The K-pop industry seems intent on messing with me this year. NouerA were one of my favorite rookies of 2025, with two mini albums full of fantastic music that drew influence from older generations of K-pop. Led by producer e.one, they forged a sound that felt unique and impressive. With new single Pop It Like, their management has seemingly thrown that all away. They’re now executive-produced by EXO member Lay and have adopted an ultra-tired swaggy hip-hop sound.
I just can’t with the janky ass pots and pans percussion that underlines Pop It Like. If that wasn’t bad enough, its chorus is the kind of obnoxious shouty NCT style “hook” that lacks imagination and appeal. The group is almost unrecognizable within this framework, their unique strengths shoehorned into trends and tropes that have already been exhausted a thousand times over. There’s nothing in Pop It Like we haven’t heard before. I could throw a stone in any direction of the K-pop industry and come across a track like this. What’s the point of establishing your own sound just to retreat to a knockoff of something else? I assume NouerA’s agency is seeing potential in the Chinese market, but given the fact that their Japanese member isn’t even allowed to perform there at the moment I don’t see this approach bearing much fruit.
Instead, Pop It Like is a cautionary tale about how to lose fans. It’s always a risk when you’re attempting to broaden your audience and it takes a killer song to pull that off. Pop It Like is far from killer, guaranteed to go unnoticed by the general public while pissing off fans like me. It’s a lose-lose situation and makes me mourn for the potential N.I.N (New Is Now) or Bring The Crunk we could have had instead.
Hooks
6
Production
6
Longevity
7
Bias
6
RATING
6.25
Grade: D
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