| ifeye is nominated for Best New Female Group and Most Underrated Artist in the 2025 KPOPREVIEWED Awards. Their track, r u ok?, is also nominated for Most Underrated Song. Support ifeye and r u ok? by clicking here to cast your vote today before it closes on 17 January 2026. |
Another group that debuted in 2025 is ifeye, a six-member female group consisting of Won Hwa-yeon, Taerin, Rahee, Kasia, Meu, and Sasha, signed to Hi-Hat Entertainment. In April 2025, the group released their debut mini-album, ERLU BLUE, and the title track NERDY (the focus of this post). Since then, the group made one comeback with the underrated hit r u ok?. That will hopefully be the focus of another review in the future.
NERDY is a nice take on the dreamy pop atmosphere that has been on trend in KPOP recently. I enjoyed the song’s subdued yet bouncy instrumental and the smooth synth textures. The latter is further emphasised by the group’s smooth vocals and song’s melodies, both of which glide us through the song. NERDY‘s main hook, the “N-E-R-D-Y Catch the nerdy sign, N-E-R-D-Y it’s a nerdy vibe,” actually had a nice ring to it, even if it is an interesting lyric choice. But like most songs with a similar ‘dreaminess’ profile, this style comes with its own flaws, which evenuate in NERDY. One of these flaws is that some elements can be forgotten, and for NERDY, that came in the form of the verses. Rapping usually does not fit in well with this style, as evidenced in NERDY‘s rapping sequences. I was also not a big fan of NERDY‘s bridge, which brings a slight change-up to the instrumentation. But the execution ended up muddling the vocals for me. Overall, NERDY is a fair effort and a decent debut track. It just has the same problems as similar songs with the same profile.
The music video for NERDY is pretty, especially when it comes to the scenes in the forest and in the school in the final chorus, where trees sprout everywhere. There was something about these scenes that felt aesthetic, and I liked the contrast to the school concept that most groups and artists tackle at one point in their careers. NERDY‘s lyrics are about wanting to confess to someone, and we see the anxiety that this creates in the members throughout the video. But once the confession is made, their lives change for the better (i.e, the trees bloom and make everything feel pretty).
Like the music video, NERDY’s performance is also pretty. I would also throw in ‘cute’, as well. Nothing stands out on its own, but the whole routine was a nice one to watch.
Song – 8/10
Music Video – 8/10
Performance – 7/10
Overall Rating – 7.8/10
KPOPREVIEWED 