n.SSign’s sole 2025 single Itty Bitty was a sneaky little earworm, slowly rising to become one of my favorite songs of last spring. The guys don’t promote nearly enough for a group of their stature. They still feel like rookies, despite debuting in 2023. New single Funky Like Me was first premiered last month at KBS’s year-end music festival and now we have the studio version and music video.
This song features Peak & Pitch, whose name was new to me. However, I did some research and noticed that these guys used to be part of the band The East Light, which I really loved during their brief stint from 2016-2018. I’m not sure why a group with as many members as n.SSign needs to feature two more, but I’m happy to see the guys getting work and it’s nice to hear their voices again. As its title suggest, Funky Like Me is a funk pop track in the vein of so many other funk pop tracks K-pop’s boy groups have delivered over the years. This one attempts a more throwback approach, driven by big stabs of brass and old-school hip-hop breaks.
I admire the nod to musical history (especially when parts of the vocal hook recall the Bee Gees’ Stayin’ Alive), but I’m not sure the song works as well as it should. It feels more like a jam than a fully-fleshed out pop single, finding one series of hooks and driving them into the ground. There’s no real sense of growth or forward movement. It’s just a pleasant riff repeated over and over again. The song is certainly well-delivered, but I fear this one-note approach will wear thin quickly.
Hooks
8
Production
8
Longevity
7
Bias
8
RATING
7.75
Grade: C+
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