IVE | RaeRae Reacts | K-pop
ATTITUDE
IVE borrowed the most recognizable diner hum in pop and used it to file a change-of-mood request.
Quick facts
- Group: IVE
- Song: “ATTITUDE”
- EP: IVE EMPATHY
- Release: February 3, 2025 at 6 p.m. KST
- Label: Starship Entertainment
- Single status: Double title track with “REBEL HEART”
- Lyric participation: Jang Wonyoung, her first title-track lyric credit
- Sample: Suzanne Vega’s “Tom’s Diner”
- Video director: Yunah Sheep
Watch the official video
The official Starship player is click-to-play and does not autoplay.
That diner melody did not come here quietly
“ATTITUDE” uses the instantly recognizable shape of Suzanne Vega’s “Tom’s Diner,” then sets it against a retro pop groove and IVE’s polished vocal handoffs. The sample is not hidden in the basement. It arrives at the front door, announces itself and keeps returning until the new hook has to negotiate with thirty-eight years of memory.
The production wins when it lets IVE’s tones cut through the familiar motif. Liz gives the pre-chorus lift, Rei adds rhythmic snap, and the chorus uses the group as a confident block rather than six voices fighting the sample for floor space. The record is catchy immediately. The tradeoff is that the borrowed melody sometimes feels like the seventh member with the most lines.
Wonyoung writes the rule she already made famous
OSEN reported that “ATTITUDE” is about accepting an unchangeable situation by changing the one thing still under your control: your attitude. Jang Wonyoung participated in lyrics for an IVE title track for the first time. That matters because the song’s luck-is-on-my-side stance lines up with the “Lucky Vicky” language associated with her public outlook without needing to pretend every lyric is autobiography.
The central question is blunt: what does shrinking yourself accomplish? IVE’s answer is to choose the mood, take the collision and keep moving. It is self-confidence with fewer luxury metaphors and more practical instructions for surviving a bad day.
Bad luck keeps missing its appointment
Yunah Sheep directs a gray-toned visual world filled with small disasters, odd obstacles and group scenes that refuse to behave like a tragedy. The restrained palette makes the pinks, purples and styling details work harder. It also risks muting a song whose whole argument is brighter than the room.
The best images treat inconvenience as choreography. Objects fall, spaces misbehave and the members keep their timing. The video does not remove bad luck. It makes IVE look annoyingly prepared to pose beside it.
The performance highlights personality without abandoning group geometry. Gaeul and Rei bring bite to the rhythmic sections, Yujin anchors the larger movement, Wonyoung sells the central premise, Liz gives the vocal lift and Leeseo keeps the brighter gestures from turning childish.
RaeRae verdict
Replay: Yes. The sample gets in the door, but IVE’s pre-chorus and vocal colors keep it there.
Best decision: Turning the group’s self-confidence into a usable response to bad circumstances.
Complaint: The gray visual palette occasionally undersells how playful the track is.
Final call: A familiar melody, a very IVE point of view and enough member-specific texture to keep the sample from owning the lease.