Lately, the 2000s aren’t just back—they’re suffocating us. We are collectively mainlining the aesthetic: trucker hats bootlegged from questionable sources, the forced intimacy of digicam bathroom selfies, and a desperate, low-rise-jean-clad yearning for the era of clubbing before smartphones completely ruined dancing. It is into this heavily filtered, collective flashback that the Deep emerges, decked out in the full sequined tank top and Jeremy Scott teddy-bear sneaker uniform. For the South Korean hyperpop singer-songwriter and producer, the mission is simple: to get loud and get down, the good old fashioned way, and then some.
KPOP B!TCH, the Deep’s debut, is a maximalist, high-gloss evocation of a naughty-aughties night out: the blur of fast car rides, the performative excess of VIP bottle service, anonymous dancefloor makeouts, and the satisfying snap of a pink Motorola Razr closing. She recounts this hedonistic fable using the stock phrases of 2000s club anthems—a litany of commands to “rock your body,” “take it off,” and “turn it up.” She even tells you, with zero irony, to “check my swag.”
The production credits read like a hyperpop syllabus, featuring heavy-hitters like Dorian Electra, kimj, and atlgrandma, and in a bid to engineer the most unforgettable rager, the party prop the door open to every genre imaginable. You’ll catch distinct whiffs of 2nd-generation K-pop groups (SNSD, SHINee), the glassy sheen of early PC Music releases, the scattergun maximalism of how i’m feeling now-era Charli XCX, the rhythmic intricacy of UK garage, and, naturally, the requisite 2000s club pop and big-room EDM (an acronym the Deep creatively reinterprets as “Everyone Deserves a Moment”). This night-out magnetism shines brightest in the zooming highway synths that race through “BEEP BEEP,” a bouncy synth-pop track that feels perfect for blasting in your overpriced Uber to the club. It soars in the helium-toned, Hannah Diamond-esque chorus of “Lucky Star,” and it bumps and grinds with the sultry “Gimme More” bassline appropriated for “SOLO.”
The album falters most severely in its EDM offerings, which tend to land with the queasy, regretful feeling of a 3 a.m. Jack in the Box run. Though streaked with the traces of electro-pop scene-stealers like 3OH!3 and Breathe Carolina, KPOP B!TCH fails to hit the required euphoric heights. “I Hate Silence” is a choose-your-own-adventure of a song that veers schizophrenically between the boing-splat bass of early SOPHIE, the supersaw synths of festival EDM, and a final, ill-advised brostep-y breakdown. Bogged down by all these sonic possibilities, it never quite manages to commit to any single, compelling idea. The ripping synth basses and drumroll beat drops of the title track—which features a Frost Children production credit—sound like a bastardized, deep-fried Chainsmokers song circa 2017. It’s too smirky and self-aware to exist as a genuine guilty pleasure, yet not clever or transformative enough to feel legitimately experimental. It mostly just ends up being acutely annoying.
If certain tracks fail because they feel like vacant, maximalist attempts to trigger 2000s nostalgia through sheer volume, the Deep truly shines when she carves out space for her own breezy, saccharine fantasy of club music. “Birthday” is the undeniable standout: Twinkly, featherlight hyperpop production meets the racing heartbeat of garage breakbeats, all layered under the Deep’s perfectly saccharine chirp of “I love you.” The whole song feels like a delicious, sugar-rush molly high, where everything is briefly made of love and diamonds. The exuberant “Wrong Number” builds and builds until it explodes in a compressed, pixellated chorus—and while many songs on KPOP B!TCH could plausibly play at the club, this is the rare track with the kinetic energy to turn wherever you are into the club. The album’s best songs channel the kind of glorious overstimulation and rhythmic excess you won’t even want to remember the morning after.
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