TW: Mentions of mental health, depression, and suicide.

F(x) is pretty unique in k-pop—pretty unique in general, really—not very popular during their time, but now are almost universally thought of as being one of the strongest groups of the 2nd gen. They debuted with five members: Krystal, Amber Liu, Victoria, Luna, and, of course, Sulli, who tragically took her own life in 2019, which I will be discussing more later on. Trigger warning, of course. If you don’t want to hear this, skip to the 1st EP’s section. If you’d like to see it in full, click here.

Intro: Sulli & Mental Health

Here are my credentials: By the time I was a k-pop fan, F(x) hadn’t had a release in a couple years, and so I never really got into them. I am a fan of Amber’s solo career and I know a bit about Krystal through her sister Jessica, a former member of Girls Generation. But from the first time I came across her, I was a fan of Sulli. I admired her outspokenness, her style, and her activism. Sulli was an outspoken feminist, one of the first in the industry. She advocated for mental health awareness and against cyberbullying. And by all accounts from those that knew her, she was a wonderful friend. A paragraph can’t do her justice, but please check out BBC’s article on her. If you’d like to learn more, check out the special reviews section of this website.

You can imagine how horrified I was to learn about her death, and that’s one of the reasons I wanted to do this, as another part of my special reviews. Of course I want to learn about F(x) and their work, which I’ve heard such great things about, but I also wanted to do Sulli, who was always focused on justice for others, some justice herself.

Like my ASTRO review, this will mostly be a review of F(x)’s work, since Sulli’s solo career was cut short. But of course, mentioning her is unavoidable, since she was (and is) such an integral part of the band, and it wouldn’t be fair to ignore her, to Sulli or to anyone else who’s struggled with depression. So, today, please take a little time to find out more about her, and let’s begin.

Single #1: La Cha Ta

La Cha Ta, their debut, establishes its differences right from the beginning. Buzzing along at a fast clip, it’s bold and unafraid, and is driven forward by the pulsing EDM that would soon become F(x)’s sound. I’m surprised how much this doesn’t feel like a debut, despite how young they look, and how much of it would continue to be their style. I especially love the bridge and how it slowly builds, mostly just relying on their voices. My one gripe here is that I wish the chorus stood out from the song a little more than it does, but it’s a small issue. Overall, I really liked it.

Chu goes for a cutesier, more SNSD-esque sound, piling on the aegyo. I didn’t like this one as much as La Cha Ta, to be honest. I get what they were going for, but I don’t think that this combination works as well as it could have, and I’m not entirely sure which part is the problem. And though I smiled at the cute little “Amber!” before her verse, I didn’t like Amber’s rap due to how out of place it felt. Also, this is off-topic, but God those outfits,  how do you make five such beautiful people look this bad? They look like five children raiding their older sister’s closet.

From the single, Chu, I preferred the laid-back Step By Me, with its great harmonizing and doo-wop beat.

EP #1: Nu Abo

Nu Abo is a song I actually hadn’t heard before, and once it started, I realized why. It takes the issues from Chu and exemplifies them, creating a confusing beat that somehow feels both too fast and too slow. There are parts that would work well in a better song: the post-chorus vocalizing or the “mystery, mystery” hook especially, but all combined together with such sing-talk heavy verses, it’s just not cohesive. And for some reason, the intonation on “eonnie” in the pre-choruses and the extreme aegyo gets on my nerves. I’m sorry, I did try, I don’t like this track at all.

From the EP, also called New Abo, I enjoyed both the frizzy beat of Ice Cream and the great vocals of Surprise Party. But my hidden gem was immediately the slice of confident disco perfection that is Mr. Boogie, and I have no idea why it wasn’t the single.

Album #1: Hot Summer

Danger, finally, manages to marry the two sides of F(x)’s work together, including bits of aegyo, tempo changes, and of course their classic EDM. I’m not sure how they manage it, but somehow the whole thing just works here, tied together by a self-assured, smooth chorus that uses the slowed-down electro to great effect. And Amber’s rap fits in too. I think the strongest part is the pre-chorus, though, making the best out of their vocals. It’s not their best, but it’s a worthy discography addition. Funny story: I’d thought that I didn’t know Danger, until it got to its chorus and I realized that I’d been calling it Pinocchio this whole time.

Hot Summer is the first track so far that’s included in lists of F(x)’s best titles, and I was excited to hear it. It builds off of the trends in their past work, but makes a few key changes: namely, the transitions are much smoother, the aegyo is far more toned down, and the beat matches the words almost perfectly. I’d only heard the chorus before, and honestly couldn’t see what the fuss was all about, but I realize now that Hot Summer is a song that needs to be heard in its entirety to really get the full effect. So when I heard the whole thing, I was hooked. It’s a rare song whose verses are as integral as its hook, but this is a rare group, so perhaps I should’ve expected it.

From the album, Hot Summer, I enjoyed the simple yet catchy hook of Sweet Witches, the spurts of distorted EDM in Dangerous, the spoken word intro of teasing Love, and the brassy hook of My Style. My hidden gems were …Is It Ok, with its great combination of a ballroom waltz and smooth electro pop, and Stand Up, with its driving, percussive guitar. And of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention SHINee’s feature on Lollipop. 

EP #2: Electric Shock

Electric Shock goes full-on dance floor anthem, in a way that none of their titles quite have so far. It has a very simple chorus that normally I would dislike due to its anti-drop qualities. And though I do wish it was fuller, between the way the EDM surges forward and the infectious quality of the hook won me over. Also, the stripped-back, almost acapella bridge may be their best so far, and makes me hope that they did more of this crying-on-the-dancefloor style later on, because they excel at it. This may be my favorite so far.

