Track Spotlight – Pretty Boy Swag (idntt)

By deforestedmusic on 5 Jan 2026

Horns, choirs, electric guitar, groove and swag. It has got to be spicy!

Let's see what we have here!

Happy new year everyone! It is January 5, 2026 and we already have the front-runner for Song of the Year and Record of the Year from our hands. I have to say though I miss writing reviews like this because it gives me agency to liberate my mind from constantly keeping the song from myself. idntt kicks off this year in a very fashionable way and I have to say I have never been more excited for this to happen. I loved unevermet's debut and everything that went with it. Jaden Jeong secures his place as one of South Korea's top producers of all-time easily every year and it cannot be this good. The level of artistic unveiling a person needs to execute this whole song is astounding for such a calculated and formulaic market like K-pop. Some critics will love the generic pop sound some will wanna lean to the more "experimental" but that too is a bit of an overstatement given how badly commercialized and ironic that sounds. Let's get in with what makes it the perfect return to form of boy group I have yet seen.

When BTS debuted in 2013, they were derided already by the intense competition of other hardcoded hip-hop and heavy electronic acts like HISTORY, B.A.P, and even EXO. What separated BTS was always its commitment to the hip-hop bit by not overcompensating with shallow "experimentation" or traditionalism that was plaguing its contemporaries. CORTIS unfortunately didn't do that last year since it basically regurgitated the uncommodifiable parts of hip-hop, and this isn't a review of CORTIS. Pretty Boy Swag gives us a taste of the future sound of post-neo boy group, maximalist, electric, soulful, freewheeling and simple. Every single production choice made by Jaden and EL CAPITXN in this song has my trust in K-pop back to a hundred. The big band performance coupled with exorbitantly beautiful sound engineering this has and the magnanimity of those horns, the choir, the growls of that electric guitar. This is what makes soul in the core of what these hip-hop genres offer essentially.

The track does not hold back in any fashion with swag and is idntt's oeuvre. I thought Boytude was a fair-enough-to-be-released NCT reject, but this is definitely the sound of idntt. I have not heard a track with greater ambitions since ONF's Beautiful Beautiful and we are still in January mind you. The passion that went into this can be easily seen with how meticulous every section of this track is, the introduction shouts unevermet's continued pursuit of that elevated hip-hop sound, then as yesweare enters we blend with R&B and compounding with that exquisite and palpable tension in the chorus celebrating the union of two of MODHAUS' nuclear bombs. This is absolutely mind-blowing to hear. This is not a song made for K-pop because it transcends the commercial nature of the genre to favor excessive funk, soul and musicality. We want more of this in K-pop, we don't need more slops we need the essentials.

Of course, I wished the track was longer but for under three minutes? That was the most effective use of time since the late 2010s. I thought the lyrics seem a bit stale for MODHAUS but given the composition handed by EL CAPITXN, it already suffices pop standards. I cannot state any further how blessed this month is already for churning out one of the most adventurous, well-produced and well-executed tracks in history. This will be a legendary track and one of 5th generation's highlights. I cannot have asked for more.

P.S. this is my first review on the new HD 560S setup and most K-pop have an engineering issue that is a topic for another day.

Lyrics

C+

Instrumentation

Rap/Sung Vocals

S-

Direction

Structure

Cohesiveness

S+

Engineering

S-

Cadence

Style

Production

S+

Rating: S-

Personal Score: 10

Producers: Jaden Jeong & EL CAPITXN

Songwriters: Lee Gyeong (wavecloud), Seo Soo Hyun (wavecloud), Woo Mi Hwa, CHILLER (VENDORS), SEØRIN (VENDORS), Lukas Costas, Jackson Lawrence Hirsh, Kwon (KOR), Alex Schwoebel, Not Enough (MUMW), Seo Bo Ui (MUMW), Yun Jae (MUMW), Hae Yeol (MUMW), Yeo Reum (MUMW), Ninetysixunderbar, Purple Moon, Si Yeon (MUMW), EL CAPITXN, ZENUR, Arte (VENDORS) & Jongsoo Kim