– WINNER returned with their 2nd album, Everyd4y, and lead single “Everyday” is quite a backward step for the group, who in 2017 seemed to be slowly growing into their own as a group with single albums Fate Number For and Our Twenty Four. “Everyday” is admittedly catchy, but little else can be said for it. This song is redundant and everyone’s voices are melted together into one barely distinguishable, excessively auto-tuned sound.
Truthfully, those are all the makings of a hit. But then you get to the video and the package goes from overly trendy to a full-on gimmick. It is jam-packed with all of the latest and greatest dance moves from Black Twitter, gaggles of girls in bathing suits, but meanwhile, Jinwoo is shot dancing on the beach in a three-piece suit — and don’t forget Seunghoon’s set of ridiculous looking braids to round it out.
Despite all that, the song is doing well on the charts and racking up views on YouTube, to no one’s surprise. It appeals to our basic senses and needs as listeners. Hell, I’m shoulder shimmying to it as I write this. It bops and it’s somewhat timely since we’re currently transitioning to summer.
In the moment, “Everyday” works for WINNER, but in the long run, this isn’t the execution that’s going to stand the test of time and make them a group with longevity. Wiping out any bit of individuality with auto-tune, and just taking whatever is popping in the Black community and trending on the internet and calling that your choreography isn’t going to help WINNER follow in the footsteps of their bar-setting hoobaes in terms of success. What it will do is make them a group of the moment and not much more.
Is This How You Pop? 
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