini-album and DO or DIE, xikers also released the music video for their second title track, HOMEBOY, which is the focus of today’s song review.

HOMEBOY steps away from the likes of rock that has featured heavily in their title tracks thus far, going with a more lighter dance track instead. HOMEBOY also features a mildly slower change of pace, which was refreshing for the group, especially since their tracks that I can remember from them have been of a high energy manner. This allows the group to explore a sound that is more sentimental, which tends to lend well towards a showcase of vocals. While I don’t think we necessarily get that showcase in HOMEBOY, it does give us better opportunity to focus on and appreciate xikers’ vocals. That whole bridge, including the high note, was probably the closest we got to a “showcase” of vocals. It was nice and all, but I would have liked some really more profound moments. The rappers did a nice job of holding themselves back to not overwhelm and contrast too differently from the lightness of the track. Their parts definitely gave bite to HOMEBOY and also made the song interesting to listen to. That being said, the only part in which I felt could have used a do-over is Yechan’s rapping in the first verse, as I felt the autotune was a bit too thick there. His part in the second verse, along with Minjae and Sumin’s, was a lot clearer and easier on the ears. In addition to that, I would have liked stronger hooks and melodies to really remember HOMEBOY by, along with some vibrancy to the instrumentation, which would have helped make HOMEBOY feel more refreshing, offset the heftier beats and break up the instrumental a bit to make it not feel as overly consistent as HOMEBOY does at the moment. Overall, a neat change to what I am used to from xikers.

We see the members hangout and have fun in each other’s company in this music video. This works well with the song’s message of living life without any worries. There isn’t much else to the video, aside from some cool visual effects like the changing daytime/nighttime skies and the massive paper plane. I also really like the bridge scene, with all the members looking forward (see the featured imaged for this post). This part for some reason felt very stilling and profound for me, and their gazes really brought out that sentimental feeling of the tender kind.

On stage, xikers’ performance looks very fun and endearing. Despite the slower pace, I like how upbeat and cheerful the performance looked. The start was very interesting, and I liked how well timed the members running in the circle was. The airplane-like move was a nice addition and made sense as the lyrics do mention flying, although it became less airplane-like as the performance went on and become wavey-like instead.

Song – 8/10
Music Video – 8/10
Performance – 8/10
Overall Rating – 8/10