One of the nominees for the Most Underrated Song of 2023 as part of the 2023 KPOPREVIEWED Awards was LUCY’s Haze. And today, I will be telling you why. Haze was released back in August of 2023 as part of their Fever mini-album that was also released on the same day. While I had intentions to review it much earlier, I never got around to reviewing it unfortunately. But that changes today. This is the first time I am reviewing a LUCY release since PLAY in 2022.

I honestly do not remember my first impression of Haze. But I definitely remember ‘rediscovering’ the track a while after its release and falling for it, just in time to nominate it as part of the 2023 KPOPREVIEWED Awards (which voting has now ended). There is so much to enjoy in Haze. The soaring vocals sound sublime. The energy from the rock instrumentation really bolsters up the song, while the continuous unique presence of the violin in this band’s composition and the additional strings gives Haze another dimension and to further the already mentioned effect of both vocals and band instrumentation. The “Ah-ha” at the start of the chorus has such a memorable ring to it and is such a blissful moment in the song. The melodies throughout the song were also equally as memorable. But what got to me and really won me over was the sentiment of the song. Not even considering the lyrics, the vocals in Haze just carries such an uplifting and encouraging tone, along with a tinge of emotions that almost got to me. And this is the exactly what you get when you read the lyrics. All of this convinced me how amazing Haze is. And given how it hasn’t got the attention it deserves, it was nominated for Most Underrated Song by me for 2023.  

If the emotion tinge to the vocals weren’t enough to tip me over, the music video did. And for your information, it wasn’t the relatable struggles of study pressures, being bullied or not succeeding at something that you have attempted so many times that was portrayed in the music video by the students. It was actually that montage of LUCY performing together on the field in a circle, engaging with one another that got to me. There is something about this that reminded me of simpler times, hanging out with friends and having a blast with one another. Me getting emotional over that part doesn’t negate the rest of the video, however, with the acting out of the struggles being well displayed. And with the uplifting lyrics, each student saw a happy ending. The haziness was also a nice effect over the video. The post-credit ending of the music video was a bit of a wildcard, as it alludes to Boogie Man, a future release (at the time) which dropped in December 2023. I will be back to review that release at a later date.

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