ALL MALE (Music) REVIEW: AND2BLE - Sequence 02: Attraction

October 27th marked the release of AND2BLE's 2nd EP, Sequence 02: Attraction. "Curiosity" leading to "Attraction", is it? #Haobin #Shimkongz #Mattparkz realness. After Sequence 01: Curiosity peaked at #2 in Korea and had its title track "Curious" peak at #65, all seemed a bit too quiet on the AND2BLE front. "well they are on Yuehua-" quiet you. Sure, there were YouTube videos on their channel and varied appearances on Korean variety shows. But again, things were suspiciously quiet.

But then came the Weverse announcement of the first AND2BLE followup effort and in turn the photos. "Observe" and "Archive" presented the group well and "Attraction" photos looked like they'd attract fruit flies and sugar ants with food being on the floor. Thankfully I judge music harder than visuals, leaving me with one question. Did Yuehua learn from their mistakes from the debut and allow the members of AND2BLE to truly come through as 5? "probably not if you've looked into a group called Evergl-" quiet you."

One of the initial differences between "Curiosity" and "Attraction" is that 2/3 of the aforementioned visuals for "Attraction" don't measure up to what piqued "Curiosity". Aside from groceries on the floor, the styling and lighting was a mess and left those pics better suited to a Season's Greetings or anything airy in presentation that has no real concept.

Then, the tracklist was revealed on October 18th. The Stereotypes return on one track and it's not the "title"/single, meaning in some capacity, Yuehua beat the odds and actually learned from their past release. Then again, when your production manages to swallow a high note toward the end of the song, those checks are gonna become singular at best.

Instead of a clear majority stake in songwriting/composition, 2 composers or songwriter helm 2 separate songs each. Usual suspects Joombas show up for two songs, while a group called LDN Noise show up for the title track this go 'round and one other song. One look at their Wikipedia page shows that just with the artists on SM Entertainment, there's two main paths their contributions can go:

LDN Noise does have their name behind "View" by SHINee and "4 Walls" by f(x), two of the biggest songs in the history of KPOP. At the same time, they're responsible for "Jopping" by SuperM. Let's put it this way, in reference to a release from the West. I can put up with "Crazy Frog" by Axel F, but I have limits. Look into their work outside of SM, a slightly clearer story can be gathered once I saw songs I recognized. If they got it right for this, these are the people behind "404 (New Era)" by KiiiKiii. They were also behind "POP!" by Nayeon of Twice, meaning that there can be some...I said some, wiggle room for forgiveness.

One area that Yuehua didn't learn was that multiple members writing songs can be a good thing. Ricky has another songwriting credit, meaning on one hand he's achieved three songwriting credits in two EPs. Hao and Gyuvin however, do not get another shot at songwriting which is especially disappointing for Gyuvin going into this given he didn't get shit in terms of line distribution on Sequence 01: Curiosity. 

Something worth mentioning now is the highlight medley or basically the Spotify preview of a song for this was released on October 19th. In a similar note to ZB1's NEVER SAY NEVER (or moreso the single "ICONIK"), the highlight medley for Sequence 02: Attraction did not make a good first impression. I was proven wrong with "ICONIK" being a banger, but with AND2BLE being given only five songs again, they really could not afford this EP coming up short.

Sequence 02: Attraction at first listen seems to have shown that Yuehua learned something else from a prior release (marking something that's happened twice, a career best) in that it's a cohesive release. Well, it's at least a steady build between songs. It starts off as R&B flavored for 2 tracks before headed to dance flavorings for the next 2 tracks and then closes out with the ballad. It does not sound like immediate progress, but given their previous release went from hype man bullshit to R&B to dance to whatever the fuck "Bed" was after the 28 second mark and then "Happy&", this release does score major points for tying things together.

The title track this time, "French Kissing" is leagues better than "Curious" as a title track. However, as with Sequence 01: Curiosity, Sequence 02: Attraction chose the wrong title track. More on that later. With "French Kissing", LDN Noise was able to bring out the group's vocals (or at least not drown out Seungeon's high note against a fucking racket.) Something to note, I'm focusing on the song itself because the music video is mostly fine before it weirdly showcases piles of denim. I have no clue why this happens and it looks dumb. Again, on to the song which with a length of 3:10 almost made me emit moisture on top of breathing a sigh of relief.

"French Kissing" seems to again have suggested that Yuehua learned something in-between releases, in that more distinct vocals are coming from the members. Yujin(!) starts off with singing in a more projected, clearer higher than usually mid vocals, and then Gyuvin(!) has vocals in the 2nd verse that show off that he can indeed sing. This hadn't been shown since "And I" from his days in ZB1, so the fact proper Gyuvin vocals are on a title track for AND2BLE is phenomenal progress.

Ricky shows off his knack for anything labeled "sexy" and even busts out a cute lil' moment of "rapping but not really rapping/non-vocally holding a beat" en Francais. French "rapping but not really rapping/non-vocally holding a beat" on a song called "French Kissing", mind of a master shit as the children say. Seungeon sounds stellar per usual, but in a way that suggests he figured out how to unleash his high notes or belted vocals to have it hit each time. With Hao, gurl in the last review, I called him Zhang Hao Knowles-Carter Germanotta. That still rings true.

