Song Review: JAESSBEE – My Summer Manual

Sometimes summer highlights emerge from the most unexpected places. Over the past few days, we’ve had a flurry of strong seasonal offerings from some of K-pop’s girl groups, but with My Summer Manual (나의 여름 설명서), the variety show spawned co-ed group JAESSBEE confidently throw their hat in the ring. They’ve got some major firepower behind them, with producers like Bumzu and Shannon Bae behind the song’s creation. The swaggy ALLDAY PROJECT may currently hold Korea’s chart glory, but I’ll take this fun little bop any day.

JAESSBEE put comedy at the forefront but bolster it with a loving nod to K-pop’s musical past. Their debut track referenced many of the sounds I loved from the industry’s third generation and My Summer Manual does the same. Its pulsing electro beat is extremely refreshing and keeps the bright energy aloft the entire running time. I wasn’t surprised to see some of TWS’s frequent producers working on this, as the track feels like it could have easily gone to a group like that (I mean, just listen to that pre-chorus!). This goes to show how carefully crafted the song is. This isn’t just some funny little trifle. It’s legitimately good and brings a sense of carefree fun to an idol landscape that can often take itself too seriously. I’ll be adding it to my burgeoning summer 2025 playlist for sure.

Grade: B+