WINNER was formed in 2013 through a survival program, with five members: Hoony, Seungyoon, Mino, Jino, and Taehyun (the last of which left due to mental health reasons in 2016). They, like (G)I-DLE, who I covered a few months ago, write, compose, and choreograph their own songs, which is pretty cool and has me excited to see what they’ve come up with.

Here are my credentials: none. The extent of my knowledge of WINNER is two songs, one because it’s considered pretty classic in k-pop and Dreamcatcher covered it, and the other because it was recommended to me by an Inner Circle (WINNER’s fan club name) online friend of mine. So let’s do this!

Album #1: 2014 S/S

Empty is a bit of a surprising choice for a debut, with its quite melancholy mood and slow beat. Its chorus is high and very gentle, almost soothing if it weren’t for the heartbreak. I have a similar issue with the raps in this song that I do with the raps in many other k-pop songs: they’re fine on their own but I feel like they don’t fit the vibe at all. This is a ballad for dwelling and brooding; why are we randomly changing the tempo and giving the audience whiplash for something that doesn’t need to be there? On the whole, the song isn’t for me, but I do really like the harmonizing in the last chorus.

Color Ring too is sadder than I was expecting, but this time the instrumentals are more interesting with both a piano and an acoustic guitar. I’m a ballad enjoyer—though I have to be in the right mood for them—and this one is pretty good. It manages to balance the moodiness and the catchiness pretty well, though I admit that the music video is so dramatic that I laughed a few times when I probably wasn’t supposed to. The bridge and different levels of vocalizing were great, and I have to say that something about this song feels so early-2nd gen, though I’m not sure exactly what it is.

2014 S/S is their first album, and I have a couple hidden gems. Due to its popularity, I actually thought that Don’t Flirt was a single, and though I’d heard it before, I didn’t know that WINNER wrote it. It embraces a much more lighthearted, happy beat than Empty or Color Ring, with hints of reggae and Latin pop, and reminds me of Wonder Girls’ Why So Lonely, one of my favorite bands. I also enjoyed the upbeat disco of Smile Again, the soaring strings of Confession, and the harmonizing in But. Also, Love Is A Lie really reminded me of something, but I couldn’t place it for the life of me.

EP #1: Exit E

Sentimental, despite the name, is actually not a ballad. I love how this video is filmed, from the ceiling into elaborately constructed sets shot like a floor plan. I’m not the biggest fan of verses leaning so far into sing-talk, but they have pretty good flow and they go well with the odd, upbeat energy of the song. This one leans into the humor, and the chill soft rock elements give it a relatable, youthful feeling that I appreciated.

Baby Baby returns to the melancholy feeling of Empty and Color Ring, but innovates on the formula by adding a swingy southern guitar and slow drums. It’s definitely grown on me as I’ve listened to it more, and the last chorus was pretty good, with the combination of vocals, instrumentals, and rising tension, but it just doesn’t quite reach the point of catharsis for me. Also, I know that this isn’t that important in the grand scheme of things, but I did really like the music video and how it expresses loneliness in a host of different ways.

Exit E is a bit of an eclectic EP, truth be told, and my hidden gem doesn’t sound anything like either title track. Immature leans into a pop-punk feel with some alt-rock as well, and has a great beat. Since my BTS reviews, I’ve grown fonder of talking in k-pop songs, especially when it’s in Korean. Something about it feels very human and down-to-earth, and helps off-set a lot of the artifice in k-pop.

Single: Really Really

Really Really, as I’m sure any fan of WINNER’s guessed, is the classic k-pop song I referenced at the start. I didn’t realize until this review, though, how early into their careers it was released, so color me impressed. There’s nothing I can say about this one that hasn’t already been said: it’s catchy in an understated way, it’s got an interesting mix of tropical house, synths, and hip-hop, and it’s got a music video style that’s unusual for k-pop. I did enjoy this, and everytime I hear it (since the aforementioned Dreamcatcher cover), it gets stuck in my head yet again. Since this was the first song I heard of Winner’s, their more ballad-based style surprised me a lot.

Fool is also a ballad, unsurprisingly, but I prefer this one to their others. I really like the different ways they seem to play with vocals in it, the gentleness in the verses versus the more evident emotion in the choruses, and I especially enjoy the pre-choruses. The piano mixing with the guitars in the background is great, and when it all comes together after the bridge, all I can say is wow, because it was very powerful. This became the first of their singles that I added to my playlist.

