IVE - "CRUSH" MV Review

On August 7, IVE pre-released "Crush," the title track of their upcoming second Japanese mini-album, Alive, which will be released on August 28.

"CRUSH" Review

"CRUSH" is a cute song, but it's not as catchy as IVE's previous releases; it feels more like a B-side (by the way, IVE has superb B-sides). Maybe the song just has to grow on me.

This song reminds me so much of "I AM," which is such a magnificent song (it's my favorite song by IVE, followed by "LOVE DIVE"). Although I found "CRUSH" to be a lot less energetic than "I AM," I think it works great in the context of the tracks of Alive because "CRUSH" feels like a prelude to "I AM" (which is the third track of the mini-album, the second is "Will") -I hope that what I wrote makes any sense-. By the way, the bridge of "CRUSH" is lovely ﹘ Gaeul sounds wonderful during that part.

The MV is also cute. The color palette of white, light blue, and pink gives the video a fresh feeling. I love the scenes where the members are dancing on the water surface of the pool; that set feels quite elegant (? The scenes at the beach are adorable ﹘ I liked the part where Gaeul and Leeseo are dancing in front of the gigantic moon so much I made a gif of it (you can see it if you scroll below).

Style-wise, the outfits of this MV are the best thing of this entire release ﹘ in my opinion, everyone looks super good. I have no complaints; I would 100% wear them all, especially Liz's light pink set, which is just so 😍. The skirts that Gaeul and Yujin wear during the first chorus (and also in other parts of the MV) remind me a lot of the game Style Savvy. I love those skirts; they look so cute. Last but not least, the all-white group outfits look so nice; I love well coordinated outfits. I could just keep going and going about the outfits because I genuinely enjoyed them all. 

The hairstyles, makeup and accessories are very pretty. I love Wonyoung's side braid (? with the light blue ribbon and Rei's twintails with the light blue bows; they look adorable. The accessories that Wonyoung wears with the white outfit are the best, followed closely by the ones that Gaeul wears at the same part; the necklace and the butterflies in her hair are so pretty. The only complaint I have is that I think Liz's eyebrows are too warm for her hair color. They stand out a lot in the close-up shots, even underneath her bangs. It would have been better if the makeup artist had used a grey-brown eyebrow pencil or gel.  

Rating

Song Quality - 8/10

MV - 9/10

Style - 10/10

Overall Rating - 9/10

Song Credits

Release Date: August 7, 2024.

Length: 3 min 29 sec.

Writers: eill and Sunny.

Composers: Ryan S. Jhun, Scott Stoddart, Anna Timgren and Alexej Viktorovitch.

Arrangers: Ryan S. Jhun and Scott Stoddart.

MV Directed by: Jimmy (Via Production).

Photo source: Starship/IVE's X (Twitter) account.