It’s been awhile since we’ve heard from the Way Better agency, whose roster expanded last year. Lim Sejun re-debuted as a soloist with the pleasant Summer last May but hasn’t promoted since. New singer Pray For God is a very different beast, its synth sound feeling much more aligned with agency masterminds from20 and Hello Gloom.
Sejun goes full-on Michael Jackson in the video, which is always a good musical starting point for me. I’ll never say no to a funky bit of dance pop, though it’s been done so often that it takes something very special for a song to stand out. In this regard, Pray For God is solid yet unspectacular. It does the thing so many of these modern songs do in their chorus, where most of the production strips back to focus solely on the bassline. This approach is rarely successful for me because it feels like such an anticlimax where a climax should be. A sense of payoff is what made the Jacksons’ music so indelible. Just think of those megawatt choruses!
Instead, Pray For God is slinky and subdued. There are plenty of other songs just like it, making me wish the production or songwriting would have done something different to stand out. The verses are strongest here, injecting much-appreciated drama over a bed of blaring synths. If only they had stretched that tension throughout the entire song. It resolves too quickly and too often, letting us off the hook when we should be on the edge of our seats.
Hooks
8
Production
8
Longevity
8
Bias
8
RATING
8
Grade: B-
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