The idea of a super group in K-pop is very exciting. Anyone remember SuperM? As far as I know, this trio of HYBE acts don’t plan to promote together past this one-off single, but the combination of LE SSERAFIM, ILLIT and Katseye has the potential to maximize a joint slay to the nth degree. However, none of these acts have released their best music recently and the title Iconic By Mistake already makes me throw up in my mouth a little.
I’m at the point where I’m going to flip a table if I must hear yet another K-pop group brag about how awesome they are — let alone three groups doing so. This subject matter has been especially prevalent in the industry’s girl groups lately, often paired with “clap backs at the haters” that are just as insufferable. True badasses don’t need to incessantly tell us how badass they are, and this constant “tell rather than show” is more obnoxious than illuminating. It’s like walking through an endless discount rack of unwanted, cheap clothes with tired neon slogans printed all over them. Making matters worse, these songs rarely have musical substance to back up the bravado. Such is the case with Iconic By Mistake.
It’s telling that, when watching the music video for this song, much of the audio is covered in explosive sound effects. It’s not easy to distinguish these sound effects from the song itself, which creates a maelstrom effect where no individual moment (including the performances) stands out. The vast majority of Iconic By Mistake is comprised of the three groups talking about how great and beautiful and fierce they are and how we’re all “haters” for… some reason? Honestly, it’s not the least bit empowering. It’s just kind of pathetic. I know (assume?) the girls didn’t compose this, so this is no judgement on their own character, but the act HYBE has forced them to play flattens them to such a degree that they might as well be reduced to one of of those stupid slogan t-shirts on that discount rack.
There’s an argument to be made that a song like this is meant to be “camp,” but as a conneissour of camp I don’t see the kind of “wink, wink” joke that would make Iconic By Mistake funny. And even if we’re supposed to have our tongues firmly in our cheeks, the music itself is not remotely fun. Artists have been clapping back at fame since the onset of fame itself, and in that pantheon of rich people complaining about their woes, this is surface-level and completely unneeded.
| Hooks | 5 |
| Production | 5 |
| Longevity | 5 |
| Bias | 3 |
| RATING | 4.5 |
Grade: F
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