Travis Scott – “K-POP” (Single Review)

Travis Scott featuring Bad Bunny and The Weeknd K-POP – Single Review

After five years of immense anticipation, the music world is bracing itself for Travis Scott to finally release Utopia. To give the audience a taste of what’s to come, Travis released the single “K-POP” featuring Bad Bunny and The Weeknd. I was doubtful yet hooked to listen since I thought it was interesting that Travis decided to release a song of that caliber as the first single, which I found to be a risky move.

When it comes to the features, The Weeknd has collaborated with Travis before, most notably on Astroworld, so nothing new there. However, Bad Bunny was an interesting pick, though not a surprising one to me. Some people forget that Bad Bunny started as a trap artist, as seen in his debut album X100PRE, though he has drifted towards a more Latin sound as seen in his most recent release. Despite what you may think of him, Bad Bunny is the most creative force in Latin music right now, always trying to figure out a way to not use the same reggaeton beat we’ve been hearing for 30 years.

Onto the song itself, I will admit that it does sound nice to the ears, although good production is the bare minimum we expect from Travis. The beat itself is not the trap sound we’re used to hearing, having a subtle flair of reggaeton that’s hidden under Travis’s usual distortions and effects. While I imagine the beat fitting the vibe of a late-night drive, it’s hardly interesting. The only time there are any slight variations in the instrumental is during the bridge sections and in The Weeknd’s verse where the bass drum is removed for a lighter touch. The only thing that prevents this song from being a total snoozefest is the runtime, clocking in at three minutes and a handful of seconds.

Travis takes on the first verse and does a fine performance, but nothing impressive. In fact, within the first line uttered, I said to myself, “Okay, we got a generic Travis Scott flow.” The funny part is that I ended up saying that line for everyone featured in this song. Bad Bunny, and even Abel with his great singing voice, sang the same way I’ve heard in several of their other songs.

Speaking of singing, I’ve heard many people say that Bad Bunny gave the best performance. I don’t understand how anyone can say that with the awful high notes, he tried to hit after the one-minute mark. I’ve seen Travis do that move in other songs and it usually works out in his favor. Unfortunately, Benito isn’t a talented singer, so you can almost hear the auto-tune crying for help; a buzzing fly has a more pleasant sound than whatever that was.

In terms of lyricism, I can’t act like I was surprised. Travis’s verse makes no sense whatsoever, and his rhyme game is as lame as this song. Benito’s verse was just the same, although he manages to squeeze some verses about having sex on the beach, as he usually does. The chorus reflects this theme with Travis and the gang wanting to get back with the side chick they had a one-night stand with. The worst offender has to be The Weeknd. I’ll just read off my favorite bar:

This ain’t some lil’ yachty

We gon’ fuck ’til we seasick (Skrrt)

I’ve heard worst from The Weeknd, but this just shows his lack of maturity in his lyricism. The theme of living a lifestyle surrounded by s** and dr*gs has well over-stayed its welcome, but Abel seems adamant to keep pushing as he has done for over a decade.

And of course, to top it all off, does this song have ANYTHING to do with K-POP?

Absolutely not!

The only lyric that even comes close is towards the end where Abel sings about making a Korean girl call him “papi” and how he gets her “wet like a tsunami.”

Yeah, this song was lame, not much else to say.

SCORE/Poor: Sure, I don’t hate this single like everyone else seems to, but I’ll just say that if this is a taste of what Utopia is going to sound like, then God help Travis’s loyal fanbase as they try to defend what’s to come.

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