However, something I'm kicking the ass of everyone involved is that despite having multiple members on the bridge of the song, none of them were Ricky. Yuehua, how are you gonna bench Ricky "Infrastructure" Shen on the bridge? "Sugar Rush" was a highlight because he was on the bridge. Sure, there was a lateral move in having three members on there, with Yujin(!) leading it, Hao adding punch to it before Seungeon brings it home but not before showing his range with those silken lower notes. But Ricky's vocal range is literally begging to round a song off on the bridge.

For as little as he got in ZB1, Wakeone knew Ricky was the magic on the bridge to round a song off. This now makes two title tracks Yuehua has not used Ricky where he makes the most sense and that is a ghastly oversight.

As for the rest of the EP, here's what we can take as highlights between the other songs "Haunted", "Potion", "Beautiful" and "Worth It". Firstly, their song lengths, even with "Potion" at 2:50. Yes, against all odds, Yuehua made another step forward. "Haunted", "Beautiful" and "Worth It" are 3:28, 3:04 and 3:26 respectively, meaning we are currently winning the war against 2 minute pandering Tik-Pop, we love to see it.

The songs themselves are good (give or take the chorus of "Potion") meaning Sequence 02: Attraction is leagues better than Sequence 01: Curiosity, which frankly THANK GOD. "Haunted" is basically an unintentional but welcome redux of "Love Shot" by EXO. The Stereotypes learned their lesson the hard way from getting only one track, but they learned their lesson with flying colors by splitting the difference between "Love Shot" and "Close Your Eyes" by Kim Petras.

And wouldn't you know Ricky is on the bridge...even if he was given one lyric of it. "If this is the end/I don't wanna be saved". Just as shocking, turns out it's Gyuvin(!) leading the bridge, displaying far more confidence and adeptness in his vocals.

"Potion" is essentially AND2BLE's version of ZB1's "Exotic", in that it's a dance banger that is stupidly under 3:00 for no good fucking reason. However, "Potion" does suffer from a badly delivered first chorus. Under no circumstance does anyone need to be talk-singing:

"Bounce that/ Move that/ Gimme that motion/ Need that/ Want that/ Wanna taste that Potion"

ESPECIALLY when the following is A) better written and B) a far more effective chrous:

"Push that/ Pull that/ Gimme more tension/ Drink that/ Take that/ Gotta taste that Potion"

"Beautiful" would have been pedestrian from anyone else, but AND2BLE pulls this KiiiKiii draft of "Pop Off Pop Off" rather well. It may not have been a LDN Noise production, but there's no way this song wasn't on the radar of them and other producers. Speaking of which, from the 1:49 to 2:02 mark, Ricky and Gyuvin have vocals that are weirdly muffled and faded out with the beat. From drowning Seungeon's high note in "Curious" to now weirdly mixing and fading out TWO MEMBERS on the comeback title track, production needs their hides tanned for that. However, this is the song that could've been the comeback track this time.

Not because it would've been a summer song or "hey it's not the end of summer until we say it is". "Beautiful" would have at least been attention getting in the year plus that summery or beachy aesthetics got the most attention [specifically, this year's "Surfin' Boy" by Red Velvet but mainly from Zara Larsson's 2025 release Midnight Sun.]

Finally, "Worth It" is fantastic as a closer. Ricky's songwriting ability is at its most earnest but still effective in getting the vibe across. The ballad that shows off the group, even with members getting combined runtimes in the song. What's wrong with this picture? If I'm led to believe the color coded lyric videos, Ricky has the least amount of lines even though he fucking wrote the song. If this is true, this now marks two times that Ricky has written a song and came last in terms of distribution which makes not one goddamn lick of sense.

Overall, Sequence 02: Attraction averted a sophomore slump, but also had some really ugly tendencies from the last release creep into this one. This brings up that AND2BLE is a group whose appeal is still being metered or gauged by the success of the members' previous groups. Yuehua knows full damn well what had their trainees achieve success in their debuted groups and even they know deep down, this isn't a group that can sustain interest out of spite for previous mistreatment for much longer.

That in now two EPs a member can write or contribute to the writing of a song but still end up with the least amount of lines is again, a fucking ghastly oversight. The fact that this same member whose vocals are especially suited for a bridge was not used in a bridge on this comeback was a dumb call. The fact that in now two title tracks, weird production choices drowned out or were badly mixed over members of the group is just demonstratively horrendous quality control.

Though let's give Yuehua credit where it's due. Despite their shaky history, this marks noted progress of taking into account where a group of theirs can improve. Yujin and Gyuvin both have far more significantly prominent vocals (especially with both of them leading a bridge on different songs), Ricky now has three writing credits to his name and the release feels more balanced. Things have to get better, but at least there's far more effective displays of talent to the group's name.

Highlights/rankings:

- "Beautiful"

- "Haunted"

- "Worth It" despite the unbalanced distribution

- "French Kissing"

- "Potion" even with that dreadful first chorus