![]() Pop will always be the frontline of the music industry/branding/promotional and we are lucky it can be such a transcendent genre…musically. I was curious if they were even going to dance on the music shows with iphones, but I think we’re all clear on that front. But i think we should be critical as an audience and not allow all the art we consume to be blatant advert. I can accept advertisement if executed artfully, which I do think this is. I think it is important to point this out and not celebrate it. I do think the product placement / branding is blatant and a little gross. Everything is very contained, restrained, and, frankly delightful. Then they gave us tracks that really plays well to the charms of the members. I think it solidified New Jeans’s sound as something, at this point, rock solid and immediately identifiable. ![]() I think ADOR/HYBE really pulled it off musically on this EP / promotional cycle. After all, dance music is at its finest when allowed to luxuriate in its own hypnotic energy. However, I still crave the sonic development an extra minute or two would have given this song. I prefer ETA‘s specific ideas to those in Super Shy and Cool With You, making it my immediate favorite of the bunch. It takes one or two central ideas and grinds them into the ground, highlighted by an airy, aloof vocal that twists in cadence to the rhythm. Like every song on this EP, ETA finds its strength through repetition. I’m a big fan of the distorted brass loop that fuels the track and wish the producers would have done more with it. To ETA‘s credit, the song lifts its energy and gives the group more bounce to work with. I’m getting off topic, but I’ve written about a few NewJeans tracks this past week and the discourse has remained largely the same. This new form of influence feels more sinister and less about the music itself. I remember when SM Entertainment used to plaster adds for “ Everysing” on their artists’ music videos, but I kind of appreciated those obvious gestures. That product may simply be a “vibe” or a nebulous idea of “cool,” but this niggling awareness tends to spawn resentment - unconscious or not. Too often with these new-gen HYBE offerings, I get the strong feeling I’m being sold a product. Pop music is obviously a business, but the best pop songs obscure that through emotion, connection and craft. In fact, imagining these brief, jingle-like songs as stylish commercials may offer a more rewarding way to frame their strengths. This NewJeans EP is branding at its most integrated. I went to watch the video for ETA on YouTube and it was immediately preceded by an iPhone advertisement backed by the song’s hook.
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