Leading up to the release of their second EP, Katseye have delivered contrasting charms. Gnarly and Gabriela led us from the bold to the boring, which makes me wonder if there’s a happy medium somewhere in the middle. New track Gameboy doesn’t aim to answer that wonder, choosing instead to echo popular trends for a safe and pleasant mid-tempo dance track.
Throw a stone in any direction of the pop music landscape and you’ll find half a dozen songs that sound almost like this. It’s the style of music that sits right in the middle, unwilling to push far in any direction. There’s a bit of Afrobeats percussion driving Gameboy, mixed with retro video game sound effects and atmospheric production that’s nebulous enough to work in any market. And as expected with this style, the track largely repeats itself for three minutes. This is not the kind of take-you-on-a-journey, storytelling song structure. This is a vibe you sit in, absorbing the sound with the comfort that nothing jarring or dynamic will come around to interrupt the flow. There seems to be an insatiable appetite for this approach, especially given the way the era pf music streaming works. But taken on its own, Gameboy simply coasts by without much effect.
To their credit, Katseye deliver this style as well as anyone. They are a convincing girl group, but so far they’re missing the level of songwriting needed to etch them into the pantheon of modern acts. Taking K-pop out of the equation, Katseye fall into a lineage that includes groups like Little Mix, Fifth Harmony, The Saturdays, Pussycat Dolls and Girls Aloud. Two years into their career, they do not have a song that comes even close to those acts’ highlights. That’s a problem, and Gameboy does nothing to fix it.
| Hooks | 7 |
| Production | 7 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 7 |
| RATING | 7.25 |
