JUST B is back, and this new single album, JUST BEAT, feels like a midday snacky. With only three tracks, it’s a little something to quell eagerly awaiting fans, but their best is yet to come. With respect for the likelihood that I’ve simply been spoiled by the high bar that was set, the energy and newness found in their debut is noticeably diluted in their new title track “TICK TOCK”—but that’s not reason to worry, it’s only halftime.

“TICK TOCK”

To start, JUST B has crazy potential, and I can’t wait to see where they might go—especially if they’re able to collaborate with Bang Yongguk even one more time. "TICK TOCK" maintains the futuristic blue-toned setting found in “DAMAGE,” but the storyline isn’t quite so readable. Ironically, this is a title befitting the song, which falls a little flat compared to its predecessor. 

A lot of recent boy group releases of the last few months fall under a musical category that's not quite melodic, not quite hip-hop, but rather noisy and definitely catchy. "TICK TOCK" is one such song, and it's evident in the electronic backing that ramps up like a ticking time bomb—but where the chorus should explode, it falls into a repetitive spoken, "tick tock tick tock tick tock boom," that, admittedly, doesn't pack the punch we might expect. But there's still value in that given it's currently a favored style of music among popular boy groups like NCT and CRAVITY. 

There seems to be an additional trend of production that doesn't allow much room for members to stand out even in their own group with use of vocal filtration or biased line distribution. "TICK TOCK" is a bit different in that, overall, it doesn't do much to stand out from other songs that are fundamentally similar, but their vocals are so strong that their individuality is coming through even so. The skill is there, and it’s only a matter of time before they come back with the right complementary backing to really showcase it.