October 8, 2025 — Weekly Bullet Reviews
New week, new tunes. Check it out!
As always, some ground rules:
- These songs are listed in no particular order.
- Basically these blurbs are our rough first impressions of these tracks, so our reviews will be a lot more relaxed!
- Anything released from the past 3 weeks/month is eligible for a bullet review.
- Songs with new, recent music video releases will also be considered for a weekly bullet review.
Sab Star – “How Many Miles Is Too Far?”
Mya: Oh I adore this. It’s the repetition that gets to me here. “You’re still stuck in my head / still stuck in my head…And I’m still stuck in my bed / still stuck in my bed.” The itching incompatibility…the feelings that just won’t wash off…it makes me feel gross, like sitting around with unwashed hair. Ugh, don’t you just love a song full of malaise?
C: The cover makes me think of what if Picasso would’ve painted Vansire’s Angel Youth cover in his blue era. Endless repetitions of “I’m lost, You’re found / You’re lost, I’m found” are interrupted by a bluesy guitar riff spiraling downward, only for it to be met by a single-note counterpoint. “How Many Miles Is Too Far” is full of shoegaze sensibilities, clean tones swirled in with synthetic fuzziness. It feels like ice cream with the right amount of mix-ins. Sab Star paints an impressive, pained and impressionistic portrait of bedridden stuck-on-you lethargy.
Li-Wei: Sounds like one of those songs that you can blank out to as you’re wistfully looking out the car window. The Jay Som-production is really strong, and it feels like a heavier version of songs like “(BedHead)” or even “Get Well.” I live for the eerie moments of the song, like that stretched-out vocal effect towards the end of the song. Spooky.
Yerin Baek – “Take Pills”
Mya: Squeaky, whimsical, dingy. Like a song made up at the bus stop, using a scavenged stick to tap out a dull metal beat on the fence pole.
C: The oddest assortment of sounds are mixed with synths to blanket “Take Pills.” Baek’s lyrics are performed more like a spoken word poem than sung as a song. The track is oddly harmonious, the squeaky wheel sirens are layered with thumping bass in something resembling a groove. A proper drum kit, synth lead, and echoing sung vocals descend on the track like an angel, accompanied by a swirling ball of light in the mv. The whole song feels like a dream, but not necessarily a good or bad one. “Take Pills” is vivid and disconcerting, but all-embracing in its approach to musicality.
Li-Wei: Liminal spaces hopecore? This track trudges along before inspirational early 2000s Internet indie pop melodies steal the show. Whaaaat? I want whatever pills she’s on.
Kenshi Yonezu, Hikaru Utada – “JANE DOE”
Mya: I like it. Slick vocals. Could lean a little generic — if it weren’t for that electronic wail punctuating the song like tornado sirens. Haunting stuff. The whole song becomes slippery with blood.
C: The song swings and sways at the behest of the singers, their voices and especially the dynamics with which they sing are essential. Kenshi Yonezu drags the rhythm along in its quieter moments, accelerating to a crescendo only to momentarily calm. From 2:17, Utada’s voice owns the song, twisting the melody only to end in the pained “Come find me” only for the song to double down with its arrangement.
“JANE DOE” is absolutely the eidolon of what a modern anime original song sounds like. Perhaps owing to Yonezu’s vocaloid roots, it’s faultlessly produced and effortlessly genre bending. It’s very literate, poetic with hints of a story and sung to perfection. And yet, while unyieldingly maximalist and dripping with drama, it doesn’t conjure emotion as much as vibe. The song is about pain and loss, a strained relationship coming under tension but it feels like so much less than its constituent parts. In effect, it nearly comes off as adult contemporary for people with a taste in more extreme sounds.
