It’s an uphill battle for brand new acts from small-to-medium sized companies, requiring most to ship eye-raising materials that seizes the Ok-pop dialog. Quite than deal with legitimately nice music, many of those smaller acts go for gimmicks or — extra just lately — daring statements designed to seize listeners’ consideration. The title of KIIRAS’s pre-release definitely matches within the latter class.

In traditional Ok-pop vogue, I’m unsure anybody concerned on this track appreciates what “Kill Ma Bo$$” really entails, because the lyrics are a bunch of gobbledygook. Some samples:

“Kill ma boss
Yeah, I do know you actually into me proper now
Are you able to beat my coronary heart?

Simply kill ma boss, ooh (Kill ma)
Killn’ me, killin’ me, 좀 더 keep on, keep on (Keep on)
Kill ma boss, ooh (Kill ma)
Killin’ you, killin’ you, I’ve simply taken your thoughts (Yeah, take you thoughts)
찌릿찌릿해, tic-it-tic-it, bang
Cheeky, cheeky, pow, take you, take you down (Wanna take you down)
I’m tryna kill ma boss”

So… yeah. That is all tied to an odd instrumental that’s a mixture between nation hoedown and typical clattertrap Ok-pop non-chorus, carried out by a bunch whose youngest member is (checks notes) 13 (!). I’m unsure somebody that younger ought to also have a boss, not to mention fantasize about killing them. The track’s finest second is certainly the melodic pre-chorus the place it goes full-on nation and delivers an ideal sense of construct. The women give a assured efficiency that showcases tons of potential and I want Kill Ma Bo$$ discovered a greater strategy to harness that. When the track is nice, it’s sort of superior. However when it’s unhealthy, it’s actually fairly obnoxious.

In the long run, Kill Ma Bo$$ succeeds in its greatest mission. It efficiently captures consideration. For his or her follow-ups, I’d like to see KIIRAS lean into their strengths and see how far they’ll take this nation sound with extra melodically wealthy materials.

Grade: C