I had the pleasure of attending Jeon Somi’s meet and greet at KCON LA this previous weekend and was fairly taken together with her considerable charisma. This seed of curiosity was sown with final 12 months’s stellar dance single Quick Ahead — a track that also will get me pumped to this present day. However with that mentioned, love for an artist’s star energy doesn’t at all times switch to the music itself. Somi’s had a combined bag of title tracks to this point, and new single Ice Cream additional complicates issues.

With just one comeback a 12 months, it’s important to knock issues out of the park each time. I hoped her group would additional steer her towards membership queen territory, as there are moments the place her stage method really jogs my memory of Madonna (not one thing I’d say about simply anybody!). As an alternative, they’ve pulled her proper again to the novelty of her debut single. Ice Cream is way extra Meghan Trainor than Madonna, and that’s an enormous hole.

To my thoughts, the previous few weeks have been very brief on summer-themed Okay-pop highlights, so there’s undoubtedly a spot available in the market for a cute, cheeky pop observe that reminds you of sizzling days on the seashore with dripping ice cream cones. The irritating toot toot circus brass of this track doesn’t accomplish that. The producers ought to have leaned into the tropical synths of the pre-chorus as an alternative, however even with a unique sound palette Ice Cream could be too inane to stay. Somi deserves a stronger imaginative and prescient for her creative development. I really like her. I hate this.

Grade: F