Li-Wei: The highly-anticipated Chainsaw Man movie is out now in Japan, and it’s already a smash hit. So of course, with it has to come a sweeping ballad from none other than the legendary Hikaru Utada and the insanely popular it-boy Kenshi Yonezu. “JANE DOE” serves as the ED to the film, and it’s gorgeous and feels monumental as the two sing over orchestral and glitchy pop production. That said, I don’t know if it would’ve been this successful had it not been attached to this movie… and I say that as someone who has read the Chainsaw Man manga and knows the emotional heft of this arc, ha. The context definitely makes this one better.
Chance Emerson – “Mine All Mine”
Mya: A very tidy package — warm and covetous. I like the cheeky “YUH!” that we hear on occasion, too.
C: Emerson’s “Mine All Mine” is a tiny love story contained in few verses. It’s one filled with tropes: night stars, whiskey and growing to admit that you love someone. Warm, sweet, and catchy with intimate writing. The track has the impression of a story Emerson would tell drunk but instead sweetly sung while sober.
Li-Wei: There’s some more folk rock than usual on “Mine All Mine,” and I’ve gotta say that it suits Chance Emerson well. And what can I say? The man knows how to write a hook. “The way you say you’re mine all mine all mine” has been in my head for a few hours now. I’ve also never had a fireball whiskey but now I want one. “Yuuup!”
Mulan – “Here I Go Again”
Mya: “Here I Go Again” builds up an overlapping rhythm that ebbs and flows. It’s effective! Here we go again, and again, and again…I just melt into the aural timeline of this song.
C: Mulan’s vocals flow soft and smooth over the entirety of the track and really shine when layered over itself. For such a small creator, the production is exceptional — even extending to the video, visually stunning presented with a small number of shots. The whole song feels like tumbling through a wash cycle, albeit set to delicates. “Here I Go Again” constantly mixes hooks and vocal runs, layered over themselves to hypnotic effect. The song collapses into a single point as Mulan sings, “that I finally found my place / in loving myself” coming together as both a lament of a cycle not yet over and seeking the light of self love.
If I have one critique, the main hook is somewhat clumsy: “everything is different when / I’m not in love with a friend / who can’t even pay for his rent” doesn’t necessarily roll off the tongue. The wordiness of the chorus feels like it sabotages the easy smoothness of the track.
Li-Wei: The director of Mulan’s music video knew what they were doing when they filmed all those slow-motion shots. “Here I Go Again” is a dripping R&B jam from a relatively new singer on the scene, and she definitely has the voice to make you feel like you’re floating. The track does get a bit busy with so many vocal tracks on it, but it’s a promising start.
Verses GT – “Your Light”
Mya: I like the dissonance in “Your Light.” The lyrics are romantic. The narrator professes, “I’ll not shy away from your light.” But the vocals are tight in the chest, almost labored. It makes the repeated refrain, “I feel your light, I feel your light” sound painful and out of breath. Combined with the murky sound production, “Your Light” feels like someone convincing themselves to stay in a relationship that’s hurting them. It’s an interesting contrast.
C: “Your Light” is dominated by a deep, rumbling synth bass and George Riley’s voice. Nosaj Thing continues his love affair with well tuned synth bass while a speedy-soft drum loop populates the track. The track’s length and style all fit for a song created by a producer duo, but the mix is so trim to the bone that it seems more ready as a killer sample than as a standalone club track.
Li-Wei: Cold and icy! I think I need some darkness, a good speaker setup, and some flashing lights to make me fully appreciate this one, but it’s getting me in the winter mood.
Jasmine Jethwa – “If You Don’t Know”
Mya: The vocals are gorgeous, but…they feel so light and disassociated! I want weight, rawness. The narrator begs their lover to plumb the depths of their love…but how much does the narrator care for their lover? What is the depth of their love?
C: Jethwa’s vocals are the highlight of the song but the plucky guitars dueling across the stereo are so enchanting. “If You Don’t Know” is quiet but verging on indignant, provoking her partner with lines like, “Won’t you go and say it?”. The writing is reminiscent of Fleetwood Mac, especially in the ways the narrator is positioned pleading for something from their partner but the song reads less an honest appeal to their shared love and more as an aggrieved obituary to why they couldn’t love her more.
