[AJ] [Review] EPISODE provide early contender for worst debut of 2020 (or ever) with “Open My Door”

[My Everything]

Though there is a version of their name in Hangul, I feel sorry for any international fans trying to search up information about new girl group Episode. Typing “Episode K-pop” into any search engine is going to give you way more random information than you asked for. But listening to their single Open My Door (열어줘), I doubt whether anybody will be inspired to dig deeper into the group. The girls may have potential, but it’s been awhile since I’ve heard a K-pop debut this awful.

 

In short, Open My Door is an unmitigated mess. On its face, the track presents an utterly forgettable entry in the ever-expanding pool of quirky, trap-influenced girl group pop. Its instrumental might as well been programmed by an A.I. machine. It regurgitates so many overused trends of the moment, but its lack of imagination renders them completely inert. I can’t pinpoint a single element that makes this production stand out. It’s devoid of energy, personality and effort.

However, what really makes Open My Door a disaster for the ages is the song’s mixing and poor vocal performance. I don’t know what’s going on with the arrangement here. Vocals are either too loud or too quiet depending on the moment, with odd ad-libs and affectations taking place of the central melody. Of course, there is no real melody to be found anyway, so that point is rendered moot.

While writing reviews, I try my hardest not to disparage performers or performances because I know how hard idols work, and musical taste is subjective. However, the vocals here are nothing short of dreadful. They’re off key, oddly phrased and utterly unconvincing. They also sound like they were recorded in a tin can. I’m not sure what happened here, but Open My Dooris its own special level of bad. I’m not sure I can point to a single redeeming quality, and that’s rarely the case for me.

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IATFB says: My god, you just have to listen.

Source

[lighterxx]

Its an odd mix of trap and children's song, without any positive sides unlike Twice songs o.o

and damn it sounds they recorded vocals at iphone mic 

edit; yep definitely tried to have a Likey there 

Edited February 6, 2020 by lighterxx

[Forgottenly]

Ah yes, I remember them coming over to my house and recording their vocals on my laptop.

It was kind of confusing but we had a great time^^

[My Everything]

2 minutes ago, Callmeashy said:

Ah yes, I remember them coming over to my house and recording their vocals on my laptop.

It was kind of confusing but we had a great time^^

SCREAMING

[Haze]

Honestly, all they need is a real good mixer and producer to record, auto tune their voices, and make it flow better, then it’d be your typical Kpop debut track. They’re obviously just missing a budget.

[seokii]

Wow, badly mixed vocals indeed....

I mean it's not unsalvageable... but there's no point in debuting a kpop group on this kind of budget. This is just so messy.