SONG REVIEW: I Love You – TREASURE

Despite having some of the best pre-debut material i’ve ever seen, Treasure’s eventual debut ended up falling kind of flat for me. It was solid but felt way too much like a rehash of the current sound that YG seem to be obsessed with. That’s why despite the very promising teasers, I remained wary of I Love You. And as expected, it’s another comeback that falls victim to the standard YGisms.

In an alternate reality, I Love You could have been an absolute standout. Its opening verse is brisk and expertly performed. I love the bouncy dance beat that constitutes most of the instrumental here. It points to a brighter soundscape that I believe Treasure would do well to pursue further. The ascending pre-chorus is even better, incorporating a more electronic instrumental that sounds like it’s ripped right out of some long lost Bigbang club banger. It sets the stage for a potential standout refrain, one that would transform I Love You into the joyous party banger that it had been setting itself up to be.

Unfortunately, the track collapses into an oddly edgy and visceral instrumental breakdown. As a standalone piece of instrumental, it’s pretty engaging but in the context of I Love You, it just feels jarring. I’m someone who’s usually tolerant to jarring musical shifts but I still don’t really know how to feel about this one. It feels like the producers are shoehorning the idea of being all cool and edgy into a track that didn’t really need it. The same could be said for the following verse, which incorporates a healthy dose of trap to create a segment that feels oddly aggressive in both delivery and arrangement. And as expected, the track rounds itself off with a chanted climax. As it is, I Love You feels like it has an identity crisis. Its individual parts are rather strong but as whole feel less than cohesive.

That’s a shame because there is so much potential here. All they need is a proper chorus.

Verses: 8

Chorus: 6

Production: 8

Performance: 8

Final Rating: 7.5/10