In my last year of highschool, I was a very cynical and angtsy teenager haha. At the time I listened to a lot of proggy, alt rock bands (Thank You Scientist, Mother Mother, etc.) At the time I had a very narrow view what I considered to be “good rock music”.
So of course, I got excited when JYP announced they were debuting a boy group as a rock band instead of a typical kpop group. But when XdinaryHeroes’ MV dropped for their debut song, Happy Death Day, I was severely disappointed. IDK why but it felt like the song was almost insulting to me. The song itself isn’t bad, but at the time to me felt like a very mediocre song.
I admit the song tried to be experimental but at the same wanted to be palatable to the K-music industry. It’s a very poor debut song because there aren’t notable instrumental sections or vocal sections that stood out to me. And so, my first impression of XdinaryHeroes was horrible. It felt like at the time JYP must have forced idols to learn instruments instead of debuting actual rock musicians.
The Happy Death Day’s costumes and sets itself wasn’t that bad. It was a sort of colourful birthday punk clown concept. But pairing the costumes and makeup they wore with a rock song that was so watered down and commercial, it made the costumes seem campy and tacky instead of alternative.
When XdinaryHeroes dropped Test Me, that’s when I decided not to listen to any more of their music. Test Me had the same problems with Happy Death Day, it was kind of mediocre.
Now, fast forward to the year 2025 to the last year of uni. I was into a lot of girl groups (NewJeans, XG, Twice) so I wanted to at least add at least 1 boy group into my playlist. P1Harmony was probably the first boy group where I got to know all the members names and got to know them as people. They’re also really funny.
So after 3-4 months of listening to P1Harmony, that’s when I was like- okay I’m curious what XdinaryHeroes has been up to. I’m gonna go give them a listen to see their releases. And my job really dropped, because they dropped Beautiful Life , which is the complete anthithesis of Happy Death Day.
Happy Death Day played it safe. Beautiful Life was incredibly experimental. Happy Death Day lacked great vocal sections, Beautiful Life was filled with ballady harsh rock vocals. Beautiful Life also displayed a lot of really great instrumental sections that showed off the lead guitar, synth, drums and piano simultaneously into 1 SONG.
And for me to find out, it was a rock opera that tried to paid homage to Queen and My Chemical Romance, I think I was in actual shock. It’s a very risky move to do such a thing BUT they pulled it off.
I went to an absolute spiral and listened to their albums, Beautiful Mind and Live and Fall, LXVE TO DEATH where a majority of songs show off the members capabilities with their instruments, especially with the drum, guitar and piano sections.
Yah, so the power of music can really put someone into a love-hate relationship. Lol. I wonder if my experience is unique or if it took people a while to warm up to a group.
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