I know literally every some fandoms will bury people (even their own) for giving any forms of criticism for their faves, but I honestly think it's important to air these things because it provides feedback for the companies to make improvements.
I love IVE a whole lot and I think Starship has done damn near everything for them perfectly. Love Dive especially for me was a total masterpiece that I wish I could go back in time and experience my first listen over and over again. It hit every single one of my sweet spots and I'm still amazed to this day that Starship came out with a song that good for me.
I do have a complaint however, and it's the same complaint that I felt with Eleven, their debut album.
IVE has really lackluster b-sides. Like REALLY lackluster. To the point where they just sound like throwaways. Specifically Iz*One throwaways.
When I look at groups like Blackpink who have catchy b-sides like "Pretty Savage" or G-idle with "My bag" or literally Le Sserafim's entire album that had back to back great tracks.... I feel really disappointed with IVE's "Take It" and "Royal".
I honestly thought before the album dropped that "Royal" was going to be something like Blackpink's "Pretty Savage" so hearing it was kind of a let down, ngl. To make matters worse, IVE doesn't even bother promote their b-sides that much.
Even though i'm anticipating when IVE will finally drop their mini album, some part of me is really nervous that all the b-sides will have the same uninspired quality to them.
Which is why my hopes and expectation for IVE in the future is to have stronger b-sides that are treated with the similar kind of effort their title tracks are. I seriously wish that "123 IVE" and "Peace and Love Cupids" promotional tracks are sneak peaks for full tracks on their future mini album because they were too good to waste. Honestly they should have been the b-sides to Eleven and Love Dive in stead of "Take it" and "Royal".
Anyway, that was just me ranting. If others want to share feel free to also drop any hopes or expectations you might have for your faves.
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