I’m gonna say it right here. I have no idea what Bighit was thinking with this song. I didn’t like it on release and I like it even less with a mv. In all honesty, I was thinking about whether I would want to do a write up on this in the first place. But alas, I realised that sometimes I should be allowed to vent. Although I love TXT, their latest project The Dream Chapter: Eternity is such a step back from their first two projects that its kind of staggering. And a song like Puma (동물원을 빠져나온 퓨마) was the nail in the coffin.
Ok before I even get into my thoughts on Puma, I have a question with the marketing team. Of all the songs on the (incredibly average) mini album you could have given an mv to, WHY. PICK. PUMA? Like you’ve got Drama, Eternally and even Fairy of Shampoo to choose from and you pick the most generic, forgettable track on the entire tracklist. In the context of the album, I had little issues with Puma. It was the stereotypical, trend chasing track that pretty much every group has done at least once within their careers (or in recent years, once every comeback). But that fact that they went along and chose to give it a promotional cycle kinda baffles me. This is mostly because, well, the song sucks.
The production, the hook, the performance, everything here is just so lacklustre. TXT have dabbled with vocal processing before to great success but here it just sounds so ugly. They sound robotic, ridding the group of any charm or charisma they have. It honestly just feels lazy, adhering to the worst of the overused musical trends of today and utilising them in the worst way possible. And the worst part about it is how seriously they take themselves. What made similar auto tuned-trap fuelled tracks such as Cat & Dog and Angel or Devil so enjoyable were their sense of goofy, unfiltered fun. None of those tracks took themselves seriously and were all the more better for it. Puma on the other hand stumbles before it can even begin. A real shame.
Verses: 5
Chorus: 5
Production: 5
Performance: 6
Final Rating: 5.25 / 10
KBopped 
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