Single: Love Me Love Me

Love Me Love Me is certainly happier than the majority of WINNER’s music; its electronic instrumental hook seems to feel poised to be exciting. I love the build up in the pre-chorus and the interweaving of funk, synth, rap, and pop vocalizing really works for me here. But…I think the song undercuts itself with such an empty chorus, and though I know this sounds odd, it’s almost like the song thinks that it’s more fun than it is. It wants to be a summer bop, but it’s too understated for that.

Island was actually the other song I knew of WINNER’s, and its tropical influences interested me from the first listen. In my mind, it’s what Love Me Love Me wanted to be, and it has an excellent energy that doesn’t stall right after it builds up. It feels like a great summer vacation, both nostalgic and lively, and the post-chorus chanting with the brass is upbeat and chill at the same time. I think that so far, this one is probably my favorite title track, as it adds to what I thought made Don’t Flirt so good.

Album #2: Everyd4y

Everyday starts with some fairly basic electronic background before the vocalizing takes over. I was pretty surprised by the decision to rely so heavily on autotune for this song (perhaps it was a stylistic choice?), as WINNER have such good voices, and the harmonizing of said voices was one of the things I appreciated about their early work, even when the music wasn’t for me. Everyday’s pre-chorus is decently catchy with a thankful break from auto tune but I wish it had more of a climax or did something interesting with a pretty tried-and-true formula. I don’t think I’ll be listening to this one again, sorry guys.

So, time for a slight digression. I recognize that this isn’t exactly a song critique, but I feel like there’s so much sexualization of women in their music videos. First there was the random woman in her underwear in Baby Baby, then the female dancers in Really Really, and now the first 15 seconds of Everyday is just a bunch of women standing around posing in bikinis for…what reason, exactly? I’m not blaming the band members for this, obviously, as I know they don’t have control over it, but…I hope this doesn’t continue into the other videos later, because at this point it’s genuinely making me uncomfortable.

Everyd4y, after four songs that were only stand-alone singles, is another full album, so I have a lot to talk about. Lala sounds like it could’ve been another title that follows up Don’t Flirt and Island in their fun summer sounds; it’s a bit simple, as their songs go, but it’s very fun. For has a great, warm acoustic background and sweeping strings that mesh well together. Movie Star, meanwhile, feels more like Winner’s earlier ballads in the way that it’s constructed: layered instrumentals, a focus on lovely harmonizing, and setting a scene, just more upbeat. It’s not afraid to slow things down and for the bridge, only uses hand-clapping and acoustic guitar, then lets the instrumentals go full force for the last chorus. I really liked this one (the rap is my one sticking point, as it often is), as I think it builds on their strengths in an interesting way. It’s probably my favorite.

EP #2: WE

Millions too starts with an electronic background, but thankfully doesn’t rely too heavily on auto tune, letting the group use their voices nicely. I confess I was expecting a very braggy song, and was pleasantly surprised by how sweet it actually was. However, besides that, I didn’t find that much interesting about this one, as it follows a pretty standard pop-song formula.That’s not to say I’ve got anything against it, as I’m sure if it was on in the background I’d nod my head along, but it’s not enough for me to really care.

Ah Yeah opens differently from the past few songs, with a more down-to-earth acoustic guitar. I appreciated that this one has a full chorus with several parts, and I especially enjoyed that pre-chorus’ exciting build. This one totally had me nodding along, and now it’s stuck in my head. Overall, it’s not re-inventing the wheel or anything, but this song is a lot of fun and would probably grow on me if I gave it a bit more time.

From the EP, We, two songs stuck out to me. Mola, firstly, has a great build-up, and uses an interesting mix of Latin-pop and synth that I think works pretty well. I like how the instrumental pulls back and rushes forward at different points, and the voices have a chance to do some rising and falling, which is always fun to hear. Everyday, the single, meanwhile, was the title I’ve disliked the most so far, and the remix does help me like it a little more, adding a synthier background and a quicker beat. But at its core, the song’s just not interesting enough for this, and I can’t bring myself to care. To not end on an annoyed note, I did think First Love was sweet.

