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I am back! And the first song review of 2024 is TVXQ!’s Rebel. It is one of the final songs released in 2023 and serves as the title track from the duo’s 9th Korean studio album, 20&2. This particular album also celebrates the pair’s 20th anniversary. Rebel is also TVXQ!’s first Korean release since 2018’s Truth (though the two members have been more active over the last few years as solo artists). They have been more actively lately as a group in Japan with their last release Lime & Lemon dropping a few months prior.

Leave it to TVXQ! to see off 2023 with an energetic and dramatic track like Rebel. I really liked the hollow percussion in the verses, the glitchy and rough nature of the synths elsewhere in the song (that instrumental break really sells it for me), and the freshness the pop melodies in the pre-choruses bring to Rebel. As for the dramatic turn the chorus takes, I did like the suspenseful direction Rebel takes, but I personally felt it could have gone harder. To me, the chorus just teeters at the edges and doesn’t really fall as hard as you would have expected from listening to the rest of Rebel or just from what you know of TVXQ!. It truly was a missed opportunity to take Rebel to the next level. Vocally, I felt satisfied with those pop melodies we get in the pre-choruses (as mentioned above). However, it is the really low rap-speak that we get from U-KNOW that I am not entirely fond of. I do appreciate that it adds to the suspense and intensity of the track, but it felt a tad too artificial and over-processed for me. But honestly, my nit-picks are pretty minor. The energy, dramatic flair, intensity, suspense and just the familiarity of TVXQ! makes Rebel feel like an indulgence. And given it was released in the final few days of 2023, the timing to indulge in it was just right.

The music video looks cool and works well with the song. The aesthetics throughout looks amazing, especially when it came to the dance break. It looks like a mismatch of things, but they actually work hand-in-hand with each other to create intensity and depth. The bubbling lava, lightning and other imagery we see during the dance break instantly amps up the intensity of that portion of the video/song, taking everything to another level. The eyeball imagery in the first verse and artwork imagery used during two parts of the video was also quite memorable element.

The other super cool part of this comeback is the choreography. The ripple effects, the vibrating parts and that dance break just highlights why TVXQ has been around for 20 years now. They know how to perform and it is something that they do not take lightly.

Song – 8.5/10
Music Video – 8.5/10
Performance – 10/10
Overall Rating – 8.8/10