K-pop boy band Infinite's third album Top Seed tries to do too much but ends up doing very little [Review]
By trying to cover too much ground, Infinite's newest album doesn't have a recognisable identity
Earlier this month, K-pop boy band Infinite released their third album, Top Seed – an overblown affair that tries to shamelessly cover every aspect of the pop umbrella.
Begin and Tell Me merge together to create summery tropical-pop, with a Clean Bandit-like string line repeating throughout, alongside a needless trap beat. The plucked electric guitar and simple drumbeat of Synchronise hint towards early Kelly Clarkson before jumping into an overblown rave chorus, as the boys chant, “Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!” – surely set to fill out huge arenas.
The most interesting track is TGIF where Dong Woo takes centre-stage for this funk soul track, which has plenty of groove to boot, reminiscent of 90s era Will Smith.
The more heartfelt and introspective songs No More, Why Me and Reminisce all utilise lower-pitched and more fragile voices, which work well, but they all seem to follow the same formula, becoming increasingly predictable with each passing piano ballad.
Elsewhere, Pray is a song of many musical genres, none of which seem to gel, and the glam rock I Hate feels really out of place on the list, with lyrics like “I hate you but I love you” being as unimaginative as the weak metal riffs.
The upbeat Wind injects a bit more life back into the album, with a catchy guitar riff like Coldplay’s Adventures of a Lifetime, while the brass-led chorus of Love Song adds a nice touch to an otherwise faultless Justin Timberlake imitation.
There aren’t any awful songs, but no great ones either. Top Seed just sounds like something you’ve heard before.
Edited by Ginny Wong