From the EP, Electric Shock, I enjoyed the almost carnivalesque hook of Jet and the hard-hitting beat of Beautiful Stranger.

Album #2: Pink Tape

Rum Pum Pum Pum is centered around this fascinating electro beat that I can’t quite figure out, and then of course its famous stripped-back round chorus kicks in and you find yourself intrigued in a completely different way. I find this a very difficult song to describe and even more difficult to form an opinion on, because it’s something that teeters back and forth between so many sounds. Many people declare this f(x)’s best song and I can’t say I agree. But I do understand what keeps them coming back to figure it out just one more time.

Pink Tape is often considered the best k-pop album…well, ever, and so I had high expectations going in. I enjoyed parts of almost every song: the guitar hook in Pretty Girl, the crying-on-the-dancefloor synths of Signal, the great harmonizing with D.O. in Goodbye Summer, and the distorted strings of Toy come to mind. But despite that, there was only one song that I thought was great almost all the way through: Airplane. Featuring some of F(x)’s best vocals, it has this inspirational, building road-trip sound, and pulls back at just the right points before rushing forward again with pure joy in the chorus. This is absolutely one of the most interesting albums I’ve heard, though; whatever my personal thoughts, it’s one of a kind.

Album #3: Red Light

Red Light is a much darker turn in F(x)’s discography, and not just because they’re now wearing eyeliner and fedoras. It’s long been theorized to be a song about the tragic Sewol Ferry Disaster, which likely has some truth to it given its lyrics about pushing and shoving to survive, making excuses for something, and crashing waves. I was hoping they’d pursue a sort of crying-on-the-dancefloor sound, and I’m impressed seeing how well it turned out. The music video’s mainly shot in black and red, the different layers of vocals are back in spades and deafening each other, and hyperpop background mixes in too to create this air of desperation and danger. In short, it’s a masterpiece.

(TW, reinforced) Going through their singles like this, I’d honestly almost forgotten why I started this review when it suddenly hit me. I was smiling and laughing and dancing along, and then with Red Light it hit me like a punch to the gut that one of the girls I kept seeing—I say girl because she was only fifteen when they debuted—can’t dance any longer. It strikes me that it’s so easy to forget that, too, when all you see is the glossy sheen and none of what’s behind it. But I’m sorry; I digress.

From the album, Red Light, I enjoyed the great tension-building in EDM-led Butterfly, the vocalized hook of Vacance, the bombastic chorus of Boom Bang Boom, and the sunny pop of Paper Heart. But, my hidden gem was Dracula, with its dramatic dance-floor smash of a chorus and fantastic dark mood.

Album #4: 4 Walls

4 Walls was both F(x)’s first comeback as a four-piece after Sulli left and their last as a group. Sticking firmly in the house genre, it’s very minimalistic, with this air of discomfort and uncertainty, and I’m not sure how much of that is intentional and how much I’m projecting. The best thing about this song is F(x)’s voices, which have never sounded better. I didn’t think I would miss Sulli’s voice so much here, but I really do. It just feels…less full. But overall, this is a sad sendoff that doesn’t reflect what they do best.

From the album, 4 Walls, I enjoyed the percussive guitar in Glitter, the pulsing disco beat of Rude Love, the great pre-chorus build up in Diamond, and the catchy hook of Cash Me Out.

Verdict: TL;DR

I’m glad I did this! I loved learning about the members of F(x) and even did a bit of looking into their solo careers, some of which I’m sure will make an appearance on the blog in the future. They have such strong full releases, which isn’t very common in a very single-focused industry, and I feel like they would have done a great job with a concept album or two. I’m sad that they’re no longer making music, and that they did for such a  short time. On the whole, they’re one of the most interesting groups I’ve covered, and it’s safe to say I was never bored listening to them.

My Top 5 songs are Red Light, Hot Summer, Mr. Boogie, Airplane, and La Cha Ta, with Dracula and Paper Heart as an honorable mention. F(x) gets an 8.5 out of 10 from me. When you have a group as built off of experimentation as they were, you’re going to get some really unique and interesting, boundary pushing music like Red Light, but you’re also going to get some attempts that try to do something out of the box and just don’t succeed, like Nu Abo. But as they say, better to have tried and failed than not tried at all, and I appreciate their ever-expanding field deeply, even if it doesn’t often align with my own preferences in music. So, all this to say, I appreciate their work more than I like it.

Outro: Choi Jinri

Unsurprisingly, we’re going to end this review how we started it, so TW one more time. This review was a very bittersweet experience, to be honest. I didn’t think it was possible to love Sulli more than I did when I started, but I was wrong. The world lost someone who was such a net positive, and not just because of her talents, but because of how she used her platform for advocacy that many others were scared of—and still are scared of. Like the BBC said, she was incredibly brave to stand up against the k-pop industry, and she changed it for the better. 

It’s a damn shame that Sulli isn’t still with us, and it’s a wake up call that we need to do better—in campaigning for women, in protecting victims of cyberbullying, in mental health advocacy—for both her and ourselves. If you’ve made it this far in the review, thank you so much. I hope it’s brought you some comfort, somehow, and if it has, I’m so glad. So I’d just like to say, whatever you’re going through, it’s going to be alright. Sulli thought that taking her own life was the only way out, but she was wrong. There’s always a light at the end of the tunnel. 

So, take a deep breath, take your meds, cuddle your cat, call your friend, eat pizza, watch a dumb drama, do anything. Because anything is better than nothing. You can do this. I’m rooting for you. And so is Sulli. Next time, we’re back to our regularly scheduled programming. Tschüss, and take care of yourselves out there.

“They say ‘women shouldn’t talk too much or have strong opinions’. All of that was the opposite of who I was. We need more women to speak up. Women can get angry too.” -Sulli (Persona: Sulli)