Song Review: ifeye – R U OK?

Girl Group ifeye debuted earlier this year with the sprightly Nerdy. That song boasted a great chorus that was undercut by the airy, subdued production style that’s become so popular with this generation’s girl groups. With new comeback R U OK?, the girls make a sonic turn toward a more percussive summer sound.

R U OK delves into dance music, moving between hard-hitting bhangra beats and electronic textures during its chorus. In between, the song struggles to maintain its momentum. I’ve noticed this a lot with current K-pop songs. Their highest points feel like the energy you’d expect on a verse, while the verses themselves lope by with very little intensity at all.

Melodically, R U OK is slighter than its predecessor with a structure that’s more clipped and rhythmic. This works here and there, though it threatens to give the song a slapdash feeling as if it’s missing some important piece. At the moment you expect a post-chorus, the instrumental takes a hard swerve into something else. From here, the song feels like several songs mashed together. I imagine that further listens will smooth out many of these jarring transitions, but overall R U OK is leaving me wanting something more.

Grade: C+