For the longest time, TXT were the group to beat. Each comeback came with a sense of weight—a promise of quality regardless of genre or concept. And from their debut in 2019 with the buoyant pop of Crown all the way up until 2023’s Chasing That Feeling, the group maintained that high watermark, climaxing in a string of rock fuelled masterworks that defined that awkward post pandemic era for so many. Sure there were some hiccups along the way but for a discography as varied as theirs, it’s almost par for the course. But even amongst those lesser comebacks, there were moments that had me coming back for more. However, last years listless Over The Moon was the first time where i just couldn’t find anything worth grabbing onto. As such in my mind, Beautiful Strangers arrives as an attempt to right the ship. And though it opts for a much more dynamic sound when compared to its predecessor, it’s unfortunately still held back by many of the same issues.
Two minutes and eighteen seconds. Two. Eighteen. That’s just insulting. I understand the idea behind reducing song length to boost streaming numbers but at what point does it become excessive. Beautiful Strangers is barely as much a song as it is an extended interlude at this point, barely having enough time to develop any of its many ideas into something truely coherent or tangible. It’s a plague that’s been infecting the music industry recently and honestly feels as though it’s actively hampering the artistic process. HYBE have been especially criminal in this regard, actively shortening tracks in ways that make otherwise pretty great songs feel unfinished and underdeveloped. Le Sserafim’s Hot fell victim to this earlier in the year and now Beautiful Strangers follows suit.
The bones here are strong but there just isn’t any time to fully flesh them out at all. I love the stabbing synths that punctuate the hook. They lend the otherwise rather mundane trap-rock production an additional edge that helps elevate it above other songs in a similar vein. It twists and turns in a very satisfying way and I’m a big fan of how the groups always excellent vocal blend is used here to support it. I’ll always love the groups wonderfully distinct vocal tones and as expected, they sound excellent here.
The song—or whatever we have of it—sounds good but it just doesn’t build to anything. There’s no bridge. No final chorus. No climax. Just a sharp cutoff that leaves everything hanging. The melodies are solid, the production is engaging and the performances are great but the final product just feels so slight because of the length. Yes i do end up pressing replay more often than not just to hear those synth breakdowns again but it’s not out joy. It’s a reactionary response that stems from my own unsatisfaction. We all know that a great climax can fully flip a song on its head—we don’t even have to look further than TXT’s own Sugar Rush Ride. And so to rid a song with so much potential of something like that just so a few numbers could be higher on a few streaming sites is just insane to me. The bottom line is, people want good songs. TXT have shown many times over that they are more than capable of delivering. Now it’s just up to HYBE to stop sabotaging their own groups with this atrocious business model.
Verses: 7
Chorus: 8
Production: 8
Performance: 8
Final Rating: 7.75 / 10
KBopped 