WJSN fall on the wrong side of the J-pop line with “I Wish”, but it still looks great

WJSN have returned to us with “I Wish“, which continues to cement their sound as something familiar with J-pop anime themes.

“I Wish” doesn’t even feel like an actual comeback for WJSN, it feels like one of those songs that groups release as a Winter single so they can extract money from fans or something. The tempo and all that is fine, but it’s such a saccharine-sounding, basic effort that it’s hard to not tune it out as background music. It’s a shame since the instrumental starts out quirky and interesting, but it doesn’t really go anywhere from there. Furthermore, the whole thing is auto-tuned to hell and back, which I don’t have a problem with in itself, but in this song just adds to it feeling too clean.

“Secret” took WJSN down a safe anime-esque J-pop sound, and at the time I found it to be an inferior version of Lovelyz‘s “Destiny” that fit in that same mode, but over time “Secret” definitely grew on me and I enjoy it a lot now. “I Wish” aims to do similar things, but it slips on the line between a J-pop anime theme and falls into beige-ass J-idol territory that A Pink has sort of been owning for years now. If you’ve read my recent reviews of A Pink releases, you’d know how I feel about that.

I understand the appeal of it just sounding just pleasant enough, and what I’m writing now is much friendlier to “I Wish” than what I had written down as my initial impression. Perhaps then it’ll eventually grow into something I find average, but as of now it’s hard for me to conclude that this is anything but a rather forgettable effort.

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The video certainly continue to fit in with their “cosmic” concept, and it’s visually quite arresting, which seems to be a strength of their videos.

The choreography was a bonus as well.

Also visually arresting are the members like EXY, who is reflecting on her life choices having to dance to this shit.

So fucking hot with her thick-ass nose and her weird-shaped head.

<3 Also, they included the Mannequin Challenge in their video…

…which Cheng Xiao ended…

…along with many potential lives.

There were also some random moments as well, like golfing in space (get that Taylor Made money, I guess?)…

…dancing in front of what was supposed to be a smiley face but is now melted and has become a horror scene…

…and making us ponder about life.

https://twitter.com/asianjunkiecom/status/816312167989288960

I didn’t need that this morning.

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The amount of members had me wary of my ability to get into WJSN, but I’ve found they’re a likable bunch and they’re quite easy to get attached to (also EXY). My concern, though, is that out of their four singles so far, the tally is one I eventually liked (“Secret”), two that are pleasant enough but forgettable (“I Wish”, “Catch Me“), and one I actively disliked (“Mo Mo Mo“). And while I think I like the general identity they’re settling into with “Secret” and “I Wish”, I just really hope they fall on the right side of these anime-esque musical efforts because the alternative is becoming sort of a J-pop version of recent A Pink and they’re better than that.

Basically, I don’t want to Google their careers and get this back in return.

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‘From WJSN’ Album

“I Wish” Song