Short answer:

Japan.

Long answer:

Because I wasn’t watching YouTube (or other short-form streaming video) during most of the month of March, I had no way to access the ‘Wakey Wakey’ video when it was first released. And because for whatever reason SM Entertainment/Avex records (SM’s proxy in Japan) didn’t release the whole album until later…I didn’t have access it on Spotify until like, last week.

Okay, great.

“But now that it’s on Spotify,” you ask, “why don’t you review it? Even without the video! You did that with Chen’s solo album a while back.”

Real answer:

Once I finally found it, I listened to ‘Wakey Wakey’ (or W2, as I’ll call it in the rest of this post). Then I listened to it again. And just now, I gave it a third chance.

I think you know where I’m going with this.

W2 is not my cup of tea. Which is a shame, because with a name like ‘Wakey Wakey’ it would be really fun if it were the kind of song that you could blast in the mornings with a cup of coffee.

This song reminds me of ‘Regular’ crossed with Hitchhiker x Taeyong’s ‘Around’ with a little sprinkling of ‘Chain’ on top. Unlike ‘Around,’ though, which has a delightful sense of humor and makes me laugh every single time, W2 is just…relentless.

The same tight melodic range (read: NO melodic range) of ‘Regular’ combined with the high synth sample? No thank you.

One of the hard parts of being a fan of a group while they’re actively building a sound and a fanbase is that they’re going to keep exploring. What you initially liked about them may not be where they ultimately end up.

There’s a beauty in staying open, and giving a young group the space to grow and explore. That’s what I tell myself, at least.

For every ‘Regular,’ there’s a ‘Simon Says.’