After almost two years, TREASURE are finally here! In standard YG fashion, the boys have been pulled out of the dungeon to debut with a grand total of…… 2 tracks! It’s the kind of release formula the company have always favoured and one that I for the life of me can’t understand. But January’s Going Crazy did show some great potential and my initial indifference towards the boys transformed into something more substantial. Couple that with member Bang Yedam’s wonderful Wayo and their debut slowly became one of my most anticipated moments of the year. And while it does falter when compared to their two pre-debut singles, BOY is probably the strongest single we’ve heard from a YG group all year (although that’s not really saying much).
The best thing about Boy is that feels like a natural progression of their pre-debut sound whilst still adhering strongly to the YG template. Its opening verse is easily its strongest moment, supported by an addictive electronic backbone as the boys rattle off a suitably dynamic set of hooks. It’s great stuff, helping to build momentum whilst still providing a striking introduction. It sounds a lot like my favourite single from last month, 1THE9’s brilliant Bad Guy and on my first listen of Boy, this similarity made me incredibly pleased. It seemed like we were going to get another banging boy group dance track in the space of a few weeks. All Boy needed to do was serve me with a chorus. And in typical YG fashion…….
It didn’t
Now I don’t know what I was expecting from a YG song in 2020 but considering that both Going Crazy and Wayo had great hooks, I was hoping (and begging) that Boy would follow suit. Unfortunately, Boy stumbles into a standard beat drop chorus. It’s not one to illicit any sparks but it’s honestly not that bad either. Rather than some generic tropical squiggles, big room EDM samples or shudder autotuned fart esque synths, the drop manages to feel somewhat climactic. I like its almost robotic texture and while I would have much preferred a fully fledged hook, Boy‘s centrepiece doesn’t feel as out of place as I would have expected.
However, this is where we run into some major issues. The post chorus trap breakdown and dance break are easily my least favourite moments of the track. Both completely halt the momentum and while the tracks rousing climactic chant is enough to restore some of the energy lost, the same can’t be said for Boy‘s second verse. It’s an unfortunate choice and makes the track feel much more generic than it should. It’s a song with way too many unnecessary momentum killing diversions and would have honestly been much stronger had it maintained the same energy as its thrilling first verse. But at the same time I can’t really say that I’m disappointed either.
Verses: 8
Chorus: 7
Production: 8
Performance: 8
Final Rating: 7.75 / 10
KBopped 
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