Kpop Review: IZ*ONE's "Secret Story of the Swan"

Only four months after their last comeback, IZ*ONE is back and ready to tell their fans the "Secret Story of the Swan"!

The Song:

As much as I love this comeback, the song will have to grow on me a bit. It's a good song, but definitely not as strong or as catchy as their last comeback "Fiesta" was. The backing track is heavy with horns and edm, which simmers down a bit during the verses to allow the members' voices to shine. The chorus is very repetitive, even for a kpop song, but I think the different verses and hooks do a good job of breaking it up. The lyrics of "Secret Story of the Swan" have a fairy tale feeling to them, which matches the sparkly, magical vibe of the music video. One of my favorite parts of the whole song is the bridge in which main vocalist Yuri absolutely killed the high notes!

Despite the large size of the group (12 members!), I feel like the line distribution was fairly even. Their voices all mix together well and not one of them feels like they don't belong. I always adore the unique voices of leader Eunbi and vocalist Nako and was glad to see that they both got moments to shine! However, I was particularly impressed with Yena's part in the third verse. I always forget she's the main rapper and then she comes out with these amazing rap parts that catch me off guard! I don't think it's an unpopular opinion that the raps in kpop songs don't always fit the best within the songs they're featured. They too often just feel shoehorned in to give the group's rapper something to do. However, I feel like Yena & Chaeyeon's raps gave an added dimension to this song and made it more exciting and interesting to listen to.

Favorite Song on the Album: "Merry-Go-Round"

This song had a very different feel from the rest of the album, but I didn't feel like it didn't fit. It's funky and retro and a little bit more calm than the album's designated single. It was cute but not as sickly sweet as "Pretty" and not as slow as "With*One." I really like the song "Rococo" as well, which made me just want to see a whole music video with a French Rococo concept!

The Music Video:

As expected, this video was insanely pretty - like walking through a fantasy world full of bright lights and shimmering glitter. The production for IZ*ONE music videos has always been very high quality and it only continues to improve. There was a lot of CGI and digitally rendered backgrounds, but it didn't look obnoxiously fake as things like that often can. It looked smooth and seamless and fit with the sound and lyrics of the song. There wasn't much of a specific concept that I could nail down, however. At some points it felt very fairy tale-inspired, while other scenes featured futuristic elements. But that is an extremely small detail and didn't take away from the beauty of the mv at all!

The girls' styling was just as beautiful as the video they were in. They all looked stunning as usual! Everything glittered, from their various outfits to their makeup, and I loved it. I'm kind of obsessed with their makeup, in fact. I think the glitter in both the video and styling, as well as the lightness of the song, really helped give the overall comeback a summer vibe without feeling like it was screaming "I'M A SUMMER SINGLE!!" It was fun and luxe and sparkly - what more could a girl want?