With QWER’s TBH nonetheless using excessive on digital charts, the group is again with a brand new album. This was preceded by the comedic Pretend Idol, which featured (G)I-DLE’s Soyeon in its video. This time round, she’s energetic behind the scenes, co-writing/producing new single My Title Is Malguem (내 이름 맑음).

QWER’s Manito mini album showcased extra musical variety than you may count on from a band, and My Title Is Malguem dips into a few of this selection. It feels rather more pop-informed than you may suppose. Given a distinct instrumental, this might simply have been carried out by a conventional song-and-dance idol group. And humorous sufficient, I feel I might have most popular that. The melodies appear ripe for a Lovelyz/GFriend model surge of symphonic heft. As an alternative, the manufacturing principally fades into the background, supporting the monitor however by no means laying out its personal imaginative and prescient.

Korean tastes are unpredictable, and this may effectively go on to grow to be one other heat-seeking missile up the charts, however after a number of listens My Title Is Malguem doesn’t really feel as sticky as TBH. In its present iteration, it feels like a really stable drama OST, nice however missing chew or a singular calling card.

Grade: C