RBW groups have some of the most hit or miss discographies I’ve ever seen. Chief amongst them are Mamamoo, who have swerved very heavily in quality between comebacks but have achieved massive commercial success. ONEUS on the other hand were a similar case during their primary years before their excellent 2021 saw them reach greater heights. And while my hopes for Purple Kiss were high after last years great Zombie, memeM sees them recess to the very bottom of the girl crush barrel.
There really isn’t much I can say about memeM other than the fact that it’s quite a mess. The clobbering instrumental that opens memeM and acts as an anchor to much of the track isn’t satisfying in the slightest, echoing some of the least successful girl crush efforts of the past few years, coming across as ugly rather than cool. The vocal arrangement during the opening verse is also a mess, embracing the grating sing talk delivery style that never sits well with me whilst still veering in predictable and unsatisfying directions.. This follows through to the tracks chorus which opens with a momentum killing drop coupled with, you guessed it, an annoying repetition of the tracks central hook.
Thankfully, the track grows into something more substantial following the opening chorus, experimenting with tempo shifts and harnessing stronger melodies to create a real sense of weight. The rousing post chorus is an excellent example of this and could have been a real stunner of a hook had it been attached to an overall stronger track. Tracks that are this jumbled really need one (or many) killer hook(s) to really feel substantial and unfortunately, memeM just can’t find that one knockout moment to really spring board off of. It comes close a few times but every time you think it’s going to surprise you, it suddenly shifts jarringly back to formula, resulting in an unsatisfying listening experience and one that really isn’t deserving of the sheer talent that a group like Purple Kiss have.
Verses: 7
Chorus: 7
Production: 7
Performance: 7
Final Rating: 7 / 10
KBopped 