PUSH & PULL

"Push & Pull" is a bright, bouncy piece of guitar-pop with a tropical-house lilt in its plucked synth line — sunlight production covering a lyric about the exhausting choreography of someone who advances then retreats. The groove is buoyant, built on a clipped rhythm guitar and a light four-on-the-floor kick, with a chorus that resolves upward into the group's classic sing-along territory. That mismatch between sunny sound and frustrated content is a familiar TWICE trick, and here it's used well: the song sounds like flirtation while describing its cost. Vocals are playful and forward, with the members trading short phrases in quick succession so the verses feel like a conversation rather than a solo — Chaeyoung and Dahyun's rap sections keep it conversational instead of tough. The lyric essence is the specific modern annoyance of ambiguity, of being kept warm without being chosen, delivered with irritation rather than heartbreak. As a Formula of Love album track it sits on the lighter, more familiar side of the record, the reassurance for listeners who came for the group's classic mode. Play it on a bright afternoon, windows down, when you want to be annoyed at someone and still enjoy yourself.