Li-Wei: I really like the guitarwork on this one! Jethwa’s acoustic folk-pop feels comforting – someone to openly voice the annoyances that one may feel in a relationship. It works well.
The Crane, moon tang – “IGLOOOO”
Mya: These lyrics are all over the place. First we’re going to Dubai and then we’re in an igloo? Huh? “Halloween to Labor Day”? What. “Global warming / All started just because of your smile”? Please! There’s a place for tongue-in-cheek references to global warming, but in a straightforward love ballad? No!! It’s utterly careless. Dubai, igloos, these are very real places. Don’t name them off-hand like a tourist…
C: I’ve come to enjoy The Crane’s vocals, especially at 0:45 at the end of “might undress us until the two become one” his vocal texture is throaty on the verge of a hum. As much as I appreciate his contributions to mandarin music, admittedly his English lyrics can be distractingly non-sequitor. While the rest of the song is laid-back and cool it’s contrasted by the pained nature of its metaphors. Despite that, I really enjoy “IGLOOOO”. The instrumentation is wide and versatile, coming off laid-back with a nostalgic warmth. The way everything except for the drum kit is cut as moon tang starts singing reminds me of the deadened sound of talking surrounded by snow, her smoky voice is a very welcome addition to the track.
Li-Wei: From The Crane expressing his desire to visit Dubai to naming-dropping random holidays, the lyrics on the R&B-pop jam “IGLOOO” are really questionable… but hey, it’s a vibe. I’m also not sure why an igloo became the stand-in for isolation, but The Crane and moon tang are charming and starry-eyed enough to make it work if you turn that part of your brain off. I could totally do without calling someone so hot that they’re the cause for global warming, though.
Jai Wolf, REHMA – “Say My Name”
Mya: Straightforwardly danceable.
Li-Wei: Jai Wolf has been making EDM heaters for the rave crowd for years now and this one’s no different. Don’t fix what isn’t broken, I guess?
Johnny Huynh – “LOST MY FAITH”
Mya: The reverb and layered chorus of voices adds to the melodrama that is “LOST MY FAITH.” I’m nostalgic for this style of song…it’s a little cheesy and entirely heartfelt.
C: Um…. it sounds like an Imagine Dragons song with less band. Johnny Huynh runs up against some limitations with his voice, the vocals layered on the chorus are fine but the main vocal line is very scratchy for most of the song.
Li-Wei: Really dramatic! The best part of the song are Huynh’s vocal growls, but it would be even better if he goes even further. There’s still too much restraint… it sounds like there’s still some faith there! More feral? Yes please.
Eric Reprid – “LETS GO”
Mya: If you’re going to use “chink” over and over in the chorus, don’t swallow the k. Enunciate it.
C: I can’t get over the fact that despite being liquid condensed memes and bait, Eric Reprid still whips out reasonably solid rage beats. The hook “Chink let’s go” is said so repetitiously it slurs into more a feature of the soundscape than a set of lyrics. Aside from notable appearances by Rich Brian and Nina Lin, I don’t find “LETS GO” to be particularly special within his discography. Something I find very odd though, he makes an obtuse reference to allegations of Kendrick Lamar beating his wife with the line, “beat her like Kung Fu Kenny” which is very out of place. (Eric Reprid is a Drake stan confirmed? lol.)
Li-Wei: A part of me really wants to immediately dismiss this song because it’s so purposefully in your face and provocative with its choice language, but I kind of respect how different it is from what we usually review on our site? Kind of. I can see how this one could’ve been a fire hype chant but surely there are better ways to do it than this? Maybe I’m just an unc.
Header photo taken from the press material for Kenshi Yonezu & Hikaru Utada’s “JANE DOE.”
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