[Review] EXID - Hot Pink (Revisited)

Doing a revisited piece for a disbanded group is like sadness and nostalgia rolled up into a burrito. Even though EXID technically are not defunct, in terms of mainstream media they pretty much are. Anyway, if not for the linked video I'd have forgotten this song existed. In 2020, I don't think it holds up well. Let's see how right my prediction is.

• For starters, "Hot Pink" has deviated itself far from the "Up & Down" formula that gave EXID their chance at glory. The only instance of similarity was at 1:12 right before Solji's part. You could probably insert the latter half of the "Up & Down" chorus from there and that'd be a seamless transition but outside of that the comparisons are lacking. This is good, since we want EXID to find success on their own without the need to piggyback of their "ultimate" song.

Yeah as far as "Up & Down" goes, EXID and their various producers milked that shit for everything possible when it came to future comebacks. In some cases it worked out quite nicely ("Ah Yeah") and in others, not as much ("Hot Pink"). It's different from a group like Dreamcatcher because at least DC has much more variation in song structure and style while staying within their signature sound.
Of course the good news in retrospect is that they did mix things up over the final half of their careers. Songs like "DDD" and "Lady" were fun, great, and unique in ways different from the title that launched them into superstardom.

• The standard EXID formula is still there: Hyerin and Solji teaming up for a strong singing performance, LE delivers a series of raps, and Junghwa gets the awkwardest of all awkward parts (more on that later).

Another point where credit is due: EXID were willing to play around with parts and have experimented wildly after 2015. Unfortunately for the terms of this look back, they didn't get there yet.

• Hyerin still needs some more work on her acting and general presence, her boring demeanor doesn't compliment her emphatic voice. Solji, meanwhile, is stunning in both aspects, and she definitely needed to belt "everybody dance now" right before the chorus. That would have been perfect in every way.

Hyerin has always been the awkward one out, and that was more prominent in "Hot Pink." Solji's sharp high notes have been a hallmark long before their rise to the top, and I have no idea what I was thinking saying they should've added an "everybody dance now" line or homage. Must have been high...

• Just recently, LE was crowned as the #1 girl group rapper but the rapping in "Hot Pink" wasn't very exciting. Part of the reason is because of the background male "vocals" literally eating up half of each rap segment. I know the chorus is also just chanting like the male voices but c'mon LE could've done so much better. The rapping here is just too brief and cluttered to be any good.

To say that LE's moments were underwhelming would be an understatement. The dumb chanting and blips don't contribute anything to the song or rap lines, and should have been omitted entirely. At the end of the day, a mediocre rap accompanied a mediocre song.

• I don't even wanna talk about this music video haha.

I did write about it then, I won't write about it now. It's cringe and boring. Only thing worth noting about the MV blurb was how I mentioned 9MUSES worked the gas station theme far better, and yeah that remains true.

• It's difficult to determine whether or not "Hot Pink" has provided us with another signature EXID track. The song structure is quite jumbled and less catchy, with stereotypical clutter starting and ending the song plus Junghwa's awkward bridge in the middle. LE has some punctual moments but are overshadowed by the unnecessary chanting, and while Hyerin and Solji remain spectacular, their parts are (as usual) too short to really be something special. It's still a good song, no doubt, but unfortunately at time of writing "Hot Pink" fails to live up to the expectations set by "Ah Yeah."

Ha! I do not think "Hot Pink" is a good song in current year. Somehow even with all my criticisms back then, I decided they deserved "good" for a rating. Nah fam that ain't working anymore. The chanting is interfering with an already below average rap delivery, while any high points regarding vocals are covered by the dullness of the rest of "Hot Pink." Looking at the grand scope of their library, this might have actually been their weakest title track ever.