As one of the SNSD members who have made their name as a soloist since the groups extended hiatus, Hyoyeon (Hyo) has been a purveyor of experimental EDM dance tracks, jumping between more straightforward offerings such as Punk Right Now and the thrilling psytrance of songs like Badster. Sure we’ve got a few duds along the way like Dessert but it’s been a pretty exciting ride so far. One that’s culminated in her first mini album headed by the noisy Deep. A song full of ideas that it tries to but doesn’t quite bring together in a satisfying whole.
Let’s start with the positives first because I’d rather get those out of the way first. I love the songs energy. Its post chorus is a great distillation of its charms, harnessing a pretty exciting melody and distortion that’s punctuated by those icy cold electronic blasts. The main chorus on the other hand flips the script with some heavy percussion and bass that harkens back to the tribal sounding nature of past singles whilst still maintaining its bouncy, dance floor pulse. The production is consistently strong, adhering very well to the club ready soundscape even when the melody swerves and sways in not the most engaging directions. Something which Hyo also helps counter with her always charismatic performance.
But in the end that’s not really enough for me to really embrace the song. The verses harness the kind of unpleasant noise music that’s becoming less tolerable by the day for me and the musical shifts that occur do very little for me. It’s all little messy in arrangement and though that literally wouldn’t matter in a club, it doesn’t bode well for simple listening. It’s a little repetitive, verging on monotony and an abrasive approach that doesn’t really bode well for its longevity. The first part of the chorus is especially guilty of this. And while you could throw it into a party playlist pretty easily, I don’t see why you would pick this when there are so many other HYO tracks that just do what Deep does but better.
Verses: 6
Chorus: 7
Production: 8
Performance: 8
Final Rating: 7.25 / 10
KBopped 