After megahit songs “Eleven” and “Love Dive”, IVE’s new single is expected to continue the group’s outstanding success.
On August 22nd, IVE official returned with their 3rd single, “After Like”. As the group managed to score huge hits with “Eleven” and “Love Dive”, this comeback of them is even more anticipated than ever.
The music video for “After Like” brought a festive atmosphere, while the song is upbeat, energetic, and extremely catchy. The lyrics send the message of always going forwards and being strong enough to love with all one’s confidence. In addition, “After Like” is also a huge eyegasm, with jaw-dropping visuals of the members and the impressive choreography.
Embracing various music genres, from EDM, pop, to house, “After Like” is an upbeat song suitable for summer parties. In addition, it also combines a sample from legendary Gloria Gaynor song “I Will Survive” with explosive rap parts from Gaeul and Rei, blowing the audience away. With “Eleven” and “Love Dive” still going strong on digital music platforms, “After Like” is expected to be yet another huge hit, cementing IVE’s position as a formidable Kpop girl group.
Within just a few hours of release, “After Like” already attained impressive achievements on music platforms, ranking 1st on Bugs, 2nd on Genie, and debuting in Top 10 Melon. The song also blocked a possible perfect-all-kill from BLACKPINK and fellow rookie NewJeans, and is now still seeing rises in their positions.
BLACKPINK, who recently released their new song “Pink Venom” after almost 2 years, will be having a hard time amid other strong competitors. In addition, with TWICE’s coming back on August 26th, the battle will be more intense than ever, and Korean music shows are going to be filled with extremely popular groups.
IVE has also shown their remarkable topicality despite being a rookie, and all 6 members of the group have been trending since the release of “After Like”. Nevertheless, the song is now embroiled in quite the controversy due to “unfair line distribution”.
Below are some comments from netizens:
- The more I listen to it, the better the rap part sounds. I keep putting it on repeat. However, the line distribution is a bit skewed. While I’m not a fan, I have been looking into Liz, and she barely has any part, even disappearing completely during the chorus.
- Finally we have a song that shows off Rei and Geul’s rapping skills!! That’s a 100 for me!
- They put the best part in the teaser so the full song doesn’t feel as exciting. It’s still one of the best songs though.
- The music slaps but the lyrics don’t hit as hard as “Love Dive”
- The beat for the chorus and the rap part from Rei and Gaeul is just the best. However, I’m not really feeling the vocal parts.
- That chorus just wasn’t it for me. Also Liz only has like… 2 tiny lines and not a single chorus.