EP #3: Cross

SOSO seems to combine parts of different eras of WINNER, like the breakup focus of their earliest work and the more upbeat feeling of their middle work.. I actually like the rap, which is unusual for me, but it fits much better with the rest of the song than many k-pop raps do. It’s a good old-fashioned break up anthem, and it reminds me of Congratulations by Day6. But…(cue the groaning of how I need to just appreciate things), this song has an excellent, and I do mean excellent build up in the pre-chorus, and then…it just wastes it with an empty, soulless chorus that’s just the words “so so” repeated over and over with an excessive amount of autotune…oh. My. god. Come on, guys, I was rooting for you, you were so close! This was almost my favorite song of theirs, but no. It’s more disappointing to me than anything, but still, it’s a shame to waste such good ideas.

I didn’t have a hidden gem from Cross, the EP.

Album #3: Remember

Hold feels like a follow up to Sentimental, both in its specific brand of humor and its slightly-bratty-slightly-funny delivery. Its sing-talk sections are not my favorites, but I do quite like its build up in the pre-choruses when we’re away from the autotune. This one did honestly get a few chuckles out of me, though I think that I liked it partly because I liked the video, and without them together I’d probably be harsher on the parts that I thought were annoying. It has its moments, but I don’t feel that attached to it.

As the name suggests, Remember is a return to their more melancholy music, and is a song that was created as a special release right before the members began a hiatus for mandatory military service. Normally, fan songs are quite thankful and upbeat, but Remember feels more like mourning something, which is completely fair, since I can’t imagine what it feels like to be essentially drafted. This song really did affect me, especially when it showed concert footage and them looking through old photos together, and I think I got to understand and care much more about the group than I had watching any of their regular MVs.

Remember is the third and last full album, so let’s dive in. Dduk (Jino’s solo) has a delightfully weird instrumental and it sounds like he’s having a lot of fun singing it, which I always appreciate. I liked the energy in the chorus of Hold, although I wasn’t the biggest fan of the rest of the song. Well gives me road trip vibes, and honestly would’ve made a great goodbye single too, if they wanted a more upbeat and nostalgic one. Serenade (Hoony’s solo) is also a lot of fun, and goes for an anthemic alt-rock that reminds me of TXT’s Lovesong. Different has a gentler energy than many of the other songs here and pairs it with a chill acoustic guitar that provides a nice outro.

EP #4: Holiday

I Love U is WINNER’s most recent release at the moment, created during a break in military service, and I was very pleasantly surprised both by how upbeat it is and by how much I enjoyed listening to it. It relies very heavily on synths, while also keeping that sense of humor from past songs. I really liked that bridge and lead into the last chorus, because it did a great job changing up the structure while still keeping the momentum going. It’s a bit cheesy and all, sure, but there’s no denying that it has heart.

From the EP, Holiday, I had two hidden gems. 10 min continues the nostalgic, gently anthemic vibe from many of Remember’s b-sides, which I’ve always been a fan of. Sweet Home is a bit understated at first, but that last chorus really changed things with its alt-rock tones and had me bopping my head.

Verdict (TL;DR):

So, I’m glad I did this. I admit that I didn’t like WINNER as much as I expected; I found that much of their later work is not for me, and many of their more ballad-y tracks aren’t everyday listens for me. If you’re an Inner Circle, I’m sure you disagree with most of my points. But, I’m always happy to find more self-produced groups, which are already a rarity, and on top of that, finding one that also choreographs and composes is even more out of the ordinary. So, genuinely, kudos to them. I’m watching some interviews now and though I don’t think I’d be listening to a lot of their titles every day, when I’m in the mood for an anthemic summer road trip song to add to my playlists, it’s safe to say I have somewhere to turn.

My Top 5 songs are Fool, Island, Well, Don’t Flirt, and Movie Star, with Sweet Home as an honorable mention. Winner gets a 6.75 out of 10 from me, since as I mentioned, they’re very inconsistent. Like Kingdom and OnlyOneOf, when they’re good they’re really, really good (see what I did there?) but when they’re bad they’re just…boring. But unlike those groups, there doesn’t seem to be some thread that connects their earlier work to their later work, and in my opinion, they sound like two different bands. Even though I wasn’t the biggest fan of their ballads, those songs gained a lot of respect from me…but their later releases did not.

Next time, we’ll be switching up my usual by doing a girl group I know almost nothing about, so I’m looking forward to it! Tschüss!