izna’s on Aux in SET THE TEMPO
Photo: WAKEONE Entertainment
In SET THE TEMPO, six-member girl group izna delivers on their promise to go at their own pace with five new tracks, house-driven and EDM-forward, determined to take the world by storm.
izna’s signature, synth-forward sound laces throughout SET THE TEMPO. Title track “METRONOME” offers a laid-back early summer track, a mix of low-tempo EDM and house beats, shouted refrains, and airy verses. The signature choreo mimics the pendulum of a metronome as the girls chant “music takes control, it got me moving like a metronome.” The music video mixes glitz and Y2K glimmer with a more laid-back, girl-next-door scenes, relishing in the contrasts.
TRACKLIST
“METRONOME”
“R.I.P.”
“INFINITY”
“ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS”
“LEAN ON ME”
The four sequential B-sides that follow lean into this sound. “R.I.P.” follows the same high-speed, building dance pop that made “Racecar” the standout on their last EP Not Just Pretty. Mixing minimalist arpeggios with 80’s drama synth-reverb, the “R.I.P” chorus pairs these instrumentals with shouted choral anthemic vocals in the chorus, and a belty, mixed bridge. All these peaks and valleys meld into a satisfying blade of a track, packing everything into a 2.5-minute headrush.
“INFINITY” leans into the cosmic imagery that dots the album, all stars and glimmer. Slower, and wistful, “INFINITY” still uses the reverb, house drops, and of course, synths of its predecessors, but shimmers as it goes, a low-tempo break in the EP.
“I don’t like playing losing games” opens hip-hop-tinted “ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS.” While the lyrics might lean a bit corny (“Winner, winner, winner, chicken dinner”), the overall track mixes well with its more dancey counterparts, using the same formula of contrasting minimal instrumentals and progressively layering more and more beats. The resulting outro is fun, and switches up the pace of the song refreshingly.
Outro “LEAN ON ME” offers a steady exit point for the bite-sized EP, clocking in at 13 minutes total. “LEAN ON ME” crafts vocal-forward verses into a synth (with izna, it’s always synth) fan song offering friendly melodies and comforting lyrics: “I'll be always the one you can lean on.”
With SET THE TEMPO izna plays with tempos, glitter, and dance, trailing their way across five tightly-woven tracks in an electrifying, and electro, summer release.