Disappointed with Noo Phuoc Thinh

After more than a year of releasing a new product, "Kidding Me Hurts" is a regrettable step backwards for Noo Phuoc Thinh.

Noo Phuoc Thinh is one of the singers with the most stable career in Vpop. Although he has not released many music products in recent years, the name Noo Phuoc Thinh still attracts the media every time he appears. Earlier this year, on the stage of Lan Song Xanh, he simply mashup viral songs on social networks in a new style and immediately went straight to the top 1 trending.

To achieve that, the large, loyal fan community that Noo Phuoc Thinh has built over 15 years of his career is an important factor. In addition, his voice, good performance ability, and constant improvement are also what make the audience love Noo Phuoc Thinh. Therefore, for the new product Just kidding, it hurts. Released on July 16, listeners expect the male singer to be able to deliver a quality song worthy of his reputation and ability.

Quality does not meet expectations

Songwriter Just kidding, it hurts. is TUNO - a name that is still quite strange and new on the market. TUNO has released a number of songs but none of them have become hits. Noo Phuoc Thinh's choice of a product from such a new author is considered a risky move.

In terms of quality, Just kidding, it hurts. It's not a bad song. It has a basic structure and a catchy chorus that's standard for a pop song. However, TUNO shows his inexperience in writing lyrics in some parts, especially when writing for a male singer over 30 years old like Noo. Lyrics like “Can't stop loving/If I don't let you love me, I'll keep loving you” somewhat childish and not suitable for Noo Phuoc Thinh's image. In addition, the way the sentences are broken in some segments does not create continuity, even repeating uncreatively like “Baby it's really hard/It's really hard/To tell if you're going forward or backward.”

Joke me, it hurts is a composition with many limitations.

The two verses of the song are almost identical, with no changes in both melody and lyrics, creating a feeling of boredom after listening to it a few times. While the market is gradually emerging and favoring songs with strange structures, constantly changing like Used to Know by Wren Evans or more recently Don't break my heart by Son Tung, a basic composition and not as developed as Just kidding, it hurts. is a shortcoming.

In terms of production mixing, the person who plays the main role in Just kidding, it hurts. is Duck V. He chose the synthwave genre for Noo Phuoc Thinh's product - a famous and very successful genre when used by The Weeknd in his album After Hours in 2020. In Vietnam, in recent years, many singers have used this material for their products such as Binz with Don't break my heart, Beautiful Monster , or J97 are also used in the song Lone Star .

These songs were all released 1-2 years ago. In 2024, synthwave is not necessarily outdated, but it is no longer new and surprising in Vpop. While the pop/dance market is exploiting Jersey Club, Drum and Bass, Atlanta Bass,... materials, Noo Phuoc Thinh and Duck V still use synthwave from 2020 without any significant changes or improvements, which can be considered a step backward.

A deplorable step back

While neither the composition nor the arrangement are outstanding, Noo Phuoc Thinh's vocals are what pull the whole song up. With a vocal that has been continuously improving and developing over time, Noo also shows his ability to adapt well when entering a song with a somewhat dark concept like Just kidding, it hurts. you still do very well

Noo shows himself to be superior to many young dance pop singers on the market today in one point: He sings very clearly. Regardless of the fact that Duck V's arrangement somewhat drowns Noo's voice under a layer of sound, it can be seen that Noo still pronounces each word quite clearly and fully, without any part being difficult to hear or swallowing words. Partly because the tempo of the song is low, but it cannot be denied that Noo's singing technique is good and more experienced than many other singers today.

Noo Phuoc Thinh's good voice is a plus for this product.

But unfortunately, the song and the arrangement did not allow Noo Phuoc Thinh to show more. Having the two verses the same plus not having an explosive climax made it impossible for Noo to show his diversity and ability to sing in high registers. The whole song flows smoothly, not creating any memorable moments.

With the reputation and ability of Noo Phuoc Thinh, Just kidding, it hurts. is clearly a song below the singer's level. It is not only of low professional quality but also lacks the ability to keep up with the market. Obviously, with a big name like Noo and a long wait, the audience expects more from him. In the upcoming products, Noo Phuoc Thinh probably needs a music production team that is more experienced and sensitive to market changes.

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