DRIPPIN’s April 2023 release SEVEN SINS has been on my ‘to review’ list for quite a while now. I have attempted to start a review for SEVEN SINS a few times since April, but it never eventuated into something I could post. But finally, after almost a year from its release, I am finally getting around to reviewing it. SEVEN SINS follows on from the group’s November 2022 release, The One (which was nominated for Best Rock Song of 2023 in the 2023 KPOPREVIEWED Awards. In case you are wondering, it fell within the eligibility period for the 2023 KPOPREVIEWED Awards and voting has now closed).

For me, the plainness of SEVEN SINS is one of the reasons to why I never felt motivated to prioritise the song for review. It is a solid track, opting for a slow jam type of vibe. I would even go to the lengths of being successful at achieving the goal of being that, partially thanks to the dragged-out melodies of the song, such as the primary hook of SEVEN SINS. But this ultimately dulls down the potential of SEVEN SINS for me. I will admit that the vocal delivery from the members of DRIPPIN was very well executed, and was by far one of the best aspects of the song in my opinion. Contributing to the SEVEN SINS’ overall plainness is the constant etchiness and clangy, which sounds feels like something we have heard before. For me, the lack of innovation holds back on the dynamism of SEVEN SINS. Furthermore, the more paced instrumentation (as a result of the melodies) did call for something a little more heightened down the line to really drive interest in the song. And that never eventuated. It isn’t all bad news for the backing of SEVEN SINS, with the groovy backing to the bridge thanks to the bass, being quite cool. The bridge also serves a memorable “99 Problems” line. While I do get the intentions of what SEVEN SINS should have been, improvements are needed to SEVEN SINS to increase its memorability and get me more excited for the song.

The music video for SEVEN SINS was a positive aspect of the comeback. I can’t remember exactly what my first impression of the video was, but there is a lot going on and there is a mysteriousness to it all that makes it intriguing to watch. The video opens with JUNHO falling into a never-ending hole, before we see the members embrace the seven sins as they interact with one another. JUNHO is the first member to interact with another, so this might play into the lore that DRIPPIN has where JUNHO was a villain. This could be an after-life situation, as his villainous side did supposedly die in their previous video. Aside from the plotline, the aesthetics of the video was really well done and this helped draw more attention to the video.

Despite it being a slow jam type of song, the choreography for SEVEN SINS definitely has a powerfulness to it. What they did well is find a balance between that and the slowed momentum of parts of SEVEN SINS, and never let one taking over the other. All of this made this performance worth watching and highlights the calibre of the team’s performance and dancing skills.   

Song – 7/10
Music Video – 9/10
Performance – 9/10
Overall Rating – 8/10