(G)I-DLE have historically been a group whose music I can never seem to get really in to. To me, most of their discography is good, but no track in particular has stood out or had the replay value over a longer period of time. Their earlier release this year in ‘Oh My God’ was a track I originally thought was actually very solid at first with some interesting use of minimalist production to build atmosphere, but it ended up being constantly skipped whenever popping up on my playlists after just a week. ‘Dumdi Dumdi’ adds slightly more substance to the chorus in particular, but still delivers a pretty underwhelming melody that could drastically effect the tracks’ longevity due to it simply becoming more boring with each listen. On the other hand, it could become more addicting, 50/50. In either circumstance, it’s still a step up from ‘Oh My God’, but in no way anything game-changing.
Vocal chops and a strong use of percussion lead us into the track which actually follows up with a pretty solid opening verse. It’s a pretty minimalist verse from the production point of view, but the constant mix-up of instrumentation and continued use of vocal chopping over the bassline keeps it somewhat interesting. It builds a good amount of energy, which is unfortunately halted with the pre-chorus which implements the (still) popular half-time production technique. This is aimed to break down the track in order to build back up for the chorus and essentially achieve some shock value, but at this point it’s such a saturated technique I don’t know if it can work anymore unless the track is intrinsically emitting high intensity. Vocals wise, the pre-chorus also doesn’t provide anything incredible with the high note slightly missing in my opinion. If a more powerful high note was implemented along with a longer percussion break leading into the chorus, I think that could’ve been a more effective way to structure the breakdown/build up style that was being aimed for. The build up itself is actually quite solid and I think placing emphasis on the brass + kick beat was very smart to build power.
The first half of the chorus is effectively a simple percussion backbone combined with a one note melody of the brass + kick beat that was used throughout the pre-chorus. For being minimalist, the sounds chosen are quite effective at generating a solid beat to bop your head to, but ultimately are most likely going to ware out over time. The top line of the vocals is also very strong combined with the instrumentation and solidifies the bop of the chorus. The use of the distorted harmony over the back of the bassline also makes the chorus more catchy and substantial. Unfortunately, once again, the second part of the chorus sort of halts any gained momentum by going into a repetitive ‘Dumdi Dumdi’ hook. It’s not an annoying hook, but in my opinion also not very catchy due to the complete 180 in momentum. The whistle which is included during the percussion breaks is probably the catchiest bar of this part of the chorus, and works well together with the other country-pop elements dominating the discography.
The first half of the second verse is purely rap littered with trap influences. It also incorporates what sound like jungle influences and reminds me strongly of the production of a rap verse from a BLACKPINK track. The delivery of the rap is strong as always from Soyeon but it feels like the sound doesn’t quite fit with the rest of the track. The song is much more suited to the Big Room House sound generated in the chorus which is usually slower than DnB/Trap but also quicker than moombahton, creating this mismatch of styles. The second half of the verse along with the pre-chorus follow the same structure as the first verse so there isn’t much else to analyse.
The second chorus is identical to the first which is unfortunate since I think the sounds being used definitely had some potential to grow and that vocally there was room for some harmony, emphasis and power at the end of each bar. I still really like the first half of the chorus though, in my opinion it’s the stand out section of the track which is a big plus.
The first half of the bridge also starts off extremely strong, but as has been so many times for myself, especially recently, it seems to build up to much more of a whimper rather than a bang. I really like bar long oscillating synths along with more emotional vocals in bridges similar to the style of LOONA’s ‘So What’, and ‘Dumdi Dumdi’ hits this spot for me. The only thing that I don’t like about the bridge is the fact that the 4-2-1-1 buildup uses the exact same clap structure implemented in the pre-chorus, which is joined (once again) with a disappointingly ‘not as high I wanted it to be’ high note. The bridge is where you really impose powerful production, and so taking away the uniqueness and dramatic nature of the bridge through repetitive structural production does actually create a small domino effect into the track not concluding with the remembrance and strength that will lead to someone wanting to listen to it on repeat.
There is then a small transition break into the incoming, concluding, double-time dance break, also very similar to that of the popular BLACKPINK structure. It uses many elements from the second half of the chorus but uses them correctly. The first two bars with the whistle melody retains the soul of the track sounds, while the choir-like background vocals combined with the top line vocals and the percussion buildup provide the best generation of hype in the track. Hype generation of this level would’ve been nice to see more evidently in the pre-chorus as well, but it’s a big 50/50 at the end of the day.
The double-time dance break here is very BLACKPINK-esque but it does in my opinion miss. Like BLACKPINK, it follows the same melody of the chorus backed by a repetitive vocal hook. For ‘How You Like That’ it was ‘dum dum dum’ and now for ‘Dumbi Dumbi’ it’s ‘dumbi dum dum’ which I find pretty funny. The sound distortion providing the effect of lowering and raising the volume as if you had just stepped outside and inside a club works nicely as a transition with the big room sound. Once again, the percussion break with the whistle is a nice touch to partition the dance break, but the main question is regarding whether the original melody is strong enough to really impose a lasting effect, and whether the vocal topline is just too repetitive. At this point in time, I really don’t know, but we’ll find out with time. Like all tracks with this structure, it ends pretty abruptly, but less abrupt than usual. This is by adding a small one bar conclusion which is the same distorted vocal chop as the introduction, meaning the track has come full circle! From a production point of view, this is actually insanely smart as it means that to the listener, the track is essentially circular and it highly increases the repeat value. It’s mad how just two lines in a track can have that much influence.
| Chorus | 8 |
| Verses | 8 |
| Production | 7 |
| Longevity | 7 |
| Bias | 7 |
| Overall Rating | 7.5 |
Overall, although I definitely have some issues with certain aspects of ‘Dumdi Dumdi’ there is this lingering effect over me that seems to be reeling me back in. It anything, the fact I’ve been able to listen to it on repeat throughout the duration of writing this analysis must mean that it isn’t as annoying as the intrinsic repetition may allude to. I think this is probably still one of my favourite (G)I-DLE tracks so far, but if I’m being honest I haven’t given most of their discography the same chance as I’ve given ‘Dumdi Dumdi’. If anything, this seems like the track that would start pretty average, than grow on you, before returning to settle in the ‘hey it’s pretty good’ category. It definitely is cool seeing some country influences in K-pop though, and I won’t deny my small guilty pleasure for country music so it just leaves me wondering what if this track was just that little bit extra, as it really seems to be teetering on the edge of being great. Either way, let me know what you thought of the track below and as usual I hope you all have a great day! ^^
Thoughts By Gira 