Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Released almost month ago, it’s almost easy to forget that “Pink Venom” was only a pre-release for the ‘Born Pink‘ album given all the fanfare, but now BLACKPINK‘s single “Shut Down” has been released with hopes that it’d be more inspired than its predecessor.
Unfortunately, I’d argue it was worse. Sure, their usual repetitive catch phrases as an excuse for a chorus, over-reliance on instrumental drops, and a general lack of melody don’t usually do it for me either, but at the very least there’s some memorable shit and flashes of quality. “Shut Down” just … basically does what the title says and gives up, like it’s tired and worn down, so they phoned this in and are trying to cast some kind of monotonous spell over listeners to hypnotize people into thinking it’s decent. The most effort expended in trying to craft anything memorable is the half-hearted “whip it whip it whip it whip it” repetition, which sounded about as compelling as you reading it in text right now.
The inclusion of Niccolo Paganini‘s “La Campanella“ was apparent, though quite frankly the sample was about all that was interesting about “Shut Down”, and it mainly reminded me of how much more I’d enjoy listening to that instead. I dunno, man. I feel like BLACKPINK deserve better material and fans should demand they get it instead of just eating whatever that’s released up, because this truly just feels uninspired and anemic.
